A New Blog for Book Reviews

Those of you who've been out there pining the recent absence of my witty and marvelous (haha) book reviews... weep no longer! All your review cravings can now be met at my new blog site: youngadultbooks.wordpress.com!

Here's the behind-the-scenes story about how this came about. Well, the summarized version... I've been thinking for awhile about this idea of trying to expose the content in each of the YA books I've read. Not in any way to encourage censorship-- actually, kind of the opposite. My goal is to provide parents (and perhaps even teens) with a way to know what they're getting into before they even crack open the cover of the book-- so they can do so with confidence, knowing that the material is age-appropriate.

I've just read too many YA novels with crazy content. And I'm not saying there aren't teens out there who enjoy those very books. But as a parent who will someday have a teenager, I do want to be prepared and aware of what my daughter reads, and I recognize I might not have time to keep up with her voracious book appetite. So this is one way I can perhaps help parents in that exact position today.

For the present, I'll be reposting some of the reviews you've seen here, with the addition of some feedback on the book's specific content. Once the site is up and running, I hope to recruit some additional reviewers and perhaps partner with other authors and publishers so that we post reviews for the most current YA releases.

Wow, Kasey! How can I help?
I was so hoping you'd ask. Tell your friends! Pass the link to your local church. Go to the blog site EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!! :) Leave comments. Tell me what you honestly think! Hate the site? Don't be shy. Be respectful, of course. But I want to hear ya.

youngadultbooks.wordpress.com

Hope to see y'all on there.

I'll still be posting a couple times per week on this blog, so no worries. I'll probably focus on writing-ish stuff and my own writing journey. Fun times.

"Safe" YA?

When I was maybe thirteen years old, my grandma gave me a book by Judy Blume called The Girl with the Tiger's Eyes. Since I had enjoyed Superfudge and other of her works, I dove into the book pretty quickly.

And felt very betrayed. That story had more sexual content than many adult novels I have since read. I was stunned. These were not the experiences I had set out to read about. As an early teen especially, I wasn't even honestly that curious about sex. Perhaps that's unusual, but it really isn't my point.

I trusted YA as a genre to present stories with certain parameters, one of which was very limited sexual content. I am disappointed and even frustrated that those fences seem to be breached. Maybe I sound prudish, but honestly I don't care. I'm not saying sex has no place in literature. I'm just saying I don't want to read about it in YA. I do not want my daughter, at fourteen, to learn about giving oral sex from a book she got in the YA section of the library. Or to believe, based on her literature, that casual and frequent sexual relationships are part of a normal, admirable teen experience. Especially when those stories do not accurately depict the consequences of those behaviors-- teen pregnancy. STDs.

For teens who are still figuring out who they are, what they believe, who they want to be, and who are often still learning to understand cause and effect relationships, I think some of these stories can be damaging and misleading. Yes, I know. It's fiction. This should be a clue. Yet how many times do we idolize and romanticize characters in stories, wishing our lives were like theirs?

I believe we have a responsibility to protect and teach the generation coming up behind us. I believe their literature should do no less.

Review: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Once again Bella Swan's life is in danger, seemingly because of her association with the Cullen family. Strange events unfold in nearby Seattle-- a mass of unsolved murders. Could there be "newborn" vampires on the loose? In the midst of it all, Bella discovers she must make a choice: Edward.... or Jacob?

While Eclipse wasn't my favorite in Meyer's series (#1 - Twilight still holds that spot), it did show a lot more of the other Cullen family members, and that was cool. I liked getting to know some of them a little better. The tension between Bella and Jacob definitely heats up... I've always been an Edward fan, but by the end of this book, I could definitely see the point of Team Jacob. :)

I'm reading the fourth book at present, so check back next week for the review on that one -- Breaking Dawn.

Things I Learned About YA

(YA meaning Young Adult fiction)

I'll keep it brief, but if you are interested in getting more info, leave a comment with your email and I will let you know what sessions I attended so that you can order the CD from ACFW.

Things I Learned about Young Adult Fiction

• Teens read UP agewise. (Actually, this I already knew, but it's a HUGELY important thing to know, and a mistake I've seen other writers make.) If your target audience is 12-15 year olds, you want your protagonist to be at least 16. But know that 17 and 18 year olds aren't going to be hooked on a protag who is 16. They probably won't read it at all.




