If you mention young adult literature to a member of the general public, a few series will probably come to mind their mind. Hopefully, they’ll think of Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, and even though they might know the novels from the movies or Entertainment Weekly covers, at least they’ll associate young adult literature with strong, resourceful heroines and rich, detailed fantasy worlds. They might also think of Twilight. Sparkling, whining Twilight, casting a dark Edward-shaped shadow on the world of YA in the public consciousness. If you step beyond the wall of Bella bookmarks and Jacob travel mugs in your local Barnes and Nobel teen section, however, you’ll see that YA has so much more to offer than live-sucking fetuses and werewolf abs. Click through to read about ten YA books from the last ten years that totally make up for Twilight, and let us know your own favorites in the comments.

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Last week the Los Angeles Times published an editorial commenting on an upswing in young adult literature sales among grownups (you know, people whose days of first crushes, driver’s ed and SAT prep courses are long behind them). Whereas hardcover sales were down across the publishing industry — a 17.8% dip for the first half of 2009 versus the same period in 2008 — children’s/young adult hardcovers were up a whopping 30.7%. Come to think of it, we have seen more than a few power-suited dudes on the subway with their noses buried in a Harry Potter book.

Of course, not all YA novels are created equally, so we’ve cobbled together ten favorites — from contemporary to classic — of the best young adult reading for any age.

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