Book Series Authors (young adult) 1. Zenna Henderson - The People series; Holding Wonder; The Anything Box. 2. Zilpha Keatley Snyder - Below the Root series. 3. Susan Cooper - The Dark Is Rising series. 4. Terry Pratchett - The Discworld series. 7. Mercedes Lackey - The Valdemar series. 8. Ursula K. LeGuin - The Earthsea series. 9. Lois McMaster Bujold - The Vor series; the Chalion series. (not actually around when I was a kid, but treats complex issues with lots of great plot and adventure, I'd rec to teens.)
Anything by This Author (young adult) 3. Diana Wynne Jones - but especially Dogsbody and The Dark Lord of Derkholm.
Book (young adult) 6. Kenneth Grahme - The Wind in the Willows.
Television series (there are also manga, animated films, novels, games, toys, a live-action film starring Kimura Takuya, etc. etc. - this series is EPIC) 10. 宇宙戦艦ヤマト ("Uchusenkan Yamato" / Space Battleship Yamato / shown on US TV as Starblazers) One of the first major anime series to gain popularity in the US despite crappy editing from the original, it's a mythical quest space opera adventure. This was my first experience of the complex and mature stories animation *could* offer. My husband and I named a kid after a character....
Young Adult stuff that changed my life
1. Zenna Henderson - The People series; Holding Wonder; The Anything Box.
2. Zilpha Keatley Snyder - Below the Root series.
3. Susan Cooper - The Dark Is Rising series.
4. Terry Pratchett - The Discworld series.
7. Mercedes Lackey - The Valdemar series.
8. Ursula K. LeGuin - The Earthsea series.
9. Lois McMaster Bujold - The Vor series; the Chalion series. (not actually around when I was a kid, but treats complex issues with lots of great plot and adventure, I'd rec to teens.)
Anything by This Author (young adult)
3. Diana Wynne Jones - but especially Dogsbody and The Dark Lord of Derkholm.
Book (young adult)
6. Kenneth Grahme - The Wind in the Willows.
Television series (there are also manga, animated films, novels, games, toys, a live-action film starring Kimura Takuya, etc. etc. - this series is EPIC)
10. 宇宙戦艦ヤマト ("Uchusenkan Yamato" / Space Battleship Yamato / shown on US TV as Starblazers) One of the first major anime series to gain popularity in the US despite crappy editing from the original, it's a mythical quest space opera adventure. This was my first experience of the complex and mature stories animation *could* offer. My husband and I named a kid after a character....