• CBA markets to younger teens. By this I mean ages 12-15. Think about the way a Christian bookstore is set up. Where are the YA books? In the kids section. How many 17 year olds do you know who shop there without duress? Not many. So if you write for older teens, know that at present, this is a HUGE challenge without a really viable market.




• There are ABA published books with faith content. A prime example in YA is the book I reviewed last week-- Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen. Read it!





• YA is a tough market in general. New writers are a risk to a publisher, but YA writers are a double-risk. What to do? Tell a compelling story with tight craft.
  

Again, if you want more info, drop me a comment, and I'll let you know how to order the CDs or MP3s of the workshops. Happy writing!

On Writing YA: It's ALIVE!

I read an article in Newsweek this past week that talks specifically about Young Adult fiction (YA) and how, surprisingly, sales for teen books are up! Even in this internet-addicted age, people, and not just people-- teens-- are still reading.

It's interesting. I am a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), and awhile back on the e-loop someone posted a question worrying whether Christian YA is dead and gone. On the contrary, I've spoken with several people, and heard from agents in the biz, and the buzz seems to be that Christian YA may be about to experience a huge growth. And I certainly hope that's true! I'm not that old, but I remember when there wasn't a whole lot to pick from in the Christian fiction section of the bookstore. Not the way that there is now!

So Christian YA may be experiencing similar growing pains. I am interested to see what the agent and editor panels say about it at the annual ACFW conference in September in Minneapolis.

Review: Tex by S E Hinton

Tex and his older brother Mason are on their own, waiting the return of their father from a rodeo. With his best friend Johnny, Tex usually finds his way into trouble, but it's beginning to take it's toll on Mason. Tex believes that everything will be fine once their father returns. After another prank at school, Mason reveals the real reason for the long absences of their father. A move that may shatter their small family.

I've always loved S E Hinton, but this is the first time I've read this story. She is a fabulous storyteller. Tex's character is easygoing and young, very believably fourteen. Even the side characters are compelling.

One thing I am totally curious about is the escaped convict Tex and Mason encounter named Mark. Is this the same Mark from Hinton's That Was Then, This Is Now? I plan to email her (via her website) and see if I can find out! Watch for updates!

Review: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Sixteen year-old Mattie Gokey dreams of someday becoming a great writer, telling of life how it really is, without the fairy tale ending. After her mother's death from cancer and her brother's abandoning the family, she is left to care for her younger sisters and father as well as try to keep up the small family farm. The pressures of her home life threaten to steal away her dream, but Mattie holds tight to her hopes for the future. When she takes a summer job, she meets Grace Brown, who asks Mattie to burn a stack of letters. When Grace's body is discovered later that day in the nearby lake, Mattie feels torn about the letters and the promise she's made.

True to Mattie's heart for writing, this story looks full in the face of the hardships that Mattie's family and others in her community suffer. Mattie struggles against the course her life would take, torn between accepting what her community offers and striking out, following her heart.

I enjoyed the story. The characters were engaging, different. Mattie plays a game, finding a new word in the dictionary every day. So each chapter begins with her new word, and somehow ties in with what's going on. I thought that was a clever idea.

A Northern Light won The Carnegie Medal and Los Angeles Times Book Prize as well as being a Michael L. Printz Honor Book.

Review: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Annabel Greene begins a new year of school at a completely different place than she left off last year. She is in exile. Her family is still reeling from the discovery of her middle sister's eating disorder. Annabel is determined not to rock the boat, even if it means hiding her own devastating experiences. Through an unlikely friendship with another notorious loner, she begins to learn to confront her fears and her past.


I have to say, I loved these characters. I found them to be spicy and a little off-beat. Loved the hero! Sarah Dessen creates the unlikely hero brilliantly. Owen Armstrong (I even love his name!) had me at hello.

The timeline was really hard for me to follow at times, though. I had no idea how old Annabel was at certain times in the story, and to when she was flashing back. That made things a little confusing. It also seemed a bit narrative in places, as if Annabel stepped out of the scene and filled me in on what was going on.

