As I mention all the time, I have a lil sister. A very little sister, well not really but much younger than I am. As she tells me all the time (along with telling me how much taller than me she is, yes she is a brat). On January 22nd I will be 31 and on Febuary 9th she will be 13. This amuses her and she has taken to telling EVERYONE.
Back to my point, the lil sis is a reader and I try very hard to encourage her love of books. I want to find her fun books. Books that are well written AND make her want to read. And with so many romance authors trying their hand at Young Adult novels, I also figured I would put her to work. Child labor… and she works cheap.
So as I was making my list of books for 2007, I was trying to find one YA book for each month that the sis and I could review. And then I remembered I know jack about YA books. I have done what I do best, sent some emails and requested some catalogs.
And now I doing the other thing I do well… asking for help *g*. So tell me what YA books are you looking forward to in 2007? Or your kids are looking forward too? Or are you writing? Or are your friends writing? Tell me all about it. Come now… don’t be shy.
And now I doing the other thing I do well… asking for help *g*. So tell me what YA books are you looking forward to in 2007? Or your kids are looking forward too? Or are you writing? Or are your friends writing? Tell me all about it. Come now… don’t be shy.
Tell me a little about the book and/or the author. And I would love an age range for the book if you know it. We are in the process of redesigning my blog – yes I will most likely finally give in and move to wordwhateveritiscalled. Once the move is done I am thinking of clearing this and putting the YA reviews and rec’s here.
That way I don’t have to worry about kids googling books and ending up with an erotica rec. And well mostly so I don’t have to listen to:
“mmmmmmmoooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sybil said a bad word”
It can be any author, any plot but I am really wondering how many of our oh so talented romance novel authors are trying or have tried their hands at young adult fiction. There is one by Susan Johnson… really! And no we won’t be reading that one.
For your hard work of reccing and/or pimping, I have a reward! I have a couple of duplicate books, so on Sunday night I will take all the comments and randomly pick two name (put a note in the post if you don’t want to be in the drawing. The winning name can choice between brand new (unsigned) copies of Autumn in Scotland by Karen Ranney, i see you by Holly Lisle, The Prince Kidnaps a Bride by Christina Dodd or Must Love Mistletoe by Christie Ridgway.
January: Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s Tattoo
February: Alma Alexander’s Gift of the Unmage
March: Laurie Halse Anderson’s Twisted
May: Holly Black’s Ironside (trilogy starts with Tithe)
June: Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely
August: Heather Brewer’s Eighth Grade Bites
Names to look out for that I don’t have release dates for:
Richelle Mead
Pete Hautman
Sarah Dessen
Janni Lee Simner
Justine Musk
Sybil, thank you for giving me another opportunity to procrastinate. 😀
Oh and don’t put me in the drawing! 🙂
I wrote two young adults. Loved it. Would like to do more sometime.
Beta Blogger didn’t use to hate me. Now it it hates me.
Let’s try this again.
The only YA series I keep up with is Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries. She has both a novella (Valentine Princess) and a book (Princess on the Brink) due out this month.
Other than that? I’m way out of the loop. Adult fiction keeps me too busy.
The YA novels I’m addicted to are:
Stephanie Meyer – “Twilight” and “New Moon” (a sweet YA romance between a vampire and a human)
Libba Bray – “A Great and Terrible Beauty” and “Rebel Angels” (a great historical YA novel)
Eloise Jarvis McGraw – “Mara, Daughter of the Nile” (great YA novel about an egyptian girl)
All these books are already in print but the Stephanie Meyer series has book 3 “Eclipse” being published in late 2007.
Ashley Danielle
Ann Brashares? Brashears? The woman who wrote the Travelling Pants series. The fourth book of the series will be out in January.
Already out now: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia, by Megan Whalen Turner.
I just picked up a recent release called The Black Tattoo, a YA fantasy in which a “live” tattoo, animated by a demon sudden appears on a teen. And Kate Bryan has some fluffy but not too shallow YA books out.
Cara Lockwood (chick lit author) has also released a book called Wuthering High under the MTV imprint, which read like the beginning of a series.
I like the mtv imprint books but I thought Oh My Goth was a waste of time.
I love YA books (enough to delurk). Do they have to be books that are being released next year?
I’d recommend anything by Robin McKinley (though Sunshine and Deerskin are probably not suitable for a 13 year old because they’re more disturbing than her other books). I think I read Beauty around that age, but it wasn’t until a few years later that it occurred to me that she might have written more books and to look for them.
Diana Wynne Jones is another writer I’d recommend pretty much without reservation. She has quite a few more books out than McKinley. I’d probably start with the Chrestromanci series or something like Howl’s Moving Castle.
I also liked Stephenie Meyer’s books, Ann Brashares’ series and Mara, Daughter of the Nile, from above. I’d also include The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Perilous Gard, Madeleine L’Engle and Norma Johnston (The Keeping Days series in particular, if you can find it, as they’re out of print).
For more recent releases, Jennifer Donnelly’s A Northern Light (aka A Gathering Light) is also wonderful. I think the main character is 16 or thereabouts. Younger readers probably wouldn’t have too much of a problem with it. I don’t know if she’s coming out with another (YA) book soon.
I also don’t know if Sarah Dessen is coming out with a book next year. Wasn’t her latest just published? I haven’t seen any news on her website or blog about a new book, except that it takes her a while to write.
I recently read Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, and thought it was great, but also quite gross, with all the parasite descriptions (it’s part of the book). Might be for older teens.
O.R. Melling, an Irish-Canadian author, is I think having her books re-issued. I’ve been seeing The Hunter’s Moon and The Summer King on bookstore shelves again. Most of them have something to do with Irish mythology/fantasy.
Carol Plum-Ucci is another author I like, but I don’t know if she has anything coming out next year. She writes more mystery, with slight fantasy elements. Sometimes there’s a romance element, but it’s not usually the main focus.
Jennifer Echol’s Major Crush has more of a romance theme to it. It was a great book, and I’m looking forward to her next book, The Boys Next Door, which I think is supposed to be released next spring.
Don’t enter me in the contest, Sybil, but here are a few I’ve seen recently:
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (I think this looks like a book you might enjoy–it’s historical even!) And there’s a sequel, Rebel Angels. I actually just got the first one from Paperback Swap and might be coerced into sharing.
Mari Mancusi’s Boys that Bite and Stake That! look interesting.
Saw ya over on the TR index forum. I write YA romance, just signed with an agent and he’s subbing one of my peices. It’s total romance. Part of a series. I saw far too many girls ( mine included ) reading women’s and thought they might want their own version minus graphic sex but with a load of sexual tension.
Jennifer Laurens is the name I write YA Romance under. If you want a sneak preview copy of one, contact me at: info@grovecreekpublishing.com
Here is the blog for a few of those authors if this helps.
http://yaparanormal.blogspot.com/
My 16 year old sis and i trade books alot. So I understand the interest too.
I love Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight and New Moon books. I loved Oh My Goth as well. My sis really likes Sarah Dessen and is currently reading the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld.
I also really enjoyed The Silver Kiss, and Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis-Klause.
I have two nieces who read but not as often as they should. Probably because there are two many boys around. lol I gave one of them the “hard to find” A Girl Named Summer by Julie Garwood. It’s not a new one.
Some other suggestions are:
Now You See Her by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Nobody’s Princess by Esther Friesner
Beginner’s Luck by Laura Pedersen
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray