Escape Artists
Cast of Wonders => Young Adult Lit discussion => Topic started by: danooli on January 10, 2016, 03:57:26 PM
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While Harry Potter and his friends are certainly giants in the YA fiction world, there's plenty more to love!
What are your favorite books, series, and/or stories?
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This last year I really enjoyed The 5th Wave and Zeroboxer. 5th Wave's movie adaptation is coming in a few months and the trailer looks pretty good. Especially as it doesn't blow, from what I remember, any of the major reveals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmxLybfGNC4
All time favorites? John Christopher's magnificently grim Tripods series and Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones. The first remains one of the best bits of post apocalyptic fiction I've ever read and the second is just flat out weird and magnificent:)
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I've always loved/reread/fondled adoringly Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom series. Haven't read the newest yet but it's on my TBR list.
The plot may not always make a ton of sense, but I love the magic system and super identified with Lirael as a young girl.
Haven't heard of any of the ones Alisdair mentioned, which means I must have some catching up to do! :)
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One that I've been reading with my nephew, and on the recommendation of kibitzer, is the Cherub series by Robert Muchamore. (https://www.goodreads.com/series/55394-cherub) It's about a secret program in Great Britain that recruits kids and trains them as spies. It's a lot of fun. Sort of as if Harry Potter had gotten a spy kit instead of a Hogwarts letter...
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I've always loved/reread/fondled adoringly Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom series. Haven't read the newest yet but it's on my TBR list.
The plot may not always make a ton of sense, but I love the magic system and super identified with Lirael as a young girl.
Haven't heard of any of the ones Alisdair mentioned, which means I must have some catching up to do! :)
I love the Garth Nix stuff that's been on PodCastle! Sir Hereward and Mr. Fitz Go To War Again (http://podcastle.org/2010/02/23/podcastle-92-sir-hereward-and-mr-fitz-go-to-war-again/) was fantastic!
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Recently really enjoyed Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children series. Also like the house of night series. a bit too much teen drama at times, but overall...
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Back in the day, I enjoyed teen mysteries a lot. The Three Investigators was always the best, followed by Trixie Belden. The others got read but were never quite as satisfying. I think the characters are more compelling and less bland. I need to go back as an adult and check to see how they hold up.
The best YA book I read last year was Windhaven by Lisa Tuttle and GRR Martin. Graeme recommended it to me. It's awesome YA SF/F with a complex female protagonist. I'll repost from my Goodreads review:
This is set on a planet with a crashed seed ship. It’s resource poor so society has technologically devolved. The solar sail that brought them here has been taken apart and built into one-person wings. The open seas are dangerous (Here There Be Dragons) so flyers using the wings are the best method to keep the scattered islands connected.
The story follows Maris, who wants to be able to keep flying and not have to pass the wings to her younger brother once he comes of age. This is effectively three connected novlettes from different periods of her life that focus on pivotal societal changes and aftershocks, some of which take decades to manifest.
There are several points where the story could have been turned easily to make it more narratively convenient, and those paths were rarely taken. Misery escalates without being overbearing. Change happens, but everything has consequences, and nothing ends cleanly.
I picked up a copy for my teenaged niece. I was pleasantly surprised that she started reading it right away and didn't put it down for a couple hours. I met Lisa Tuttle at World Horror Con and had her sign the book before gifting it. Incredibly nice author. Chatting with her was a highlight of the convention.
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Back in the day, I enjoyed teen mysteries a lot. The Three Investigators was always the best, followed by Trixie Belden. The others got read but were never quite as satisfying. I think the characters are more compelling and less bland. I need to go back as an adult and check to see how they hold up.
I remember Trixie Belden, I thought of it more as a children's book, but then again I was reading Frankenstein and Dracula for light reading in elementary school. I want to say around 4th grade, I was pretty much graduating to "adult" fiction vs children's/YA fiction. Not to say I don't enjoy some good YA now even at 45 and 364/365
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Back in the day, I enjoyed teen mysteries a lot. The Three Investigators was always the best, followed by Trixie Belden. The others got read but were never quite as satisfying. I think the characters are more compelling and less bland. I need to go back as an adult and check to see how they hold up.
