What are authors thinking?

Open note to all YA authors-- before you start on your next book, please talk to some actual young adults. Or even people who deal with young adults. If you can't bring yourself to do that, here are some things that I never have any students ask for: (At the bottom, what they DO ask for.)

Novels in verse: They'll check them out, but bring them back and ask what is wrong with the book, especially since most novels in verse aren't really in verse-- they are just chopped up prose. So I won't be buying Stone's A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl. Exception to this: Helen Frost can keep writing, but I'd stick to contemporary issues. Historical novels in verse are a hard sell, even when they are good.

Novels about inner city gang members-- AFTER exciting things happen.Rehabilitation and redemption are all good, but don't start there. It's not exciting. I was relieved when Pagliarulo's A Different Kind of Heat lapsed into curse words. I was bored. Start with the shooting, start with stuff leading up to the shooting, don't start with the therapy in the detention center.

Novels about little known points in history-- I'm all for slow moving, introspective historical novels set in places that the curriculum covers, like the Civil War. Or fast paced, exciting novels set during 1912 mill strikes. But Katherine Paterson picked the worst of all possible worlds with her Bread and Roses, Too. Good in theory, but it's not going to make children like historical fiction.

Novels about anyone who swears three times a page: Likes the idea of Gil's All Fright Diner, and I think it is an adult book, but still. Do we need that much bad language in a book about a vampire and a werewolf. No.

Novels where we don't even meet the main character for 30 pages, especially when the book is only 144 pages long. Abbott's Firegirl was a long shot, anyway-- few children ask for books about sensitive young men who help badly fire-disfigured classmates adjust to school-- but if I wanted to read about that, I don't want to wait that long to meet the classmate.

Novels about quirky dysfunctional people who are not quite able to change themselves. No one ever asks for quirky dysfunctional, and yet about 40% of young adult literature is about that sort of person. Stop already! I should have know from the title of Mark Peter Hughes' I am the Wallpaper that it would fall short, and it doesn't help to have a man write about a girl's struggles with adolescence. Other topics, sure. Just didn't work.

What students ask for: Basketball and football books about students who play the sport and have a few mundane issues in their lives. Notable NO: NO boys who like girls who are secretive about their lives because their mothers have lesbian partners. Just no. And not as much baseball.

Books that are exciting from the very beginning. Things happen. People go places. Cars get blown up. Not saying that people can't sit around and find the meaning of life in their navels (that's the only way to get a Newbery, after all), but have them do it in chapter four after they have sucessfully escaped the evil, drug dealing werewolf skateboard gang.

Girly pink books about fun stuff, with few problems. Problem novels where horrific things happen to children. Don't combine the two.

Humor books. Check humor with actual young adult.

And no quirky dysfunctional. Please.

Students Across the Seven Seas (S.A.S.S.)

How could I have forgotten to mention this series? They aren't as good as 13 Little Blue Envelopes, nothing could be, but if you need to travel to exotic locations (and this is February in Ohio, so I certainly do!), this is the way to do it. Each book features a girl in a different overseas study program. Most of the girls are not as happy as they should be, so I wanted to slap some of them, but in general, the chance to travel, plus some light romance, overrode the impulse.

Pink and fluffy is my favorite. None of these are great literature, but they are great fun!

Check out all of the titles at:

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/youngreaders/features-sass.html

Food Writing

I don't hate everything. Really. Loved Schlosser's Chew on This, an expose of the fast food industry. It had historical foundation, too, and even though it told you why fast food was not good for you, it didn't call it evil. Well, not in so many words. Definitely getting a copy of this. And letting my children read it.

Of course, one book I also bought was Kimmerle's Candy: A Sweet History. Very well done, lots of pictures but enough text, too. Half Priced Books had it and I got, well, just a few copies. I've been looking for something like this for a long time, and it was perfect. It might be out of print in hard cover, but it is an excellent addition to any collection above elementary school. And even then, my 3rd grader liked looking at the pictures.

Alfred C. Martino's Pinned

This was one very intense book about wrestling. Cutting weight, running until you puke-- wrestling in all its glory. I was riveted, however, and devastated when the ending... well, not to ruin it for the types who LIKE the lady-or-the-tiger endings, but I about screamed when the book ended at the beginning of the state champion meet. I was reading avidly to see if Bobby or Ivan won, and we never find out! Arg! Very good though. Too much sex for middle school-- Mr. Martino, put less in the next one and I'll buy it for the library!

