The YaYaYas: Teen Lit in Translation

When it comes to adult fiction in translation, I know what I like and tend to seek those types of books—basically, mystery and suspense along the lines of Arnaldur Indriðason, Deon Meyer, Miyuki Miyabe and Jo Nesbø.

Bookshelves of Doom tackles steampunk romance.

With YA fiction in translation, however, I like reading across genres. This is true for me with YA fiction in general, but there is an enjoyable variety among the few translated books published stateside. Take Damned Strong Love by Lutz Van Dijk (Holt, 1995), about the romantic relationship between a Polish teen and a Nazi ...

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The YaYaYas: Teen Fantasy in ‘The Floating Islands’

I don't consider myself a hardcore fantasy reader, but even I recognize that Rachel Neumeier's The Floating Islands contains more than a few familiar fantasy tropes. So I was pleased to discover that the world Neumeier creates—the sense of culture and history she evokes—and her elegantly luminous prose combine to form a quietly wonderful book.

Did you read the last teen column at Kirkus? Check out Beauty Queens at Bookshelves of Doom.

After a volcanic eruption kills his immediate family, and he’s subsequently turned away by his paternal uncle, the orphaned Trei's only option ...

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The YaYaYas: Asian Americans in lit—bring on the books for boys

Mitali Perkins often discusses how stories can serve as windows and mirrors for readers. “The best novels let young people gain insight into other lives as well as reflect realities in their own lives,” she writes. It is vital that readers have the opportunity to see themselves in stories, as well as for readers of other backgrounds to both explore different experiences and attitudes and gain an appreciation for the similarities that exist. The lack of representation of teens from a variety of ethnicities, abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, genders and sexualities is problematic, but since Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is ...

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The Kickass Tamora Pierce

The first thing I think of when I hear Tamora Pierce’s name is Girl Power, although sometimes Mother of Kickass Heroines in YA Fantasy comes to mind, too. In my opinion, Pierce’s books have had a significant impact on both teens and YA fantasy.*

But, I have to admit, I don’t think Pierce is a great writer. While I do generally enjoy her books and find them readable, her writing lacks subtlety and some of her heroines are such earnest but admirable do-gooders that, as fictional characters, they occasionally grate on my nerves. 

Despite its title and ...

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The YaYaYas: Victorian Splendor

I’ve read several positive reviews of Michaela MacColl’s Prisoners in the Palace (Chronicle, October 2010), but what honestly raised my expectations the most was the book’s design. Have you seen it? The cover is gorgeous, the back resembles a broadside—bonus points for actually tying it into the plot—and the interior pages are designed just as thoughtfully.

Yes, I do sometimes judge books by their covers.

Obviously, this can lead to disappointment, but not this time. Prisoners in the Palace is, for the most part, an enjoyable historical novel. Plus, it includes a further reading section ...

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The YaYaYas: Self-published 'Jazz in Love' delivers predictable, yet fun, notes

Despite one major factual error regarding same-sex marriage in Hawaii (more on that in a bit), Neesha Meminger’s self-published Jazz in Love (Ignite Books, Jan. 10, 2011) has a back story too common in this day and age—an established writer struggling to get it published.

WANT MORE ABOUT TEEN BOOKS? Check out the last two YA columns from Bookshelves of Doom and YA or STFU. 

In an October guest post on The Rejectionist blog, and in an even more recent interview with author Zetta Elliott, Meminger says that after the relative success of her debut novel, Shine, Coconut ...

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Awards Time

In the kids’ book world, this time of year ranks among a blogger’s favorite—it’s when we all discuss our favorite books and look ahead. It also happens to be Youth Media Awards speculation time.

The American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards honor the best in books and media for children and teens and will be announced Jan. 10. And, as always, I am most intrigued by who will win the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.

The Printz is the most exciting, most intriguing of the major awards. It has no residency ...

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The YaYaYas’ Best Books 2010: Nothing Really is Something

I always feel weird discussing my favorites/best-of before the year is out. I could read something really awesome in December, not to mention that I’m behind due to the roughly two-month-long motivational slump that curtailed my reading this fall.

With that caveat, a few 2010 books definitely stand out—the brilliant futuristic and frighteningly plausible, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi; Deception by Lee Nichols, a fun concoction that far surpassed my ugh-yet-another-paranormal-series skepticism and doubts; and the emotionally wrenching Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers.

Then there’s Janne Teller’s harrowing and intense Nothing (translated from Danish ...

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YA Goes to College

During the past several months, I’ve seen several bloggers mention that they would love to see more YA novels set in college. As a fan of college-set YA myself, I tried to figure out why these books are relatively rare and, well, I still have no idea.

In the third edition of Best Books for Young Adults, published in 2007 by ALA Editions, editor Holly Koelling writes, “In the second edition of this book, Betty Carter noted that five editors at the 1994 YALSA Best of the Best preconference agreed that publishers saw the teen market as the younger ...

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