Top Ten Tuesday | March 29, 2022

Happy Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is a Bookish Meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and this week’s theme is 21st CENTURY BOOKS I THINK WILL BECOME CLASSICS!

Happy Tuesday!

I had lots of fun creating today’s post! There are many wonderful and fantastic books that were published this century I think will become classics. Truthfully, I could argue that several of these books are already classics. For the Sarah Dessen book, I chose one of the first books I read and loved by her, but honestly? I feel like I could have chosen any of her books and made it work.

And now without any further ado, here’s this week’s Top Ten Tuesday!

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Series: Creekwood #1
Published on April 7, 2015 by Balzer + Bray
Genres: Contemporary, Queer, YA
Pages: 303
Add to Goodreads
Author Links: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, Tumblr

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1
Published on June 28, 2014 by Disney Hyperion Books
Genres: Neurodivergent, Queer, Contemporary, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Mythology, Retellings
Pages: 377
Add to Goodreads
Author Links: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.
Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Published on February 28, 2017 by Balzer + Bray
Genres: Contemporary, YA
Pages: 444
Add to Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
Series: One Of Us Is Lying #1
Published on November 30, 2021 by Delacorte Press
Genres: Contemporary, YA, Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 416
Add to Goodreads
Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram

Pay close attention and you might solve this.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Series: The Twilight Saga #1
Published on October 5, 2005 by Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
Pages: 498
Add to Goodreads

About three things I was absolutely positive.
First, Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him-and I didn't know how dominant that part might be-that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Published on April 6, 2006 by Viking Books
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Pages: 371
Add to Goodreads

Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything" — at least that's the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf's Department Store.
This year, she's the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong.
Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen's help, maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Series: Gemma Doyle #1
Published on December 9, 2003 by Simon and Schuster
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Queer, YA, Mystery
Pages: 403
Add to Goodreads

It's 1895, and after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she's been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence's most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Published on May 13, 2014 by Delacorte Press
Genres: Contemporary, Thriller, Mystery, YA
Pages: 228
Add to Goodreads
Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram

A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth.
If anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Published on September 1, 2000 by Aladdin
Genres: YA, Historical Fiction
Pages: 252
Add to Goodreads

It's late summer 1793, and the streets of Philadelphia are abuzz with mosquitoes and rumors of fever. Down near the docks, many have taken ill, and the fatalities are mounting. Now they include Polly, the serving girl at the Cook Coffeehouse. But fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook doesn't get a moment to mourn the passing of her childhood playmate. New customers have overrun her family's coffee shop, located far from the mosquito-infested river, and Mattie's concerns of fever are all but overshadowed by dreams of growing her family's small business into a thriving enterprise. But when the fever begins to strike closer to home, Mattie's struggle to build a new life must give way to a new fight—the fight to stay alive.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Series: Sisterhood #1
Published on September 11, 2001 by Delacorte Press
Genres: YA, Contemporary
Pages: 294
Add to Goodreads

Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn’t look all that great: they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them.
But Tibby says they’re great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they’re fabulous. Lena decides that they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them.
Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything) thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs, they decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye.
And then the journey of the pants — and the most memorable summer of their lives — begins.

What 21st century books do you think will become classics? Did we choose any of the same titles? Let me know in the comments below and don’t forget to have a magical week!