Young Adult notes

[mollyringle]

Recently finished a re-read of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, to refresh my memory for the movie. After that climactic cemetery scene, I couldn't help thinking we need a new bumper sticker: "Fear Lord Voldemort's expository dialogue skills!" ...But seriously, I enjoyed the book very much, and will re-read Book 5 next (only seems right, with Book 6 so near its release date).

As I've said before, it's a good sign for my choice of writing material lately that I actually enjoy reading teen lit. (Or it's a sign that I have a low IQ; you decide.) Will take other suggestions of Young Adult fiction for my reading list, so as to Get To Know The Industry. Modern/new books, preferably. And, yes, I've already read the His Dark Materials trilogy. Good stuff.

Unrelated postscript: There's an eight-foot-tall foxglove* in our backyard. Do you suppose the state fair has a foxglove category? 'Cause I think I could win the blue ribbon.

*Digitalis sp. Source of the heart medication of the same name. Poisonous. Do not eat.

Comments

[integreillumine.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't exactly call this 'young adult' fiction since it's socially/politically complex and war-bloody, but you've read George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire installments to date, no? Some of the best fantasy out there.

There's also, uh...
Anne McCaffrey's Pern/Dragonsinger/Dragonsong series - some might call it adult, but I was enthralled with it as a young teen
Roger Zelazny's Amber series (parts I and II)
Piers Anthony's Incarnate and Xanth series - I'd say the Xanth stuff is juvenile-ishly fun in its obvious word-plays, and the Incarnate clunkily text-heavy but dealing with serious good-and-evil stuff

[platypus]

The Dragonsong/singer/drums trilogy were YA, while the overlapping main Pern trilogy was adult. The Menolly books have more obviously adolescent themes (one SF directory disparaged them as horsey books with dragons). I enjoyed them, though.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I've heard of most of those, but haven't read any. *takes notes*

Since I've been using Anthony's e-publishing reference page (http://www.hipiers.com/publishing.html) a lot, I probably owe him a read.

YA: "it's all coming back to me now".

[integreillumine.livejournal.com]

Oooh I second Bridge to Terebithia and Dark is Rising. Also Lloyd Alexander's High King stuff is worth a gander. I presumed you knew about Pratchett too, but I don't really think he's very young adult.

More scifi-ish, there's (of course) Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow (and the rest of the series if you're hooked, but I got bored), as well as Mary Doira Russell's The Sparrow and Children of God. Again, these may not be considered YA by many, but most of the 1stP is pretty safely so.

Re: YA: "it's all coming back to me now".

[integreillumine.livejournal.com]

And Dune! Can't forget Herbert.

Re: YA: "it's all coming back to me now".

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

*snaps fingers* Keep meaning to read that. Everyone recommends it. Will order self a cheap used copy at once.

Re: YA: "it's all coming back to me now".

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Oh yes--I enjoy O.S. Card very much; his YA and his regular stuff. Taking more notes on the others...

[platypus]

I assume you already know about Diane Duane (I tend to like her early books better than the later ones, but none of it's bad).

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Didn't know about her, actually. *adds to Amazon list* Cool.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Well, I only have experience in the fantasy category of YA fiction, but I recommend Garth Nix's Sabriel the sequels are not as good, in my opinion, but worth reading anyway for the snarky sidekick animals and the worldbuilding, which is pretty cool. I can't remember if you've ever mentioned reading Diana Wynne Jones...most of her work that I've read I've enjoyed, bu my favorite is (and always will be) Howl's Moving Castle. It seems like I should have this huge list of good YA titles, since I spend a good bit of time in the YA section, but I am coming up pretty dry, probably because I often wonder what makes the book YA instead of just plain old sci-fi/fantasy. Oh! And if you didn't read The Giver in school, that's good, too. And A Bridge to Terebithia in the not-so-fantasy category.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I remember Terebithia - so sad! Am curious about Howl's Moving Castle, especially with the Miyazaki film now out. Sounds like a good one.

[terrylj.livejournal.com]

Don't miss Diana Wynne Jones' Archer's Goon and Fire and Hemlock. Her book Hexwood is also good. The difference between her and other fantasy writers is that she doesn't tie everything up for you neatly at the end. You have to really stretch your head to try to figure everything out.

(A very few thoughts, no spoilers, about Archer's Goon are here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/terrylj/51452.html

I sometimes forget which friends are in which fandoms, so ignore all the rest of the HP-related stuff in that post if you're not into that.)

Also, have you read anything by Patricia McKillip? Her books can be found in both the adult and the YA section. They are more traditional than contemporary fantasy, and I had difficulty with them at first because I am a fast reader. I swallow books whole. You have to make a deliberate effort to slow down and read her every sentence carefully, because otherwise you're reading along and reading along and reading along and WHAM someone is DEAD ON THE GROUND and you didn't even realize that a fight started two pages ago.

I like the Riddle-Master trilogy--The Riddle-Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, and Harpist in the Wind. Those are older; she's got much newer stuff out, stand-alone books which you could test to see if you liked them. They might not be the style you want to write in, but they might be good to just read for fun.

