The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

30.7 -- Emily Kate's task -- Forever Young
Young-adult books (often abbreviated as YA) are books written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 13 to 21. For this task you must read 2 or more YA books totaling at least 800 pages. For the purposes of this task YA is defined as having an adolescent or young adult (aged 13-21) as the protagonist and NOT just something on the high school reading list. This list might help: List of books shelved as YA on Goodreads -- However, as with all Goodreads lists, be careful. Anyone can shelve any book as YA. If you are unsure if your book fits the task or not, ask here, in the appropriate help task thread.

Of your selected books, 1 must be a stand-alone book (NOT part of a series) and 1 must be part of a series (even if it is the only book written in the series so far). Series books must be identified as part of a series on GoodReads (Series Name, #). Additional books may be either stand-alone or series.

In addition, all books must be chosen from different sub-genres of YA (defined below).

For the purposes of this task the genres are defined as follows:
A. Romance
B. Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
C. Historical Fiction
D. Non-fiction
E. Sci-Fi / Fantasy
F. Dystopian
G. Paranormal
H. Issue oriented: substance abuse, mental illness, rape, etc.
I. Coming of Age

Required: When claiming points, list whether your books are stand-alones or series, what sub-genre they fit into, and the number of pages. Briefly explain why the books chosen are considered YA and why it fits the sub-genre.

For example, you might choose to read:
1. Speak -- stand-alone/coming of age (198 pp) - Considered YA because the protagonist (Melinda) is a high school freshman. It's a coming of age novel because she has to deal with some serious issues and struggles to find her voice. AND
2. Twilight -- series/paranormal (498 pp) - Considered YA because the protagonist (Bella) is in high school. It's paranormal because Edward is a vampire. AND
3. The Hunger Games -- series/dystopian (374 pages). Considered YA because the protagonist (Katniss) is 16. It is dystopian because she lives in a nightmarish world.

Total number of pages = 1070

Books Approved:
Harry Potter, books 4-7
The Giver
Printz award books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printz_A...

Number of pages clarification (from Kristi):
You should go by the copy you are reading. Therefore, if you own (or check out from the library) the hardback edition, you use the page count for the hardback edition. If you own (or check out from the library) the paperback edition, you use that page count. If you're reading an electronic version of the book and an eBook page number is given on Goodreads then you should use that page count.

However if there is no page count on the electronic edition, you should use the page count for the mass market paperback if one exists. If there is no mass market paperback edition, use the paperback one and if no paperback is available use the hardback edition.

Books not approved:
The Sea of Monsters
Because of Winn-Dixie

APPROVED:
Harry Potter, books 4-7
The Giver
Printz award books
Wintergirls
Elsewhere
Messenger
Nobody's Princess
Wicked: Witch & Curse
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Ella Enchanted
13 Little Blue Envelopes
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Ash
Generation Dead
Graceling and Fire
Specials and Extras
Coraline
The Graveyard Book
Vampire Academy books by Richelle Mead
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Hatchet
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Blubber
Lock and Key
The Book Thief
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Salvaged
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard
Lady Knight
I Am the Messenger
Playing Beatie Bow
-
Fallen
Beautiful Darkness
Shadow Hills
The Truth about Forever
Gone
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin
Teenage Waistland
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Uglies
Thirteen Reasons Why
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Shiver
The House of the Scorpion
The Angel Experiment
Vamps
The Scorch Trials
Some Girls Are
Holes
The Battle of the Labyrinth
Terrier
Anne of Avonlea
Noughts & Crosses
Dragonhaven
The Hunter (The Forbidden Game #1)
Spindle's End
Sabotaged
Sold
The Sea of Monsters
Hidden Wives
Cleopatra's Daughter
The People of Sparks
Firespell
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

****************************************************************

NOT approved
Because of Winn-Dixie
Number the Stars
Chronicles of Narnia
Ender's Game
The Golden Compass
-
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
The Host
Alex Award winners - Examples: Soulless, Bad Monkeys, The Spellman Files, The Name of the Wind
The Girl with the White Flag

ok, so this is what I have to make sure I have it right...

Wintergirls - YA because focuses on a teenager and dealing with Anorexia (G - Coming of Age)
Wit'ch Fire - YA because features a teenage protagonist (D - Fantasy)
Number the Stars - YA because focuses on the experiences of a young girl in WW2 Denmark and helping the Jews escape (B - Historical Fiction)

Emily Kate, you rock so hardcore. I love this task. Just wanted to let you know lol

I'm going to need help with the sub-genres:

Elsewhere - (G- coming of age??) YA because the teen protagonist struggles to understand her situation? Stand alone.

