I've recently been flashing backwards.
Not in a literal sense, of course. (Though that would be kinda fun. Or would it...?) No, I've been returning to the defining books of my youth. I was in a used bookstore, and found a copy of Paul Zindel's The Pigman, which I loved as a lil' guy. So I picked it up for nostalgia's sake, and read it again...
Only to find that I still loved it.
Which to me is interesting. Many times we outgrow things in our lives. Styles of clothes, hairstyles, music choices, significant others... but at the same time, some things stay the same. Some voices still sound the same long after we put them away and continued on with our lives. Voices like Robert Cormier, Paul Zindel, J. D. Salinger...
Funny thing. I picked up The Cather In the Rye after I read The Pigman. And sure enough, I began to laugh out loud as I once again delved into the mind of the depressed, sarcastic, lost Holden Caulfield. It's interesting to me that a poor black kid in the 80's could read about the exploits of a rich white kid in the 40s... and still relate.
But that's the beauty of the young adult novel. Teenage problems carry universal themes: confusion, rebellion, lost outlook on life, alienation, and so on. It didn't matter the time, place, or color... the outlook was the same. So the question is... why do these stories still resonate with me now?
I suppose because the truth is that the child never really dies. The issues we struggled with as young people never were solved, just replaced by bigger problems. We go from wondering what the hell is wrong with grownups, to wondering what the hell is up with kids. To wondering why we don't understand girls/boys to wondering why we don't understand our wives/husbands. Sometimes we still feel lost. And plenty of times we still feel rebellious...
I haven't read the popular YA novels of today. No Harry Potter, no Twilight, nothing that the youth of today devour greedily until the last page is turned. I leave them their classics, and feel content that the magic of books has not disappeared, but keeps on enchanting. I am satisfied with Cormier, Salinger, Zindel, Alexander, Jaques, Blume, Cleary, and the other writers who impacted my own youth, and encouraged me to keep on reading, and take up a pen of my own. Hats off to the great ones.
So I guess it's no surprise that YA novels still resonate after all these years. So my question is: Do you have a favorite novel from your youth, and why?
Lewis Knight is the author up the upcoming novel, Way of the Reaper.
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Comments: 97
seven years old.
thirty-one years old.
same.
nuff said.
It also dealt with subject matter to which I had never been previously exposed, so I felt like I was peeking inside a different world through the eyes of the characters.
And now I am wondering if S.E. Hinton still writes books. I need to look her up!
(From Wikipedia)
Young adult books
* The Outsiders (1967, novel)
* That Was Then, This Is Now (1971, novel)
* Rumble Fish (1975, novel)
* Tex (1979, novel)
* Taming the Star Runner (1988, novel)
* Hawkes Harbor (2004, novel)
Juvenile books
* Big David, Little David (1995, picture book)
* The Puppy Sister (1995, chapter book)
Adult books
* Hawkes Harbor (2004, novel)
*Some of Tim's Stories (2006, short stories)
Later at age 16 I read To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. Just great, evocative literature about growing up that made me want to remember my childhood in the greater context of social relevance or change. Probably not classically considered a Young Adult read, but having read it as a young adult, I know I would recommend it to a serious young-adult reader.
You know what Homer Simpson says: "I stopped reading when To Kill a Mockingbird gave me no useful advice on killing mockingbirds. It did, however, teach me not to judge a man by the color of his skin."
Thanks, Beth!
As a teenager, I still liked mysteries, moving on to Mary Roberts Rhinehart and Agatha Christie. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird. I read constantly, but those are the books that have stayed in my mind. Eventually, I moved on to Gothic romance novels and Regency romances.
I still love mysteries and thrillers. I'm glad you asked this question. Thinking about the books brought back good memories.
There are too many great books to mention and I would not presume to think that any one is better than the other. In fact they’re all unique and special onto themselves. Each one of them left a lasting impression through the windows of my imagination.
Marilyn
Do you like green eggs and ham? :)
You know the funny thing? I never like LOTR much, not as a child or an adult. But I loved the movies. Go figure.
weatherman’s
Anyway, Flaubert is also well known for his letters to George Sand, which were published after his death.
Then there is the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries
Anything by Andre Norton or Robert Heinlein.
The Stallion series by Walter Farley
Michener, Hemingway, anything about China, Egypt or Ireland.
I read Salinger's Catcher in college, having not gone to high school here. Been meaning to wread Wrinkle in Time.
So many YA books now and so much better than many back then.
I was not encouraged to read YA but really just to read classics. Figures.
please. I love the dialogue over books here (and books in my opinion are an artform). Thank you!
I have to come by and re-read it. Today is one of my bad days. Sorry.
a multi-volume account of how important it is not to be "sheep".....