Today’s recommendation is a two-fer: a pair of novels by John Green. I spent a couple of my years at the library working as a young adult librarian, and if you never think to read YA novels, you should. There is a lot of quality literature written for the teen age group – some excellent genre fiction, serious coming of age novels, total fluff, you name it.

John Green won the Michael L. Printz award for Looking for Alaska in 2006, and received a Printz honor for An Abundance of Katherines in 2007. The books are very different; Alaska is a tragic coming-of-age story, although there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Abundance is just pure fun; sweet and silly with a little romance. What they share is an engaging main character and awesome supporting characters. I don’t have a lot of time today so I won’t write a plot synopsis, but check these books out if you get a chance.