More Scott Westerfeld

Read Last Days yesterday. Had to wonder what all of the rock band stuff was-- interesting and compellingly written, but shouldn't we be more concerned about the vampires? It all made sense in the end, and my only regret was that it ended too abruptly. I was enjoying it, and thought for sure that it would be all wrapped up in a third book, but no. Sigh. Good stuff, too. Wouldn't have minded a third.

Jordan Sonnenblick

Read Notes from a Midnight Driver and read so many passages aloud to my daughter that she had to read it, too. I don't know how this author (who also did Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie) can write what are essentially sad books and make them so funny.

This book is about a boy who makes the very bad decision to get drunk and try to drive his mother's car. Fortunately, he doesn't get any further than the neighbor's yard, but he has to serve community service time in a nursing home. This wouldn't be an intriguing plot to most students, but the book is written in such a delightful and funny way that it works. The cover doesn't hurt-- fun cartoon.

Also read Zarr's Story of a Girl, about a girl who makes a bad decision in 8th grade and spends the rest of her school career trying to get past it. The family is entirely dysfunctional. Good book, but too much information, as well as language issues, for middle school.

Not liking the new Blogger style. Can't italicize titles. Sorry.

Neal Shusterman

Everlost is my son's second favorite book. (First is Lubar's Flip. He likes reality based fantasy.) It is a complicated and textured account of what happens to well-loved places and children when they die and don't make it all the way to where they are going-- they go to Everlost, where they battle a variety of evils but ultimately reach redemption. It did take me a week of reading a bit at a time, but it was good. I am not a huge fantasy fan, which would explain my reluctance.

A similar book is one that two of my children have read but I haven't-- Zevin's Elsewhere. Looks promising, and my youngest asked for her own copy, which must indicate some quality.

Geraldine McCaughrean

While her Theseus, Odysseus, and many other titles were quite good, I think I will pass on Cyrano. While I enjoyed it, I can't see many students asking for a book of its type. Her others, especially Peter Pan in Scarlet, are all excellent.

Grisham's Bleachers

Always on the lookout for football books, I thought this adult work would be worth a try and was pleasantly surprised. Nothing objectionable, just a sentimental look at one coach's career through the eyes of his players. I had a student who liked it as well. I'll get a copy and look into more Grisham. Not even any bad language. I appreciate that. The students have liked it, too. Whew.

The Yearling vs. Hell Phone

The Yearling is a wonderful piece of classic literature. Award winning, in fact. And it bored me out of my skull. Is anything ever going to happen? Granted, has it been the only book that I had on me at the lake, it would have been great. However, when I am behind in my reading (a combination of too much quilting and Beany Malone novels), I don't want something leisurely.

This is why the children prefer something like William Sleator's Hell Phone. Would I want it to be the only book that I had with me when marooned on a desert island. No. But is it an interesting, fast paced, quick and dirty read. Yes. Which is why I recommend it and not The Yearling. I am enough of a librarian that this makes me feel bad; I am enough of a middle school teacher that it doesn't.

Dodie Smith

Even though we had four snow days, I didn't read much. Just some more Beany Malone books, plus I did a LOT of sewing.

Did read 101 Dalmatians, which was fun. Well-written, if a bit dated (it's Pongo and Missus; Perdita is the wet nurse dog). Children who have seen the movie will have no problem getting through this fun book.

The only other thing I read was Roux-Lough's The Fresh Air Kid, about a girl from the inner city who spends two weeks with a suburban family. A little hokey, but an easy read. I'll try to get it out to someone today, although with missing so much school, we have over 400 overdue books!

Michael Simmons

My PermaBound rep gave me a copy of Simmon's Vandal. I liked Pool Boy (13 Mar 2006) a lot, and Vandal was not a disappointment. Boy who sings in a KISS tribute band (and is appropriately arch about it) is terrorized by his older brother, who can't make a good decision to save his soul. Interesting depiction of how the family deals with this, and the ensuing tragedy. The end let me down a little because it didn't wrap anything up, but then, that's realism! Do recommend. Will look for other titles by this author.