I remember Trixie Belden, I thought of it more as a children's book, but then again I was reading Frankenstein and Dracula for light reading in elementary school. I want to say around 4th grade, I was pretty much graduating to "adult" fiction vs children's/YA fiction. Not to say I don't enjoy some good YA now even at 45 and 364/365
I have a difficult time gauging YA zones. I recall hitting The Hobbit in 5th Grade and it showed up later in 9th Grade English class. But Trixie Belden is the same reading zone as Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I figured they were YA, whereas Encyclopedia Brown was juvenile fiction.
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I too have trouble gauging, as I was reading those at such a young age. I read encyclopedia brown in 1st grade when I had classmates struggling with dr seuss.
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Definitely Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising Sequence. I also love Garth Nix's stories.
I picked up a copy of Windhaven late last year, but it hasn't made it to the top of my TBR pile yet. *moves it up a few books*
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I'm really enjoying holly black's Tithe right now.
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Some of my all-time favs:
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
he Abhorsen Trilogy, especially Sabriel and Lirael by Garth Nix
The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Also I've recently discovered a really astonishing author who's probably more middle-grade, Frances Hardinge. She won the British Fantasy Award last year for Cuckoo Song, which is amazing, and my favourite--probably on my list of all-time favourites for any age--is A Face Like Glass. One of the most inventive books I've ever read. It has semi-sentient cheese!
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Some of my all-time favs:
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
he Abhorsen Trilogy, especially Sabriel and Lirael by Garth Nix
The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Also I've recently discovered a really astonishing author who's probably more middle-grade, Frances Hardinge. She won the British Fantasy Award last year for Cuckoo Song, which is amazing, and my favourite--probably on my list of all-time favourites for any age--is A Face Like Glass. One of the most inventive books I've ever read. It has semi-sentient cheese!
Never thought of the Earthsea books as YA, but it truly is isn't it
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Some of my all-time favs:
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
he Abhorsen Trilogy, especially Sabriel and Lirael by Garth Nix
The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Also I've recently discovered a really astonishing author who's probably more middle-grade, Frances Hardinge. She won the British Fantasy Award last year for Cuckoo Song, which is amazing, and my favourite--probably on my list of all-time favourites for any age--is A Face Like Glass. One of the most inventive books I've ever read. It has semi-sentient cheese!
Never thought of the Earthsea books as YA, but it truly is isn't it
I think so, although I read them when I was younger. Sometimes YA is really just a marketing category.
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I also devoured a ton of humorous fantasy. I should go back and see how well it holds up. Robert Asprin's Myth series, Craig Shaw Gardener's Wuntvor novels, Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series. Piers Anthony was my gateway author to them and he hasn't held up as well.
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Piers Anthony was my gateway author to them and he hasn't held up as well.
Mine too. I was lent "A Spell For Chameleon" at camp and it changed my life. I am more than a little sad and disturbed looking back at it and his bibliography as a whole.
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Does Zelazny's Amber count as YA? I stole Mom's books and still haven't returned them. I re-read them last year and still enjoyed them. There's a little creakiness, but they have held up well over the years.
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A Wrinkle in Time always holds a special value for me, as it was possibly the first SF novel I ever read. The sequels were okay too, but not at the level of the first (still haven't read Many Waters)
Does Zelazny's Amber count as YA?
Despite the age at which I read them (preteen) I don't think so.
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Also I've recently discovered a really astonishing author who's probably more middle-grade, Frances Hardinge. She won the British Fantasy Award last year for Cuckoo Song, which is amazing, and my favourite--probably on my list of all-time favourites for any age--is A Face Like Glass. One of the most inventive books I've ever read. It has semi-sentient cheese!
The Lie Tree by this author has just been named Outstanding Book of the Year by the Costa Book Awards, only the second time a children's novel has won. (First was Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.)
