Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
This week’s prompt is Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101. Up until about half an hour ago, I was fully prepared to write “YA URBAN FANTASY 101”, but then I thought about how much I love the UK and books that take place in the UK and, well, here we are.
A couple of these are technically middle grade, but they work as transitional pieces.
Required reading (in no particular order):
1) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (London; Oxford to be precise); read my review here!
2) Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling (London and some magical place in Scotland)
3) Gemma Doyle trilogy – Libba Bray (Victorian London); read my review of book 1 here!
4) Stardust – Neil Gaiman (“rural England”; though technically “adult”, I’ve seen it on YA lists)
5) Lockwood & Co series – Jonathan Stroud (alternate England full of ghosts!!!!) (also highly recommend his other series, The Bartimaeus Sequence); read my review of book 2 here!
6) Mad Miss Mimic – Sarah Henstra (Victorian London); read my review here!
7) Sorcery and Cecelia – Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (Victorian London)
8) Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs (Wales); read my review for books 1 and 2!
9) The Secret of Platform 13 – Eva Ibbotson (London)
10) Sally Lockhart series – Philip Pullman (Victorian London)
Recommended reading:
Every Word – Ellie Marney (takes places mostly in London, but you have to read the FANTASTIC first book, Every Breath, before tackling this one)
Artemis Fowl series – Eoin Colfer (I know Ireland isn’t actually part of the UK, but it’s close)
I really enjoy Victorian England, if you haven’t noticed. I can’t think of any YA or MG books that take place in Scotland (though technically Hogwarts is in Scotland). Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? What other UK-based books have I missed?
such an interesting subgenre – this week’s theme is so great because of all the different topics!! My TTT
It was lots of fun, I’m excited to see what everyone else came up with! Thanks for sharing your list, I’ll check it out! :)
Fun list! I’ve been thinking about picking up Lockwood & Co, I’ve seen it a few times at the library. Looks like I need to get it next time!
http://hiddenstaircase.net/2015/08/25/ttt-top-ten-books-that-would-be-on-your-syllabus-if-you-taught-time-travel-101/
I’m borderline obsessed with Lockwood & Co (counting the days until the third one is released in September!), so I hope you like it! The world-building is really good, and if you (and your sons!) like Percy Jackson, you’ll probably enjoy these too!
Love Percy Jackson! Another selling point for Lockwood!
Fun list! Obviously love Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl too. Every Breath is on my TBR, so hopefully I will get to that and the rest of the series soon.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/top-ten-tuesday-19/
Thanks! I had fun coming up with a topic this week and seeing what other people chose – I’ll definitely check out your list!
Thanks!