The YA and Middle Grade Fiction Group discussion

When you are browsing through the shelves of the library in search of an awesome YA or middle grade read, what do you have in mind? Are you taken by vivid descriptions, or do you prefer room to visualize the scenes for yourself? What do you believe makes an all around great novel?

I look at the cover first, then I read the back cover. If it pulls me in, entices me then I will read it. I think what makes a good novel is a good mix of action and drama. If you don't have emotion then you don't have a book.

When choosing a book to read, I go by whether the description sounds interesting to me. Usually this means either a plot with something about it that makes me feel it’s exciting, or a character with some unique fact mentioned about them that makes them special enough that I want to learn more.

When it comes to rating a book, what will make me consider it a great read is if it has believable and well-rounded characters, a plot that moves at a nice pace and is as interesting and exciting as – if not more interesting and exciting than – the description made it sound, that there’s consistency in the plot, and the book itself is edited properly.

For me, it's the premise of the book. For example, if the book is just about the whole apocalyptic disease thing or the alien invasion thing (two topics which have been horribly overdone, in my opinion), I probably won't give it a second glance. However, if the book is about, let's say, super spies who travel through time and steal people's memories ... Then I notice.

I am with Ellie, the premise is really the key for me. If I don't like it, it's a show stopper. Next it's the main character description. Is this someone I care about enough to devote several hours to?

For me, it's the writing. I'll open almost any book to chapter one, but if you haven't hooked me in the first paragraph, I won't finish it. Unless of course I'm critiquing it, then I'll finish, but tell you when (if ever) I got hooked.

Oh, and I'll put down any book with too many obscenities in it.