Young Adult Fiction for Adults discussion

Hey all! I was hoping you could recommend some of your favorite YA fantasy books/series and also any good YA involving werewolves (Blood and Chocolate not included). I have a friend who's really interested in getting into YA, but she's very picky about what she reads. I told her I would help her come up with some things to check out so your recs will be much appreciated!

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

I don't really know any werewolf books except for one:
Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar and it's pretty good.

I'm also a really big fan of Nancy Farmer. She's got some fantasy books. Also Jonathan Stroud's The Bartimaeus Trilogy is really good too, that's fantasy.

Hope that helps.

Thank you both!

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale was really great. It also has sequels: Enna Burning and River Secrets.

A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

I've heard great things about Holly Black's books: Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, and Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale

I've also heard good things about Graceling by Kristin Cashore as well as the Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare: City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass.

I'm currently reading Uglies series (Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extra) by Scott Westerfeld. It's really good.

I liked Generation Deadbut it is zombies, and not werewolves

I loved the Graceling also check out the Host by Stephanie Meyer author of Twilight Series. It is not YA but it was a different approach to sci fi.

Oh yeah. Otherwordlies and War of the Witches by Maite Carranza. I stumbled upon these recently and they were good too.

I loved the Hunger Games as well as the Gregor the Overlander series both by Suzanne Collins. Fablehaven series was great as well.

Jane Yolen--Pit Dragon Chronicles---Volume I Dragon's Blood/Volume II--Heart's Blood/ Volume III--A Sending of Dragons.

Tamora Pierce---Protector of the Small series 1)First Test 2) Page 3) Squire and 4)Lady Knight.

Both excellent.

Does anyone have recommendations for 5thy and 6th grade level reading?

Emily Rodda's Rowan of Rin series

Terri wrote: "Emily Rodda's Rowan of Rin series"

Thanks.My son is very picky on what he wants to read...makes it hard to pick for book reports. It's going to be harder next year as he needs to do a book report over the summer for 6th grade....that will be interesting. I will place this book title on the library holds for his summer reading.

Kim-
My son loved the Percy Jackson series. "Lightning Thief" is the first one. I loved them as well.

House of Night, Blue Bloods, and the Mortal Instruments are fun series! They all have different takes on being a vampire. Also, I love The Chronicals Of Narnia! This last one is for probably 5th grade on up. The 1st 3 are for oder teens and up. Hope this helps!

Oooohhh...I second the Percy Jackson series, especially if your friend is into Greek mythology. And it's also finished.

One of my favorites is the Abhorsen Trilogy (aka The Old Kingdom series) by Garth Nix. This is if you like fantasy/adventure. There are no werewolves though.

Shannon wrote: "Hey all! I was hoping you could recommend some of your favorite YA fantasy books/series and also any good YA involving werewolves (Blood and Chocolate not included). I have a friend who's really in..."

I just finished reading The Mortal Instraments Series and loved it. It has werewolves in it as well as vampires, faeries, demons, etc. I also have heard that the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr is good. It is about faeries. It is on my to-read list and I will as soon as I can get them from the library.

I haven't read the last book of The Mortal Instruments, but I really liked the City Of Ashes (2nd Installment) a lot! I liked the first one but didn't like the twist at the end. I am excited to wait for City Of Glass to come out in paperback (I'm sure it will be a year at least though). But I don't know if I can wait that long. I will probably have to borrow my friends.

I did like Wicked Lovely a lot. I am more used to the Disney version of faeries. So it was fun to see that faeries can be mean, nasty creatures.

I also liked Tithe by Holly Black (author of The Spiderwick Cronicals). It's a teen series and was a dark story with fun characters. I think there is more charactor development in this series than in Wicked Lovely, but the story in Tithe is more adult than teen. Both are good though!

Maggie wrote: "Oooohhh...I second the Percy Jackson series, especially if your friend is into Greek mythology. Also, the last book for the series just came out so I think it's finished (though I haven't read it m..."

Percy Jackson is a fun series. I did have fun reading the 1st 2 books. I started to get a little overwhelmed by how much Percy looked at himself as an outsider because it kindof brought the whole mood of the story down for me. Even though in Harry Potter he struggles with the same thing, it wasn't so intense and overwhelming in the story. Read it for sure though!

Leana wrote: "I haven't read the last book of The Mortal Instruments, but I really liked the City Of Ashes (2nd Installment) a lot! I liked the first one but didn't like the twist at the end. I am excited to wai..."

Oh definitely borrow it then! Don't wait! It is the best of the 3. I couldn't wait and couldn't get it at the library so I broke down and bought it! Will not disappoint! Go for it!

Hi. Anyone knows any good books I can read?
I have just finishe the House of Night series, read the first Mortal Instruments (the bookshops here don't have the next yet :/ )Loved the Twilight Saga when I read it, and also read most of The Morganville Vampires. It doesn't have to be books about vampires! Thanks!

Helene wrote: "Hi. Anyone knows any good books I can read?
I have just finishe the House of Night series, read the first Mortal Instruments (the bookshops here don't have the next yet :/ )Loved the Twilight Sag..."

