Young Adult Fiction! discussion
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What is your favorite YA novel? and Why
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Autumn Skye
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 11:52AM)
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Aug 06, 2007 03:05PM

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I'm going to say that TheGiver is probably ONE of my favorite YA stories.
i remember reading it in 8th grade and being blown away.
it did a really good job of making the reader think. the whole concept of explaining color to someone really got to me, it was one of the aspects of the story that made me realize how much we take for granted.
I'm actually really glad you added some books, i couldn't seem to get up the motivation to do it!





My very favorite YA is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I re-read every year. (To be honest, I'm not really sure it's a YA, but anyway.) Same goes for To Kill a Mockingbird -- not sure it was actually written for young adults but I love it. I also love Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Never read The Giver but so many people list it as a favorite that I'll have to check it out.


As a YA, one of my favorite books was The Silver Crown by Robert C. O'Brien. It's a pretty dark story of a girl who finds a silver crown under her pillow on her birthday, the same day her house burns down and she must run from menacing agents. She ends up at a rather fascistic institution where she and her crown are needed. What I loved about this book was that Ellen's games of pretending to live in a forest turn very, very real for her, and in a way her games have been preparing her for real adventure all along. It too me a long time to track down a copy, but I have one now, and I love it just as much as I did then.

What about Nancy Drew, or the even better Judy Bolton? Hardy Boys? Bobbsey Twins?
Anne of Green Gables, and all the other books and series by L.M. Montgomery? (My favorite series is the one featuring Emily!)
Check out some of the older books the very minute you can. Most libraries have discarded them, but that's a shame. Many of them are being re-published now, but be sure you get the original version, not the watered-down politically-correct nonsense.
I majored in Children's and YA Literature. I'm far older than anybody else here, I'm sure, and YA is still what I read more than any other genre.





Daughters of Eve, though, I found offensive because it was a straight-up anti-feminist screed. (I first read when it I was 23 or 24, btw.) The plot, as I remember it, is that this woman teacher, who’s your run-of-the-mill man-hating, ugly, radical feminist lesbian, takes over the girls’ club and indoctrinates them all with her evil philosophy, turning them all into man-hating harpies just like her. Only one girl – one of the pretty ones, of course – is able to stand up and say, “No! No! Men are not all bad! There are good men!” and they shout her down. One of the girls winds up murdering her father with a cast-iron skillet. Does she do this because he beats her mother, putting the mother in the hospital, and threatens to beat and rape the daughter now that the mother isn’t there to kick around any more? Nope -- it’s because she’s been corrupted by feminism!
The moral of Duncan’s story is that feminism is not only a hateful philosophy, leading to irrational manhating and probably lesbianism too, but also to patricide. That book was the most irresponsible, twisted piece of shit I’ve ever read. Issues much, Lois?



I'm 39 and currently transitioning from being a children's librarian to adult, and it's been a little rough. I don't miss the kids so much, but I REALLY miss the books!

And now I feel even more guilty about Daughters of Eve, as you grew up to be a good feminist, Alexis. Maybe I'd better anonymously send a new copy to the Englewood Public Library. Though I'm sure they replaced it in the last 18 years sometime, so maybe I'm off the hook.
My recollection of the scene you're talking about (yep, I am embarrassed that I remember this) is that the guy blew off one of the girls after he had asked her to the prom and she was crushed, so the girls all ambushed him, cut off all his hair so he was bald (in the 70s and 80s it was Not Cool to be bald, but now no one would even care because so many guys shave their heads), and wrote "PIG" and stuff on him so that he was embarrassed to be seen in public.


As a teen, I read pretty much everything I could get my hands on YA or otherwise. Some of my favorites were Just As Long As We're Together, and The Giver, as well as Harriet the Spy and James and the Giant Peach. I still read Harriet the Spy every so often.
Of course, the Twilight series is one of my recent favorites, too.


Also, L.M. Montgomery.

When my children were all at home, we read aloud long after they could each read to themselves. My girls and I especially enjoyed Joan Lowery Nixon's YA mysteries and historicals (The Ellis Island trilogy, the Orphan Train quartet, etc.). I had the pleasure of getting to know Joan through a writing group in Houston, and one day took my daughters out of school to have lunch with one of their favorite authors. I also wrote a profile article about Joan for Mystery Scene Magazine. A few months before the article was to run, Joan died of cancer, and MSM ran the article as a tribute to her fine work. She was committed to creating heroines who figure a way out of their problems. I felt her influence when writing my first YA, and still appreciate the way her many novels entertain and empower young readers.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It is a fantastic story about gifted children who are recruited to literally save the world. It is an amazing tale of loyalty, leadership and love. Plus, there are companion novels and sequels and the author writes a new short story in the Ender universe once a month on his website.


I really enjoyed Libba Bray's books. The first one took me a while to get into, but into it I got.
My husband had me read Ender's Game and that book was amazing.
Now if I could only get my 17 yo daughter to read YA:)



I remember when I read it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. The story even infiltrated my dreams at night! It was just incredible. I felt like it had everything any reader could want...action, suspense, romance, drama, fantasy. Ah. I have to read it again.
I also adore The Giver...although it is not pure YA to me, as I've booktalked it to 5th graders in the past.
The Book Thief is also in my top YA books. Incredible.
I will try to stop now...



Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita
The Lightening Thief series by Rick Riordan
The City of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau
These titles are for younger YA fans, really middle school stuff.
I have heard great things about Dairy Queen but haven't gotten to it yet. Am reading The Wednesday Wars for a YA book group I'm in and will let you know what I think.
I'll stop there for now.


I have aready read it twice but I just discovered they wrote 2 more books together that I want to read; but i need to reread this book again first.
My favorite book growing up was Juniper by Monica Furlong. It was the first fanasy book i ever read and I still own a copy of it. It is about a Cornish Princess who is sent to learn Magic in case her parent's do not have a son to take the throne.

I read the first 20 pp. of Diary of a Part-Time Indian and they left me cold. Dairy Queen was OK. It's a slow start (my 8th graders who stick with it like it, but no one is ga-ga over it).
I reviewed The Wednesday Wars, so I won't go over it all again here.
Goose Girl the girls are liking!

I first "discovered" Patricia C. Wrede with her Lyra novels (fantasy), the first is Daughter of Witches. I really loved those.
My favorite YA book would have to be Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I love the way she does Bella's charater. Bella's just a normal girl (in ways). She's a klutz (like me), she blushes even when she tries not to (like me), she loves to read (hey, just like me also), and she's kinda in love with a vampire (oh, shoot! Not like me).
Books mentioned in this topic
King Dork (other topics)New Moon (other topics)