I want to read some middle-grade and YA novels to get the feeling if those would be age-ranges I would like to write for. I started a story, possibly a novel, full of adventures tapping into my pre-adolescent and early adolescent imagination. Lately I have been remembering things I enjoyed and what adventures in my head got me excited during those years...and I got excited again about those during a few sleepless nights! But I have no experience reading middle-grade and YA novels, besides the first of the Hunger Games. Let me anticipate that dystopian is not what I am after. In summary, I am in search of fantasy, SF, fiction novels for middle-grade and YA that can inspire my writing. Any recommendations for a starter like me?
Gordon Korman - he started writing when he was 12 and he was published at 13!! He's Canadian as well. My niece liked "No More Dead Dogs" and the Slacker series ("Slacker" & "Level 13") while my favourite was " The Chicken Doesn't Skate!" Andrew Clement has a LOT of middle grade work. "Frindle" is probably the most well known but I personally liked "School Story" better. "The Relecuant Journal of Harry K Larson" - Susin Nielsen is an awesome book. She also wrote, "George Clooney, PLEASE marry my mom!" Eoin Colfer's Atemis Fowl series - the beginning reminds me of Harry Potter but he remains 11 years old throughout the whole series - or he ages very slowly from book to book. There's lots of others, those are just the ones I've read and re-read. Enjoy! Scott
When my daughter was that age she and her friends were obsessed with the Hunger Games series. That was well before the movies came out.
The movies spoil the books sometimes, sigh. With books, it's your imagination doing the work and filling-in-the-blanks but when you watch a movie, you're depending on someone else's interpretation of the book. Barbara Parks is more well known for the June B Jones series but she does have some older work like "Mitch Harte was here."
It is so true. I always prefer to read the book before seeing any adapted movie. It just isn’t the same.
Definitely a fascinating age to write for. If you are still looking for recommendations here are a few book I remembering reading a few years back which really are quintessentially young adult books... - Catcher in the Rye (you have probably read buts its a coming age of classic) - The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Malorie Blackman's 'Noughts and Crosses' trilogy These are all pretty typical and aren't really my favorites. I really recommend Iain Bank's 'The Wasp Factory'. It's definitely different. I'll just say that.
Hey, what years are you looking for? Beverly Cleary has a lot of books which I feel are just as relevant today but she was writing them 60, 50 years ago. Ronald Dahl - "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was awesome. One of my absolute favorite books was by Dennis J. Reader, "Coming Back Alive" but I doubt it is still in print. It's a very powerful coming of age novel about two teenagers. I think they were 15 and 16 in the story and they ran away. They had quite the adventure living off the grid in harmony with mother nature. Scott https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2973420-coming-back-alive
''Cinder'' by Marissa Meyer Cinderella with a robotic leg gets mixed up in the war between Earth and Moon. It's the first book in The Lunar Chronicles series. SF serious basic on Cinderella and other Brother Grimm's fairy tales. It might be a little dystopian but I think it's closer to the feel of Harry Potter. ''To kill a kingdom'' by Alexandra Christo Killer mermaid princess(though she calls herself prince) meets the mermaid-hunter human prince. Another fairy tale retelling, of Anderson's 'The Little Mermaid'. This one is a stand-alone fantasy book with a romantic subplot.
Kenneth Oppel has some books, my niece really likes "Zan" which is about a family raising a chimp, "Zan" as a human and teaching him sign language. I haven't read the book myself though - she needs it for her classes. It sounds like an interesting concept though. Scott
