We Love YA: Evert

In We love YA!, a fellow YA-lover is featured and is asked to answer the following questions: Why do you love YA? What are some of your favorite YA books? What can you say to encourage other people to read YA? At end of which, readers are requested to recommend books based on the featured person’s answers.

If you haven’t seen the other We Love YA! features, click here to view them all. I also added an icon in the sidebar for it, part of my tweaking the sidebar for Bloggiesta. Today, my good friend Evert is featured in this segment of We Love YA! I’ve known Evert for a couple of years now and ever since we met, we’ve been exchanging book recommendations since we realized that we have similar tastes. I’ve recommended several of my favorites to her and she ended up loving them as well. She’s into fairy tales and any fantasy with a strong female protagonist. Outside of reading, she enjoys baking and has her own online bake shop, feel free to check it out at Evert’s Desserts.

Why do you love YA?
What I love most about young adult stories is that you can always go in another world and learn something grounded to reality. YA stories teach you about life without being too blatant about it. They conceal the truth in adventures, magical elements, or sometimes a character. You can travel to places where anything is possible – from mythical creatures to wizards to princesses down to twins living in California. You also learn to love the characters in the stories. It does not matter what setting you are in, young adult stories always capture a certain beauty about real life.

What are some of your favorite books/series/authors?
– Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
– The Time Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle
– Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore
– Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
– The Goose Girl and Enna Burning by Shannon Hale
– The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
– Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith
– The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
– The Two Princesses of Bamarre and Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

What can you say to encourage other people to read YA?
Hmm, maybe the first step is to encourage people to actually read!

Read YA because you get your share of entertainment and still learn a lot from it. YAs are generally a light read and you do not get a headache from too complicated plots. They tackle a lot of issues and you may actually relate to them.

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Thank you, Evert, for answering those questions! I would have to agree that it is very easy to relate to the characters in YA books and this is one of the reasons why I love YA so much. As for recommendations, I’d say it’s high time you give Tamora Pierce and Diana Wynne Jones a try. They are both great fantasy authors. All of Tamora Pierce’s novels have strong female protagonists and Diana Wynne Jones’ books are just hilarious. For something outside of fantasy, I recommend Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols and Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. What about you, dear readers, what are your recommendations for Evert? 🙂

We Love YA: Ashley

In We love YA!, a fellow YA-lover is featured and is asked to answer the following questions: Why do you love YA? What are some of your favorite YA books? What can you say to encourage other people to read YA? At end of which, readers are requested to recommend books based on the featured person’s answers.

Ashley of Addie’s Reads and Reviews and I met in one of my Goodreads groups. She is also known as Addie, is 24 years old and lives in Walnut Creek, California with her family and 6 pets (3 cats, 2 dachshunds, and a bird). Ashley is a complete bookaholic and will read anywhere, anytime. She enjoys different genres but her favorite is YA.

Why do you love YA?

I love YA because with YA there is something for everybody. Everyone can relate to the characters or the situations involved in one way or another.

What are some of your favorite books/series/authors?

I have many favorite YA books.

Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters
Rainbow Trilogy by Alex Sanchez
13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

Other favorite authors include: Rick Riordan, Ellen Hopkins and Kaza Kingsley.

What can you say to encourage other people to read YA?

I would encourage people in to read in general. It’s a nice relaxing thing to do before bed, while you are waiting, on a rainy day. With reading you can escape your world and enter someone else’s . For YA specifically, it’s a great and fun genre. YA covers many different issues that you can relate to; love, friendship, dating, relationships, school, parents, personal growth, etc. So go to your local bookstore, find the YA section, and spend a couple of hours there. I guarantee you will find many different books that will peak your interest.

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Thanks for volunteering to participate, Ashley! I would have to agree with you that in YA, there’s something for everybody. Out of the books that you mentioned, I’ve only read the Vampire Academy series and the first book in the Percy Jackson series. I haven’t even read the latest Vampire Academy book! If you like paranormal books set in this world, I’d recommend Maggie Stiefvater’s books: Lament, Ballad and Shiver.

How about you, dear readers, what are your recommendations for Ashley? 🙂 Also, feel free to leave a comment if you want to be featured.

