YA Reading Challenge #4: Tasks and Discussion

[Lydia]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in my eyes, is definitely not a YA book because of the role of the male. But it is also one of the most intriguing books I have ever read. To me it is more freshman/sophomore college level.

[Jennifer W, WT Moderator]

Thanks Heather, I think it may be. That means it's a US award, bummer.

[Usako]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo definitely is NOT YA material. It would not let a teen read this book solely b/c of the level of violence.

[Misty]

3.20 - preferably, yes. Can you work in one of the LGBT books elsewhere? If not, I'll let it slide, 'cause at least the folders will be seeing some play.

I had pretty much decided on Brave Story. I have Thief Lord, and I tried it once and got about 10 pages in before giving up. I thought it was a mood thing at the time, but then I read Inkheart and have not been able to make myself pick up another Funke book since. I wanted to read it and get rid of it, but at the same time, I want to enjoy myself, and Brave Story sounds interesting. Thanks for the opinion givin'. :)

[Misty]

That's a good looking list, Heather. And sewing project = yes, please!!!

[Becky]

Wow... this challenge looks good! Heather, I had to check it out after you used one of my 5 stars for 1.20.

I may have to give this one a go! :D

[Misty]

Yay! Any participation, no matter how small, makes me warm and fuzzy, folks. :)

[Misty]

AND WE'RE OFF!

I will try to have all links and extras done by tomorrow.
Also, I am going to read one of my quicker books (verse) today to get the board started.
Looking forward to seeing what people come up with.

[Angela Sunshine]

Better get a point reporting board started soon, I have a three day weekend! lol...

[Misty]

Ooh, noted!

[Kellee]

Misty,

Where should I post the review for 4.5?
Should I put it under the correct discussion board?
Should I put it in here?

[Misty]

Write the review as normal when you rate the book (you know, the edit box for that book) and then give us the link here, with maybe a brief idea of what to expect. You can link in the appropriate discussion thread too if you want, but thats optional.

[Kellee]

My Strange Angels review for Task 4.05

[Misty]

Well, you really want us to see it, don't you...
;p

Alright, so the last one works and goes straight to your review. I can't delete someone else's posts, so you want to delete the first 2 to prevent confusion?
(and I read it -- good job!)

[Kellee]

LOL- oops! I kept on editing it and I guess GoodReads decided to post the edits :)

[Misty]

Happens to the best of us.
^_^

[Kellee]

Misty- I technically have 12.5 points since I did half of a 15 point task... Do you want me to keep track of partial as well?

[Misty]

Whoops. That's my fault, I put it in the 10 pt spot.

[Kellee]

I'll start keeping track of partial, just to help you out ;) My OCD wants me to anyways.

[Misty]

:D

[Becky]

D'oh!! I should have waited to read Milkweed until the challenge started. Poor planning, Becky. :(

[Misty]

You finished it on the 30th?!? So close!

[Becky]

I know. I read it in one day. Hehe... Oh well.

[Lydia]

For the re-telling of fairy tales, Grimm's are basically short and I found them online at a university site:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/

[Lydia]

Lydia's YA Reading Challenge #4 List:

1.5- - The Amber Spyglass
1.10 - Haunting Of Alaizabel Cray
1.15 - Fever 1793
1.20 - Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
1.25 - Bad Kitty and Kitty Kitty
Buddy: TBD

2.5 -- Shooting Stars Everywhere
2.10 - Man from the Other Side
2.15 - Bog Child and Postcards from No Man's Land
2.20 - Weedflower and Dear Miss Breed
2.25 - Down to the Bone and Name Me Nobody and The House You Pass on the Way
Bonus: Twelve Dancing Princesses and Wildwood Dancing

3.05 - [Linda's Ongoing Challenge:]
3.10 - Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
3.15 - [action/adventure:] - Bloody Jack
3.20 - Dance on My Grave and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
3.25 - Beauties and Beasts and The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and TBD
Bonus: TBD

4.05 - We All Fall Down
4.10 - Crunch Time
4.15 - America
4.20 - Foxfire
4.25 - The Knife of Never Letting GoThe Knife of Never Letting Go
Bonus: Jumper

[Lydia]

Misty: The theme for 2.25 was teen lesbians of different cultures coming out. The House You Pass on the Way is exactly 99 pages. Can that still count?

[Misty]

Yeah, I'll let that slide. I mean, you ca pack a lot of power into 99 pages, 1 more's probably not going to make a difference. And maybe you can let us know when you're done whether 99 pages was enough, or whether it needed more.

[Lydia]

Already covered it in my review. Hey Misty Buddy -- when are you going to suggest my Buddy Bonus for Section 1.0? I hope this isn't proving to be too much with work. Please send me an e-mail if you need any help at all.

[Misty]

No, I just didn't want us to have too much of a jump start on everyone else, since their buddies aren't announced yet.

[Angela Sunshine]

Well, I didn't get in nearly as much reading as I would have liked over my long weekend! But family obligations called... and it didn't help that I chose Holocaust books to read first. So hard to read. Horrible, horrible truths.

[Misty]

:(

[Usako]

One of these days I'll do the YA Challenge instead of the Seasonal Challenge. It's more atm that I have a stack of bought books that I haven't read yet that I SHOULD get through first!

[Misty]

Oh yeah. I know what you mean, Tanja. I just try to find ways to work them into things like this, that way I have something pushing me to read them.

[Lydia]

No problem. With my vision issue (I'm now on 8 drops/day in each eye -- so as soon as my vision clears, it's time for another set of drops), I just need to get a handle on the amount of pages I'm commiting to.

