# What Young Adult literature did you/do you love?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [April 6, 2023, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237 "2023-04-06T06:32:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/21 "2023-04-06T13:39:17Z")

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All that Paul Zindel and Judy Blume stuff, and M.E. Kerr and Lois Duncan. Plus a wide range of one-off titles I don’t remember. Oh, and of course John Christopher and Alan E. Nourse and Alexander Key (sci fi), not sure that counts. And science titles, like _Search for a Living Fossil_, and bio sketches like _Helen Keller’s Teacher_.

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**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/22 "2023-04-06T14:08:58Z")

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I like William Sleator’s science fiction books…particularly _The Green Futures of Tycho_ , _The Boy Who Reversed Himself_ , _Others See Us_ , and _Singularity_.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/23 "2023-04-06T14:22:55Z")

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**The Outsiders**  
**Island of the Blue Dolphin**  
**A Wrinkle in Time**  
**Tunnel Through Time** by Lester del Ray

And of course Heinlein’s juvie stuff.

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/24 "2023-04-06T14:30:04Z")

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The Danny Dunn series by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams.  
The Alvin Fernald series by Clifford B Hicks.  
_Homer Price_ and _Centerburg Tales_ by Robert McCloskey.  
_Enchantress from the Stars_ and _The Far Side of Evil_ by Sylvia Engdahl.  
Most of Andre Norton’s works.  
_The Forgotten Door_ by Alexander Key

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/25 "2023-04-06T14:33:22Z")

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Definitely Danny Dunn and the Heinlein juveniles. Also the Tiffany Aching subseries of Pratchett’s Discworld.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/26 "2023-04-06T14:38:12Z")

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As I think about it, I don’t remember reading a lot of YA fiction when I was actually a young adult; the only books which particularly stick in my mind now are John Christopher’s _Tripods_ trilogy.

I was certainly an avid reader as a kid, and as a teenager, but what I recall is that I largely transitioned directly from children’s books (I was a big Beverly Cleary fan) to adult books. I read _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ at age 12, which led to reading a lot of mainstream (non-YA) fantasy and science fiction when I was a teenager.

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**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/27 "2023-04-06T14:40:04Z")

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I read a bunch of Anne McCaffrey Pern books, among many other authors.

Ah, here’s the YA trilogy:

> **[The Harper Hall Trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harper_Hall_Trilogy)**
>
> The Harper Hall trilogy is a series of three science fiction novels by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey.
> They are part of the Dragonriders of Pern series as it is known today, 26 books by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey or daughter Gigi McCaffrey as of 2018.\[n 1\]
> They were published by Atheneum Books in 1976, 1977, and 1979, alongside the Dragonriders of Pern series. Omnibus editions of the two trilogies were published by the Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club in 1978 and 1984, ti Harpe...

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/28 "2023-04-06T14:42:09Z")

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I’m a middle-school English teacher and here are books I love, and not just for the kids.

**The Westing Game** \<–I still tear up at the end. I’m a sap.

**Stargirl** by Jerry Spinelli ← A recent discovery, highly recommended.

**The House With The Clock in Its Walls** \<–pretty spooky and fun. If you read Lockwood and Co, this is well before that, but is excellent. There is a fun sequel as well and it has now continued into countless sequels…no idea on the quality of those.

**The Lightning Thief** - not just a Harry Potter imitation. A great Hero’s Journey that stands on its own. Its sequels are good, but honestly the first book is the main event in this series. It’s terrific. And for some crazy reason(money!), Rick Riordan is publishing a sixth book in the series…even though it all wrapped up in book #5.

**Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief** - I still laugh at Sammy and her predicaments in this book. There are about 15 sequels…I quit after just a couple more. It’s mainly the first book that is fun.

**The Pinballs** - read this book today and you will think it came out right now. Kids dealing with massive parental issues, all thrown into foster care together, bounced around like Pinballs. I’ve read this to my class and only at the end to I tell them it was from the 1970’s. Kids are shocked. It could take place today. Carly is an all-time great and fun protagonist( kind of?).

Note: Harry Potter is the best series of all time for YA. JK Rowling is apparently anti-trans, but her 7-book-series is excellent and I recommend it to all. I just figured you knew it was popular, but it deserves to be this popular. Terrific.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/29 "2023-04-06T14:48:34Z")

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> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#):
>
> John Green’s books. _The Fault in Our Stars_, _Paper Towns_, _Looking for Alaska_, and _Turtles All the Way Down_ were all great.

Are they? I kind of like the first one, have never heard much chat about anything else he does. He has a video podcast type thing on Youtube, just short videos, and I show them to my class when they are relevant. Does it with a colleague or brother or someone.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/30 "2023-04-06T14:49:13Z")

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> [@Ruken](#):
>
> YA is not my jam now, but when it was, I enjoyed David Eddings and Piers Anthony as a kid.

Is Piers Anthony some kind of weirdo? His book titles are…strange at time. “Color of Her Panties” and the like.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/31 "2023-04-06T14:50:14Z")

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> [@msmith537](#):
>
> That said, you kind of hit the nail on the head with the “New England prep school” (or Northeastern private college with a lot of fraternities) experience. All these YA series (Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Maze Runner, Enders Game, Divergent, etc) all seem to want to capture a sort of “institutionalized coming of age” story:

Hunger Games kind of blows as a series, but the first book is great. I quit the second book…then I enjoyed the Catching Fire movie, which I realized had a twist.

