Hi! I wish to provoke responses.

[elsajeni]

I have an idea for a new writing project; that specific project is YA fiction, and the more I've been thinking about writing in general, the more I've realized that, actually, YA fiction is what I'm interested in writing. (It's also what I'm interested in reading, to some extent, because I am a dork who refuses to grow up.) So, in honor of this realization and my new Dream Project, I'd like to ask you all something. (Note: these questions assume that everyone on my friendslist was a reader as a kid. If you weren't, 1) sorry, and 2) how the hell did you and I meet? It also assumes that you're already a grown-up, at least to some extent, but I'm pretty sure everyone who regularly reads this is.)

Tell me about what you read -- that is, what you liked to read -- when you were a kid (and/or teen). And tell me about what you read now, too. Specific things I'm interested in are, basically:

1) Genre. What genre did you like best as a kid/teen? What about now?

2) Type of book. This could be instead of genre, or in addition to it. If you had some kind of extremely specific preference that's not big enough to be a genre, or if you just preferred certain characteristics regardless of genre... whatever. Tell me about it.

3) What was your favorite "kids'" book as a kid/teen? If you've continued to read any "kids'" books as an adult, what's your favorite now?

4) What was your favorite "grown-up" book as a kid/teen (assuming you read grown-up books as a kid/teen)? What about now?

Really, I'm just interested in talking/hearing/thinking about this stuff, and the differences between "kid" books and "grown-up" books, and where the dividing line is where you go from reading one to reading the other, and what your average kid (average kid who eventually grows up into an adult I like, anyway) likes to read, and... all kinds of stuff. Tell me things. I want to think, and I want to use that thinking to help me figure out what the hell I'm doing, and so I'm going to make y'all think about it with me, because I like to fit in.

Comments

[summerborn.livejournal.com]

(as way of introduction, I will say that I was a very voracious reader as a kid and teen, and remain so today, and yes I am grown up.)

1) I always liked sci-fi and fantasy best. In part this was because it was what was available because it was what my parents read, but it was easy enough to adopt it as my own favorite genre also. I liked the fantastical and the weird and the stories about people overcoming hardships by way of technology :).

2) I read a *lot* of the Star Trek novels (original series; this started before the Next Generation TV show came out). I remember my teacher thought it was strange when I, at eight years old, brought a book called "Bloodthirst" to school as my silent reading book. And yeah people got killed, but I thought it was perfectly acceptable reading for a youngster.

Another favorite of mine was Sheri S. Tepper's The True Game, which I read at a pretty young age. I mention this one because there was a very specific part that changed meanings COMPLETELY when I re-read it as an adult. It's not very spoilery to go into details, but I'll gloss over it a bit anyway and just say that oblique references to "what boys do in boys' dormitories" went completely over my head as a nine-year-old girl.

Possibly that sort of thing wouldn't go over the heads of kids today, but I don't know. My point is that it can be written "around," and kids get out of it what they will get out of it, while adults can read what's really going on. I mean, if it had said that this 15-year-old had sex with his male teacher, that would have been inappropriate for me to read, but as it was, it was fine.

Phew. I am long-winded this morning. Anyway! That was kind of an aside, and kind of an answer to number 4.

3) Oh, this is going to be tricky to answer. I've forgotten so much. I know one I liked when I was much younger, like 6-8, was called The Wishgiver, and I liked Harriet the Spy and, a little older, the aforementioned Star Trek series, and Xanth novels (perfect for youngsters, with just enough hints of naughtiness and Adult conspiracy to keep 'em giggling), oh wait this question was about "kids" books. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference.

One truly excellent "kids" book I read as an adult was called The Folk Keeper. Amazing. If I'd been 10 it would have been my favorite book forever and ever.

Argh, this is such a tough question. I might go look at my library and come back later.

4) ARGH, SO MANY. Right, I'll be back after some more pondering. Mind if I post a link to this post in my journal and prod people to come talk about it?

[elsajeni.livejournal.com]

I realize I made this post and then ignored it for, like, 2 weeks (in my defense, I spent part of the time in the middle of nowhere with no internets), but if you're still interested in linking to it, I'd love that.