Kathryn Reiss, etc.

Pale Phoenix (1994) was a good time travel/mystery/suspense book. It hasn't gone out a whole lot, but I think I can recommend it. It is also a nice, small size which makes it fun. I think I have a copy at home of Time Windows, also by this author, but not at school.

Also read Robert Kimmel Smith's Squeaky Wheel, and liked that. Fairly light story of boy struggling with the aftermath of his parents' divorce. Really liked this author's Jelly Belly.

Ann Rinaldi's Girl in Blue was a bit of a twist on the girl-disguising-herself-as-boy-to-go-to-war story; she gets found out three months in but then becomes a spy for Allan Pinkerton. That was great fun. Hard to go wrong with Ann Rinaldi. I've liked everything of hers that I've read, with the possible exception of The Coffin Quilt.

Rostkowski's The Best of Friends I will keep, since it is an interesting depiction of life during the Vietnam Conflict, but Peyton's Prove Yourself a Hero and Rodowsky's Sydney, Herself have to go. Not only were they boring, but they have stupid cover art. I'll try to get them out today, but I have my doubts. Nah. I would feel bad foisting them on students. That's a sure sign that it's time for something to be retired!

Sic transit Beany Malone

It snowed on Sunday, and I felt like hibernating. Instead, I hauled a stack of Lenora Mattingly Weber's Beany Malone books out and started reading. I don't know why these books still appeal to me so much. Written starting in 1943, they capture everyday family life in that era. The last one was published in the late 60s, and reading them all in quick succession can give one the bends (wait-- weren't we just in WWII?), but they are wonderful. Life isn't easy for Beany, but I always loved the way she perservered. I like the Katie Rose books as well; depending on how long the cold that settled in my head lasts, I may read those too.

The great philosophical debate is whether or not to let my 13 year old daughter read them. Lura Green has a great essay on this type of books, and includes the line "the nostalgia I felt for Jane's movie-and-a-coke dates was so intense it was as if they were something not that I had read about once, but that I had actually experienced and lost. " That pretty much describes what reading these books does to me.

What would they do to my daughter? Hmmm.

Bridge to Terebithia

So the question is: How did a book (1987) that has been used for years to help children come to terms with unexpected death suddenly become a fantasy where the children " battle the Dark Master for the salvation of the magical land they call Terabithia"?
http://movies.aol.com/movie/bridge-to-terabithia/25017/main

I had to reread this book after seeing a trailor for this version, because it seemed to bear no relationship to the book I remembered. Luckily, I have plenty of copies here in the library. I think some fantasy fans who grab it will be confused and disappointed; the book is concerned more with the running abilities and impoverished background of the main character, and with the death of his friend at the end. Hmmm.

Makes me wonder what they will do with Annette Curtis Klause's Blood and Chocolate (1997), which has been much advertised, although there was enough blood, gore, and nudity in the book to make a Hollywood film without much problem.

Ann Rinaldi

If you have to pick up a historical fiction book, you can't go too far wrong with this author. I read Sarah's Ground last night, which was a very fascinating story about the real girl who was in charge of George Washington's house at Mount Vernon during the Civil War. And interesting mix of historical eras, with a little romance thrown in as well.

Other titles that I particularly liked-- Wolf by the Ears, about the purported children of Thomas Jefferson with one of his slaves, and Or Give Me Death, about the wife of Patrick Henry, who was mentally disturbed. The Quilt Trilogy is also worth picking up. Second Bend in the River, about a very young girl in early 1800s Ohio who has a crush on the much older Indian chief Tecumseh, was odd but good as well.

Usually these books cover the period from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War.

Maureen Johnson

Loved 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Bought my own copy. Have three here at the library; they are never on the shelf.

However, I haven't liked Johnson's other books. Very disappointed. The Key to the Golden Firebird, although I liked the cover art, started in with ... don't even remember, so it didn't pull me right in, and then articles of clothing started being removed and undergarments were mentioned by name, so I stopped reading. I'm sure this will increase the circulation of this book at the public library, but I'm not buying a copy.