The Evernight series by Claudia Gray is a Vampire series and is pretty good. Only the first 2 are out right now.

If you liked City of Bones, try get your hands on the 2nd and 3rd of the mortal instruments. Even if it is from the library.

Also Evermore is the first of a new series called the Immortals series by Alison Noel. Also pretty good. The 2nd book comes out in July I believe and is called Blue Moon.

Kristin wrote: "Helene wrote: "Hi. Anyone knows any good books I can read?
I have just finishe the House of Night series, read the first Mortal Instruments (the bookshops here don't have the next yet :/ )Loved th..."

Thanks, I'll check them out! :)

Helene wrote: "Hi. Anyone knows any good books I can read?
I have just finishe the House of Night series, read the first Mortal Instruments (the bookshops here don't have the next yet :/ )Loved the Twilight Sag..."


I just finished The Summoning! It was really good. I was totally surprised but I liked it a lot. The next book, The Awakening I believe is out, but I haven't read it yet. I totally recomend it for sure though!

Oh, also, if you haven't read Wicked Lovely or Tithe, I recommend those also!

Definitely need to read the rest of the Mortal Instruments series! I was so happy with the way the 3rd book ended.

I also recommend the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. They are awesome! Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz is also pretty good (Book 1 was just ok but they got better).

Debbie wrote: "Definitely need to read the rest of the Mortal Instruments series! I was so happy with the way the 3rd book ended.

I also recommend the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. They are awesom..."

Oh me too. It was my favorite! I was so relieved!

Helene writes Hi. Anyone knows any good books I can read? I have just finishe the House of Night series, read the first Mortal Instruments (the bookshops here don't have the next yet :/ )Loved the Twilight Saga when I read it, and also read most of The Morganville Vampires. It doesn't have to be books about vampires! Thanks!
Hot spit, Helene! You've gotten a spectacular list of recommendations here. How about the New Policeman and The Last of the High Kings by Kate Thompson. One of my all time favorite vampire book is The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause.

Thanks everybody! I'll go out and see if I can't find some of these books! :D

Wow - thanks to everyone for all the recommendations! :D

Hi, I'm Gregory Kemp, YA author. I'd love to facilitate a discussion for my new novel, The Legend of Vinny Whiskers, if anyone is interested. I'd be happy to talk about my path to publication and field questions about my novel.

The Legend of Vinny Whiskers (2009), WEbook, Inc.

I see it's been a while since posting on this thread, but I'll add my fav.'s just in case you are all still hunting (as I always am, too!:>)

Of course, Harry Potter is a favorite. A must read, IMO;>
Also, Lord of the Rings is a very interesting series - quite in-depth (Kim, this might be one for your son to try as I'd classify it as an "older YA").

Another series I've been posting about where-ever I can is the Larklight series by Philip Reeve. These books have some of the best writing and characters I've read in a while!!

I thoroughly enjoyed Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson.

I'm currently reading Airborn (or, actually, I'm listening to the audio cd, but still...) and - mind you, I haven't finished it - but if it continues the way it's going, it will definitely be a favorite!:D

Other books that aren't my "favorites" per say, but come in close would be the Percy Jackson series (as so many have already mentioned ;>) and also I've enjoyed the first few books in the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage. Magyk is the first in the series.
I've also enjoyed the first few books in the Eragon series pretty well (again, Kim, I'd put this at a higher YA level).

For books not really in the sci-fi or fantasy realm I'd suggest the Emily books by L.M. Montgomery. Or Jane Austen or Louisa May Alcott (loved the Rose books!!!).

Ann-
I am currently reading the third in the Airborn series. I loved all of them! There is never a boring moment. They are always full of action and suspense/

Oh good!! Thank you, Shauna!! I'm always nervous in case a series doesn't live up to the original. But this book is so good I found it hard to believe the rest wouldn't be. I'm glad to learn that there's more delights awaiting me. (and perfect timing, I'll probably finish in just a few days, so I'm getting a little sad. But now I've something to look forward to;> YAY!)

StarClimber(the third) was different from the rest, but still really liked them all.

OH really? I'm SO curious!!:)

Joseph Delaney's Last Apprentice series.

My son is finishing up The Sorceress and has The Lightning Thief next in line. I had them on my TBR list and he decided to read the Percy Jackson books. I loved all the Michael Scott books. I hear he's now working on the 4th book. I would recommned those highly.

The Mortal Instruments series is great. City OF Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass. I finished them and passed them around to many people. All of which enjoyed them as well.

I also just finished the Graceling. It is a good read and a quick read despite
the size. If anyone is into futuristic stuff Little Brother is a good read.
It is about a seventeen year old boy that finds love and friends while
fighting against government oppression after a terrorist attack on the
U.S.

The best book to induct any adult woman into reading YA is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It got me hooked on vampires and werewolves, of which i never thought i'd enjoy before.

I would highly recommend Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater for YA paranormal romance. It is a new series and the second book is due out in a few months.

Thank you to everyone for the other recommendations. My "to be read" list is growing by the minute!