Comments on: YA Fiction: Past and Present

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:52:06 +0000

Hi Jen,
Thanks for your post! It’s amazing how many people mentioned books they read in high school as favorites–even though we probably hated reading them and writing the inevitable essay at the time! A Wrinkle in Time and Judy Blume’s Forever have both been singled out numerous times, too.

Pam

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:45:48 +0000

Hey, Gin,
Avi and Lois Lowry are definitely two of my favorites. I’m thinking of using The Giver for the class, but there are so many outstanding books to choose from, it’s hard to narrow it down to five or six.

Thanks for sharing!

Pam

By: ginny g

ginny g — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:44:29 +0000

My memories of reading in elementary school revolve around the reading programs from the library. Quantity was the name of the game, and I read plenty. But do I remember what…nooooooo.

I do remember many of the books I read to my fifth graders. LLoyd Alexander was a fav. I read all of the series to one class. They kept asking for the next one after I finished reading. What was I to do but comply. Fantasy isn’t my fav. genre but I loved the series. It was so well writtern. I plodded through the first Harry Potter book. It was a tough one to read aloud and some kids hated it. The Great Brain books were popular.. Wrinkle in Time was a fav and I read that many times. One year I read two of the Little Britches books and the kids loved them….old fashioned as they were. Kids loved Tom Sawyer. Lois Lowry was another author I loved. Summer of the Monkeys and books by Avi were winners too.

I will try to think of more later but right now my brain is tired.

By: Jen Letheby

Jen Letheby — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:05:00 +0000

What a great topic to ruminate about! The first important book memory was of my mom reading Alice and Wonderland aloud to me when I was five. What great visuals that book created in my mind. The next book memory that came to mind was The Phantom Tollbooth, which I remember reading in third or fourth grade and loving. It just struck me as being so clever and so different from anything I had ever read. (Black Beauty ranked right up there, but more on that later) From there, I can picture A Wrinkle in Time sitting next to my bed when I was in the fifth grade. I think it was the first book I actually read more than once. Now writing this, it is obvious I really enjoyed the fantasy genre! (Might explain my love for the Harry Potter books and The Historian). Middle school brought on a love for Judy Blume books (couldn’t wait to read Forever since my mom said I had to be “old enough”). In high school, I was fascinated by Anne Sexton’s poems, since I (like numerous other young girls) had an obsession with horses (hence the love of Black Beauty) in grade school. Favorite high school book–Of Mice and Men. Fascinating look at human nature (hence my major of sociology in college).

By: Pam

Pam — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:47:02 +0000

Hi Bethany,
Glad you joined in the discussion! Thorn Birds–I remember it, especially the mini-series. It’s a “crossover,” I guess you’d say. So many fit into that category, like To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, P&P, etc. I’m having fun putting the class together, and it’s great getting the dialogue going on here!

By: Bethany

Bethany — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:31:23 +0000

I definitely read and enjoyed Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, but the book I remember being the most moved by was The Thorn Birds by Colleen Mccullough – I don’t think it qualifies as YA, though. And, I am not even sure I remember what it was about – except the priest thing – but it definitely made some kind of impression.

I also loved the Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, but again, not sure if that is YA (this time scaling younger), but maybe it is and I was just younger than YA when I read it.

The books I have enjoyed most as an adult, reading YA, were rather extreme between them: Katherine Paterson’s Jacob Have I Loved and Louise Rennison’s series starting with Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson.

I can’t help it, I love that series – I laughed all the way through it. Oh, and yes, I am a big Harry Potter fan and am not afraid to state it!

Hope you have fun with the class!

By: Pam

Pam — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:45:30 +0000

Hi Jane!
How good to hear from you. My step-daughter Dana said the same thing about Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret! That book keeps coming up again and again, so I’m thinking it’s one my class should read.

Hope to see you soon.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:42:19 +0000

Hi Pam, My favorite was Are you there, God? It’s me Margaret. This book was one I read over and over and thought Judy Blume must have been able to read my mind. How could she know and understand all the feelings I was experiencing as a young adult? She put into words what was sometimes bottled up inside of me as well as put words to what was already in my heart… love to you. Jane

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:03:08 +0000

Typical teacher, I just read the directions. My favorite was Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury It is a rite of passage story, not the science fiction he was famous for.

By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Jacqueline,
You were really an ambitious and voracious reader! Thanks for your input. Lots to consider.