Favourite YA book as a teen?

Kats · Jun 3, 2008

What were your favourite YA books when you were a teen? Or, if you are a teen, your favourite YA books now!

I loved Easy Connections and Easy Freedom by Liz Berry (I was so excited when they were rereleased recently, I bought new copies to replace my battered ex-library ones!). I also loved The Secret Circle trilogy by L J Smith and have read them many times since.

As a pre-teen I loved Sweet Valley High and The Babysitters Club and collected both series. I was also quite partial to Sweet Dreams books and even got a job as a check-out girl because it sounded cool in one of them (it wasn't).

What lurks in your YA past?

Mumut · Jun 3, 2008

I didn't read much but when I did: Early teens - Biggles. Late teens - Chaucer, Shakespeare sonnets. I was a boring kid!

OneTeam OneDream · Jun 3, 2008

Does "The Outsiders" count?

KTC · Jun 3, 2008

My 3 Favs were;

A Separate Peace
The Chrysalids
The Outsiders

Kats · Jun 3, 2008

OneTeam OneDream said:
Does "The Outsiders" count?

Absolutely! It was in the YA section of my local library anyway. I really liked S.E. Hinton too.

OneTeam OneDream · Jun 3, 2008

I still pull it out a couple days a year and also watch the movie every once in awhile...and my first book was about something I did as a 17 year old....maybe I'm just stuck in a YA phase...ha ha.

eyeblink · Jun 3, 2008

Alan Garner's Red Shift
Judith Guest's Ordinary People (if that counts as YA)

Hollan · Jun 3, 2008

The Forbidden Game trilogy. I still love them, especially Julian ^_^

Keyan · Jun 3, 2008

I think I read more serious lit as a YA than I ever did since. I did the whole bit, whatever I could find in second-hand bookstores and the library. Shakespeare. Camus, Sartre. Machiavelli. Joyce's Ulysses. DH Lawrence. Also LOTR. I think LOTR's the one that stuck, from that period.

As a VYA (very YA) it would be Blyton and Biggles. And Superman, Batman, the Legion of Superheroes. The Once and Future King. A bunch of children's books by OUP (if I recall correctly). Something called "Uncle Mac's Story Hour." Various "annuals" - compendia of short stories and a few poems and puzzles.

Makes me nostalgic even to think about it. Books. Wow!

jennontheisland · Jun 3, 2008

C.C. Poindexter (I forget the author's name) is the only YA I remember reading. I have issues recalling titles.

I started on Saul, King, and Straub at around 15. Bertrice Small around the same time too.

Cassidy · Jun 3, 2008

Funny, I've read more YA in my thirties than I ever read as a teen. In high school I was into Kerouac, the Beat poets, Camus, RD Laing, Herman Hesse, Milan Kundera, and a bunch of weirder stuff. I also devoured Dick Francis novels, British mysteries, old sci-fi, and anything by John Wyndham or Ray Bradbury. I'm not sure I really knew about YA... can't remember reading any, unfortunately. In middle school I read LOTR over and over and over...

Kats · Jun 4, 2008

You guys were more highbrow than me!

eyeblink said:
Alan Garner's Red Shift
Judith Guest's Ordinary People (if that counts as YA)

I forgot about Ordinary People, that's a good one.

Dichroic · Jun 5, 2008

Fortunately I was smart enough not to let age restrict me, so anything from Mary Poppins to Chaucer.

But that's not to say I didn't read YA stuff also: one author who really hit me in the heart when I was 14 or so was Norma Johnston, especially her Keeping Days and Glory in the Flower series. Also, Madeleine L'Engle, especially A Swiftly Tilting Planet and A Ring of Endless Light.

sheadakota · Jun 5, 2008

I don't think I read YA as a teen- I read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in elementry shcool, but as a teen I was reading Tolkien, Ayan Rand, Tom Clancy, and Robert Ludlam- I was a weird teen-

brynna87 · Jun 6, 2008

Well I'm not a teen now, haven't been for 1.5 years, but I still consider myself a heavy reader of YA -although I'm more selective these days due to price vs. length! But thinking way back, you know 2 or 3 years...and a bit further. My faves, which still remain my favorites today include

Twilight by Stephenie Meryer
Angus, Thongs, And Full Front Snogging - Louise Rennison
The 1-800-Where-R-U series by Meg Cabot
Harry Potter
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
And then anything by Sarah Dessen

Of course I wasn't a limited reader as a teen, started reading adult fiction at 12 and never stopped. So you can probably add Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, and Jurrasic Park by Michael Crighton to that list.

soleary · Jun 6, 2008

Trinity by Leon Uris, God rest his soul.

