Fiction_L Archives Positive YA Fiction Dates: 6/10/03,7:54 PM  through  6/13/03,12:21 PM  (13 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to June 2003 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: [removed]@wepl.lib.oh.us
REC'D: 6/10/03, 7:54 PM

Hello,

Can anyone give some suggestions of YA fiction titles that are not depressing or that have a positive message? Also, titles of this type that would appeal to male YA's would be especially appreciated!

Thanks!

FROM: "Andrew Parson" <[removed]@packer.edu>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 8:36 AM

Here are four titles that I recommend to boys that fit the bill for
positive YA fiction.

Love among the Walnuts / Jean Ferris - Son must save his parents from
greedy uncles trying to steal the family fortune. Humorous.

Gold Dust / Chris Lynch - An Irish Catholic boy and a Haitian immigrant
find friendship through baseball as Boston deals with racism in the 1970s.

Long Way from Chicago / Richard Peck - Brother and sister spend summers in
a small Illinois town with their one-of-a-kind grandmother. Humorous.

Oddballs / William Sleator - Stories based on Sleators childhood.
Laugh-out-loud funny in places.

- Andrew
__________________________
Andrew Parson
Upper School Librarian
Packer Collegiate Institute
Brooklyn, NY

FROM: "Janice Borg" <[removed]@cooklib.org>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 9:06 AM

> -----Original Message-----
> [removed]@wepl.lib.oh.us [[removed]@wepl.lib.oh.us]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 7:43 PM
> To: Fiction_L
> Subject: Positive YA Fiction
>
These are two newer titles I recommend to boys. Born Too Short / Dan Elish Son of the Mob / Gordon Korman Both are humorously told through the voice of a thoughtful teenage boy. ---- Janice

FROM: "Marsha Valance" <[removed]@mpl.org>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 9:18 AM

I can highly recommend Joan Bauer. Probably SQUASHED and STICKS would appeal most to male YAs.

Marsha Valance
Regional Librarian
Wisconsin Regional Library f/t Blind & Physically Handicapped
813 West Wells St.
Milwaukee, WI 53233
1.800.242.8822 [in-state]
<[removed]@mpl.org>

>>> [removed]@wepl.lib.oh.us 06/10/03 07:42PM >>>
Hello,

Can anyone give some suggestions of YA fiction titles that are not depressing or that have a positive message? Also, titles of this type that would appeal to male YA's would be especially appreciated!

Thanks!

FROM: Edward Goldberg <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 10:06 AM

Anything by Chris Crutcher should appeal to teen boys.
I read Whale Talk and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
and they are great. They have a positive message.
They are serious books, however, usually told in
humorous ways.

The Contender by Robert Lipsyte

Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas

All great guy books.

Ed Goldberg
[removed]@yahoo.com

--- [removed]@wepl.lib.oh.us wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Can anyone give some suggestions of YA fiction
> titles that are not depressing or that have a
> positive message? Also, titles of this type that
> would appeal to male YA's would be especially
> appreciated!
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org

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FROM: "Lisa Colcord" <[removed]@glendaleaz.com>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 10:29 AM

I just read a great one called _Big Mouth and Ugly Girl_ by JOyce Carol Oates. Should appeal to both and upbeat ending.

Lisa

Lisa Colcord
Librarian
Glendale Public library
Glendale, AZ

....my views are my own....

-The secret to life is enjoying the passage of time- James Taylor

>>> [removed]@mpl.org 06/11/03 07:16AM >>>
I can highly recommend Joan Bauer. Probably SQUASHED and STICKS would appeal most to male YAs.

Marsha Valance
Regional Librarian
Wisconsin Regional Library f/t Blind & Physically Handicapped
813 West Wells St.
Milwaukee, WI 53233
1.800.242.8822 [in-state]
<[removed]@mpl.org>

>>> [removed]@wepl.lib.oh.us 06/10/03 07:42PM >>>
Hello,

Can anyone give some suggestions of YA fiction titles that are not depressing or that have a positive message? Also, titles of this type that would appeal to male YA's would be especially appreciated!

Thanks!

