miker wrote:
"My 15-year-old daughter just finished a book called SMACK by
Melvin Burgess, and she's wanting to ask Ms Meaker about her
young adult books."
I've seen Smack in the bookstore and thought about picking it
up, since I'm fascinated by books about junkies. Did she like
it?
I must admit I'm not very familiar with YA books. The only
ones I've read are Young Adult Novel by Daniel Pinkwater and
two books by Jess Mowry, although they were early books,
shelved in Lit, not YA in the stores (am I right in thinking
his last few novels were specifically aimed at the YA
market?). I've never read SE Hinton, but I've seen movie
adaptations of three of her books -- Tex, Outsiders and
Rumblefish.
So what exactly distinguishes a YA book? Is it the
characters, the writing or both? Or is it simply the
marketing? For instance, I am currently reading Vin Packer's
The Young and Violent. It's a Gold Medal, but it's about high
school age gang members and their social setting. Is this
different from a YA novel in anything but shelving? I guess I
could ask the same question about Catcher in the Rye or Rule
of the Bone.
Related, can anyone recommend some good noirish or hardboiled
YA novels for me to acquaint myself with the genre?
Mark
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