Buddikins · Jun 8, 2008

I'm in shock that some people like SE Hinton.. Then again, I was forced to read her so mm.
As a teen, I don't actually read a lot that's 'intended' for my age group.
But I like Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and Blood and Chocolate... Fantasy Stuff.
A friend of mine is mad over Meg Cabot, if that's any help.

SummerAuthor · Jun 8, 2008

OneTeam OneDream said:
Does "The Outsiders" count?

my favorite too!

dianeP · Jun 9, 2008

Kats said:
Absolutely! It was in the YA section of my local library anyway. I really liked S.E. Hinton too.

I also loved That was Then, This is Now by Hinton.

Lyra Jean · Jun 9, 2008

Little House on the Prairie series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables series - L.M. Montgomery
The Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank
Invitation to the Game - ?? I can't remember the name of the author so if anyone knows let me in on it.

gem1122 · Jun 17, 2008

Not sure about the YA-ness of all these, but this is what I enjoyed as a teen
The Outsiders
Rumble Fish
The Folded Leaf
Catcher in the Rye
Tolkien
Hesse
Poe
Johnny Got His Gun

(gee, I just realized how morbid that all seems...yikes...)

prplhez8 · Jun 17, 2008

Loved S.E. Hinton and The Outsiders, too!

I was an odd reader as a teenager. I read all those teen romance novels that were so big back then, but to name a few others I read were Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time trilogy, V.C. Andrews (before she died), Danielle Steele (UGH), Laura Ingalls series, and let us not forget Sweet Valley High. I hope my reading tastes have improved just a bit, but those were what I was digging on way back when.

lilacstarflower · Jul 7, 2008

I remember avidly collecting R.L Stine's Goosebumps collection: my favorite was The Mummy. Others I fondly remember were Monster Blood, Piano lessons can be Murder and Stay out of the Basement.

I really loved horror then

Danger Jane · Jul 7, 2008

Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli, the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman, and the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix.

Sirena because it's so damn pretty and it has mermaids, HDM because it's fucking epic and incredibly deep, and Abhorsen because it's plain exciting. Heart racing edge of the seat exciting (when I first read Sabriel at 13 or 14, I was sitting on the edge of my seat with a racing heart and I could not put the book down...there was virtually no safety. I could close the book and the MC would get chomped on or something!)

Madeleine L'Engle I read as a younger teen, mostly between 12 and 13, and I loved her stories. My especial favorites of hers were in the Time quartet, particularly A Swiftly Tilting Planet and Many Waters,.

I also absolutely ate up Tamora Pierce's books from about ages 12 through 15 or 16.

VoltShadow · Jul 8, 2008

I'm not sure if Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow are YA novels, but if so those two quite easily. Artemis Fowl is another one that I'm incredibly found of, especially the third one in the series.

Favourite YA book as a teen?

Kats

Mumut

Well begun is half done...

OneTeam OneDream

Been a long time...

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Kats

OneTeam OneDream

Been a long time...

eyeblink

Barbara says hi

Hollan

Stage name = Chainsaw Sally

Keyan

ubiquitous

jennontheisland

the world is at my command

Cassidy

writing for kids and teens

Kats

Dichroic

that's di-CROW-ick

sheadakota

part of the human equation

brynna87

soleary

Buddikins

SummerAuthor

dianeP

Lyra Jean

Two years old now.

gem1122

We can pickle that

prplhez8

lilacstarflower

Danger Jane

VoltShadow

Internet Ninja of 1337