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Wednesday, May 16, 2007Book PollOkay, as a young adult writer, I've often got questions burning on my brain, and now you'll be privy to some. Please take a moment and post your answers in the comment box -- I'm seriously interested in reading them! 1. If you have children, work with children, or enjoy reading young adult novels -- who are you favorite authors and why? 2. How do you feel about today's trend of more "sex and stuff" in novels labeled "young adult?" 3. What do you feel differentiates between an "adult" and a "young adult" novel? 4. What kind of stories do you feel most comfortable allowing your children (or students) to read and why? 5. It has often been said that fantasy is an excellent genre for encouraging the "reluctant reader" to READ. Do you agree or disagree? Labels: books |
About Me
I am: Mother to five stunningly individualistic children... Writer of young adult fantasy... Passionate advocate for Women At Home... Madly in love with my husband... In need of Organic Gourmet Chocolate on a regular basis. I've got a Paypal account if you'd like to contribute to the cause....
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12of my readers are feeling chatty:
1. Sandra Boyton, Eric Carle, and Dr. Seuss are favorites at our house, but I am anxious to get to older books some days!
2. I find them totally inappropriate.
3. Subject matter, theme...hmmm...good question. I have read some YA novels that I considered too adult.
4. I have found that I've become even pickier with children's books. When I was teaching, I was always complaining about the quality of books that were published. And now that I have children, it takes a lot to impress me.
5. I disagree. I have found(in a classroom setting)that the children who did not like to read had trouble grasping fantasies. They were more likely to read stories that they could relate to more easily. But the school I worked in wasn't typical, so my answer may not be valid.
1. J.K Rowling... sort of spans most age groups
2. A real bad idea. YA get in enough trouble without novelists putting new ideas in their heads
3. The magnitude of the troubles/issues/worries. A zit versus making a car payment.
4. Books that stretch the imagination. Fantasy is always good for that, provided the usage of dwarves and elves is kept at a minimum! :) Tolkein did it right, others wannabees haven't.
5. Agree if it isn't hardcore fantasy. "The Ogre Mage harkfloyed the Nerwich Mangtooth through the left of its three hearts. Ice-blue flames bagurgitagled through the strilnoin flesh goohoinkers sending the Orb of Drahoingahurley sailing into the methane laced ether." Then again, "The Great Brain" is always a good one.
1. I like any young adult fiction that has a lot of depth, deals with pertinent themes (family, loss, death, identity, etc.), and ends on hopeful notes. I like any young adult fiction that grapples with the tough stuff and is inspiring at the same time. I believe in showing young people harsh reality, but at the same time showing them that there is hope and a lot of good in this world.
2. This is a trend I am disgusted with. I see these books in the children’s/young adult sections of bookstores and see young girls reading them and feel very disappointed. Chic lit for teens and pre-teens - I hate it and if I had a daughter I would try my best to keep her away from trash like that. Yech. Very inappropriate for young readers.
3. Young adult novels have young protagonists and deal with issues that young people struggle with (peer pressure, acceptance, self-esteem, etc.). And the young protagonists solve their problems/overcome the conflicts with minimal interference from the adults. And no “sexy stuff”!
4. Anything but the “sexy stuff”!
5. I definitely agree. Children get bored so easily. Fantasy is an exciting, action-filled genre that captures their imagination and holds their attention.
J.K., Eoin Colfer, and others are must reads in our home. The trend towards more adult themes in YA literature is disheartening. There is enough of that garbage on T.V. and in the movies kids are trying to see. We don't need to inundate them with more of that before they are ready to handle that in real life.
The difference between adult and teen (YA) novels should be that you wouldn't place the characters into situations that the reader couldn't handle. That goes for adults as well as kids. That may not always be possible in adult fiction, but you should strive for that in YA fiction.
I try to read the books my kids are reading. We like everything from Fantasy to historical literature.
I agree. Fantasy can grab hold of someones imagination and then they can't wait to turn the page to find out what will happen next!