I think Diane Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard series has already been mentioned. It was started in...something like 1983, or '85, but she's come out with new books in the past few years, so the last few are definitely modern.

There's Susan Cooper The Dark is Rising series, from the late '70's--early '80's. And I'm assuming you have read everything Terry Pratchett ever wrote. :)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Cool - good list! That'll keep me busy a while. :) And though I haven't read all of Pratchett's stuff, I have certainly read a fair sampling. Quite charming and fun.

[libation.livejournal.com]

As far as fantasy goes:

Annette Curtis Klause
Vivian Vande Velde
Joyce Sweeney
Tamora Pierce
Meredith Ann Pierce
Victoria Hanley
Karen Cushman

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Will look 'em up - thanks!
Interesting how most people are assuming sci-fi/fantasy by "YA"...

[libation.livejournal.com]

I assumed you wanted fantasy because that's what you were interested in writing.

Otherwise:
Sarah Dessen
Jacyln Moriarty's Year of Secret Assignments
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Alice series
Cecily von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl series (trashy but very good)
Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series
Walter Dean Myers
Angela Johnson
Janet McDonald
Jane Yolen
Sonya Sones
Eireann Corrigan
David Levithan
Virginia Euwer Wolff

And on and on and on. :)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I do like reading fantasy (along with pretty much all other categories), but my own writing always has a basis in the real world--more similar to Harry Potter, say, than to LOTR. I sometimes do have a supernatural element to my stories, but so far I've never written "pure" fantasy (an entirely made-up world). Too much work! :)

So, yeah--cool. Looks like I've got plenty of names to pursue in the YA world at large. Thanks!

[terrylj.livejournal.com]

I thought you meant fantasy too, since that's what you were writing. It's been a long time since I read any YA that wasn't fantasy, but Caroline B. Cooney was intermittently good. "The Face on the Milk Carton"--enjoyable read. The sequels--so-so. "Among Friends"--extremely good. Some sort of time-traveling series of four books--not nearly as good as it should have been, from the premise.

And Ellen Raskin's "The Westing Game"--totally awesome. I've read a couple of other books by her and enjoyed them, but it's been many years ago--don't know if I'd still like them now.

OK, I'll stop now.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

The odd thing is, I'm not sure I ever actually said I was writing fantasy. Since...I'm not, really. :) I'm writing something (or will be writing something) with a supernatural/surreal element, but not pure fantasy. But maybe I did say that, and just can't find it.

Anyway--yes! The Westing Game is awesome. It's one of the few books I read as a kid that I still remember. Really sticks with you. Will look into those others too... thanks!

YA reader from way back

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, teen lit by the right authors has it all over adult fiction. YA works seem to have better stories, and give me more of the stuff what I looks for in a book. Plot, characterization, approachable style, excitement, that sort of stuff. Yet people look at me funny--"Isn't that a *kids' book*?" That ever happen to you?
I can heartily recommend everything Diana Wynne Jones ever wrote, but especially "Dogsbody". What with the recent boom in YA fantasy, most of Jones's books are available in stores again. (Ooh, kids these days have it so easy. Why, I remember when I had to get all DWJ's books on interlibrary loan and it took THREE WEEKS to arrive and... ^_^)
Meredith Ann Pierce has also been recommended. I'd look for "The Darkangel" trilogy.
Yours ever,
April the Lurker

Re: YA reader from way back

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't even try to talk to people about reading YA, unless I already know they'll understand. :) Sounds like I'll definitely have to look up D. Wynne Jones. Thanks for the recs!

[narfistic.livejournal.com]

Have you read Kevin Crossley-Holland's Arthur trilogy? I've only got the first one so far, but it looks great. Have heard nice things about his other stuff, too.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Haven't, no... may need to look into that. I do have a soft spot for the Arthur legend, in some moods.

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

Some of these have been mentioned, others not. Pretty much all F&SF because that's what I read.

Pierce, Tamora. Two different worlds full of stuff, three tetrologies and a duology in one and two tetrologies in the other. Start with Alanna: The First Adventure for the first and with Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book for the other. The second group is a little "younger" than the first.

Duane, Diane. As recommended above: the first in the series is So, You Want to be a Wizard.

Pratchett, Terry. Most of his Discworld stuff is adult, but he has 3 YA Discworld books (The Amazing Maurice, Wee Free Men, and Hat Full of Sky and two non-Discworld YA trilogies. The Johnny Maxwell trilogy starts with Only You Can Save Mankind and the Carpet People trilogy starts with Truckers.

Cooper, Susan. As above. Start the sequence with either Under Sea, Over Stone or The Dark Is Rising; read both of those before going on to book 3, Greenwitch.

Alexander, Lloyd. He's got a lot of YA stuff, but the ones I'm familiar with are the Chronicles of Prydain. The Book of Three is the first. There was a rather dreadful Disney movie, named after the second book, The Black Cauldron, using mostly plot from the first book and mangling it badly. The books are much better.

Eager, Edward. Half Magic is the first book.