FROM: "Christine Perkins" <[removed]@burlington.lib.wa.us>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 11:16 AM

Other fun YA titles for guys:

by M.T. Anderson:
Feed
Burger Wuss
Thirsty

Diary of a Teenage Stud series by "Jonah Black"

anything by Randy Powell

Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian

Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer (middle school readers)

anything by Will Hobbs

anything by Rob Thomas

Education of Robert Nifkin by Daniel Pinkwater

non-fiction but definite guy appeal:

Hawk:Occupation:Skateboarder and Between Boardslides and Burnouts: My Notes
from the Road, both by Tony Hawk

Many of the male teens I worked with as a YA Librarian were really into
fantasy series like Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms, plus science fiction
like Star Trek, Star Wars etc. and there are hundreds of those to keep them
reading for months.

--Christine Perkins

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Christine Perkins, Director
Burlington Public Library
900 East Fairhaven Ave.
Burlington, WA 98233
[removed]@burlington.lib.wa.us
(360) 755-0760
www.burlington.lib.wa.us

FROM: "christine jeffords" <[removed]@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 11:24 AM

Almost any YA novel written before about 1970 would fit!

_________________________________________________________________
STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*
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FROM: "Waznis, Betty" <[removed]@sdcounty.ca.gov>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 12:59 PM

There is a Fiction -L booklist called When Family Is NOT The Problem: Great
Books For Teens In Which The Author Shows A Strong And Loving Family.
http://www.webrary.org/rs/flbklists/teenfamily.html
It probably has some good choices on it.

Betty Waznis
San Diego County Library

FROM: "Jessica E. Moyer" <[removed]@students.uiuc.edu>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 3:17 PM

Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones. Very funny, but also deals
with some serious issues, like violence and parent/child relations. Great
for boys, the main characters are Blade (14), his father, Derk and his
brother, Kit (15) and a griffon!

Jessica E. Moyer, MLIS
Librarian for the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and
International Security (ACDIS)
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Library Phone: (217) 333 9173
Library Webpage: http://acdisweb.acdis.uiuc.edu/Library.html

On Tue, 10 Jun 2003 [removed]@wepl.lib.oh.us wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Can anyone give some suggestions of YA fiction titles that are not depressing or that have a positive message? Also, titles of this type that would appeal to male YA's would be especially appreciated!
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 6/12/03, 10:02 AM

At 09:13 AM 6/11/03 -0700, you wrote:
>Other fun YA titles for guys:

Joe R. Lansdale's THE BOAR (but good luck finding a copy).

Perhaps also Lansdale's THE MAGIC WAGON; THE BOTTOMS; and A FINE DARK LINE.
None of these are YA per se, but all feature positive young male central
characters and I'd think would also be suitable for most teens.

There are minor sexual references and fairly considerable language/violence
issues in the latter two at least (murders, foul-mouthed racial bigots,
etc.), but nothing as extreme as can be found in most of Lansdale's
(other) adult crime, western, horror etc. fiction (which I also love).

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

FROM: "Gina Sheade" <[removed]@vapld.info>
REC'D: 6/12/03, 1:44 PM

The "Blue Avenger" series by Norma Howe might work - The Adventures of Blue
Avenger; Blue Avenger Cracks the Code; and Blue Avenger and the Theory of
Everything. The books are quite humorous, but still manage to deal with
weighty issues like heroism and free will versus determinism.

Gina Sheade
Vernon Area Public Library
300 Olde Half Day Road
Lincolnshire, IL 60089
(847) 634-3650

FROM: Virginia Deffendall <[removed]@clsn1269.cumberland.lib.nc.us>
REC'D: 6/13/03, 12:21 PM

I have a few YAs that I love to suggest for their upbeat endings and
general humorous nature. Try:

Joan Bauer -- Back Roads, Thwonk!, Squashed
Angela Nissel -- The Broke Diaries: Confessions of a Good Girl Gone Broke
Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries series, of course
Louise Rennison -- Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging (there's an
entire Georgia Nicholson series following this one)
Louise Plummer -- The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman (very funny)
Patricia Kindl -- Owl in Love
Megan McCafferty -- Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings
Catherine Clark's Truth of Dairy

I've got a few for the boys too:

Anthony Horowitz -- Point Blank
Stephen Chbosky -- Perks of Being a Wallflower (not exactly light-hearted,
but i have yet to give it to a guy who didn't like it)
Rob Thomas -- Rats Saw God
Chris Crutcher -- Iron Man (Crutcher always goes over big with the fellas)
Sue Townsend -- The Adrian Mole Diaries (Bridget Jones for the male teen
set)

Hope These help....

Ginny Deffendall
Information Services
Headquarters Branch Library
Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center

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