Maud Hart Lovelace: She wrote the Betsy-Tacy books, a fantastic series of autobiographical historical novels that follow two best friends from age 5 to marriage–kind of a real-life American Girl series. I love these books. I go to conventions about these books. Go buy them or check them out from the library immediately!

John Green: Who doesn’t? But I’ve loved him forever, people. In 2005, I wrote a post on my old livejournal (NOT a popular livejournal–just a regular livejournal read by about 8 of my friends) about how cute he was and he commented on it! Embarrassing at the time, but now that he’s a rock star I can drag out that story for major cool points.

Laurie Halse Anderson: Her books feel exactly like high school to me. I love her historical fiction, too, but  what I really love is her dark, funny, contemporary stuff: Speak, Prom, Catalyst. 

L. M. Montgomery: The Anne of Green Gables series, of course, but I mostly love the Emily books and The Blue Castle. Montgomery also had a fascinating, if ultimately tragic, life. 

Lewis Carroll: The Annotated Alice will make you look at Alice in Wonderland in a whole new way–and it has nothing to do with hallucinogens.

Rookie: Are you interested in the world? Are you or have you ever been a teenager? Then you will like this site. Once in a meeting I was sitting next to a man I had previously thought dull and noticed that he was reading a Rookie article on street harassment on his phone. Instant crush.