Messenger - (E- Dystopian) YA because the protagonist is a teenager. Part of a series (The Giver #3)

Would these books and sub-genres be acceptable?

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "ok, so this is what I have to make sure I have it right...

Wintergirls - YA because focuses on a teenager and dealing with Anorexia (G - Coming of Age)
Wit'ch Fire ..."
Almost, except at least one of the books has to be a series.

Ms Anderson wrote: "Emily Kate, you rock so hardcore. I love this task. Just wanted to let you know lol"

Thanks :)

Petra wrote: "I'm going to need help with the sub-genres:

Elsewhere - (G- coming of age??) YA because the teen protagonist struggles to understand her situation? Stand alone.

[book:Messenger|..."
I'd say Elsewhere is fantasy. My trick for figuring this out is to see what the shelves are for it (most popular shelves) and pick the top one that's a genre.

I love this task! Thanks!!!

Erin (NY) wrote: "I love this task! Thanks!!!"
Glad you like it :)

Thanks for doing such a great job defining YA as well as creating a great task! I have one question. Does the sub genre need to be different for each book chosen?

Karen GHHS wrote: "Thanks for doing such a great job defining YA as well as creating a great task! I have one question. Does the sub genre need to be different for each book chosen?"
Yes

I was thinking (B-Historical Fiction) (336) & (F-Paranormal) (672) as my two books would those work?

Hi Emily Kate- Just making sure these work- thanks!

1.The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants- shelved coming-of-age 17 times.(also a series)
2.Ella Enchanted- shelved fantasy 1151 times (stand alone)
3.13 Little Blue Envelopes- shelved romance 42 times
total page count- 870

★Meghan★ wrote: "I was thinking (B-Historical Fiction) (336) & (F-Paranormal) (672) as my two books would those work?"
sounds good

Fran wrote: "Hi Emily Kate- Just making sure these work- thanks!

1.The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants- shelved coming-of-age 17 times.(also a series)
2.Ella Enchanted- shelved ..."
yup

My selections are:
Speak-stand alone, coming of age
Graceling-series, fantasy
Specials-series, dystopia

Most of my YA books seem to fit more than one genre!(not a bad problem to have though...!) so choosing the right category is a bit of an issue!

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You could fit mystery/suspense/thriller) because she is a spy, and romance.

Ash romance and paranormal because there are faeries in it...

Generation Dead-paranormal(zombies), romance, or coming of age (civil rights for dead people)

yep - wi'tch fire is a series - called Banned and Bannished

Emily Kate wrote: "Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "ok, so this is what I have to make sure I have it right...

Wintergirls - YA because focuses on a teenager and dealing with Anorexia (G - Com..."

chucklesthescot wrote: "Most of my YA books seem to fit more than one genre!(not a bad problem to have though...!) so choosing the right category is a bit of an issue!

[book:I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to ..."
Pick whichever genre you think it fits best :) As long as they are different.

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "yep - wi'tch fire is a series - called Banned and Bannished

Emily Kate wrote: "Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "ok, so this is what I have to make sure I have it right...

[book:Wintergi..."
Ok in that case that's fine :) Just don't forget to specifically say that when posting that task.

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "My selections are:
Speak-stand alone, coming of age
Graceling-series, fantasy
Specials-series, dystopia"
sounds good

Great but tough task Emily Kate. I think I need help with the sub genres. Here is what I have figured out

Coraline for stand alone, but would it be fantasy, horror or mystery?
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for coming of age (series)

AND

Fallen for paranormal series.

Sabotaged for historical series since there is travel back in history involved?

The Sea of Monsters or any of the Percy Jackson series. What would you classify those as? fantasy/mythology?

Will those work?

Then my other question when looking at the goodreads page for each book the page #'s vary as much as 150 pages. I generally pick a hardback copy and use the page numbers given there but I usually actually read large print or listen to audio books. Since you specified a page requirement what do you prefer? Thanks

Whoops! I accidently left out a sub-genre when posting the task, so you actually have one more to play with:

H. Issue oriented: substance abuse, mental illness, rape, etc.

Thanks for letting me know, Emily Kate!

i'm wondering if Because of Winn-Dixie would count? it's been shelved as YA over 100 times on good reads, and it's definitely a coming of age story. the protagonist is a younger than the parameters you set in the task description, but it still seems like it fits the genre. thanks! :)

Sheila wrote: "Great but tough task Emily Kate. I think I need help with the sub genres. Here is what I have figured out

Coraline for stand alone, but would it be fantasy, horror or mystery?
[b..."

