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San Francisco, 7:18 AM
Tue Nov 24
25 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/05/09
I'm in favor of books where girls do magic and have powers. I will read anything where girls do magic or have powers.
Also, seriously, why all the hate on YA? There are so many great classic works of literature that are YA (Robert Cormier and Judy Blume come straight to mind as well as Robin McKinley's stuff).
It's historical fiction not sci-fi/fant but I would also heartily recommend the last National Book Award Winner "What I Saw and Why I Lied" by Blundell (who's- fun fact- only other titles she's written were Star Wars books targeted for 9 year olds). It's flipping amazing.
Another great war/historical one is Peet's "Tamar" which is a fantastic WW2 intrigue/spy novel. There's loads more but I'm prattling on...
I'm just saying it's not all Twilight and Gossip Girl people.
11/05/09
My daughter was reading a lot of YA but then she read some Margaret Atwood books and now she finds that much of the YA doesn't satisfy her anymore. I have begun to lend her my books that I think that she will enjoy and hopefully save myself a few dollars as well. #books
11/05/09
So basically, all of you calling YA trash need to actually read some of the recent YA lit. #books
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(I really hope he writes something new soon) #books
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The main problem I have, however, with most YA fiction is that it is written in a way that treats its audience like idoiots. Young people are not stupid. They may lack worldly experience, but they still love reading things that challenge the mind.
In that sense, I find that literature aimed at that audience is much better when written by people who also write adult works. For example, Heinlan, Andre Norton, Orson Scott Card, Robert Jordan, Neil Gaiman (I know, I know this is looking a little too fantasy), Edith Nesbitt, C.S. Lewis, etcetera!
When the author is an adult who only writes fiction for YA then we get filtered, usually publisher dictated, stories that are not didatic enough and they end up straying into the trashier, non challenging end of the spectrum. ESPECIALLY when it comes to sci fi. I am not refering to all published YA fiction here, but there seems to be a trend.
YA sci fi readers, like myself when I was younger, will tend to go straight to the main stuff, because it doesn't pander to teenage cliches which I would posit most YA readers who like sci fi would find uniteresting and turn them off the story.
So if we have more Adult Sci Fi writers writing for teenagers, then perhaps we might have more good YA sci fi, and less YA sci fi hate. #books
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I think kids who like sci fi tend to read up. That is, get straight into the meatier adult stuff, rather than the YA which they see as juvenile. Its not always true, as you mention a prime example of Enders Game, which I do look at as a YA novel, no matter its themes. It is exactly what YA sci fi should be! Decent and didactic! #books
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It's an interesting read and I recommend it for those that get AP. Unfortunately I think you have to be a subscriber to access the online version of the article. #books
11/05/09
I also read James Bond at the time because it was titillating, although now I can see that they are not the best for a young man whose images of women are being formed. I'm never sure what to recommend to teen boys. #books
11/05/09
"Oh woe is me. I am a beautiful young girl with a multitude of options for my future and all the hot boys want me. Life is just so hard. Excuse me while I pout is such a way that all the boys will come running."
I have read several of these popular new YA books and none of them deal with war, self-harm, gender, existentialism and what little sex and drugs they deal with are so absurd at best that they make you want to burn the book. #books
11/05/09
There are many exceptions to my disguised, which is aimed a books like Daniel X and Twilight. #books
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11/06/09
So...lamepires it is? #books
11/05/09
Also... YA novels are easier to hold while "taking a meeting" than say a 1k+ page tome.
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But thanks for the motivation! I can do it! #books
11/05/09
All quite easy to read as well.
If I can recommend one YA sci/fi series - The Deepwater Trilogy by Ken Catran.
[en.wikipedia.org] #books
11/05/09
Dan Brown isn't exactly the most dense writer in the world nor is James Patterson and all his "co-writers." I can't imagine anyone with a HS level education having difficulty getting through any of those. #books
10/20/09
10/19/09
I would start adding some names like Ursula K. Le Guin, Mary Shelley and Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, STAT, before said YA mentally assigns sci-fi to irrelevance, or worse, actually believes that the genre almost entirely privileges a certain group's world view over everyone else's.
Some resources are here, and there are certainly others to be found via Professor Google.
[feministsf.org]
[www.mamohanraj.com]
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10/19/09
The Stainless Steel Rat books are great for teenagers, I think. #youngadultsciencefiction
10/19/09
10/19/09
I recently read The Martian Chronicles after avoiding it for the longest (why? I don't know! Biggest mistake I ever made.) Best take(s) on the Martian phenomenon I have ever read. Ray Bradbury is and will always be my favorite science fiction author. #youngadultsciencefiction
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Winner of the Newbery and the National Book Award. #youngadultsciencefiction
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I'm also surprised to see Enders Game on the same list. While the characters are young, the themes are a bit more mature than I think my little one could handle until high school. Though I could be misjudging, as I don't recall how old I was when I first read Ender.
Maybe you feel Pern is fantasy, but what about Decision at Doona? McCaffrey was as active in my early SF reading as Heinlein, and far more palatable when I was a child than Asimov.
And Pip and Flinx, which I am redevouring as an adult, would appeal to many children, no?
10/19/09
"Citizen of the Galaxy" is excellent for tweens/teens, I think. Nothing unsuitable, but plenty of mental stimulation with the different cultures.