Young Adult Literature

Paris, Texas wrote:I have the new John Green loaded up, and I think it's going to be a tearjerker.

The Fault In Our Stars scooped my heart out with a melon baller. In a good way, natch. Definitely a book to read at home, unless you're a fan of ugly crying in public. (I've read some spoilery reviews since I finished it, which manage to both make me cry again and simultaneously want to start reading it again.)

Paris, Texas wrote:Cheers for the feedback on Daughter, Scorpio Races and Universe. I feel I am missing the boat on Stiefvater, so I will give her latest a look.

Beauty Queens is currently on Mt TBR, so I have no feedback as far as that is concerned, but would you recommend Libba Bray (or anything else) to my 11-going-on-12-year-old niece in Grade 6? I know she recently read and enjoyed this and got permission to buy the sequel (why she selected it in the first place I don't know; maybe she thought it was related to the Emma Roberts movie) She's coming to visit in a week, and I so don't want to buy her a video game thanks to the crotchety neighbours.

I have the new John Green loaded up, and I think it's going to be a tearjerker.

Beauty Queens was the first Libba Bray book I've read and it's a bit old for an 11-year-old. IMO, though other people might disagree.

I am DYING for the new John Green. DYYYYING.

Yeah, I'm waiting for TFIOS to come in for me at the library and every day it's a fight with myself to not rush out and buy it. (Oh god, I have to go to the bookstore today.)

I just finished Fire by Kristin Cashore, and oh my GOD I loved it. Even more than Graceling, which I really really liked. Just a glorious engulfing story. Fans of Tamora Pierce should read it, even though it's a little heavier on the fantasy than Tortall. Although thinking about the Immortals series, maybe not so much. Now I am dying for Bitterblue.

Yes, Fire killed me. Cashore every now and then posts tidbits about Bitterblue on her blog and GAH I cannot WAIT.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark are getting new, less-terrifying illustrations. And by "less-terrifying" I mean "borrrr-ing."

(This is really more children's lit than YA, but we don't have a kidlit thread.)

Paris, Texas I just finished Cinder and I liked it pretty well. It was a quick read but it states quite clearly on the cover I have (which is an ARC) that it is book 1 of 4, so about halfway through I started thinking ahead to what would happen next, would each book cover a different fairy tale aspect or would she continue with the Cinderella character through the quartet. I thought the world-building was pretty good, with some good dystopian ideas - there's an evil population from the moon that have powers earthlings don't, as well as a plague-like disease. I would not buy it, but I would take it out from the library.

As for Libba Bray, I definitely think she's too mature for an 11-year old. Her writing is very satirical/sarcastic, especially in Beauty Queens, and I think I would not have understood half of her jokes/points as tween. I also didn't care for Beauty Queens, but I did like Going Bovine, in which the main character is dying of Mad Cow's Disease, so the sarcastic/angry/satirical tone feels more appropriate. But again, I wouldn't recommend it to an 11-year old.

I'm so glad to hear about this love for The Scorpio Races as that is the Forever YA book club book this month and I was wary of it after hearing so many bad things about Shiver. I also read Daughter of Smoke and Bone with FYA and our book club mostly hated it. I liked it better than most, but felt like it was only ok. It has a weird structure to me, where the meat of the story seems to only pick up in the last 1/3 of the book.

I actually really like the new artwork, but it's certainly not gonna scare the crap outta anyone, which sucks. New generations need to cower in fear as much as mine did!

In more Stiefvater news, she posted on her blog this morning some news about her next book. I like her books (yes, even the werewolf ones), and I love Welsh mythology, so...yay!

I read Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls today and what an amazing book. It totally broke my heart, but it was so well written.

schwa, I can't wait to get my hands on that one. I'm in a huge reading slump right now. I think I'm burnt out from reading way too much last year, but Ness might just jumpstart my nerdy heart!

This post reminded me that I'm always weirded out that Vicky Austin is somewhat the same age as Polly O'Keefe, and not the same age as Meg Murry. I read all the Austin books and the Time books, but only a few of the O'Keefe children books, so I don't have as much of an affinity towards Polly (also step off of Adam) and I'm always thrown when a character from a Vicky story ends up in a Polly story.

I love that book so much. It's one of my favorite L'Engle novels, after A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Also, even though I am from Massachusetts, I learned the word 'anorak' from that book too.