My favorite kids authors are David Shannon, Sandra Boynton, and Doreen Corbin (you know, duck for president, diary of a worm) That's the age we are at around here.
I am disgusted by the trend in teen novels to go to the sex and junk lately! I don't know what to buy my neice without reading an entire book before purchasing it for her. I cannot believe the junk that is "okay" for teens. Not my teens, not as Christian teens... thinking whatsoever is pure.
There are very few differences now between adult and young adult novels. Too fine a line!
I think we will be taking it as it comes as far as what my boys will be reading.... lots of pre-reading on my account. Can't go wrong with the box car children, or bobsey twins!
I think it depends on the reader. I don't read fantasy, don't like it and if that's what someone would have told me to read, I wouldn't be a reader today. It totally depends on the interest of the reader.
I have had your blog open in my browser since about 6:30 this morning, I kid you not! Unfortunately it practically takes an act of God for me to sit down and write anything that actually requires real thought...
I'll pray as I type. ;-)
1. Sarah Boynton - because of her ryhythms, Rowling - her books are fantastical and well written. Those are my two favorite authors from two different 'age groups'
2. I think it is inappropriate. Children are going to learn about that soon enough in the 'real world', their literary world should encourage normal CHILDHOOD.
3. Young adult novels should deal with the challenges and situations that are age-appropriate - not encourage the contemplation of issues that being fed to our children IRL, which, unfortunately, are not age appropriate.
4. We are pretty open about what our children read - encouraging them to find a subject that interests them and looking into it, reading fantasy to encourage their creative nature, and reading classics because of the purity of the literature.
5. I agree. Though, more than fantasy being the only genre, it is apt to be whatever they find interest in. If you have a boy who would rather be out playing army commando, he would probably like Clive Cussler (sp?) rather than Tolkein.
1. If you have children, work with children, or enjoy reading young adult novels -- who are you favorite authors and why?
favorite authors for young adults:
Avi, Paulsen, Rowling, Eva Issobett (?), Jerry Spinilli (?),Richard Peck, Andrew Clements, Barbara Brooks Wallace, Patricia Grief ?, E.G. Speare, John Bellairs, Wm Hobbs...
to name a few
2. How do you feel about today's trend of more "sex and stuff" in novels labeled "young adult?"
i dislike it....they can get full blown sex and porn from video, video games, movies, radio, etc......literature should leave a hint of, but not expose it all......let's leave something for the imagination, and for the future
3. What do you feel differentiates between an "adult" and a "young adult" novel?
myy kids want to read Stephen King, and I say no. for example IT, a great book, and if it were just the scary monsters, sure....but there's the whole redneck in the bar going after the homosexual...blah blah blah, plus the gang bang scene at the end........too much for young minds.
i love a good coming of age, and romance, just not smut
4. What kind of stories do you feel most comfortable allowing your children (or students) to read and why?
just about everything, really, except smut. we read banned, classic, current, trendy, historical fiction, sci fi, fantasy, etc.
5. It has often been said that fantasy is an excellent genre for encouraging the "reluctant reader" to READ. Do you agree or disagree?
reluctant readers need something that will grab them, but i think most fantasy is written poorly, so it won't keep them reading forever.
the difference between a quick, fast, nice read and a story that is so rich with language that you can smell the woods and taste the danish, will be what takes a non reader into an every day reader.
1. If you have children, work with children, or enjoy reading young adult novels -- who are you favorite authors and why?
I like the older writers: good writing with clean morals and solid values. Louisa May Alcott, Laura I. Wilder, Gene Stratton-Porter, E. Nesbit, Beverly Cleary, Edward Eager—these are some of our favorites. Also series such as Boxcar Children.
2. How do you feel about today's trend of more "sex and stuff" in novels labeled "young adult?"
It’s appalling. Totally inappropriate and uncalled for.
3. What do you feel differentiates between an "adult" and a "young adult" novel?
Not sure what you’re asking. Certainly language level, content, “explicitness”, and the overall situations.
