Anyone still coming here?

Hello Everyone!! I'm just about to start my last quarter of grad school. YAY!! That means student teaching, of course. In my quest to put together a list of YA books that my 11th & 12th grade CP and Honors students can use for their multi-genre projects, I remembered this blog and began to wonder if I could access it and go back to what everyone read for YA Lit class. WOW- I was surprised to see that Ray and many others have continued posting over the years. AWESOME!!!

I've read a countless number of YA books since class and have read MANY YA Vampire series--1- because I like them
2- because our kids are reading them

so I will add a list of the series I have found to be most enjoyable:
The Twilight Series (who can like vamps and NOT love Twilight, right? My daughters and I have even been to Forks, La Push, Port Angeles, and Seattle!!)- Stephenie Meyer
Vampire Academy- Richelle Mead
The House of Night- PC & Kristin Cast
Blue Bloods- Melissa de la Cruz
The Vampire Diaries- LJ Smith

I'd say those are rating in order from my favorites to my least favorites. If you are a Vamp Genre lover but want something a bit more spices (non-YA)-- my all time bar none favorite author is JR Ward. Try the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series -- make sure to start with Dark Lover and read them in order. She has a new "Fallen Angels" series that is also good but only 2 books are out in this new series so far.

Other paranormal books that I enjoyed include:
the "WICKED" series- Nancy Holder & DebbieViguie (this is NOT the Wizard of Oz books)
& The Secret Circle- LJ Smith
(again- in that order)

When I took this YA class, my theme was teen issues and through it, I found Ellen Hopkins. You may remember how much I plugged Crank in class. To date, I've read all of her books. Crank is now part of a trilogy... all worth reading! Excellent storyline and I love the poetic form that Hopkins uses. The other two books in that trilogy are Glass and Fallout.

My FAVORITE book by Hopkins so far is Identical. Burned and Impulse were also good. The only one that I really did not care for was called Trick.

One thing I just can't believe as I have been going back through these posts is that there were classmates that were reading The Hunger Games and still, I did not pick up those books until much later. It must have been because the trilogy did not match my theme and I was reading books that quarter like a madwoman. That MUST have been it. If you haven't taken the time to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, you should really do so. It is an amazing well-written trilogy and I won't be surprised if we don't begin seeing it taught in classrooms along side classics such as The Lord of the Flies. Great read!!!

I guess that's it for now. I just wanted to pop on & say Hello and Thank You for making my search for YA books for my students so easy!

I'm Back....

It is nice to see that the next generation of WSU teachers in training are keeping the YA lit dream alive.

Now, on with the good stuff. For those of you who know me, I am a graphic novel fan. Recently, I have read Blankets by Craig Thompson, Chew by John Layman, and Zombies by Don Roff. I also finally read 13 Reasons Why and The Absolutely True Diaries of a Part-Time Indian.

ALL WERE GREAT!!!

Til' Next Time

Leftovers

I am almost done reading Leftovers by Laura Wiess. This is not a book I would have typically chosen, but Sally brought it in as one of the books we had to take home with us. I LOVE it! It is rare that I like every book I am reading, but so far so good!

This book is about two young girls entering high school. They begin as best, inseparable friends, and they slowly drift apart and come back together as the book continues. Ardith comes from a family who is well acquainted with wild partying and the law, and Blair is usually at home alone while her lawyer mother is busy with a client and her two-timing father is busy with his mistress. This book shows that two very different girls from very different families are similar in many ways. They hurt the same and they strive to be noticed in the same ways.

I have yet to reach the end, but so far Blair has explored her sexuality with Ardith and Ardith's brother, and Ardith had her first boyfriend for a while and dumped him. Blair is jealous of the time Ardith spends with her new boyfriend, Gary, and Ardith is just as jealous of the time that Blair spends with her new best friend, Dellasandra. The novel begins by suggesting that something horrible has happened, and the two girls lure in readers with their story, and we delve a little deeper into the lives of Ardith and Blair.

Goodreads Lists

Hello, all!

This is Cassie, I came in to your class this past week to talk about Guy's Lit and I heard you guys were having some problems with Graphic Novels. I put together a list on Goodreads for you here. If you need more suggestions, the American Library Association's YA division, YALSA, puts together both a comprehensive and a Top Ten list of Graphic Novels for YA Readers which you can find here. If you guys need anything else, let me know, and have fun with the class!

Cassie

J.D Salinger

That is what I saw at the top of the hit list, when I sat down. I was wondering why that name was at the top of the list only to find that he has passed on. The Catcher in the Rye got me through a hard time once. I did not read it for school or anything, I just came a cross it in a used book store. I was hooked from the first page to the last, where he left me with these words "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do you start missing everybody."

Graphic Novel: Marvel Civil War

Hi Everyone,

This week I have been reading the graphic novel "Civil War" by Mark Millar. This graphic novel centers around a conflict between superheroes after a reality TV show starring young superheroes pursuing dangerous villains goes terribly wrong, leading to the destruction of a school and the deaths of several hundred school children. This leads to a major backlash against superheroes by common citizens, who are tired of the superheroes destroying things and living these rogue lifestyles. In order to appease the citizens, the government mandates that all superheroes must be registered and reveal their secret identities in order to continue fighting crime. This becomes the great dividing point between the heroes. Many feel they must maintain their secrecy in order to protect those around them and flee underground, others feel that they must restore the people's faith in them and reveal their identities. This leads to an all out war between the two factions.

This is an excellent read! Personally, I'm not a huge fan of comic books but the story is so well written, that it sucks you in and holds your attention throughout with great animation and a suspense filled story that makes you turn the page, trying to anticipate what is going to happen next. Even if you don't know a great deal about superheroes, you can still appreciate the story as it gives some insight into the previous friendships between the superheroes, which makes the civil war such a complex situation.

Catching Fire

Hi all,

Just wanted to update you all on Catching Fire, the sequel to Hunger Games. It looks like I'm in for another adventure. The story begins with Katniss finding out that all is not perfect in her cushy new life. She is about to embark on a journey to make things right, but she is extremely conflicted about it. In addition, she's having a little PTSD with her memories of the HG. I'm wondering if she will do something to forever change the state of affairs- but there is a sequel, so I'm not sure how much. Anyways, I'm about 60 pages in and already on board. Collins' descriptions of setting and characters are so amazing. It is so easy to picture everything. I even find myself going back and reading again and finding more I missed.

Next I'm onto Shiver and Laurie Halse Anderson's Chains.