YA or STFU: Got a Problem with Problem Novels?

I’ve always enjoyed problem novels, the more formulaic the better. Insatiable (2001, HCI Teens) and Ravenous (2002, HCI Teens) both by Eve Eliot; Lisa Bright and Dark by John Neufield (1969, S.G. Phillips); Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones by Ann Head (1967, Putnum); and the oeuvre of Beatrice Sparks: all these young adult novels introduce a hot-button social or psychological issue (eating disorders, mental illness, teen pregnancy, drug abuse), describe a worst-case scenario and offer judgment in the form of narrative resolution.

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The appeal of ...

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YA or STFU: The Everlasting Allure of Christopher Pike

Inspired by Bookshelves of Doom’s first blog post for Kirkus on Lois Duncan, I’m going to engage in a little rewinding myself. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about young adult author Christopher Pike and considering the not-insignificant place his novels had in my life as a teen and, to a lesser degree, as an adult. 

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I was introduced to Pike as an elementary school reader in the 1980s and was joyously chilled and titillated by Weekend (Point, 1985), Chain Letter (Avon ...

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YA or STFU: Bitching it Out

Last month I was invited to participate in a panel hosted by my school, Simmons College, dedicated to the discussion of Bitch magazine’s now infamous list of “100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader." 

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The list, which first appeared on the magazine’s website on Jan. 28, 2011, attracted attention and concern from readers, some objecting to the inclusion of what they considered to be “triggering” titles. On Feb. 1, 2011, the Bitch library coordinator announced the removal of three books from the list: Margo Lanagan ...

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The Oscars of Teen Lit

As the winter awards season comes to an end with the conclusion of the Oscars, it reminds me of our own awards season in January when the American Library Association announces its YA literary awards. 

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When you get right down to it, the major YA awards have Academy Award analogues. The Michael L. Printz is, of course, the literary version of the Oscar for Best Picture, while the Margaret A. Edwards is clearly a Lifetime Achievement award. The relatively new William C. Morris Debut YA Debut Award ...

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It’s time for more YA for people of color

As a white person, it’s pretty easy to find popular literature and genre fiction with people who look like me on the book jacket. While these cover girls and boys might be younger and better looking than I am, their skin color typically matches mine and their stories don’t usually require me to think outside of my experiences—both real and literary—as a white person of privilege. 

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Similarly, it is easy for me to find those more literary teen offerings ...

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Paranormal Activity: Rereading Romance

Maybe I’m showing my age here, or maybe I’m growing weary of the paranormal romance trend, but I’ve been wondering for a while where all the good old-fashioned teen paperback romances have gone. I’m talking the formula stuff, the Torn-Between-Two-Prom-Dates kind of romance, the I-Like-Him-But-Does-He-Like-Me? novels, the paperbacks that culminate with the mousy girl’s makeover, the Sweet Dreams (Bantam) the Love Stories (Bantam) and the Wildfire (Scholastic) series. 

WANT MORE PARANORMAL ROMANCE FOR TEENS? Check out reviews for My Soul to Take, Fallen, or the mother of them all, Twilight.

While I know that these ...

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Which Comes First? The Book or the Hoopla?

After a pleasant weekend spent reading I Am Number Four, the first book in the Lorian Chronicles series by Pittacus Lore (a pseudonym), I began to think about what would seem an expansion in the teen-books category and the traditional model of authorship. On the book’s jacket was iamnumberfourfans.com, which led me to a website devoted to promoting the series and the upcoming movie due out in 2011. Updates on the site reveal that a film tie-in edition has just been published, featuring the movie’s star, Alex Pettyfer, on its cover, replacing the original book’s graphic ...

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YA or STFU: Best Teen Books for 2010

It’s that time of the year, time to think about what we’ve read during the last 12 months and start looking forward to the publishers’ spring lists. In this last year, we’ve witnessed the conclusion of several popular series, the emergence of several more, seen some solid hardback offerings that were, in many cases, both profitable and critically successful, pondered “steampunk” and wondered if the supernatural romance trend would ever die. 

I, like everyone else, spent much of 2010 in a state of anticipation, waiting not only for the final book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy ...

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The YA Series Thrill Ride

There is no question that the literary trilogy is becoming one of the most popular YA forms. On Aug. 24, 2010, Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay—the third and final book in the author’s Hunger Games trilogy—debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times list of bestselling books and, according to publisher Scholastic, sold 450,000 copies in its first week. 

While this figure pales in comparison to the sales of J.K. Rowling’s final book in the Harry Potter series—Scholastic reported that 8.3 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were sold within ...

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