I remember my teacher thought it was strange when I, at eight years old, brought a book called "Bloodthirst" to school as my silent reading book.

In sixth grade, I was part of a small group of kids who got pulled out of our reading class to hang out with (semi-tutor, semi-mentor) a small group of extra-gifted kindergarteners (pulled from what was already a GT kindergarten class), and I remember very clearly that one of the kindergarteners had been selected for the group partly because of the silent reading books that he was bringing from home. They were mostly Goosebumps-type stuff -- certainly still kids' books, but clearly intended for older kids, and clearly out of the ordinary for a 5-year-old.

... Er, that's not actually relevant to anything. You just reminded me of it.

My point is that it can be written "around," and kids get out of it what they will get out of it, while adults can read what's really going on.

I haven't noticed this as much with books as I have with TV shows and movies, I guess partly because parents are a little less likely to get dragooned into reading books with their kids than they are to end up watching TV with them or taking them to movies, but where I have noticed it, it's always been something that I returned to as an adult (or teenager, at least), and I think it's generally a mark of quality -- someone has actually put in the thought and effort required to add an extra layer or two of depth, and that's a good sign.

It's also one of the reasons that I feel comfortable with the idea of kids reading just about any YA or grown-up fiction. (Although, actually, there seems to be a lot of fairly explicit YA stuff being published recently, in the name of realism, so maybe not so much some of that stuff.)

... oh wait this question was about "kids" books. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference.

Hee. I laugh, but I really appreciate that point; there really are a lot of grown-up books, especially in fantasy, that are really well-suited to kids.

[shemumbles.livejournal.com]

When I was little, I think I liked mysteries best. I used to *love* the Three Investigators series (which I doubt you've ever seen - they were old even when I was a kid...not that I'm *that* much older than you, relatively speaking).

I really loved the idea of having secret hideouts. In the Three Investigators series, they had this office they had made inside a junkpile. I always wanted to find some secret place that no one knew about (I used to pretend there was a secret lab in our basement).

A *lot* of what I read when I was a kid was Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, etc. The kids' section today is filled with books that I wish had been written when I was little!

I read a lot of kids books now with Laura, and the ones I like the best have some humor in them and are more fantastical - but not necessarily fantasy, if that makes sense. I love books with dragons. And books that delve into the human spirit. I love that in Bridge to Terabithia they talk about the existence of god.

I didn't read adult books when I was a kid, but I started reading Stephen King in middle school. I also read romances. Blech (to the romances - I really did like Stephen King...but I haven't read anything of his in over 15 years).

I love(d) historical fiction - which is what got me into romances, since so many of the ones I read were set earlier in history.

As a librarian, I have to say that I often enjoy kids' books more than adult books. Kids are more willing to accept the ridiculous, I think, so often the books are more fun. Kids also are more accepting, so you can thrown in these ideas about racism, etc without it sounding preachy. As for when you go from one to the other, I think it depends. I resisted going to harder books because my mom kept trying to push them on me. I also went through a phase in middle/high school where I didn't read a whole lot. The first grown up book I remember reading was a romance novel that a friend of my mom's thought I would like - it was set during the Civil War and was very romance novelly - you know, rip the bodice, etc. Scandalous for a 7th grader! But that's when I quit reading kids' books for the most part, I think. When I realized I *could* read adult books. That said, I think there is a *much* stronger YA market today than there was 20 years ago, so I think there is a longer transition from one to the other.

Sorry for the length.

BTW, we have some cookies for you. I already paid for them, so if you don't want them, let me know, and we'll keep them. Otherwise, we'll try to find a time to get them to you and get reimbursed.

My thoughts on Genre, specific books, and Authors

[thromulator.livejournal.com]

Okay, there's no real rhyme or reason to my organization here; I'm just taking a break from work. Hopefully you'll still be able to get some use out of this.