The Bermudez Triangle started out pretty well-- teens with summer jobs and at camp-- but when the main character got back from camp and found out that her two BFF's were, um, dating, I decided that I would pass on this title as well. I don't ever have students who come in and ask for books with those circumstances.

Devilish I will buy, even though it wasn't as good as Envelopes. Girl as private school finds out that her somewhat geeky best friend has sold her soul to a demon in exchange for a somewhat better life. Girl offers her soul instead; complications ensue. I am thinking that a sequel is in the offing. Demons always sell well, and it is certainly much less gory than Darren Shan's Lord Loss.

If you want to find out more about this author, whose good book is so wonderful that you must read it, check out her website at
http://www.maureenjohnsonbooks.com

I will read Girl at Sea when I can find it!

Why new books are better than old books

First, I don't really believe this on a personal level. I collect teen fiction from the 1950s, but it's hard to get students to check out old books. I have a shelf that I set books on for students to grab quickly, and All Alone in the Universe by Lynne Rae Perkins has been sitting there for two weeks. It's not that old (1999), but there's something about it that the students don't like.

Then there's the book I read last night, David and Max by Provost. Cheesy cartoony cover art. (There is a whole day that could be spent on why Richard Cuffari's illustrations doom a book, although I personally like them.) Previous slight water damage that made the book crinkle alarmingly when I opened it. Nearly twenty years, 9 times out of the library. Could spend the whole day recommending this book, and it would still sit here. The story is perfectly good. I enjoyed it. But nothing really happened. Boy's grandfather, who lived through the Holocaust, thinks he finds a friend with whom he grew up but who was thought to have perished.

It makes me sad. Are my students just spoiled? How many books from the 1950s did I read when I was in middle school? None. Well, other than Beany Malone. And I was a huge L.M. Montgomery and Alcott fan. But I read Paula Danziger and Richard Peck and authors that were fairly new at the time. That is the way the world works, I guess. I am not an archive. I fear that if these two books aren't going to circulate here, they are going to have to be on their way to different homes where they might be more appreciated. **Sigh**

Cathy Cassidy, my new favorite author!

Adored Dizzy. Had to buy a second copy, the first one is out so much. Read Indigo Blue (10/20/2006) from the public library, and liked it so much that I ordered Scarlett sight unseen, which I try not to do. I was not disappointed. Not only did it have a pretty, shiny cover, but it was a great story about blended families, teenagers who are creating their own rough times and not quite able to stop doing it, AND an "exotic local" (Irish countryside). I don't think any of these books ever get shelved-- they go out when I am still waiting to check them back in.

I wrote to Ms. Cassidy, sending her a filled-up circulation card, and she was wonderfully kind and sent me a copy of Driftwood, which isn't available in the US! I will be sending it to the rebindery for a nice hard cover, because it was an excellent story about, well, about a lot of things. The foster child's difficulties in adjustment and being bullied at school are quite timely, the romances are intriguing, and the whole book just made me sigh. I have a line of 8th grade girls who are demanding they be lent the book before they move on to high school.

The only problem I have with these books is that, like Julie Edwards' Mandy, they seem to have an indefinable quality that makes them appealing. I love them, but find it hard to express just why. Luckily, most of my students will accept this, and check the book out. There's just no brief "hook" I can use to describe them, which, considering I get children to check out Paul Zindel's Reef of Death by telling them I stopped reading it after the man's legs were bitten off and I couldn't stand it anymore, might not be a bad thing!

The natives are restless. Must go check out books. This is the other reason I have not been able to muster coherent thought to post.

Teenreads.com ROCKS!!!

I use Teenerads.com rather extensively for reading reviews, and one early morning I entered a contest (had to pick five books you would give as gifts or somesuch), and I WON one of the five gift baskets (randomly picked, not because of my exquisiste prose!). It has hot cocoa mix, socks, candy, a gingerbread house kit (why do people even try to eat those? Bleargh.), a candle, etc. and ten BOOKS! I got to read Pretty Little Liars, which was intriguing but not appropriate for middle school, Hattie Big Sky, which was a great historical/survival novel, and Lenhard's second Chicks with Sticks, which I liked even better than the first one. I figure that since actual teenagers will be reading the books and benefitting from them, it's not really cheating that I won. It just said you had to be over 13, and I'm certainly way over 13!