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Momo or the Strange Story of the Time Thieves and of the Child That Returned the People's Stolen Time by Micheal Ende (normally just called Momo) is more of a children's novel, but it's great for all ages. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find a translation...
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The Selection series by Keira Cass - i've been hooked
and is Rick Riordan's books considered as YA?? LOL I think they're more into fantasy tho
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How could I forget?
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, the Universe, and Everything
I would stop at these three for YA. I actually went out of my way to find a collection for my niece that only included the first three books. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish is better appreciated as a mid-life existential crisis, and not as a teen. Hated it back in the day. Really appreciate it as an adult. The fifth book just makes me grumpy.
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I have never really had a solid grip on what is or is not YA, But some time in the latter half of the 80s, probably after pulling the, "I don't want to be entertained! I'm BORED!" thing once too often, I was marched into a book store and ordered to buy something. The assistant produced 2 paperbacks. One had cover art showing jeeps and helicopters and burning buildings, and whatever it was called, it didn't appeal. The other one had an awe inspiring picture of an aircraft flying over a rocky monochrome desert, and looked so delightfully desolate, I bought it first and read the title later.
For those who don't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of cover art, it was Cloud Warrior, the first volume of Patrick Tilley's Amtrak Wars series. And I saved up to buy all the other books, including the separate volume glossary. (Yes, you had a special dictionary to help keep track of everything.) That series was the story that let me know that there was a reason to read novels that went beyond writing an essay to prove you've read it. (I'm still sore about the poor grade I got for my analysis of the character and motivations of Atticus in To Kill A Mocking Bird.)
Later, I read a book belonging to my mother called Emergence, by, if I remember rightly, David R Palmer. That was a great book about a 12 year old girl and her faithful pet macaw who survive the apocalypse, only to discover that the girl is not a Homo Sapiens after all, but a member of a new species, the next evolution of man. She sets off alone, apart from the bird, to find the rest of her race and ends up crossing the US, going into orbit, and almost killing herself several times along the way.
It was full of developing self confidence, solving problems, first love, being taken seriously by real live adults, and all those other classic YA coming of age themes. I read it several times in my teens and early 20s.
Oh, and let's not forget A Hat Full Of Sky :D
BTW. Before I went blind, I really did buy books and records just because I liked the cover art. And I was rarely disappointed. Just goes to show, you can judge a book by its cover. But only if you're awesome. :P
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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the obvious Watership Down.
What's with that? It's not my favorite book, but if you haven't read it, it's well worth a read.
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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the obvious Watership Down.
What's with that? It's not my favorite book, but if you haven't read it, it's well worth a read.
Is Watership Down YA? Never would have occurred to me. See, I told you my meter is not calibrated. Granted, most of my impression is from the deeply traumatizing cartoon, but I'm confident I read this back in somewhere in either 8th or 9th grade. So I guess that's YA? Then again, that's about when I started reading horror.
Which then leads to: Is Stephen King YA? A compelling argument could be made for things like Carrie and Firestarter.
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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the obvious Watership Down.
What's with that? It's not my favorite book, but if you haven't read it, it's well worth a read.
Is Watership Down YA? Never would have occurred to me. See, I told you my meter is not calibrated. Granted, most of my impression is from the deeply traumatizing cartoon, but I'm confident I read this back in somewhere in either 8th or 9th grade. So I guess that's YA? Then again, that's about when I started reading horror.
Which then leads to: Is Stephen King YA? A compelling argument could be made for things like Carrie and Firestarter.
Not just Carrie and Firestarter, but also The Shining (remember Danny is the main character), The Talisman, Eyes of the Dragon (written specifically as a children's story for his kids), Cycle of the Werewolf, the Dark Tower series, and most of his other stories all center around kids/teens as the central characters, at least for part of the story.
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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the obvious Watership Down.
What's with that? It's not my favorite book, but if you haven't read it, it's well worth a read.
Is Watership Down YA? Never would have occurred to me. See, I told you my meter is not calibrated. Granted, most of my impression is from the deeply traumatizing cartoon, but I'm confident I read this back in somewhere in either 8th or 9th grade. So I guess that's YA? Then again, that's about when I started reading horror.