I was wondering too about the page numbers. In my other group, we always use the first book that pulls up as the official page number. So if you searched Coraline, whatever the first entry said, we used. That helped with the confusion...

What are we going by for this task, Emily Kate?

What is our page limit requirement?

Are the Harry Potter books YA? fantasy/series?

i believe so. At least books 4-7 are.

Kathy G. wrote: "Are the Harry Potter books YA? fantasy/series?"

Yes

I found The Host listed under the YA list. Is it a young adult book?

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "What is our page limit requirement?"

Books have to total 800 pages.

Emily Kate wrote: "chucklesthescot wrote: "Most of my YA books seem to fit more than one genre!(not a bad problem to have though...!) so choosing the right category is a bit of an issue!

[book:I'd Tell You I Love Yo..."

Thank you! I'm going to enjoy this task!

AngelaSunshine wrote: "I was wondering too about the page numbers. In my other group, we always use the first book that pulls up as the official page number. So if you searched Coraline, whatever the first entry said, we used. That helped with the confusion...

What are we going by for this task, Emily Kate?"

AngelaSunshine, you should go by the copy you are reading. Therefore, if you own (or check out from the library) the hardback edition, you use the page count for the hardback edition. If you own (or check out from the library) the paperback edition, you use that page count. If you're reading an electronic version of the book and an eBook page number is given on Goodreads then you should use that page count.

However if there is no page count on the electronic edition, you should use the page count for the mass market paperback if one exists. If there is no mass market paperback edition, use the paperback one and if no paperback is available use the hardback edition.

Jennifer N. wrote: "I found The Host listed under the YA list. Is it a young adult book?"

It was supposed to be an adult fiction novel, but it's shelved as teen fiction at the Los Angeles County public library... I read it, and it's definitely not an adult only read. I would've said it was YA had I not heard it was supposed to be adult.

Emily Kate wrote: "Petra wrote: Elsewhere - (G- coming of age??) YA because the teen protagonist struggles to understand her situation? Stand alone.

[book:Messenger|..."
I'd say Elsewhere is fantasy. My trick for figuring this out is to see what the shelves are for it (most popular shelves) and pick the top one that's a genre.
..."

Thanks!

Do all the books have to be different genres--- if it takes 3-4 books to get your 800 pages? Or only at least two different ones?

I see it now---- Sorry. :-)

Is The Graveyard Book stand-alone paranormal?

Kathy G. wrote: "Is The Graveyard Book stand-alone paranormal?"

Yes (great book btw!)

Sorry to be a pest. Is The Giver YA even though the boy is 12? And dystopian?

I gave The Graveyard Book ★★★★★'s. One of my favorite books that I have read in 2010. I think you will really enjoy it Kathy G. I'm hoping to read another Neil Gaiman book for this task once Emily Kate approves it.

Thanks! I've had it on my TBR list but --- so many books and not enough time----- I love this task.

Would the Vampire Academy books by Richelle Mead be considered YA?

Technically, isn't the Newbery a children's award? The Printz I know is YA, and there's tons of awesome Printz winners/honors (I highly recommend Going Bovine, though practically all of them are amazing).

Here's a link to the wiki list of Printz books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printz_A...

Just want to clear these:

Speak stand alone- H - issue related (I think)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince series - E- fantasy

Also, as a side note, I noticed that Number the Stars is mentioned above. When I looked it up it, GR had had the girl as listed as 10. I wanted to use that book too.

Kathy G. wrote: "Sorry to be a pest. Is The Giver YA even though the boy is 12? And dystopian?"

Yes, YA includes middle grades typically, meaning 6th grade up. The Giver is found in the YA section of the library/bookstore and not in the children's/juvenile section. It is dystopian. It could be considered sci-fi too, in my opinion.

Kathy G. wrote: "Sorry to be a pest. Is The Giver YA even though the boy is 12? And dystopian?"

I found the suggested age on Amazon to be 12-14 yrs old, as stated by Publisher's Weekly.