young adults
I never read young adult novels, but I think I'm going to start. I was always busy trying to be really a big intellectual, reading John Ashbery at like 14 because I heard him read a poem on NPR (what? As if I could understand one goddamn stanza back then? I could hardly handle putting in a tampon). When I was 9, I took a titanic leather bound
( Read more... )
My mom specifically forbade me from reading the Goosebumps and Animorphs and Babysitter's Club series, you know, so I was kind of impoverished when it came to stuff that 'everyone likes.' I did read a shit ton of other stuff though. I loved Rudyard Kipling and the Little House on the Prairie series and the Boxcar Children I was a really huge Scott O'Dell nerd for awhile, and then I discovered Jim Kjelgaard, who basically wrote Jack London (I loved Jack London) for teens, and I read all his books in which a fox or an Irish setter were protagonists, but if you don't like outdoorsy stuff you'll pretty much hate it. One outdoorsy book I have to recommend though is The Island Keeper, which is about this fat spoiled rich girl who is frustrated with her family so she strands herself on an island that her family owns and has to survive the winter there.
Lois Lowry, Avi, Paul Zindel, Jerry Spinelli, Louis Sachar - all great authors; I've included my personal favourites below, though you can't go wrong with the Wayside School series or Holes or Poppy, you know, the 'classics.' I never really much liked Judy Blume, although I'll make an exception and recommend Blubber because it was a big part of my childhood.
These days I'm reading a lot of shitty historical fiction about Asian, and shitty fiction about Asian-Americans, all of it written by Americans, of course. None of it's noteworthy, though. The Sign of the Crysanthemum is an example of what I mean, except it's not as-shitty fiction. I was also a really big historical fiction nerd in general as a kid, and I loved war fiction, so I've included two of my favourites of that genre below - both always had me in tears at the end because I was a big. baby!
Anything you can get your hands on by Paul Jennings, especially from his Un-! series, (Unbearable!, Unmentionable!, etc.) will thrill and delight you. They're short stories about the truly bizarre - for example, a boy whose grandpa forces him to eat cod liver in his muesli, but the boy refuses to swallow, and a tree grows in his mouth & out his nose - etc. Shit is cheap on Amazon since I think it's OOP, like a penny a book.
Also, anything Roald Dahl has ever written for young people. If I am pressed to choose, The BFG and James & the Giant Peach win out above the others, but I'd recommend the former to you just on a personal hunch. Ohhh and Encyclopedia Brown. Obviously the answers to all the 'mysteries' are easy to guess these days, but it's still a good series; the character of Encyclopedia is great.
so, in sum:
'historical' fiction:
Rifles for Watie: Civil War, involves Northern soldier going undercover as a Southern soldier to spy, and the Native American involvement, and the invention of the repeating rifle, etc.
The Last Mission: WWII, 15 year old Jewish boy lies his way into the (American) Air Force, gets shot down over Europe, etc. (by the same author of The Island Keeper)
The Sign of the Chrysanthemum: about a Japanese boy, illegitimate son of a samurai, trying to find his father, etc.
Dragonwings: a Chinese boy joins his father in America; makes friends & encounters racism, etc.
The True Confessions of Charlotte O'Doyle: Avi, a girl becomes a pirate. Seriously this is not as cheesy as it sounds; it's not cheesy at all; it's amazin'.
Island of the Blue Dolphins: Scott O'Dell, a young woman gets left behind by her tribe on a barren island and must survive.
Wolf Woman: set somewhere in Europe sometime during prehistory, a baby is found living with wolves and adopted by a tribe; she's never really accepted because she's of a different (dark-haired) clan while the others are fair, etc.
Reply
Chronicles of Narnia: OK, don't let anyone bias these for you. They are awesome. Also, skimming over what you're already planning to read, you might like Lewis' (not YA) Till We Have Faces, a retelling of the Psyche myth.
The Jungle Book I & II: the Mowgli stories are good, but the other stories are amazing. Sample it here.
general:
Who Ran My Underwear Up the Flagpole?: Jerry Spinelli; great story of four close friends and their middle school adventures, ex. having a fondue party and dipping salami in the chocolate and how they deal when one gets depressed and cuts all his hair off - definitely brings me right back to middle school.
There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom: Louis Sachar; a troubled boy meets regularly with a counselor to work through his problems, etc. very funny.
Good-bye, Pink Pig: a girl with no friends trying to escape the harsh realities of her life invents a secret world populated by her collection of miniatures, which come to life. then she loses one and everything falls apart.
My Darling, My Hamburger: a teenage girl and her best friend explore dating, dealing with boys (I also have to recommend The Pigman, by default. They were making us read it in school for good reason!)
Maniac Magee: classic. amazing.
Thank You, Jackie Robinson: about racism and baseball, among other things. really well written, sad & funny.
The Great Gilly Hopkins: another classic. Gilly is a jerk, but not without reason. the characters in this book are alive.
Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst: just for fun; I don't really like the Anastasia series, but in this book she purchases a bust of Sigmund Freud and he becomes her therapist. Light-hearted, funny.
Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?: also Spinelli, but unrelated to the other one I suggested; this one is about siblings trying to live and cope with each other - it is an amazing read; it completely encompasses late middle school/early high school, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is like a compendium of all that is good about 'contemporary' young adult fiction. The crazy-cool girl from California is named Zoe and paints her nails and toenails silver. Megin, one of the main characters, is best friends with an elderly lady to whom she brings old-fashioned donuts. At one point on a family daytrip the little brother barfs in a huge vat of apple cider. I mean...there are no words for this book, really.
Reply
Leave a comment