Top Ten Tuesday: YA Text Recommendations for Bestselling Adult Texts

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

 Today’s Topic: YA Text Recommendations for Bestselling Adult Texts

I love YAL. I’ll read the adult texts that everyone raves about, but often, I find YAL to be more compelling. If you like the bestselling adult novels below, I recommend specific YA texts (or middle grade text) that you might also enjoy.

1. Adult Text: Room by Emma Donaghue

YA Text: Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher

 

Both texts are about girls who are taken captive. Stolen leaves readers with much to think about.

2. Adult Text: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

YA Text: Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

 

Both texts bring readers into a magical setting. Circus Mirandus pulled at my heartstrings.

3. Adult Text: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

YA Text: Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow

 

Both texts combine medicine, science, and a notable woman in history (for different reasons).

4. Adult Text: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

YA Text: Hidden Like Anne Frank: 14 True Stories of Survival by Marcel Prins and Peter Henk Steenhuis

 

Sarah’s Key is beautiful prose. Hidden Like Anne Frank offers much knowledge about those who were hidden during the Holocaust. I learned many of my assumptions were inaccurate.

5. Adult Text: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

YA Text: Death Coming Up the Hill by Chris Crowe

 

The Things They Carried is well-loved (and quite deserving of its praise). Death Coming Up the Hill is also set during the Vietnam War. The text is entirely written in Haiku format, and the syllable count of the entire text is the same as the number of soldiers who died in 1968 Vietnam. Chris Crowe is brilliant.

6. Adult Text: The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

YA Text: X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon

 

X may not be autobiographical, but it is written by Malcolm X’s daughter and a fantastic YA author, Kekla Magoon. It offers a perspective of Malcolm Little’s teenage years that is quite compelling.

7. Adult Text: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

YA Text: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

 

Gayle Forman’s Just One Day captured my heart and reminded me of the things I liked best of Eat, Pray, Love.

8. Adult Text: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

YA Text: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

 

Art weaves through the narratives of these texts. Both have incredible depth and will make readers think. 

9. Adult Text: Maus by Art Speigelman

YA Text: Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loïc Dauvillier

 

Both graphic novels feature a survivor’s story, told a generation (or in the case of the second book, generations) later.

10. Adult Text: The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

YA Text: The Living by Matt de la Peña

 

Both texts feature stormy settings on boats. While this is one of the few similarities between these well-written works, both are wonderful and worthy of high praise.

Which adult books have you enjoyed? Would you recommend (or would you like a recommendation for) a YA text?