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I recommend these titles based on the age groups specified.  I believe that we shouldn’t let our youth read books with content that we wouldn’t allow in movies they watch.  In other words, no sex scenes.  Unfortunately, books like that are almost as hard to come by in the YA section as in the adult.  Some books aren’t strictly young adult, but would be appreciated by a young adult audience.

Recommendations for Grades 6-8 and older (starred books are great for reading aloud to younger kids)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott*

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

The Giver by Lois Lowry (trilogy)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

The Man Who Loved Clowns by June Rae Wood

Recommended for Grades 9-10 and older

The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

In the Name of God by Paula Jolin

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Recommended for Grades 11-12 and older

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (series)

The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass

31 Hours by Masha Hamilton

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Tomorrow, When the World Began by John Marsden

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Animal Farm by George Orwell

How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford