Young Adult Literature

[batmom]

I need your help! We've had a heck of a time getting Batboy into reading; he's resisted it at every turn. He's supposed to read 20 minutes a day as part of his homework (10 minutes in French and 10 in English) but he's usually chosen stuff like Garfield or magazines and, quite frankly, Batguy and I have suspected that much of the time he's just been looking at the pictures.

Yesterday, however, I gave him a copy of Holes to read and he really got into it! When I took Batgirl down to say goodnight he barely acknowledged her, whereas he normally would have seized upon the interuption as a chance to get out of reading and when I went into his room when the 20 minutes was up, he actually kept reading to the end of the paragraph.

I think the styles in which Holes is written (very simple and direct; not a lot of description) is good for him. He really struggles with retaining a lot of descriptive information (I'm reading The Goblet of Fire to him now and, even with me reading it, he still needs me to remind of things). Do you know of other books written in a similar style that would appeal to a nine year old?

[dwanollah]

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen!

[Deleted]

He might like "The 21 Balloons" by William Pene DuBois--pretty much all the 9-12 year old boys I know who've read it, loved it.
Also, "Wringer" by Jerry Spinelli.

[Deleted]

Does anybody remember Easy Connection and Easy Freedom by Liz Berry. It was this sorta love story between this teenage wannabe artist and the mega rockstar who loved her. They were my fav for quite a while, even though in retrospect their realtionship started in a really unpleasant way. They were so full of drama but I loved them for it. Years later when I searched for them I found that they were completely unavailable. Anywhere. The only place I could find them was on the internet where someone was selling them for several hundred dollars!?!?. I was crushed.

[Deleted]

mosaic said:

Does anybody remember Easy Connection and Easy Freedom by Liz Berry. It was this sorta love story between this teenage wannabe artist and the mega rockstar who loved her. They were my fav for quite a while, even though in retrospect their realtionship started in a really unpleasant way. They were so full of drama but I loved them for it. Years later when I searched for them I found that they were completely unavailable. Anywhere. The only place I could find them was on the internet where someone was selling them for several hundred dollars!?!?. I was crushed.

Oh I so loved Easy Connections. I still have it but have been desperately looking for Easy Freedom.

[Deleted]

Just checked it out, guys. You can get both those books by Liz Berry from Amazon.Uk for fairly cheap prices--around $20 or so (converted from British pounds)--because, yeah, the American sites have $89 as the cheapest price for either title.

[Deleted]

stargirl said:

Just checked it out, guys. You can get both those books by Liz Berry from Amazon.Uk for fairly cheap prices--around $20 or so (converted from British pounds)--because, yeah, the American sites have $89 as the cheapest price for either title.

ooo....

Thank you so much! I may just have to do that ;D

[Deleted]

I indulged myself today in buying a full set of the "Dark is Rising" series by Susan Cooper.
I just loved these books when I was 16. I think they're a superb example of fantasy/adventure books--a perfect blend of both. The only problem I have is that the first book in the series is a bit weak--something she admitted herself, because at the time she wasn't planning to make it into a whole series. I don't know if I would've gone on to read the rest of the books in the series if not for the hint at the end to Merlin--I found it really intriguing because I was into King Arthur stuff at that age.
I love Harry Potter, Diana Wynne Jones, and the Narnia books, but I don't think any of them hold up as well as these, especially "Dark is Rising," "Grey King," and "Silver on the Tree."


I've just finished reading A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by Libba Bray--the first YA books I've read in awhile--and really liked them. They have an intriguing blend of history, gothic elements, fantasy and suspense. There was enough heavy foreshadowing to figure out some of the characters' secrets, but on the whole, I really thought the characters were very well fleshed out. Plus, there's something about British boarding schools that just makes for a great setting.

[prydainprincess]

Oooh, YA LIT thread! Hi all, I'm new here.

I also loved Marilyn Sachs. I picked up the Truth about Mary Rose and it took me a while to realize that these were the people grown up from the other books. Other faves included Zilpha Keatly Snyder, Mary Downing Hahn (I ran into her at a conference a couple years ago and asked her if she'd sign a STACK of her books for me. She was so nice!), Scott O'Dell (really, any book where girls went off on their own in the wilderness).

Don't know if anyone's found Chicks with Sticks, as it's fairly new, but it is a really cute one about girls who get into knitting.

Then there's fantasy (as my username suggests). Don't get me started.

[lori]

Did anyone read the Sunfire Historical Romance series?

Each book was set in a specific period of American history (War of 1812 in New Orleans, Chicago during the Great Depression, Jamestown, VA during the initial settlement in the 1600s) and each book's title was the name of the female protagonist of the story.

I ADORED these books and spent so many happy hours engrossed in them. Heck, I've come across a few of them recently and even re-read them.

My favorite was Emily, about a New York society girl at the turn of the twentieth century. She falls in love with a poor doctor and decides to become a nurse, in spite of her parents' objections.

I also really enjoyed Laura, a young suffragist in Washington D.C. in 1918.