2017 Reading Challenge discussion

This folder is for books that have been published primarily for Young Adult readers.

Please share your suggestions, or any resources you've used to help find your book for this category in this thread.

I have decided to read "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg. If you have read this, I would love to hear some feedback, in case I want to change my selection.

I'm reading The Infinite Sea, the sequel to The Fifth Wave (making my way through the whole series!)

I'm going to read Six of Crows, I loved the world building in the Grisha trilogy and this one sounds like a fun read.

I was thinking of going with something from Rainbow Rowell who seems very popular over on Booktube. But I'm also thinking of Lair of Dreams since I read the first book this year.

I could easily fill this category with about 80%of my TBR list. The real challenge will be choosing one! hahaha
I think I'll go either with Legend by Marie Lu, Raven Boys, or Six of Crowns by Leigh Bardugo.

I will read Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

I recently finished reading Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden, so I might use one of the other books in the series for this particular challenge.

For this category I recommend The Fall by Bethany Griffin She took Edgar Allen Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" and updated it for a younger audience. I really enjoyed it and it was very creepy for a YA novel. Very good way to broach YA if it is not your favorite genre.

Of all the YA books I've read, Big Mouth, Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates is the one I'd recommend.

I always tend to mix up YA and NA. I am often perplexed about the similarities and differences between the two, so I have thoroughly googled this and there is one blog that besides other differences says: YA they are in High School (13-18-ish), NA perhaps up to college (18-25-ish). I have just realised than in the book I was ready to count for this category, the protagonists' ages are around 20 and they are in college. Can someone clarify is this would be valid as YA or not really?

To be honest this is the first time I've come across the genre name New Adult. Seems pretty anal to distinguish so narrowly based on age. I view YA as a very broad genre and find it silly to say "this book is about a 19-year-old, it's not YA". YA to me is about coming of age and that can happen several years after 20.

I completely agree with Thomas. I don't think it's possible (or desirable) to have an objective definition of the genre.
Also, I interpreted "young adult books" as books intended for YA readers. Which isn't necessarily the same as having (mainly) YA characters in them.
So... all this to say that I don't think it matters that much, as long as you find something you would like to read that broadly matches the description, you can interpret it however you want, right? As far as I'm concerned, the challenge should definitely be about broadening your view/bookrange, not restricting it.

Whale Talk
Found as I was wandering through Amazon.

@Thomas and Anne, I agree that the challenge should be about expanding, rather than narrowing options, and just a few years ago I would not even have had a clue about the potential dilemma about what is YA or NA or whatever, but I find it interesting that genres are getting so specialised.

I've become aware of a similar conundrum even here in this challenge between the sci-fi/fantasy/dystopia categories, as they can also overlap and I find that my choices for these entries could go to either of them. I follow several book blogs and the debate between what is "paranormal" and what is "urban fantasy" is very heated sometimes.

Yeah, it's an interesting discussion, for sure :)

Just finished Challenger Deep. It´s about a teen with mental health problems. Great writing, very interesting theme I highly recommend it

The distinction between genres is certainly interesting :-) I can spend quite some time thinking about it when I organize my books at home. (way too much, according to my friends...)

Nightbird
I was searching for Alice Hoffman book and saw this one listed as being perfect for 10-14 years olds.

I'm going to give The Boy Who Fell from the Sky a go, if you visit the author's site via her page, she'll send you it for free!

Tony wrote: "I'm going to give The Boy Who Fell from the Sky a go, if you visit the author's site via her page, she'll send you it for free!"

Thanks for the heads up.....just requested mine!

I read "Allegiant" for this category which is the 3rd installment of the Divergent Series.

I read Treasure Island for this task. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would - 4 stars!

My dilemma--not really a dilemma because this group isn't tightly rules-bound--is on the other end: When does something stop being a children's book and start being YA? Young adult was not a category that existed when I was a kid. The library had a children's room, and if you had a children's card you needed your parent's permission to check a book out of the main library. Period. I'm reading Coraline for this category because, well, Neil Gaiman.