I've also read Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen and enjoyed her characters there as well. Quirky heroes, I'm telling you! Great stuff! I will be checking out The Truth About Forever here shortly, and look forward to her newest release, Lock and Key, which comes out in April 2008.

Review: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

This is a haunting yet bizarre tale of a man (Billy Pilgrim) who comes "unstuck in time" and his non-chronological adventures, as well as capturing the destruction of Dresden during World War II.

Billy Pilgrim is an unlikely protagonist, a man just sort of trying to get by, simply existing in the moment. Early in the story, Billy becomes "unstuck in time," and begins floating from past to future and back to present throughout the story. He is kidnapped by aliens from Tralfamadore, who see in four dimensions, and see all moments of life at one time.

Looking at this book, the whole plot concept was so bizarre and different, it would take great craft to bring the story to life without confusing the Heck out of its readers. Kurt Vonnegut does an amazing job telling a story whose plot and events ping back and forth all across space and time.

Review: Derailed by Jon Ripslinger

I have to say that I was really captured by this description of the book from the cover:

"Derailed is the story of what happens when you open your eyes and start to care enough to risk everything."

High school senior, Wendell "Stony" Stoneking, suddenly finds his whole world rocked by the prospect that there might be more to life than following in the well-tred path of his father and grandfather. He could go to college. He could have a football scholarship. Or... he could lose his place on the team because of his failing English grade. A challenge from his coach and a new and mysterious peer tutor put things in a new perspective for Stony. When his tutor turns out to be much more than meets the eye-- a single mom with a stalker ex-boyfriend-- Stony must decide if he cares enough to help her and risk a different kind of life.

Another author described this story as "edgy"... which I also liked. Though I guess I didn't really understand what kind of edgy that meant. Call me old-fashioned... but I really wish there was not so much sex and language in YA these days! (But that's a soap box for another day...)

Speaking myself as an unproven author, I felt like some of the dialog sounded canned. There were several conversations that happened purely to inform the reader what was going on, but where both characters involved already knew the information conveyed. I wanted to be more moved by Robyn's (the tutor) tale of her dark past. Some parts seemed a little predictable, but I liked the spin that the more unusual elements added to the story. I liked the voice of the narrator, Stony. The characters seemed genuine.

Honestly, I'd be interested in following this author. I think he's talented and tells a good story. Every writer can improve on his or her craft. Always.

Review: Uglies Trilogy by Scott Westerfield

The Uglies Trilogy is made up of three books: Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. It is the story of Tally Youngblood, a girl who lives in a city where at 16, everyone undergoes an operation and becomes physically "perfect," with symmetrical, flawless features, a boosted immune system, toned muscles, etc. She longs for this day to come for herself. And then... the inevitable happens. She might not get to become pretty! Unless she agrees to betray her best friend, who has escaped from the city. The second and third book also follow Tally's journey to becoming pretty and ultimately becoming a dreaded "Special", an enforcer with super-human strength.

I picked up the first one grudgingly- I'm not much of a sci-fi girl, and these seemed to have that feel to them. But wow! Engaging characters. A unique premise. Compelling message. What more can I say?

Ironically-- lots of tags! I noticed them more since I had just blogged about them. Once I started noticing, I found it distracting. At the beginning of the second, Pretties, the lingo threw me for a loop. I got used to it after a couple chapters, but those first few were a little bit confusing.

The author does a great job with the characters-- I found his voice as Tally very believable, her conflicts and emotions felt real. If you're looking for a compelling read for an early teenager this Christmas, I'd recommend this trilogy.

Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Crank is the story of Kristina Snow and the summer that changes her life, when she goes to visit her father and meets the "monster", Crystal Meth. Based on the experiences of her own daughter, Ellen Hopkins captures the turmoil and grip of addiction in a raw, authentic manner.

The entire story is told in verse. Honestly, as a reader, I wasn't sold on the idea... until I began to read. The poems capture the scenes of the story in vivid detail. They flow from scene to scene very smoothly, capturing the raw emotion of the heroine-- her desperation, heartache-- and the downward spiral of her addiction to Meth. A powerful read.

Content warning-- because of the nature of the story, there is of course drug content as well as some sexual references and content as well.