Which then leads to: Is Stephen King YA? A compelling argument could be made for things like Carrie and Firestarter.
I am not sure if Watership Down is YA, but I heard an interview with Richard Adams, and it is a story that he made for his daughters (children at the time). It was rejected 15 or 16 time because publishing houses couldn't identify a target audience. They said it was about bunnies, so it was obviously a children's book, but the content was geared towards teenagers and older, and anyone older than a child would never read a book about bunnies...
So, Richard Adam's original intent for the text was for younger audiences (his daughters), and he never intended to sell it. He just wanted to get it published to give copies to his daughters. But people of all ages bought and read the book.
This is what makes YA so hard to distinguish.
Another example is Micheal Ende (author of The Never Ending Story). He never intended to write children's books. His original hit Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomativführer was book that he wrote for himself. It can be interpreted as a satire of his elementary education during Nazi times in Germany. He picked a black lead character (one of the few in German literature in the 1960s) and wrote a whimsical fantasy adventure. It ended up being a children's book and he unintentionally became a children's author. He regretted being called a children's author and said that his books were intended for everyone.
So the line is very blurry.
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YA fiction is not an easily defined genre.
In my opinion, the themes, actions and experiences in the story are far more important a benchmark though than whether or not the main characters are young people. We actually have a story coming up where all of the characters are elderly, but, it still works for a YA audience.
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Which then leads to: Is Stephen King YA? A compelling argument could be made for things like Carrie and Firestarter.
Not just Carrie and Firestarter, but also The Shining (remember Danny is the main character), The Talisman, Eyes of the Dragon (written specifically as a children's story for his kids), Cycle of the Werewolf, the Dark Tower series, and most of his other stories all center around kids/teens as the central characters, at least for part of the story.
I'll grant you everything but the Shining. Sure, Danny's the protagonist, but thematically it swirls around Jack's anger, alcoholism, and inadequacies. My memory recalls Danny as being pretty passive, which is also a strike against it thematically as YA.
IT might be a better consideration thematically as it's about loss of innocence and the transition from youth and wonder to adulthood and banality.
YA fiction is not an easily defined genre.
In my opinion, the themes, actions and experiences in the story are far more important a benchmark though than whether or not the main characters are young people.
So, expanding on this, could you help me out and use something that is pretty universally considered YA (say, Harry Potter) and point out the key bullet points why? Then maybe a counter example of something that is considered YA but isn't? If you forced me to, I could answer the first but not the second.
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YA fiction is not an easily defined genre.
In my opinion, the themes, actions and experiences in the story are far more important a benchmark though than whether or not the main characters are young people.
So, expanding on this, could you help me out and use something that is pretty universally considered YA (say, Harry Potter) and point out the key bullet points why? Then maybe a counter example of something that is considered YA but isn't? If you forced me to, I could answer the first but not the second.
Again, these are my opinions, but I tend to view themes like the obvious coming-of-age, defining one's identity, path of learning, team building and the beginning of experimentation (including sexuality and drugs) as YA type themes.
In thinking about how to answer this question, I realize that a lot of the themes are common between YA and "adult" literature. Themes like death, addiction, bullying, friendship...all of these are prevalent in both, but I suppose it's the way each is dealt with that will land a piece on either side of this blurry divide.
I am trying now to think of an example for your second point. I think Lev Grossman's The Magicians may qualify. It's a story about a magic school, but there are some very dark elements. Most of the characters are extremely flawed and experience some horrific things. That in and of itself doesn't make it not YA, but there is a level of cynicism that, to me, pushes it to an older audience.
Maybe that's it. For me, if there is an "innocence" can be maintained through the end of the story, that is YA. I don't mean that characters can't grow, just not become too cynical.
I'm rambling, and will likely revisit this soon.
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So, expanding on this, could you help me out and use something that is pretty universally considered YA (say, Harry Potter) and point out the key bullet points why? Then maybe a counter example of something that is considered YA but isn't? If you forced me to, I could answer the first but not the second.
