Teen Book Best Sellers List
Best Books Ever Written &
Popular Books for Mature Teens

This Teen Book best sellers list helps mature teens find great books. It's also a useful resource for authors seeking insights into how to write good books for teens, especially readers aged 17-19 years.

Teen Book Best Sellers List #1: Best Personal Growth Books & Books on Parent & Sibling Relationships, Relationship Questions, Choices & Transitions

Mature Teen Book Best Sellers List & Approximate Sales Figures
John Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress (250 million)
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird (Pulitzer Prize: 30 million)
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin (28 million)
Anonymous: Go Ask Alice (over 4.6 million)

Good Books for Teens
T Davis Bunn: The Great Divide
Melody Carlson: Diary of a Teenage Girl series
Michael Chabon: Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Pulitzer Prize)
Edna Ferber: So Big (Pulitzer Prize); Giant
Karen Hesse: Out of the Dust (Newbery Medal)
Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon
Ursula LeGuin: A Wizard of Earthsea and sequels
CS Lewis: Out of the Silent Planet; Perelandra; That Hideous Strength; Till We Have Faces
Toni Morrison: Beloved (Pulitzer Prize); Song of Solomon
Chaim Potok: The Chosen; The Promise; My Name is Asher Lev; The Gift of Asher Lev
Betty Smith: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Cynthia Voigt: Seventeen Against the Dealer
Alice Walker: The Color Purple (Pulitzer Prize winner)
Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

Teen Book Best Sellers List #2: Best Mystery Books & Best Fantasy Books & Adventure Stories

Mature Teen Book Best Sellers List & Approximate Sales Figures
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None (115 million)
JRR Tolkien: Lord of the Rings trilogy (100 million): The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins: Left Behind series (63 million)
Lew Wallace: Ben Hur (50 million)
Johnston McCulley: The Mark of Zorro (50 million)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes (45 million
Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (16 million)
Jack Schaefer: Shane (6.4 million)

Best Selling Books
Richard Adams: Watership Down
Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot mysteries and the Miss Marple series
Tom Clancy: Red Storm Rising
John LeCarre: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Ursula LeGuin: A Wizard of Earthsea; The Tombs of Atuan; The Farthest Shore; Tehanu; and Tales from Earthsea
Alistair MacLean: The Guns of Navarone
Robin Mckinley: The Hero and the Crown; The Blue Sword
Larry McMurtry: Lonesome Dove (Pulitzer Prize winner)
John Moore: The Breaking of Ezra Riley; Leaving the Land
Frank Peretti: This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness
Ellis Peters: A Morbid Taste for Bones; and Sanctuary Sparrow
Dorothy Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey series, e.g., Five Red Herrings; Hangman's Holiday; The Nine Tailors; Strong Poison; Gaudy Night; Busman's Honeymoon
Ivan Southall: To the Wild Sky
Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time

Teen Book Best Sellers List $3: Historical Adventure Stories & Cliffhanger Stories

Mature Teen Book Best Sellers List & Approximate Sales Figures
Miguel de Cervantes: Adventures of Don Quixote (500 million)
Alexandre Dumas: Count of Monte Cristo (200 million)
Lew Wallace: Ben Hur (50 million)
Johnston McCulley: The Mark of Zorro (50 million)
Margaret Mitchell: Gone With the Wind (Pulitzer Prize; 28 million)

Best Selling Books
Gillian Bradshaw: A Beacon at Alexandria; The Bearkeeper's Daughter; Horses of Heaven
Lloyd C Douglas: The Robe
Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers; and The Man in the Iron Mask
AB Guthrie: The Big Sky; The Way West (Pulitzer Prize winner); and These Thousand Hills
Larry McMurtry: Lonesome Dove; Streets of Laredo; and Comanche Moon
Louis L'Amour: Bendigo Shafter; Kilkenny; High Lonesome; Son of a Wanted Man; Where the Long Grass Blows; and the Sackett family series
Katherine Paterson: The Master Puppeteer; Lyddie
Kenneth Roberts: Northwest Passage; Rabble in Arms; Arundel; and Oliver Wiswell
Mary Stewart: Merlin Trilogy of The Crystal Cave; The Hollow Hills; The Last Enchantment
Rosemary Sutcliff: Sword Song
Anne De Vries: Journey through the Night
Owen Wister: The Virginian
Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

Teen Book Best Sellers List #4: Best Love Stories & Popular Romantic Books

Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice (28 million)
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Lloyd C Douglas: Magnificent Obsession
Janette Oke: Love Comes Softly series; Seasons of the Heart series; and Women of the West series
Eugenia Price: Savannah Quartet (Savannah; To See Your Face Again; Stranger in Savannah; Before the Darkness Falls); St Simons Trilogy (Beloved Invader; Lighthouse; New Moon Rising); Bright Captivity; Beauty from Ashes; and Don Juan McQueen
Mary Stewart: The Ivy Tree; Thunder on the Right; Nine Coaches Waiting; The Moon-Spinners; This Rough Magic
Lori Wick: Whispers of Moonlight; Sabrina; and Where the Wild Rose Blooms


What kinds of stories do mature teen readers want? To find out, go to Creative Writing Ideas: Marvelous Story Ideas for Mature Teens

For creative writing ideas to help you write stories in a way that gets teens reading, go to How to Write Stories Kids and Teens Want to Read

Return from Teen Book Best Sellers List to Creative Writing Resources: Top Cool Teen Books

Return from Teen Book Best Sellers List to Creative Writing: Write to Win Hearts

Acknowledgments: Publishers Weekly; Wikipedia; Barnes & Noble; Amazon.com; Books Children Love by Elizabeth Wilson, Crossway Books, 2002; Honey for a Teen's Heart by Gladys Hunt & Barbara Hampton, Zondervan 2002. Also, to all who have contributed reviews, information and advice, Thank You!

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