4. What kinds of stories do you feel most comfortable allowing your children (or students) to read and why?
I allow my children to read stories of sound content, clean language, and age-appropriate situations. I allow neither sexual situations, drugs, etc., nor unwholesome language. It does not matter what genre, although we do not condone romance.
5. It has often been said that fantasy is an excellent genre for encouraging the "reluctant reader" to READ. Do you agree or disagree?
I would think it depends on the individual reader and what interests them. I would never allow something I tho’t inappropriate merely to encourage reading, however.
1. I just finished being a young adult, here are some of the authors/books I treasured: Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles plus pretty much everything else she ever wrote, Half Magic et al by Edgar Eager, Tamora Pierce's earlier work, Agatha Christie, Avi, Lloyd Alexander.
Then I added Tolstoy and other "adult books" to my repertoire when I was 15. Don't know what that says about me or Adult vs. YA books.
2. I'm ambivalent. I don't like "sex and stuff" in anything, YA or not, if it's just there for the heck of it. If it seems to add something to the story, sure, why not? It's out in the world, why not put it in literature.
3. YA has younger protags and less complex language and ideas. Bad YA tends to be obviously moralistic, which I find annoying. Good YA seems to say something about growing up without telling you what to think about growing up. The Chocolate War is a good example of this, I think.
4. not really in a position to answer this one. no kids yet. :)
5. No real opinion here. I was never a reluctant reader and I love fantasy, and I can think of multiple examples to either prove or disprove that lovely maxim. It seems to have been true with His Potterness.
1. If you have children, work with children, or enjoy reading young adult novels -- who are you favorite authors and why?
I LOVED "Peter and the Starcatchers" but Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Takes a classic and gives it a new twist for a young adult reader - I even let my 3rd grader read it! The sequel "Peter and the Shadowtheives" was also really good but content was creepy for a 3rd/4th grader - IMO.
2. How do you feel about today's trend of more "sex and stuff" in novels labeled "young adult?"
Take the trash and put it just there! Let kids be kids and ditch the junk - way too much GOOD stuff out there to clutter it!
3. What do you feel differentiates between an "adult" and a "young adult" novel?
CONTENT! - good descriptive novels are awesome - let the imagery speak for itself. Personally most of the Adult stuff out there is trash - started back to the classics and LVOEING it. Picked up a "best seller" and put it in the donate pile - jsut was not worth the paper it was printed on!
4. What kind of stories do you feel most comfortable allowing your children (or students) to read and why?
Adventure, mystery, some fantasy --but pre-read alot of that. SciFI also either get it recommended or preread it.
5. It has often been said that fantasy is an excellent genre for encouraging the "reluctant reader" to READ. Do you agree or disagree?
Agree in part- let the imagery take over. Let them savor the picture their mind conjures. BUT sometimes people take fantasy to a darker level that to me us TOTALLY unnecessary - you can use good vs evil w/o going totally DARK. I also think that some kids jsut dont like to read and even a comic book is ok - jsut GET THEM READING - the genre type will come later!
Just my opinions since you asked!
1. My daughters like a variety of authors who provide a good story line. They like Sherlock Holmes books, and The Frog Princess, and Alice in Wonderland, for example.
2. My kids aren't allowed to read trash. I read most of the books first. The occasional kiss is OK after a certain age, but nothing more than that, thank you. We've read Harry Potter books together, out loud, so that some things can be explained and the horror bits can be taken slowly and with interruption.
3. There can be a lot more "cloak and dagger", and even more suspense and adult dilemma such as death of a kin or breaking into the house while it's occupied. I don't think these things belong in true Young Adult novels. It gives them nightmares.
4. I particularly like stories that entertain them, or make them think. My children like novels of almost any setting (historical, fantasy, modern, etc.) as long as the story line is good. A bit of suspense with a happy ending are important, but as Christians I prefer novels that support Christian moral principals.
5. I have one that loves fantasy, and one that can take it or leave it, but if it's historical fiction (old west, cowboys and such) he's most likely to read it. I think the only thing he ever read all the way through was a Louis L'Amour. I suppose that's fantasy in it's own right, though, isn't it?
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