Chemung County Library District discussion

Teen fiction has become increasingly popular with adult audiences in recent years. Perhaps due to the success of series like Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Hunger Games, many adult readers have turned to young adult (YA) fiction when looking for their next read. For this month’s reading challenge, choose a YA book and tell us what you think about it. Let us know if you have read YA fiction before and whether or not you’d recommend the book you chose to fellow adult readers.

Here are some CCLD staff recommendations:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
“Haven't read a lot of YA, but I did read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne and thought it was excellent.” –DD

Going Bovine by Libba Bray
“On the surface, Going Bovine is the story of a 16-year-old slacker who finds out that he’s dying and goes on a quest for the cure. The actual story is quite absurd, trippy, and impossible to describe without sounding crazy or giving anything away. I’ll just say it involves a punk rock angel, a hypochondriac dwarf, and a lawn gnome that was previously a Norse god. I found it to be both hilarious and moving.”-JM

Along For the Ride by Sarah Dessen
“One of the YA authors I like is Sarah Dessen. The stories are developed around family and relationship issues, but there is a strong female character with great friends.” –CVO

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
“I couldn’t put it down and cried buckets at the end, (although not for the reasons you’d expect when starting the book). This is one of those books that linger inside you, making your real life seem fuzzy for a time & the book your true reality. The book’s characters are three teens dealing with cancer, friendships, and living life anyway, in spite of their illnesses. This book is NOT morbid or off putting in any way. The characters are funny and real, not long suffering angels or martyrs. Their gallows humor & quirky personalities make you love them and invite them over to hang out. ” -DJM

The Homelanders series by Andrew Klavan
“Each book is so full of suspense and action you don't want to put it down. Great for teen boys or anyone who likes the show 24.” -AZ

For the May Reading Challenge I chose Blood Red Road by Moira Young.

I had never heard of this book, before I set out to find “read-alikes” to The Hunger Games (which I loved). Though the stories and situations are different, both are fast-paced dystopian novels with strong female lead characters that are forced to persevere in life-or-death situations in order to save family members.

Blood Red Road is book one in the Dust Lands Trilogy and takes place an unknown number of years in the future, after the fall of Earth’s current civilizations. The forerunners are referred to as “the wreckers” and we are not given much information about them other than the implication that they were responsible for destroying parts of the planet, which have now been consumed by deserts. People have reverted to a simpler way of life (no electricity, hunting for food, riding horses for transportation). The main character, eighteen-year-old Saba, goes on a quest to rescue her twin brother, after he is kidnapped by agents of the corrupt government. On her way to save her brother, Saba is captured and forced into slavery as a cage fighter. Saba must rely on the help of strangers, if she is to have any hope of escaping and rescuing her brother before it is too late.

The story moves along very quickly and gets right to the action. Because most people in this future society are illiterate, the book is written the way the characters speak, which leads to many words being deliberately misspelled by the author, so we get a feel for the way language has devolved (it took me a while to get used to this). I enjoyed the story and the characters and look forward to reading the next installment. I would recommend this book to anyone (teen and adult!) that enjoys dystopian fiction or a good action-packed tale of perseverance in seemingly hopeless situations (with a bit of humor and romance thrown in).

Love and Other Perishable Items
This Month I read "Love and Other Perishable Items" by Laura Buzo. Amelia at 15, working at the local grocery store, crushes on co-worker hris a 21 year old university student. They form a friendship talking about life, literature, specifically literatures great loves, and growing up. while they both know the idea of a romantic relatiionship is impossible, because of their age gap, they make an intellectual connection helping each other through life's ups and downs.
This book was enjoyable and the character development was exceptional.

Dorisjean | 27 comments This isn't dystopian fiction, but I am currently in love with Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone, and its sequel: Days of Blood & Starlight. Fantasy fiction, but with excellent writing style and touches of humor that bring the characters (human, angel, chimera) boldly to life and away from the "fantasy genre" stereotypes I had in my head. Calling it a YA Romeo & Juliet fantasy doesn't do it justice. This is no "young love against all odds" cardboard cut out plot. :) :) Yay!Daughter of Smoke & BoneDays of Blood & Starlight