Harper Lee‘s To Kill a Mockingbird is the No. 3 best YA novel ever written, according to NPR listeners. The 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels list was, not surprisingly, led by the Harry Potter series and The Hunger Games. The Hobbit, The Catcher in the Rye, The Lord of the Rings and Fahrenheit 451 also made the top 10.
An impressive 75,220 NPR listeners voted. The contest began with listeners sharing their favorite titles, which resulted in a list of more than 1,200 nominations. Then a panel of book experts whittled this down to a list of 235 choices, which was then put back to NPR listeners to decide.
Panel members included: Pamela Paul, The New York Times Book Review’s features editor and children’s book editor; Diane Roback, Publisher’s Weekly’s children’s book editor; Tasha Robinson, book editor for The Onion’s A.V. Club; and teacher and librarian Ted Schelvan.