Time Magazine’s So-Called 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time

Dear Time Magazine,

Among your 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time are a significant number (I found 31) that were written for certifiable children, prepubescents, say seven, eight, nine, and ten year-olds. That is, they are NOT YOUNG ADULT BOOKS. For example, are you aware that Beverly Cleary’s Beezus and Ramona (to point to the most mind-boggling mis-categorized book on your list) was written for children and is read by and to children typically aged seven and younger? As is Charlotte’s Web? Little House on the Prairie?  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? These are books for teens? Please.

Of course these books can and are read by those of any age, but please give this audience their due. They exist as a distinctive part of the reading population, an audience that reads more than picture books (the bulk of the titles in your 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time), books that were written and published specifically for them.

I suggest that you rework these lists to make three: 100 Best Picture Books of All Time, 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time, and 100 Young Adult Books of All Time. (That would also give you an opportunity to invite others into the process who could help broaden the diversity of titles, something notably lacking on the current two lists.)

Sincerely,

Monica Edinger