[Misty]

I won't go overboard on page-age, I promise. :)

[Michelle]

A couple of tasks I'm working on:

2.25: Theme young/child brides: Indian culture: Keeping Corner and Mormon/Polygamy culture: Sister Wife both of these deal with young girls who were in arranged marriages as must follow the rules of their societies whether they agree with those rules or not. So far they sound interesting and both came highly recommended from several sources.

3.15: Misty Pick! The Bermudez Triangle LGBT genre roulette! Sounds interesting and I hope the book arrives soon for me to get started!

[Misty]

Ooh. Please do tell us what you think of them all. I love the theme you picked. And I'm considering switching oneo f my LGBT books to TBT. We've been talking about it so much, and the Fl censorship has be interest piqued. I'll probably swap something out for it.

[Michelle]

Misty wrote: "Ooh. Please do tell us what you think of them all. I love the theme you picked. And I'm considering switching oneo f my LGBT books to TBT. We've been talking about it so much, and the Fl censor..."

I say go for it! Honestly if you never recommended that book to me, I probably would never have thought to pick it up, nor realize it's hidden on our shelves. Thanks! :-)

And I brought Keeping Corner with me on one of my school talks and it didn't catch much interest. Historical YA fiction seems to be a hard sell.

[Misty]

Made some changes to my list, so I thought I'd update (and cross off the ones I've done) Edits in bold. More changes may come, I'm still debating.


1.5 The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
1.10 Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (pushed hardcore by GR/real friend Jadin)
1.15 Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (on the DCPL Teen Faith and Spirituality list)
1.20 Black Maria by Diana Wynne Jones (on JOSIE's shelves)
1.25 Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure & Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country (series by author I don't know + in genre I don't read)
Buddy Bonus: tbd

2.5 tbd (debating Brave Story, Eidi: The Children of Crow Cove or The Thief Lord, all translated Batchelder winners)
2.10 Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn (set in JAPAN)
2.15 The Beguilers (IRELAND'S BISTRO AWARD) + A Little Wanting Song (AUSTRALIA'S CBC AWARD)
2.20 Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson + An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy (disclosure: Fever is a reread)
2.25 How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (set in ENGLAND) + The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm BY Nancy Farmer (set in ZIMBABWEI) [I chose world dystopias as my theme)
Buddy Bonus: [book:Wildwood Dancing|13929] by Juliet Marillier + the tale of The 12 Dancing Princesses (disclosure: Wildwood Dancing is a reread for me, not for Lydia)

3.5 tbd - I will be doing a Linda Grace Challenge pick
3.10 The Help by Kathryn Stockett (book and audio) - up for debate. I bought it from Children's Book of the Month Club, but many don't categorize it as YA. Comments?
3.15 genre #17: LGBT - The Bermudez Triangle
3.20 The Last Exit to Normal by Michael Harmon (LGBT) + All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg (NONFICTION)
3.25 I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder (POETRY) + Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (MEMOIR/GRAPHIC NOVEL/LGBT) + Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (EPISTOLARY)
Buddy Bonus: Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou

4.5 Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore -- reviewed here
4.10 Demons of the Ocean (Vampirates - series recommended to me quite enthusiastically by friend's son)
4.15 If I Stay by Gayle Foreman (one of my librarians' picks)
4.20 Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
4.25Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev -- still need to do tasks
Buddy Bonus: tbd

[Jennifer W, WT Moderator]

I'm surprised you found The Help as a YA. I guess it would be appropriate. I listened to it on audio and really liked it. Even if you don't use it for the challenge, I'd recommend you still give it a listen.

[Misty]

Yeah, I'm still debating. I might switch Thirteen Reason Why to that task and read/listen to it, because I've told the audio adds nicely to the story. We'll see.

[Misty]

Alrighty, I finally reviewed by book, Magic Under Glass, for task 4.5; here it is.

[Michelle]

Mic wrote: "A couple of tasks I'm working on:

2.25: Theme young/child brides: Indian culture: Keeping Corner and Mormon/Polygamy culture: Sister Wife both of these deal with y..."

Adding another task:
2.10: I "spun the globe" through a website: spintheglobe.net, which is a good virtual site if you need a random globe destination. I got China! So I'm selecting Ties That Bind, Ties That Break by Lensey Namioka.

[Misty]

spintheglobe.net? PERFECT! I am adding that to the lists and links page.

[Jennifer W, WT Moderator]

My library has 13 Reasons Why on downloadable audio, so I'm going to aim for that because it does seem like listening to it would work extremely well for that book.

[Kellee]

Mic wrote: "Adding another task:
2.10: I "spun the globe" through a website: spintheglobe.net, which is a good virtual site if you need a random globe destination. I got China! So I'm selecting Ties That Bind, Ties That Break by Lensey Namioka..."

I just read that- it was very good. Enjoy!

[Michelle]

Does someone want to be so kind as to "push" a book to me for task 1.10? Most books that have been pushed to me are in my typical reading genre (Fantasy) or in the adult realm. I'm also looking for something easily checked out from the library. Thanks!

[Mandy]

Mic wrote: "Does someone want to be so kind as to "push" a book to me for task 1.10? Most books that have been pushed to me are in my typical reading genre (Fantasy) or in the adult realm. I'm also looking f..."

One of my favorite authors is Joan Bauer, she writes contemporary fiction that usually has a strong female protagonist. Her books are funny and clean, appropriate for younger YA readers. My favorite was Squashed because my dad is a gardener, but I have enjoyed all of her books.

[Angela Sunshine]

I just finished The Devil's Arithmetic which is historical fiction about the Holocaust. It was well written.

[Kellee]

Mic wrote: "Does someone want to be so kind as to "push" a book to me for task 1.10? Most books that have been pushed to me are in my typical reading genre (Fantasy) or in the adult realm. I'm also looking f..."

I love Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech!! READ IT READ IT!!!

@Mic & Mandy- Hope was Here by Joan Bauer is fantastic. As was Peeled.