Top Ten YA Books Dealing with tough subjects

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green-  While this book is wonderfully witty it is also deals with some heartbreaking subject matter. The main character, Hazel, has terminal cancer and has to grow up feeling like she is a ticking time bomb. 

2. Burned by Ellen Hopkins- Burned is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read, but at its core it is a book about abuse. Payttn Von Stratten grows up in an extremely devout and completely misguided church (THE RELIGION IS NOT IMPORTANT PEOPLE. CALM DOWN) where women are bellow men. Her father is mentally unstable and very abusive. When Payttn begins questioning her life she is sent away... This book is extremely emotional.  

3. Cut by Patricia McCormick- This book deals with the difficult issue of cutting and self mutilation. It has been a few years since I read this book but I remember it as being honest and raw. At the time, many of my friends and classmates were dealing with this issue and I am thankful to books like this for helping me understand what they must have been feeling. 

4. Identical by Ellen Hopkins- My tears literally stained the pages on this book. This deals with sexual abuse by a parent and it is very difficult to read. Nothing is put gently in this book and the content is very mature. 

5. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous- I found this book thrown in the hallway of my middle school. It is the published diary of a teenage girl who falls into drugs. Reading about her fist interaction with drugs at a party is something that I will never forget. Since it is a diary the reader is left to interpret the missing pieces. At the start (before the drugs)  this was a girl who I could really relate to. A good girl. It astonished   middle school me just how easy it is to fall into the wrong habits. 

6.Willow by Julia Hoban- The main themes behind this book would have to be loss and guilt. Willow's parents have both died in a car accident, and she was driving. She was a young and inexperienced driver on a rainy night when both her parents were tipsy. She blames herself for the accident and becomes a severe cutter. This is a story that I find myself reading at least once a year. It reminds me that we are only human often too hard on ourselves. 

7. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson- Rape. This is a difficult topic for anyone to jump into. Melinda is such a strong female character. Her growth and emotions as she deals with an event she would rather forget is empowering to say the least. 

Non- YA Titles  I wanted to mention

I won't go into detail with these because they are more than well known classics. 

8. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 

9. Night by Elie Wiesel- A young man's brutal account of his experience at a Nazi death camp. 

10. The Bell Jar by Sylia Plath- One of my all time favorites. This follows a young woman as her mind slowly succumbs to insanity.