Young Adult Literature

[carrier76]

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.

These were very big back when I was in middle school/jr. high (1986-89ish). Is the book you're talking about "Wait 'Til Helen Comes"? I read this many times.

Some of my faves were "Middle School Blues" by Lou Kassem, "Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You" (?....I think that's the title.), and those "Class of '88" "Class of '89" books. I remember reading those while the fam was watching Family Matters.

Ooh! And "The Dollhouse Murders." You weren't cool in 4th grade unless you read it. I also remember these two books "A is for Ami" and "B is for Bunny." I loved to read! ;D

[underjoyed]

One of my favourites - and I seem to be the only person I know that read this - was a book called The Late, Great Me, which is about a teenager who becomes an alcoholic. It was actually pretty well written, and crucially didn't make that ABC After School Special mistake of having the character go from drinking two beers at a party to being a full-blown lush in the span of three pages. The way the character's drinking spun out of control was fairly believable. Does anyone else remember this one?

I also loved almost anything by Lois Duncan. Good suspense, and even though her lead characters were invariably stunningly beautiful and never had a zit in their fictional lives, the plots tended to be original and well-paced.

I couldn't forget S.E. Hinton. I read my copy of The Outsiders so many times, it fell apart.

[Deleted]

I remeber passing around the R.L. Stine Fear Street Series like candy with all my friends as a kid. I loved the Silent Night series and all the historical ones.The Girl Talk series, and Malibu Summer. I read that book over and over until it fell apart.

[dwanollah]

and those "Class of '88" "Class of '89" books. I remember reading those while the fam was watching Family Matters.

I LOVED those! Even if the school football hero/jock was named Nick Rhodes....

[Deleted]

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?
Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You" ;D

The first book you mentioned might be Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp, though I think the girl there was a bit older, eighteen or so, and it ended with a bit of romance.

Second book you mentioned would be by Barthe DeClements who wrote some fabulous children's books, as well as good YA books. I figured out recently (from her year of birth) that she'd be something like in her 80's. Which blew my mind, till I realized she started writing books in the 1970's when she was middle-aged (said so in the book jacket blurb).

I was pretty shocked, and saddened, too, to see that Isabelle Holland died a few years ago. Anyone remember Man Without a Face? I sort of had a crush on the book's main character. You never did quite find out from the book if he was straight or gay--I think Holland left that purposely ambiguous.

[ladymadonna]

One of my favourites - and I seem to be the only person I know that read this - was a book called The Late, Great Me, which is about a teenager who becomes an alcoholic.

Ohmygosh! I remember that book! I haven't thought about it in quite a few years, but I remember being kind of freaked out by the main character as a child.

Just remembered a few more I really loved:

Island of the Blue Dolphins

My Side of the Mountain

and several odd little books that I only remember the plotlines: One book was about a bunch of high school kids who accidentally kill their heinous teacher and try to cover it up. One was about a group of teens who got hoplessly lost in the Great White North, eh. There was also one about this kid who thought he was gay, but really struggled with it, and the consequences thereby.

Mind you, all of these books I remember were written in the 70's, and I read them early to mid 80's.

Anyway, good times, man.

[sumire]

Just remembered a few more I really loved:
Island of the Blue Dolphins
My Side of the Mountain

Let me guess, ladymadonna, when all the sixth-grade girls were passing around Clan of the Cave Bear, you skimmed over the sex scenes in favor of the hardcore basket-weaving and explicit leather-tanning action.

Those books totally made me want to go live in a cave (or hollow tree) full of foraged berries and hand-plaited rope with some sort of tamed wild animal.

On the other hand, I also totally wanted to go live in an after-hours department store, thanks to Richard Peck's Secrets of the Shopping Mall, an odd and extremely dated book (Shaun Cassidy! Battlestar Galactica!) which I nevertheless read over and over in my early-1990s teens.

[underjoyed]

ladymadonna said:

...and several odd little books that I only remember the plotlines: One book was about a bunch of high school kids who accidentally kill their heinous teacher and try to cover it up.

Ooh, I believe this was "Killing Mr. Griffin" by Lois Duncan. She also wrote "I Know What You Did Last Summer", among others.

Another one that I loved, in keeping with the theme of my earlier post about the teen alcoholic, was "Go Ask Alice" which is the diary of a teenager in the late 1960s/early 1970s and her descent into drug addiction. I read this in the 8th Grade or so, and really liked it (although rather than steering me away from LSD and suchlike, it actually made me want to try them, which is not the traditionally intended effect of a cautionary tale). Anyway, just last year, I found out that on Snopes that >>despite being presented as the real diary of a girl whose addiction eventually killed her, the "diary" wasn't genuine at all, but a total work of fiction by an author whose name escapes me.<<I was inexplicably bummed out by that, which is kind of awful of me, considering how the book ends.

[carrier76]

I LOVED those! Even if the school football hero/jock was named Nick Rhodes....

You are right!!!! I always thought he was so hot on the covers of the book. And Celia was so pretty. That "Senior" book of the Class of '88 series was SO good.

Two others I just remembered...I think they were by Caroline B. Cooney. Saturday Night, and I think New Year's Eve, or something. About going to prom and other teenage drama. Cooney's "horror" books were really good too. Ah yes, the RL Stine/Christopher Pike/etc. years....

Did anyone read "The Stepsisters" series? I only read book 1 but I read it 500 times.

There was also a book that, in 5th grade, was ALWAYS checked out from the library and I was so honored when I finally got to check it out. It was sort of like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing...the main character was trying to get rid of his brother. It was REALLY funny. I think he tried to sell him or something? It probably isn't funny NOW, but then it was all the rage of 5th grade (1986-87). Any ideas?

Best Judy Blume book: "Just as Long as We're Together." Squee!

[ladymadonna]

Let me guess, ladymadonna, when all the sixth-grade girls were passing around Clan of the Cave Bear, you skimmed over the sex scenes in favor of the hardcore basket-weaving and explicit leather-tanning action.

Is my geek showing again? Actually the sex scenes were WAY hotter in Valley of the Horses.