My favorite books as a kid were usually of the sci-fi/horror/mystery genres. In particular, I loooved R.L. Stein's "Goosebumps" (much like Stein could turn out one of those books in a weekend, I could finish one of them in an afternoon), Alvin Schwartz's "Scary Stories" anthologies; "The Hound of the Baskervilles," the "Ender's Game" series (up to "Xenocide," where I realized that what I thought was Orson Scott Card's unique style of flat-out SAYING what he meant instead of using ham-fisted symbolism was in fact his inability to think except on the most basic face-value level, and the series was no longer about genius kids fighting futuristic warfare in space, but rather a shitty Ethics paper), and even those stupid "Encyclopedia Brown" books because they made me feel clever.
I had something of a love-hate relationship with Ray Bradbury, although in all fairness the "hate" part didn't come into form until I read "Dandelion Wine" in 11th grade. (I loved "Something Wicked This Way Comes," however, which I also read in 11th grade as part of the same class project.) I didn't like "Lord of the Flies" mainly because I had to read it in middle school, where it would have been a relief to fight the other kids to the death with spears.

What kept me from reading and enjoying fantasy was the overuse and overestimation of horses and their capabilities (although "The Horse and His Boy" is the clear exception), a lack of internal consitency (i.e., magic, which by definition breaks the rules), overuse of fake-poetry (which is, more often than not, just a collection of names, dates, and places that the author shat out one afternoon), and a seeming lack of any forethought whatsoever on behalf of the authors or characters (see, for instance, the Fellowship's NOT contacting the GIANT TALKING EAGLES they were on good terms with and just fucking FLYING to Mordor).
As a result, I never got into fantasy until I discovered Discworld--and later Neil Gaiman and, wonder of wonders, "Good Omens," which was written by Neil Gaiman *and* Terry Prathett--in the tenth grade. And even then I mainly read stuff that either treated magic as something MAGICAL rather than a means of advancing the plot or used magic as a means of advancing the plot because it had already established what magic could and couldn't do. I suppose this should mean something for Harry Potter, but I didn't start reading that until 11th grade.

[gold-tree.livejournal.com]

1. When I was a young kid (8-10), my I was in love with Nancy Drew. I had the original version of The Hidden Staircase, and I remember liking that one the best. The Secret Garden was a big deal for me, and all those American Girl books. Little Women was a favorite too. As I got a little older (9-12), I got into The Chronicles of Narnia and the Madeline L'Engle books. Also, anything by Roald Dahl. So I guess that would be Mystery, Fantasy, Historical Fiction and Science Fiction.

2. I think the overarching thing that attracted me were stories that had an adventure to them, or a sense of mystery, that were familiar yet removed somehow in time and place. I loved it when the narrator was clever and funny, but I was okay with seriousness too. Another important draw for me was chapter books that had illustrations. I also had a thing for book series, if I had one of the books, I had to have them all.

3. I got into Harry Potter when I was a teenager. In middle school, it was a phenomena that I wasn't really a part of. My reluctance to read one was because it was so popular at the time, but my dad brought me home the first one because he thought I might like it. So I read it, and it was like I had been given a drug. Nowadays, when I read children's books, it's usually ones that I never got around to as a kid. I've recently read Treasure Island and Kidnapped, which were great, and I've recently gone back and reread all the Chronicles of Narnia for no reason.

4. I really liked Dickens as a kid. I couldn't really tell you why at the time, because of course a lot of it went over my head, but I think it had to do with the fact that the characters were so well rendered, and that there were always children in the novels somewhere. I liked everything by Poe, and I was sort of lucky that I read his work when I was young enough to still be genuinely horrified by it. I read Jane Eyre when I was quite young, and I loved it. I read Frankenstein in 6th grade and liked it. Shakespeare came in somewhere in there after I hit puberty. Then I went through a Kafka phase when I was a teenager, followed by a thing for Dostoyevsky (which I think is sort of an extension of the liking of Dickens) and then, finally, an obsession with early Gothic literature which has now transitioned into a quieter love of Romantic lit. I also have a thing for Chaucer, Donne, and Dante. I love Malory's Le Morte Darthur, and I have a relatively newfound appreciation for Icelandic Sagas. So the interest in the same sort of things is still there, in a way.

Hope this helps!

[thromulator.livejournal.com]

One thing I realized I forgot: A. Lee Martinez. He's a new author, so I never read him as a "Young Adult," but he's usually classified as a Young Adult author. In particular, his "Gil's All Right Diner" and "Ogre Company" novels are especially good reads.