Alexis's comments (member since May 01, 2009)

Alexis's comments from the Wild Things: YA Grown-Up group.

East is a great book. I already loved the fairy tale it's based on, but it is fully its own story. Pattou does a great retelling.

Lisa Julianna wrote: "Was at a book sale today....I got several books but only one YA for me....my youngest got 4 YA.
Mine was

Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley"

I've heard good things about that author, but her stuff is still on my TBR. Haven't actually read any of her books yet.

I just read the blurb for Shadow Web and it sounds really good! I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Josie wrote: "I borrowed two interesting looking YA books today (I say, in my fabulous Aussie accent :), The Declaration by Gemma Malley, and Shadow Web by N. M. Browne - anyone rea..."

I read The Declaration when it came out. I think I expected too much from it, but I was pretty disappointed. I also didn't know there would be a sequel, so maybe that adds to it, but I didn't feel it was a strong stand alone book. I think there are better books of that type out there.

I finally got Looking for Alibrandi from the library! So excited to read it.

The Dead and the Gone - fantastic, although I actually liked Life As We Knew It better. I can't wait to read the third one! I personally didn't like Blue Bloods, but I gave the series another chance and read the second. I won't be reading any of the others.

I just finished two books - Amor and Summer Secrets by Diana Rodriguez Wallach, and Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox. Amor and Summer Secrets was a fun read about a half-Puerto Rican girl who must come to terms with her roots when her father sends her to island of his birth for a summer. Dreamhunter took about 200 pages to take off, and right up until the end I thought I would give it 4 stars. After it ended, I gave it 5. It's technically more like the first half of a really long book, so I'm glad I already have the "sequel" on my shelf.

Alisha, I'm so glad you enjoyed The Forest of Hands and Teeth! Were you already a zombie fan before you decided to start reading about them? I've only read a few zombie books, since I'm not too crazy about zombie movies. I think I like them better in novels! Since you liked this, I recommend you read World War Z. Not YA, but so, so good!

Becky, what are you waiting for? :p

I like how this has turned into Top 5.3 because we all love too many books. :) Clever.

In no particular order...

1. Harry Potter series

Because...yeah.

2. Night World series by L.J. Smith

That shouldn't surprise anyone, since I talk this series up whenever I can. She created such a solid world, and such wonderful three-dimensional characters. These books were my constant companions during my teenage years.

3. The Alice McKinley series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

I learned so much from Alice. And when I used one of my dad's contacts to mail a letter to Ms. Naylor's house, she kindly replied on her personal stationary. I was so thrilled.

4. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

This is a beautiful book.

5. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret

I feel I have to put this on the list. I certainly read it enough times.

April, I thought Lock and Key was pretty enjoyable. It's the kind of thing you expect from Dessen.

Oh yes, we understand about the books. We moved a couple months ago and my boyfriend and I argued a lot about my books. I got rid of a lot of them and now I use the library, but I still have 3 bookcases. I wouldn't have left them either! It sucks that you had to go through all that unexpectedly. At the next place will you have a lease to protect your rights as a tenant? Or is the next place the "dump" you'd mentioned? I love looking for cheap decorating tips if you ever want to talk about it.

Kandice wrote: "I think I am coming across wrong! My kids love to read, and of course I encourage them like crazy."

Don't worry, Kandice, you're coming across as a good mom who is involved in her kids' lives. :) That's totally right.

I think the main issue is "what is YA?" Not by age, but by content, because of course all kids are different. I was in an accelerated class, so we always ended up reading things that were above our age level. Some we liked, some we didn't, but I don't recall comprehension ever being an issue. My friend read The Giver in 4th grade and loved it. I wish I had. I didn't discover it until a few years ago.

Content-wise, I would consider YA probably closer to 14 and up. Maybe 13. Misty is right, there is a division - after beginning readers, there is Young Readers/Juvenile/Middle Grade. Then there is YA/Teen. Of course kids will move outside of the recommended age groups based on ability and comprehension.

However, from working in B&N, a lot of 12 year old girls do seem to be interested in reading love stories. Or they're reading awful stuff like Gossip Girl and the Clique series.

Alisha - I really enjoyed The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and I think you'll like it as an intro to zombie lit. It does have a sequel, which is something I didn't know while reading it.

My library finally got Amor and Summer Secrets in yesterday, so I started that. (I'm almost done with Dreamhunter, but I was excited about this one.) It's good so far, and a lot of the descriptions of Puerto Rico and the culture ring true.

