What is "good"?

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Hello Sounis! I am absolutely shameless and am asking for your help with my homework.

Well, not really. But if I'm somehow out of line in posting this please let me know.

You see, I'm taking an Adolescent Literature class this term. The final for the class is to write an essay on the characteristics of a "good" YA book. A very subjective topic, about which we can say anything we want, as long as we can find someone else who says the same thing in some kind of scholarly article.

I just wanted the help of my Sounisian friends on coming up with criteria for judging how "good" a book is. Of course I'm thinking of our favorite series as an excellent example of "good" YA Literature, though of course we won't limit ourselves to that. Articulating exactly and specifically *why* certain books are good is the trick.

Some general criteria I've thought of so far:

-Re-readability
-"good" writing (which needs an essay of its own, as nobody seems to agree on what this is -either)
-three-dimensional characters
-a plot which moves the reader forward
-respect for intelligence of the reader
-interesting setting
-a "hook" (haha)

But my brain is kind of stuck there. What have I missed? Care to expound on any of the above, or any other criteria you can think of?

What makes a good book "good"?

I'm curious to know what you guys think.