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Youth Lit'rature nostalgia is so in right now

#1 User is offline   scubasteve4lyfe Icon

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 01:24 AM

I've recently been going through a young adult fiction binge. In the past two weeks, I've read (and re-read, in some cases): I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier; From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg; The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster; Jason & Marceline and Wringer by Jerry Spinelli; Hatchet by Gary Paulsen; Lizard Music by D.M. Pinkwater; and Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince.

I have recently discovered that a lot of children's literature is as good, if not better, than "adult" fiction. Does anyone else agree, or disagree, with this? Maybe it's just me, but I've found that a lot of these books intended for pre-teens and teenagers have a lot more to say than most other novels.

Aaaaand if anyone else out there has any suggestions about any good YA novels, I'm hella open.
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#2 User is offline   Otal Nimrodi Icon

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 06:55 AM

I think the discworld books are young adult novels.
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#3 User is offline   Chefelf Icon

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 11:53 AM

Discworld novels are pretty good. Haven't read many of the newer ones but I think I've read all of them up until about 1995 or so.

Obvious choice: Harry Potter books.

L. Frank Baum's stuff is supposed to be amazing. Haven't read any yet though. I intend to someday.
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#4 User is offline   Dorothy Icon

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 12:16 PM

I enjoy A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's pretty good, not as good as some classic stuff like Alice in Wonderland, but pretty good.
"The problem is, you're not a kangaroo... that's a bear... and he's in your pants."
"Maybe artists shouldn't talk about their art."
"Well kids, I guess your father isn't a hermaphrodite."
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#5 User is offline   barend Icon

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 08:32 PM

dick and jane
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#6 User is offline   Mirithorn Icon

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 01:40 AM

According to Terry Pratchett though, a fourteen year old boy is not his average reader. You'd have your work cut out for you getting a fourteen year old boy to read ANYTHING. But his childrens books aren't really that great. They have all the maturity required to read them that the adult books have, but without any of the good jokes. Then again, maybe that makes sense, now that I think of it. But onto the original topic, they do seem better. Probably because they're not afraid to not make perfect sense all of the time. Kind of like the difference between dreams and real life. Hmm.... Does anyone know if American Gods is a young adult book? I'm guessing not, which would mean that there is at least one extremely imaginative adult book. That and the Bible are probably the only two I've come across with that much imagination in them, and American Gods is easier to understand. biggrin.gif

I read this in the hospital once when a strange variety of the bible was the only book in the room.
QUOTE
And God said unto him, Tell me what you see...(something meaning "and he answered")
There is a palm tree and there is a pool!

-Which was really sort of funny because the person had never been there before. I also seem to recall that the book had a bit of a punctuation shortage and this was the most intelligible part I read. Not to say it's not an imaginative and probably pretty good book- it's very creative, I must say. I'm just going to need a translator in order to read it.
"YOU'RE MISSING A PERIOD. YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY, DON'T YOU? YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY THAT YOU FUCK WITH GRAMMAR? WELL, FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR MISSING PERIOD! I HOPE IT MEANS YOUR SLUTTY, NON-PUNCTUATED WAYS HAVE GOTTEN YOU TEEN-PREGNANT!"

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#7 User is offline   Otal Nimrodi Icon

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 05:40 AM

QUOTE
You'd have your work cut out for you getting a fourteen year old boy to read ANYTHING.


I read at 14.
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#8 User is offline   WalkingCarpet Icon

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 05:54 AM

I read books when I was 14.

Well, they weren't really books, they were magazines.

And I didn't really read them, I just looked at the pictures.

And not usually for very long.

Ahem.
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#9 User is offline   Chefelf Icon

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 09:04 AM

Well yes. I read at 14 too, but we are all people who chose to come to a forum about books and participate in a thread about youth literature. Perhaps this is not the widest sampling of people to survey on the matter. wink.gif

I'd say the Discworld books are great for kids but, also, they are read by a lot of adults as well, the same way Harry Potter is and Hitchiker's Guide. Like the best "kid's books" they aren't written exclusively for the enjoyment of children but can be enjoyed by adults as well.

I agree with Mirithorn, Terry Pratchett's children's books are just so so. I read them because I'd read everything else at the time but I much prefer the Discworld stuff.
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Posted 24 August 2005 - 09:05 AM

I read the fellowship of the ring when I was 14 (and that was almost ten years ago... damn I'm old). And I remember reading some books even before that.

But it's probably true that fourteen year old boys and girls nowadays don't read as many book as some years ago, with Internet and everything.
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Posted 24 August 2005 - 09:43 AM

I've been reading the Discworld books since I was about 13, and I enjoy them just as much now as I ever did.

I think there are so many levels that two people could appreciate the same book for vastly different reasons.
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Posted 24 August 2005 - 11:15 AM

Ted Geisel
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#13 User is offline   Dorothy Icon

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 11:16 AM

Yes!

Edit: I also happen to enjoy the works of old Theodore.

This post has been edited by Dorothy: 24 August 2005 - 11:18 AM

"The problem is, you're not a kangaroo... that's a bear... and he's in your pants."
"Maybe artists shouldn't talk about their art."
"Well kids, I guess your father isn't a hermaphrodite."
"Izzy! enough with the rabid smootching!!"
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#14 User is offline   scubasteve4lyfe Icon

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 03:04 PM

O yes, The Lorax remains one of my favorite books of all-time.

Does Shel Silverstein count?

EDIT: Oh, I read way before I was fourteen, though my bookshelf only consisted of Goosebumps books and the other RL Stine series'.

This post has been edited by scubasteve4lyfe: 24 August 2005 - 03:08 PM

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#15 User is offline   barend Icon

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 08:49 PM

i have alot of the disc world books but i've not read them yet...

will i like them at 29?
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