Okay, so my library was a courthouse, not a church, but it has stained glass windows. Here is some info from NYPL and here are some pics of the outside. It's a gorgeous building.

Regarding Westerfeld...it's true, the Uglies series is vague about certain activities, so they're acceptable for younger readers. (Also because the books get kids thinking - always a plus!) I was thinking more about Peeps, which is less vague, although still not too graphic. (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about that, it's been awhile.)

I think this all comes back down to "what is YA?" Based on the books housed in the YA section of my library, I wouldn't consider it the right section for 12 year olds to find books in. I think it is very
specifically for actual teenagers. It could be possible that the NYPL - or even just my branch, I'm not sure - just shelves books in YA that are recommended for 14+. If that's the case (and that is what it seems like), I can see why they'd include copies of high school reading list material in the YA section.

I can really only speak from the bookseller side of this, but I'm trying to think about it from the library's side, based on what I've observed. At B&N it was always a question of whether or not to include
books from the adult fiction section on the teen summer reading table, since so many ended up on summer reading lists. The answer was sometimes.

Now, since we're only talking about BNW, what about something like Animal Farm? I haven't read it, but I think it falls under satire. I read BNW for school in my junior year of HS, but we were encouraged to
read Animal Farm in 6th grade. Obviously, I chose not to, but plenty of my classmates did. I don't think Animal Farm is YA, and yes, it's marketed towards adults, but again, I wouldn't be surprised to see it in YA for the same reason. (I'll have to look.) And the word "marketing" brings up the big difference, that libraries aren't selling the books, they're just trying to put them where people will
most likely look. If I worked in a library and only got asked by teenagers for Brave New World, I'd stick it in YA, too, because for every person who asks a question there are at least 10 more who don't.

Sure, consider this a push. I really think you'll like them. The first book is Dealing With Dragons. They're very funny, and quick.

Misty - OMG yes! You'll love them.

The thing is that there are a lot of books that are definitely YA that have sex and drugs. I don't think that works as a classification. Look at Sarah Dessen. Or Scott Westerfeld, Francesca Lia Block, Sara Zarr, etc. The list goes on. Part of being a teen is dealing with sex and drugs. Whether participating or not, it is still a fact of teen life. The subject is ever-present. And so it shows up in the books. The YA section is not for children, and neither are the books housed there. So while I agree that books like Brave New World or A Thousand Splendid Suns are not marketed towards YA, and therefore adult books, I can see why a library who encounters those on high school reading lists would stick one copy in YA to make it easier for teens to find. Teens are notoriously bad at asking for assistance in that setting.

To give you an idea of how my library is set up, there is a Children's section on the main floor that is very large. It's where I found Goose Girl and The Graveyard Book and Anne of Green Gables. It's an old church, so up a set of winding stone stairs (or up an elevator) you can find the YA section back in a corner. There is a table with a sign asking that it be left open only for the use of teen library patrons. (I guess so homeless people don't sleep there and make the teenagers uncomfortable, and so the teens don't spread out and annoy the old folks.) It's small, and I would say the books are exclusively geared towards teenagers. And this is why I hate the term "YA" and I'm glad it's getting used less. It's too vague. I like "Middle Grade" and "Teen," although when I was 12 I definitely read teen books that had sex in them. I think what is more important than hiding books from 12 year olds is making sure they have a strong sense of reality so they can deal with anything they encounter.

I really liked her writing style. I remember enjoying the book more than I thought I would.

This is not so much a rant as a complaint. I start my summer classes tomorrow (two online classes all summer, and night classes for six weeks, Mon-Thur 6-9:20pm). And I feel like crap. I was out for 2 hours in the rain on Thursday and developed a sore throat. Then I spent Friday with a fever. I've been coughing and hacking all weekend but since it's the only week off I had before summer session, I still went out every day and did stuff. Basically, I've been ignoring the fact that I'm sick. I've had a lot of fun, but I feel like crap, and my sleep schedule is destroyed. (Sleeping about 4am-10am.) This should be the least of my worries, but I don't want to start class as "that sick girl." Ugh. And assigning $100 textbooks for short summer classes should not be allowed. I don't care what curriculum you've set, find something else.

Misty wrote: "I don't think I've read anything else where it is not just a retelling of one specific tale, but a little bouquet of them. It's neat."

I'm also reading it for the challenge, but it's lower on the library return list. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (or whatever they're called) by Patricia C. Wrede are like that, with lots of fairy tales. You've read those, right? (I think you have but I'm not checking.)

Fi, do you wish the book wasn't so hot or the weather?