Jennifer's comments (member since Nov 20, 2008)

Jennifer's comments from the YA Book Club group.

@ Ralph: I think I show up as Rennifred.
@ Melody: I *want* to like Bookmooch better. I love the community, and the logo, and the blog, and everything. But for getting books I want and getting others to take the books I no longer wish to keep, PBS has been better for me. I like the fact that for both giving and getting, PBS distributes in the order things are posted/requested.
@ Darby: You should try both sites. You get new books for the price of postage + passing along things you no longer wish to keep. What could be better?

I love this thread, and everyone's opinions. I agree with all of you! What I like about YA is not so much that it is "innocent" as that it is unafraid to ask the primary questions: what is love, what is family, what am I supposed to be doing here? Adult novels address these issues, to be sure, but not with the directness and verve of YA. And to Maggie, there is no higher calling than to write for children and teens, because the books you love when you are young shape your world for ever and always. Write well!

Ralph, interesting question. I love it that you use a random number generator!

For me, its proximity. If I get a book on Paperbackswap, or a friend loans it to me, or it happens to be on the shelf at the library, that's how it gets into my hands off of my list. More rarely, if I read a really great review (in Hornbook or NYT) or something wins the Prinz/Newberry, I will special order it from Amazon. E.g., Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book.

Here's one that is actually happy and about happiness (main character changes his name to The Blue Avenger and sets out to win the love of a classmate):

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57834...


You say your daughter is tired of fantasy, but just a super-fun read (which would be light reading for a precocious 12 yo) are the Patricia Wrede Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which are very well done examples of the fairy tale spoof genre.

For happier, goofier tales, you might want to look to older stuff. E.g., Elizabeth Enright's Melandy series, about a family of five and their adventures. Eleanor Estes' books about the Moffat family. Eva Ibbotson - she writes about witches and ghosts, so that may violate the fantasy rule, but the humor is quirky and sophisticated. Carol Ryrie Brink's Caddie Woodlawn books about life in Wisconsin in the 1860's, if she hasn't read them (again, would not be a challenging read for her, but Caddie is a spunky girl with a warm heart living on the frontier = great fun), Richard Peck's a Year Down Yonder & A Long Way from Chicago about a canny grandma making her way through the Depression with dignity....sorry, can't stop myself...

Amanda wrote: "She should try the series by Louise Rennison that starts with Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. It's a sort of slice-of-life story of a British teenage girl written in diary format, which I..."

Just a different opinion, but if I had a 12 yo daughter (which I do not, I have sons) I would not be comfortable with her reading Louise Rennison. I probably wouldn't stop her, but I don't think I would give it to her either! A bit raw.