elissa's comments (member since Nov 02, 2007)

elissa's comments from the Young Adult Fiction for Adults group.

She's planned a couple more.

GRACELING's one of my favorite books from last year!

Sandi~LITTLE BROTHER is excellent! I read it a couple of weeks ago, and I think it should be required reading for ALL 13-yr olds. I know that won't really happen, but wish it would. It's scary, but so important for teenagers growing up today, and also for people who care about those teenagers.

I read the first book in the series, and don't have any desire to go beyond that one. I thought it could have definitely been shorter in the middle, so maybe it could have used a little more editing. Like Trouble says, they're romance novels (paranormal romantic suspense to be exact), and I'm just not that in to the romance genre. I'm not that in to vampire or werewolf books either, so they're just not really my favorite kind of book. The writing is fine, and I can certainly see the appeal for people who like romance and vampires/werewolves. I know that a lot of people are getting a lot of pleasure out of these, and it's great when books get this popular, but I'm glad that I don't have to read any more of them. Don't know if that helps you much, Grace!

I LOVED the Bartimeus Trilogy, Amy! I listened to them all in the car, but had to get the books out, too, because I couldn't bear to stop reading them at night! These are great for fantasy fans.

As a youth services librarian, I consider myself somewhat of a YA lit evangalist. I'm constantly trying to get adults to try a YA book, as well as trying to convince teens that there is a book in the YA collection that THEY WILL LIKE! It's not an easy task at all.

1. When I'm talking to an adult, I always mention the length of the novel. I think that's part of the appeal for me. A lot of times, I don't want to commit to something as long as the average adult novel. I'm not that fast a reader, and I like to read a wide variety of books, so YA novels allow me to do that. It's also easier to be an expert on YA novels than it is to be one on either adult OR children's novels, simply because there aren't as many of them! I also honestly think that some of the best writing is coming out of the YA world, and that adult readers are missing out if they don't at least TRY a couple of YA novels. Look at all of the ADULT writers dipping there hands in to YA writing. There must be something to that.

2. I've been reading YA novels pretty consistently since I was 10 years old. I took a break from them from about age 14-20, when I thought that they were too "young" for me! I easily went right back to YA novels in library school, when I was in my early 20's and decided to concentrate on services to teens, and I haven't stopped reading them ever since. I'm now 40, and I don't think I'll ever stop, EXCEPT for the "darkest" YA novels, which have been getting to me more than ever for the past few years. Sometimes YA novels are even more "cutting edge" than adult novels, partly because teens don't see all of the greater implications, and are not as profoundly affected by harsh realities as adults might be.

3. I created a list for other librarians during Teen Read Week in 2004, in an attempt to get them to create a display of some of these books in the adult area. I added a few books to that list just today. Here's link to my list as a Google doc:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhk8dm7k_1...

If I personally had to pick ONE book off of that list to try to hook an adult with, it would be either THE BOOK THIEF or I AM THE MESSENGER, both by Markus Zusak, who is probably my favorite YA author right now.

You can list me as Elissa Glick Webber, Children's and YA Librarian at DC Public Library in Washington, DC (that is, if 4 other people haven't already emailed you!)