I've always seen Harry Potter put in the middle-grade category, actually. It's higher middle grade and Harry does get older, but when it came out the marketing category was pretty firmly MG.
I can't remember what YA author said she likes to write YA because it is about "firsts"--first love, first sex, first experience with death etc. I think it may have been Laurie Halse Anderson.
The YA editor Hadley Dyer said at a conference I attended that if Catcher in the Rye came out today, it would be marketed as YA and no one would blink an eye.
I actually read a book recently that is being marketed as YA and has no young adults in it! That was a first for me. It was Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick. It's a pretty weird and wonderful book about vampires and reincarnation and fairy tales that takes place in many different time periods. I think it's being marketed as YA because Sedgwick is a YA author and that's where his fan base is. If a writer for adults wrote this book it would never be called YA. Odd.
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I can't remember what YA author said she likes to write YA because it is about "firsts"--first love, first sex, first experience with death etc.
What about a book like The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls? I know it's not speculative (but it's certainly weird), and it may not even be fiction (officially it's a memoir), but it is loaded with firsts. I don't know if it's too raw for YA.
Opinions from those that have read it...
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Podkayne of Mars by Heinlein
I think I've read more Y/A books post 30 than pre 20. :)
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Has anyone mentioned the Redwall series by Brian Jacques? Man, I love those books... I really enjoy the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman books as well.
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Those redwall books were great books. Still are, I have them all on audio book I think I just listened to them last year.
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I haven't read any Redwall, but I enjoy this track by Kabuto the Python:
Kabuto the Python
"Verdauga Greeneyes"
The Almighty (2013) (https://kabuto.bandcamp.com/track/verdauga-greeneyes)
And if it's a series about warrior cats, I'm finna look into it. For the same reason, I'm interested in the Warriors (http://www.warriorcats.com/) series.
(Verse 1 - Verdauga)
British motherfuckers bound to shout "the guy's barmey"
while I chill in Kotir with the Thousand Eye Army
Proudly I, couched with 5,000 fly mamis
tout divine powers, live rowdy, die calmly
Sigil flap stiched to my flags atop towers
Dynasty the peak of the cats in Mossflower
Burning oil plotting strategics at odd hours
with the otter clans trading me weapons for raw powder
Zweihander strapped to the flank, collecting tax for the ranks
I got some rats with some shanks that need to eat, kid
Listen, bastard I ain't, protect your asses
Give thanks that for a cat I'm a saint, we in agreement
A. I run my fortress with ease, I run the forest and trees, I thunder forcibly
B. You men are mice, though
I used to bump AOTP, I'm kinda playing
their beat and writing graciously
Steez is hella maestro
(Chorus)
And y'all rats, kid (rats, kid)
All up in my bubble talking that shit (that shit)
I knew that you were trouble but this cat kid (cat kid)
is a motherfucker you don't scrap with, motherfucker
Motherfucker it's Verdauga, the Lord of Kotir as I command it
It's Verdauga (the green-eyed bandit, can't stand it)
It's Verdauga with the Thousand Eye Army, god damn it,
It's Verdauga
(Verse 2 - Martin)
This shit is half fanfiction, other half grand diction
Wandering far from my home and clan, miss them
And remembering the smell of a rose is damn sickening
Ambushed, to the hilt of the blade my hand quickens
The Thousand Eyes glimmer twixt trees from all around me, surround me
Dope but outmatched, I'm beaten soundly
Verdauga Greeneyes decries and treats me lousy
I'm on it though, link with C.O.R.I.M. and meet the mousethief
'Scape into the forest, skip the gate and we run
Meet the skipper in alliance with some atheist nuns
and deep in Brockhall, the critters all are majorly bummed
It seems the coup of Tsarmina means the capers is done
But I ain't playing for fun, the name is Martin, son of Luke the legend
We can talk about your fucking vittles and your soup in heaven
Dip to Badger Mountain, I ain't tryna hear your stupid reverend
Re-forge my sword with a star that fell, a super weapon
(Chorus)
(Verse 3 - Bane)
Scimitar, scabbard and mind to use it promptly
In it for the cash and dash, finna be gone, see,
and pay a couple rabbity sops to do my laundry
with ale in my chalice and sipping beneath a palm tree
My men are threescore strong
with a couple dozen oak strongboxes in which we store arms
