Young Adult Literature

[Deleted]

There's a thread for children's lit, but not yet for YA. There are many authors who gave me hours of pleasure back when I had mostly outgrown the children's section of the library, but was not yet ready to fully venture forth into the "adult" section. Authors such as Lois Duncan (for suspense), Ellen Conford and Judy Angell (for laughs and sweet endings), Isabelle Holland and Harry Mazer (for just good, solid reads), Ellen Emerson White, Ann Rinaldi (before she started churning out boring, formulaic, historical-text like books), Frances A. Miller, Cynthia Voight, and many more I can't think of right now.
When I look back at those books now, they might not hold my interest in the same way, but they are well written and mostly pretty original plots. However, most YA books written now look like utter trash. (I've got two teenage sisters, so I do see lots of the books they read; they admit themselves there's not much to choose from.) Such a shame, because what happened?
Are there any good YA authors out there now?

[Deleted]

I always LOVED (and still do) the Judy Bloom, Beverly Cleary books. And, I'm still a nut for Christopher Pike.

[sumire]

I have a hard time getting fired up about "young adult literature" as such, because it seems like such a narrow, nebulous category. It's hard to judge whether some books fall under "children's" or "YA," and a huge chunk of my library's YA section is not-specifically-marketed-to-young-adults SF/fantasy/romance better discussed in a genre thread, and then you've got the teen series books that are so popular they can support their own discussion thread, and... what's left? Miscellaneous T(een). Come on, guys, refresh my memory as to some more of the YA greats.

The only undeniably YA books I flove that come to my mind: Gordon Korman's high school books. Son of Interflux, Don't Care High, A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag, etc. Exaggeratedly surreal, and so, so funny. I wish I lived in a universe where a bored kid could build his own car from scratch.

ETA: You know another reason why I tend not to care for the YA label? (Gee, I sure am hung up on labels.) Another hallmark of YA fiction, aside from being about teenagers, is being about issues.

I remember finishing off the younger Judy Blume books (Fudge/Peter/Sheila), and sort of enjoying the "augh! what's happening to my body?!" ones, and then I borrowed, like, Tiger Eyes and Deenie and some Cynthia Voigt books, and the downer just hit me like a ton of bricks. And so, as an 11-year-old reader, I sort of thought Man, YA is _depressing_ and drifted into SF/fantasy instead.

[Ripley]

One of the best books I've ever read was a YA title by the name of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. What a powerful story.

[Deleted]

Speak would be an exception in that it is a recently written YA book that is really excellent. It was a National Book Award finalist, probably a first for a YA book.
I loved Gordon Korman books, too.
Ok, some of Cynthia Voight's books are a little depressing, but I loved Izzy-Willy-Nilly, and thought it really had some profound and true ideas in it. I reread it when I was 19 or 20 and was recovering from some disfiguring burns (not a big deal now, as they are always covered unless I'm in a bathing suit or halter top, which I stay away from, but at the time I was pretty upset about it) and in a sense I could relate to what the main character was going through (although obviously not in a total sense as she had to go through an amputated leg).
I think a need YA books fill is that niche where you feel like nobody understands what you're going through, etc. etc. That's why I do feel there's a difference between specific genre and YA lit.

[dwanollah]

Norma Klein! NORMA KLEIN! Best YA Author EVAH!

I run hot and cold with Cynthia Voigt. I liked A Solitary Blue a lot, but found the Dicey books to be a little too... something. I hated 17 Against the Dealer.

[Deleted]

Norma Klein isn't the one married to Harry Mazer, is she? The name sounds familiar, but I can't remember any of her books.

[ladymadonna]

Last summer, while on a quest to find books that my incredibly scary-smart seven year old would read, I re-discovered a lot of books I read when I was just a wee bit older than her. Norma Klein, Lois Duncan, Judy Blume, and the Sweet Valley High originals.

They just reminded me of pleasant days spent in the library, by myself, just reading and having no cares in the world except remembering to be home in time for dinner. (Yes, I was a loner bookworm, shuddup! )

Does anyone remember a book about a girl who went to visit her uncle or something, at his house on the lake, that turned out to be haunted? I was a big sucker for the "haunted summer" sort of stories that featured 11-13 yr old girls from not-so-great families. I guess, being an only child (and a shy one until I got to high school), I always wanted an exciting haunted mystery to happen to ME.

[casper]

And, I'm still a nut for Christopher Pike.

I used to love him back in the day and I still read a few of his books when I'm overhauling my book collection. He's someone who should've continued to write. Excellent pacing, and great characters.

[dwanollah]

stargirl said:

Norma Klein isn't the one married to Harry Mazer, is she? The name sounds familiar, but I can't remember any of her books.

No, that was Norma Fox. They wrote a couple things together, I think... like the Teenage Runaway type stuff.