# YA Fiction Recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243 "2008-11-18T04:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/21 "2008-11-19T00:39:46Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > M.T. Anderson, Meg Rosoff, Laurie Halse. 🙂 Thank you–I am that lazy that I didn’t google for them. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/22 "2008-11-19T03:11:40Z")
Second for _It’s Like This, Cat_. I remember that being deeply affecting. I’d recommend _Wildside_ by Steven Gould. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/23 "2008-11-19T03:27:46Z")
Some great books have already been mentioned, so I’ll try to stick mostly with ones that haven’t yet. A lot of the YA series fiction I’ve read lately has a good start and then I don’t really like further books. Examples: City of Ember Poison Study The Mediator Magic or Madness Wuthering High Stand alones and series that I would rate much higher (these are things I’ve read in 2007 or 2008): The Hounds of the Morrigan Book of a Thousand Days Protector of the Small (series) Percy Jackson (series) Montmorency: Thief Liar Gentleman? The Name of this Book is Secret Gregor the Overlander (series) Septimus Heap (series) Shadow Children (series) ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/24 "2008-11-19T03:41:01Z")
I’ve recently read Neil Gaiman’s \*Coraline \*and _The Graveyard Book_. Very fun, both of them. And ever so slightly twisted. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/25 "2008-11-19T03:42:10Z")
_A Gracious Plenty_ by Sheri Reynolds. It’s not YA, but could be. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/26 "2008-11-19T03:44:45Z")
jsgoddess - I’m glad you mentioned two of my favorites, that I had forgotten: Septimus Heap and Book of A Thousand Days. Also, about The Giver. I just pretend those “sequels” don’t exist. I liked the ambiguous ending of Lowry’s brilliant book. I’m not a successful writer like her or anything, but I think she should have left well enough alone. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/27 "2008-11-19T04:17:40Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > I’ll also recommend A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voight. About a young boy who is emotionally abandoned by his parents, his own fragile emotional state is powerfully conveyed. I found it a very moving book. _A Solitary Blue_ is the third book in Voigt’s “Tillerman Cycle.” It’s not exactly a series, because only the first, second and last books are in chronological order. I read the first book, [Homecoming](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homecoming_(novel)), when I was nine or 10 and it’s one of a dozen or so artistic works that has made the biggest impact on my life. My mom was taking a young adult literature as part of her masters degree and we read most of the books on the syllabus together. Even just reading the synopsis on Wikipedia brought back vivid memories. Despite having read the book nearly 15 years ago, I remember exact phrases from the book that were quoted in the article. All of the books are mature in a sophisticated that no other YA literature I’ve read (and I’ve read _a lot_), but _Homecoming_ was the most poignant for me. I’ll have to reread them all over Christmas break - _Seventeen Against the Dealer_ (the final book in the cycle) was published years after I had read all the others, so that will be a whole new experience. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/28 "2008-11-19T05:25:27Z")
Mmmm love me some YA… \*The Golden Compass \*by Philip Pullman is amazing. The second book in the series is OK, the third is meh. But zomg TGC is…yeah. I loved John Christopher’s **Tripods** & **Prince in Waiting** series (serieses?) as a kid. I’ve been trying to find them again but I can only find one book at a time it seems, and I can’t remember if the one that I happen to have found this time is one of the ones I already have, or not. Susan Cooper’s **Dark is Rising** cycle was a huge influence on my life. I can still recite the prophecy poem from _The Dark Is Rising_. And of course everything by Tamora Pierce, especially the **Songs of the Lioness** quartet. I just bought a new Tamora Pierce book the day before yesterday! Edited to add: Why yes, I do read a great deal of fantasy/SF, why do you ask? Edited again to say: Almost forgot Heinlein juveniles, especially \*Orphans of the Sky \*(my first RAH experience), and also O’Brien’s _Z for Zachariah_. Can’t forget that! ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/29 "2008-11-19T07:29:10Z")
ALL of Paul Zindel’s books! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243/30 "2008-11-19T13:41:05Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > _A Gracious Plenty_ by Sheri Reynolds. It’s not YA, but could be. This is a favorite of mine. Another good one is _The Shadow Castle_ by Marian Cockrell. Or is it Miriam? I’ve forgotten. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-fiction-recommendations/473243.md?page=1)