Known to Verdauga, now we fight for his daughter
because the cat done made a generous offer
The name is Bane and I march with my sixty-odd weasels on the woods
Doing evil for the good of my people with the goods
Verdauga would've won it, but his seed they never could
hence, deceit is what I would--less a eagle get my hood
Told her that I'm down for the cause, but i'm lying
Backstabber, strike with the speed of the sky's lighting
Fighter, I do it for me or I die trying
Damned to die proud, die free, die flying
(Chorus)
Thousand Eyes, march
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There are definitely warrior cats, though they appear infrequently. Basically, the good guys are mice, otters, moles, badgers, hares, squirrels, etc. Some are peaceful while others are war-like, but all will step up and fight if necessary. The bad guys are rats, foxes, weasels, etc and are typically in roving war-like bands that want to take over Redwall Abbey and live the good life. Each book will take you about a day (or less) to read. PLEASE read at least the first 6-7 in order of publication, and forgive Redwall for a couple literary missteps that were corrected by the time he wrote Mossflower. Sorry, I'm a little obsessed. ::)
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Thanks for the tip; I'll see if my library has ebook versions; failing that I'll get 'em on paper.
How about that hip-hop track? I'm not familiar with the series so I don't know the characters - now that you bring it up, I don't even know if Martin and Bane are cats or not.
But the track's still a banger 8)
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The Martin verse is pretty spot on, so I am guessing the other two are as well. It's harder to remember the villains' individual names. So Bane may be a cat? But Martin the Warrior is THE Mouse, the most heroic of mice. :)
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Maybe Bane is a weasel? I'll watch for him when I read the series.
The name is Bane and I march with my sixty-odd weasels on the woods
Doing evil for the good of my people with the goods
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I got curious and looked him up. He's a fox who actually has a connection to Verdauga, a wildcat. Both appear in Mossflower, which is the second book (and one of my favorites).
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Has anyone read the Miss Peregrine series by Ransom Riggs? It's considered YA right? And excited for the movie even with the issue with Emma's peculiarity.
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Has anyone read the Miss Peregrine series by Ransom Riggs? It's considered YA right? And excited for the movie even with the issue with Emma's peculiarity.
I read the whole series, and emma's peculiarity about took me out of the movie trailer.
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I had to go look this up (thanks, Internet!), but I remember loving this series when I was a kid:
The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree (http://slobodkin.net/books/target98.html), by Louis Slobodkin
Now I need to go re-read them to see how a 1962 book that I read in 1979 holds up in 2016...
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almost forgot about the Tom Swift and Tom Swift, jr books. Sci-fi and adventure, kind of along the lines of Johnny Quest cartoon.
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Hey, do they have to be Spec-Fic YA books? If not, then I have fond memories of Robert Westall's The Machine Gunners. Rather than try to write one of my clumsy synopses, I'll just link to the Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Gunners).
I remember this best for the BBC TV adaptation in the '80s, (That scene where Rudy turns himself in and tries to mediate between the kids and the Home Guard, and Chaz pulls the trigger... Still makes me shiver.) but I also read the book later, and a few years ago ny nephew read it for his school English class, so it is evidently still around.
And if books here do have to be speculative, I also remember reading a short ghost story by the same author and featuring the same protagonist called The Haunting of Chaz Mgill
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Has anyone read the Miss Peregrine series by Ransom Riggs? It's considered YA right? And excited for the movie even with the issue with Emma's peculiarity.
Trying to get it read before the movie comes out. I'm about halfway through and liking it so far.
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I've read the first, and did like it. I should get the next one...
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I love both Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series. I also tried Miss Peregrine's Home of Peculiar Children but the 3rd book is awful.