Mockingjay…I’ve never heard much love for it.

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**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/32 "2023-04-06T14:56:50Z")

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[The Phoenix Files](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phoenix_Files) by Chris Morphew  
Great story spread over 6 books that could easily be made into a 6 season Netfilx series. Another one where a group of kids tries to unravel what the hell is going on in this weird town their parents all moved them to. Each book is told from the viewpoint of a different kid.

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/33 "2023-04-06T15:00:11Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Is Piers Anthony some kind of weirdo?

…Yes?

I read and enjoyed a fair amount of Piers Anthony when I was significantly younger, and didn’t really pick up on the skeeviness. But now…

> [@Bigger perv: Piers Anthony or Chris Claremont?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-perv-piers-anthony-or-chris-claremont/750568):
>
> Because it’s Throwback Thursday (except that it’s Tuesday). Anthony’s truly disturbing work on the [del]novel[/del] book-length typed wank session Firefly would seem to make him the easy winner; why his wife and children did not immediately divorce/disown him upon its publication has always puzzled me. But Claremont’s groundbreaking [merger](http://36.media.tumblr.com/1980c5cb92aa550099cf247ecfc4f8e7/tumblr_mlq9lu79ua1rvm5qqo2_r1_1280.jpg) of teenage escapist fantasy with lesbian sadomasochism should not be discounted. Thoughts?

> **[Revisiting the sad, misogynistic fantasy of Xanth](https://www.avclub.com/revisiting-the-sad-misogynistic-fantasy-of-xanth-1798241312)**
>
> Here’s how this article was supposed to go down: As a kid, I lived in Florida. Back then I loved the books of Piers Anthony—especially his humorous, bestselling Xanth series, which is set in a parallel version of Florida where magic and mythical...

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/34 "2023-04-06T15:00:49Z")

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> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> James Joyce is all well and good, but I didn’t major in English, and if I’m exhausted and just want to curl up with an engaging book, I’d like something I can intellectually access without much brain strain, thank you very much.

James Joyce sucks. I read his short stories, which I could actually understand, and I still didn’t find him to be great. Overrated.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/35 "2023-04-06T15:03:13Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Is Piers Anthony some kind of weirdo? His book titles are…strange at time. “Color of Her Panties” and the like.

Ohh, lordy. We’ve had several threads here over the years about Anthony. “Some kind of weirdo” is an understatement. Misogyny and an obsession with the sexuality of young/teenaged girls are among his recurring themes.

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/36 "2023-04-06T15:08:34Z")

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> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> It’s a term of art. From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_adult_fiction):

Ah, okay. At the lower end of that age spectrum I was all about The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift novels (we’re talking late 50s). As a teen I was obsessed with SF, especially Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury and the like. I consumed them by the boxful.

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**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/37 "2023-04-06T15:31:53Z")

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I only realized as an adult that a lot of what I read as a child was actually from an earlier generation, since I got into my mom’s childhood books. All the Bobbsey Twins books, the Pollyanna series, the Little House on the Prairie series, the Raggedy Ann and Andy books, Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers books… all utter dreck, and I devoured them. I also read and loved contemporary children’s books like the Beverly Cleary books and Harriet the Spy. Judy Blume’s earlier young adult books coincided very neatly with my own adolescence, and I have a soft spot for them.

My own children fell in love with the books from their era, and I usually read them, too - I was happy to find that the Lighting Thief was so good  
and I’m the veteran of more than one Harry Potter book release event. My older daughter actually introduced me to Terry Pratchett’s books.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/38 "2023-04-06T15:44:34Z")

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I have read, and enjoyed, some YA books as an adult, which have been mentioned by other posters:

- I binge-read all of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books in the 1990s, which included the YA-oriented _Harper Hall_ books
- I read all of the Harry Potter books; as of _Prisoner of Azkaban_, I was reading them more-or-less immediately after they were published. I enjoyed the first three books tremendously; I found the latter four to be overly (and needlessly) long, and from that point forward, I always felt that Rowling wasn’t sure how to actually get to the end of her story. But, those first three books were (and are) charming, and do an amazing job of world-building.

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**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/39 "2023-04-06T15:50:29Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Are they? I kind of like the first one, have never heard much chat about anything else he does. He has a video podcast type thing on Youtube, just short videos, and I show them to my class when they are relevant. Does it with a colleague or brother or someone.

John Green is some large number of years older than his brother Hank, so they didn’t really know each other as kids. So as adults they decided to refresh their relationship with “Brotherhood 2.0” and their series “vlog brothers” where they use a single YouTube account to make weekly short videos for each other. It blew up, and they’ve been doing it for a very long time now, and branched out into whole educational series like SciShow and other businesses like “The Awesome Socks Club” (sock subscription). Their podcast “Dear Hank and John” is also very fun.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-young-adult-literature-did-you-do-you-love/982237/40 "2023-04-06T16:01:02Z")

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> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> I read and enjoyed a fair amount of Piers Anthony when I was significantly younger, and didn’t really pick up on the skeeviness. But now…

When I clicked on the forum thread I did _not_ expect it to revolve around [a classic issue of New Mutants](https://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue/new-mutants-special-edition-1) (lots of scanned images midway down [this page](https://classiccomics.org/thread/5645/claremonts-new-mutants-issue?page=5)). I had just turned 13 at the time that issue came out and it is burned deep in my memory, possibly the most of any _New Mutants_ issue. Can comics count as loved YA literature?

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