L'Engle, Madeline. A Wrinkle in Time is the first book, but I always skip it and go on to A Wind in the Door because the protagonist in the first p!sses me off beyond the bearing of it. So if she annoys you, move on - later books are better. She also has another, non-fantastic YA series, that I couldn't tell you where to start with.

Montgomery, L. M. Both the Anne books (start with Anne of Avonlea) and the Emily books (Emily of New Moon).

Jones, Diana Wynne. In addition to the books named above, the Chrestomanci books are fun. (The Lives of Christopher Chant or Charmed Life are good places to start.)

Ransome, Arthur. These aren't fantasy. The first book in the series is Swallows and Amazons and it goes on another 11 books afterward. Children sailing and playing in the Lake District in England in about the '30s. Great fun.

McKinley, Robin. Most of hers is YA, some Newberry Award winning. The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword are in the same world; the others are stand alone. I'd recommend anything with her name on the cover. (Not for this project but for your own edification, don't miss her adult fantasy Sunshine.) And her Robin Hood retelling, The Outlaws of Sherwood, is the one that my brain insists is canonical.

Aiken, Joan. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and sequels.

Wrede, Patricia. Four books with Dragon in the title, starting with Dealing with Dragons. Also, she and Caroline Stevermer had a letter-writing game turn into two books, Sorcery and Cecelia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot and The Grand Tour. Also, Wrede's Mairelon the Magician and Magician's Ward. The four for which I gave titles are all in Napoleonic England (and Europe) with magic in. (The pairs each go together and are book-sequel pairs; although the universes are very similar I don't think they're all in the same one)

Tepper, Sherri. The Books of the Great Game. I think they've been repubbed in omnibus, but the individual nine books are unobtanium.

Alcott, Lousia May. Again, non-fantasy. Especially the sequences starting respectively with Little Women and Eight Cousins.

Heinlein, Robert A. Many of his shorter works are juveniles.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Wow! I'll be needing to come back to this post for reference again and again, I see. :) These all sound very tempting.

I did read the L'Engle series way back in childhood, but barely remember much. May need to re-read them at some point.

And I definitely remember Little Women. *obligatory sigh of happiness and poignancy* I woulda married ya, Laurie. I woulda.

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

Glad to help. The scary thing was I composed the post by wandering back and forth between the computer and my bookshelves, going, "Is that YA? Not really. Oh, but that is, and that, oh, and I should mention that..."

Two others that come to mind, that aren't on my shelves (damnit): Author Anne Mason, the titles are The Dancing Meteorite and The Stolen Law. YA SF with interesting worldbuilding.

Also, most of the Liaden books are not YA, and I'm not sure I would have counted this one as YA either, but Balance of Trade just won the Hal Clement Award for excellence in YA Science Fiction, so I guess it counts. The authors for the whole sequence are Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. It has multiple viable start points, because the series as it stands encompasses 9 books (and a collection of short story chap books) in 4 different time periods (2 are only a generation apart, though). Internal Chronological order is: Crystal Soldier, [Crystal Dragon (forthcoming)], Balance of Trade, Local Custom, Scout's Progress, Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change, Carpe Diem, Plan B, and I Dare. Start points are Crystal Soldier, Balance of Trade, Local Custom, Conflict of Honors, or Agent of Change. I would recommend starting with Local Custom and reading that septet, then going back to pick up Balance of Trade, then the Crystal duology (the second book of which is due out early 2006). [There are also omnibus books: Pilot's Choice is Local Custom and Scout's Progress, and Partners in Necessity is Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change, and Carpe Diem.]

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

Ack! Screwed up the URL! This is the site for the Golden Duck awards for excellence in Juvenile and YA Science Fiction, which include the Hal Clement award (for YA), the Eleanor Cameron Award for middle grades, and an award for picture books.

Also, while I'm correcting, have a ) to close my left-open parenthesis in my first comment (in the Pratchett paragraph, after Hat Full of Sky).

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Wow, more good ones! Thank you!

[pippin85.livejournal.com]

I think you enjoy teen lit because the writing flows more than, say Tolstoy. I second the nomination of Anne McCaffery, but I think her Acorna series is more true to the YA name tag. The end of the series gets pretty rotten but the first 2 or three of the books are pretty good.

Christopher Stasheff's series about Wizard Matthew are very good, though hard to find and heavy on the Christian allegories. (They take place in kind of an alternate universe mideval idea)

Anything by Ursula LeGuin she writes in many genres and her essays on writing sci-fi and fantasy are entertaining and informative. I heart A Wizard of Earthsea it's very different and much better then the movie the Sci-fi Channel made of it

Gail Carson Levine fleshes out and rewrites fairy tales fun and inventively (Ella Enchanted) they are supposed to be for ages 8 and up so I guess they fall into kiddie lit but they are such a romp

A few more of the books I still reread and love: Julie of the Wolves, Jacob Have I loved by Katherine Paterson, Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman, and Running out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

[integreillumine.livejournal.com]

http://crasch.livejournal.com/401801.html (maybe for ref?)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Good thread--thanks!

[aurelei.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for fantasy, try any and all of Tamora Pierce's stuff. Good fun.