First of all, I can't believe I haven't spent more time at Forever Young Adult. I have a feeling my evenings are going to be spent reading the archives for the next few days.

Secondly, I can't be the only one who thought farandola were real, right? I remember learning about the cell in middle school biology, and being so close to raising my hand and asking about them, all Hermione-like. Thank god I somehow quashed that urge.

inversed wrote:.
Secondly, I can't be the only one who thought farandola were real, right? I remember learning about the cell in middle school biology, and being so close to raising my hand and asking about them, all Hermione-like. Thank god I somehow quashed that urge.

I think I figured out they were fake but figured that because of that, mitochondria must also be fake and then being really confused when they came up in biology class.

Also, I was an adult before I figured out that "Dennys" is probably pronounced like "Dennis" rather than the restaurant chain.

inversed wrote:First of all, I can't believe I haven't spent more time at Forever Young Adult. I have a feeling my evenings are going to be spent reading the archives for the next few days.

Secondly, I can't be the only one who thought farandola were real, right? I remember learning about the cell in middle school biology, and being so close to raising my hand and asking about them, all Hermione-like. Thank god I somehow quashed that urge.

Oh no, me too. But amusingly, the chemistry paper Meg read to Charles Wallace for his bedtime reading is real. I googled it a few years ago. (Also, mitochondrial illnesses are real too.)

...Dennys isn't pronounced like the restaurant? Oh.

I think I probably DID raise my hand and ask about them, because once I found out that mitochondria were real, I knew that they must be real too. And yeah, I only figured out the Dennys thing like a few years ago.

I still hear "Denny's" in my head when I read his name. Hopefully if I ever found myself in a conversation about the Murrys, I'd be able to refrain from pronouncing it that way. :B

Somehow I read An Acceptable Time before any other L'Engle books. Guess if I was slightly confused. And yeah...Polly should have let Zachary drown in Cyprus. I have just learned from Wikipedia that in the Ring of Endless Light TV movie I never saw, Zachary was played by Jared Padalecki! Lolz.

You guys, the Forever YA recap of Tyra Banks' book is amazing. E.g.:

To get into Modelland you have to walk on The Day of Discovery (seriously, just walk. Like, to the fire hydrant and back, or whatever. That is the criteria for selection) and hope that a Scout picks you. If, however, you happen to get a SMIZE before TDOD, your chances of being picked rise 91%. (Yes, it’s that specific.)

What is a SMIZE? It stands for something I can’t remember (not smiling with your eyes, which is what it actually means, and I can’t believe I just called out a word created by Tyra Banks on a reality television show and then gave an accurate definition. Or even implied that it really had a definition.) and it’s this sort of eyeshadow-y Mardi Gras-ish masque which can only be found in water. It sings, sort of like Howlers in Harry Potter yell. There are seven of them in the world, and people fight over them like Golden Tickets in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Tookie discovers a SMIZE in a tea kettle but her parents make her give it to The Myrracle, who still doesn’t make it into Modelland, on account of how fucking dumb she is.

Wow.

Gilraen wrote:

inversed wrote:.
Secondly, I can't be the only one who thought farandola were real, right? I remember learning about the cell in middle school biology, and being so close to raising my hand and asking about them, all Hermione-like. Thank god I somehow quashed that urge.

I think I figured out they were fake but figured that because of that, mitochondria must also be fake and then being really confused when they came up in biology class.

Heh, that's the way it went for me too.

Forever Young Adult is in my top five places on the internet. I love it like kittens.

Modelland is seriously worse than that even seems. There's a line that literally is -- this is an actual plot spoiler:

Spoiler:

In exciting YA news--I'm sure everyone has heard that Messy, the follow-up to Spoiled, will be out in June! Also just read that Tamora Pierce is planning another Kel book, which is supposed to

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Yay for Messy! I'm really looking forward to it, you guys! And I love the book jacket.

I finished Pandemonium yesterday - I liked it a lot, but the ending. Ugh.

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mokey75 wrote:Yay for Messy! I'm really looking forward to it, you guys! And I love the book jacket.

I finished Pandemonium yesterday - I liked it a lot, but the ending. Ugh.

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I felt exactly the same way. I thought the ending part where

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I felt the same way, but a part of me is kinda happy

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