What shall we read?

June 13, 2019 4:47 PM

I think maybe one book every week (two weeks?) is reasonable? New books on Thursdays?

Other than Catherine Called Birdy and the True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, what shall we read? Here are some of my suggestions:

- Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
- Anastasia Ask Your Analyst
- The Westing Game
- Perks of Being a Wallflower
- The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
- The Book of Dust
- The Golden Compass
- Tuck Everlasting
- Hatchet
- Tituba of Salem Village
- Walk Two Moons
- The Wanderer

posted by ChuraChura to Nostalgic YA Books (19 comments total)

Holy shit someone else who read the ear, the eye, and the arm, I was absolutely obsessed with that book! Short as these are, every week would be too brisk for me. I could do every other week with frequent abstentions.

Dealing with Dragons, maybe?
posted by a hat out of hell at 5:02 PM on June 13, 2019 [4 favorites]

Every two weeks sounds good and I love Dealing With Dragons.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:33 PM on June 13, 2019

Thanks so much for organizing this!

Books I'm seriously dying to reread:

- Ghosts I Have Been (possibly along with The Ghost Belonged To Me)
- Deliver Us From Evie
- Annie On My Mind
- The Green Futures of Tycho and/or Oddballs
- The Girl with the Silver Eyes
- The Cat in the Mirror

Books I really loved, but that (I worry) may not have aged well:

- The Rise and Fall of a Teenage Wacko*
- Where Has Deedie Wooster Been All These Years?*

A Book I've Never Read But That I Really Want To Check Out:

- The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl

YA Authors I never really stopped reading:

- Francesca Lia Block
- Alan Garner
- Daniel Pinkwater

*Please tell me I'm not the only one who remembers this!
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 6:00 PM on June 13, 2019 [4 favorites]

The Dark Is Rising sequence? Or even just Greenwitch, which stands alone pretty well.
posted by kalimac at 6:18 PM on June 13, 2019 [6 favorites]

Throwing one in for The Owl Service by Alan Garner, which definitely will not be chosen anytime soon!

The Changeover by Margaret Mahy, though, or The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley for stunning nostalgic YA fantasy. (Wasn’t until I was older that I picked up the strong Lord of the Rings influence lurking around the edges.)

I’d be down for FLB’s Dangerous Angels, too. (Weetzie Bat or Baby Be-Bop on their own are great but kind of thin.)
posted by verbminx at 6:19 PM on June 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

I would love to reread Tomorrow, When the War Began.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:51 PM on June 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

Oh, I'm rereading The Westing Game right now and boy would I love to discuss it, along with many of the others listed...
(will comment again when I get home from work and can look at my shelves)
posted by huimangm at 8:57 PM on June 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

Cynthia Voigt's books definitely should be included.
posted by orange swan at 10:21 PM on June 13, 2019 [3 favorites]

Awesome!!! I've started a google spreadsheet for suggesting books and scheduling the book club. I've added the books that have been suggested to the spreadsheet. Maybe we can use that to organize the schedule - and once you've claimed a date on the spreadsheet, please go ahead and post it as a book club event!
posted by ChuraChura at 5:27 AM on June 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

So many good possibilities to choose from!

I remember loving The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley. It had a great mix of cool/slightly scary magic and typical coming-of-age stuff.

Do Susan Cooper’s Boggart books count as YA or are they more children’s fiction? The first one might be more of a kids’ book but the second is much more angsty/YA as I recall.

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virginia Hamilton was also a favorite.

OH and of course Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle is the ultimate late-90s supernatural + young-teen-coming-of-age story.

The Summer I Learned About Life is maybe a little tame but really sweet.

(Though with the exception of Sweet, I realize that all of these are, like me, very white and very hetero.)
posted by peakes at 5:29 AM on June 14, 2019

Thanks for this, ChuraChura! Have added a few to the spreadsheet: Cynthia Voigt as mentioned above, Tim Kennemore, Louise Fitzhugh, National Velvet. (I hope it's okay just to add to the list). Seconding Tamsin, Susan Cooper, Margaret Mahy, Annie on my Mind etc etc....
posted by huimangm at 5:52 AM on June 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

I love this idea!
posted by capricorn at 6:44 AM on June 14, 2019

I’ll add to the spreadsheet when I’m not on my phone, but off the top of my head I’d throw out:

The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix
The Egypt Game or Libby on Wednesday, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, by E L Konigsburg

Also here to sadly report that Dangerous Angels has not aged well at all, at least for me.
posted by ActionPopulated at 3:39 PM on June 14, 2019 [5 favorites]

I kindled and binged CCB and found a book I've been wondering about for YEARS listed in a "you may also like" section.

The Maude Reed Tale
by Norah Lofts

Also medieval tho set a few hundred years later. I loved this book. Hoping the Suck Fairy won't have hit it.
posted by travertina at 5:44 PM on June 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'd definitely be in for this, thanks for mentioning it!

Relatedly: I'm doing a Young Wizards (Diane Duane) re-read right now, and definitely recommend her New Millennium editions. Much smoother read when they're all set in a more specific timeline (especially with the changes in computing tech since the 80s.)
posted by asperity at 11:46 AM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

How...how has nobody mentioned Tamora Pierce yet? Anything by Tamora Pierce. I will read and reread and reread those again and again for the sake of having someone to talk about Tortall with.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 11:01 AM on June 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Only because we've already got a club just for Tamora Pierce! Get in there and say some things about Tortall. :D
posted by asperity at 11:44 AM on June 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'd like to nominate Robert Cormier ('The Chocolate War,' 'I am the Cheese,' etc.), Paul Zindel ('The Pigman' trilogy), Willo Davis Roberts' 'The Girl with the Silver Eyes,' and Scott O'Dell's 'Island of the Blue Dolphins.'
posted by box at 7:32 AM on July 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

I really adored OR Melling's The Singing Stone, if anyone else has read that? I preferred Izzy, Willy-Nilly for Cynthia Voigt, would definitely be into The Westing Game or Koningsburg or Snyder.

Paula Danziger? I was a big fan of William Sleator and, though we're aiming younger here, Gordon Korman. Or for somewhat pulpier, Lois Duncan?
posted by jeather at 6:31 PM on August 14, 2019 [1 favorite]