We Love YA: Robby

Magandang Umaga! It’s a lovely Wednesday because today is the release date of two of my anticipated 2010 reads: The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan and Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead. The Demon’s Covenant is the sequel to The Demon’s Lexicon and if you haven’t read it, I suggest you give it a try because it’s awesome. Angie of Angieville just posted an interview with Sarah Rees Brennan with an international giveaway! Head on over there to join. Spirit Bound is the fifth and second to the last Vampire Academy novel and I am curious as to what happens next. Although I have a feeling it will have a cliffhanger ending to set things up for the last book. Both these books are still not available here but I’m hoping to see them around soon. Okay, done with the announcements and moving on to the feature. 🙂

In We love YA!, a fellow YA-lover is featured and is asked to answer the following questions: Why do you love YA? What are some of your favorite YA books? What can you say to encourage other people to read YA? At end of which, readers are requested to recommend books based on the featured person’s answers.

This is just the second time that I’m doing the We love YA! feature. The first time around, Celina was featured. If you haven’t read that post, please head on over there and give recommendations for Celina. I would really appreciate it and I’m sure Celina will too. 🙂 This time, Robby has been kind enough to participate. Robby maintains Once Upon A Book Blog, a blog about books and music and his blog is just about to turn one! Robby is also turning fifteen in a matter of days. He is writing a new version of an old novel and making his way through yet another composition notebook, filling it with angsty poetry. He is almost always reading and can usually be found drinking a cup of coffee. His iPod has over 4,000 songs in it, and he has listened to every single one. He spends way too much time on the internet. Let’s give it up for Robby!

Why do you love YA?
There is a certain spark that YA ignites in me. Maybe it is because I am a teenager or maybe it is because the world of Young Adult literature is such a vast world full of amazing people. I love YA because of the authors, the authors who writes real books about real people fighting real things that I see every day. I love YA because it gives me something to escape to, something to relate to, something to look forward to. I love the bloggers, the people who comment on my posts and the people whose posts I comment on, because this community is so loving. I have been blogging for just about a year and I am so glad I’m still doing this. I hope to always be a part of this.

What are some of your favorite books/series/authors?
This is such a tough question. I think I’m just a positive person, but it is so hard for me to dislike a book. I’m always searching for the positives, and overlooking the negatives. Sometimes I notice little mistakes and just toss them aside. Some books though, for me at least, have no mistakes.

An example of this is Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. I’m so glad that it is on the summer reading list for my school this summer, because I recommend it to everyone I get the chance to. It is a beautiful, haunting, horrifying portrayal of a girl who has fallen apart, and the story of that same girl finally putting herself back together.

Another example of this is Let’s Get Lost by Sarra Manning. I read this book almost a year ago, but I still remember it so well. Sarra Manning is one of my favorite YA writers, and this has been one of my favorite books ever since I read it. I cried on my bedroom floor, reading this. I cried in my kitchen, reading this. I cried at least once every few pages and was so overwhelmed that I didn’t even bother to hide it. This is the story of a girl whose mother is gone, and the process she goes through as her grieving turns to acceptance.
I could go on. Every book is my favorite, in one way or another.

What can you say to encourage other people to read YA?
There are no words. All I can do is thrust a book in their hands and tell them to report back to me in a few days and tell me what they think. They always fall in love, just as I know they will.

How can you not?
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Thank you, Robby for those wonderful answers! I find it awesome when I discover proof that teenagers do love YA. I’m already in my mid-twenties and I never got tired of the genre. 🙂 As for recommendations, I recently read and loved both Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols and Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and I have a feeling that you will too! I also suggest that you try branching out to YA fantasy because that’s my favorite sub-genre. 🙂 For the readers of this blog, what recommendations can you suggest for Robby? Based on his answers, what are some of the books that you think he’ll enjoy?

We Love YA: Celina

Yay for a new blog feature: We love YA! This is the first time that I’ve ever done a blog feature and I hope I’m doing this the right way. I decided to come up with a feature about YA books because I’m such a fan of the genre. I’d love to know what you guys think of this feature. Or if you’d like to be featured, feel free to leave a comment.

In We love YA!, a fellow YA-lover is featured and is asked to answer the following questions: Why do you love YA? What are some of your favorite YA books? What can you say to encourage other people to read YA? At end of which, readers are requested to recommend books based on the featured person’s answers.

Let’s welcome Celina, the wonderful person behind the online bookstore Celina’s Books and Magazines, for the first ever We love YA! feature. Celina likes books from different genres but she’s been reading a lot of YA lately. I first met Celina when I bought copies of the first two volumes of Diana Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci series from her. She’s so nice and friendly and we ended up exchanging messages since then. I met her once, during the Neil Gaiman book signing and as expected, she’s an awesome person! I’m glad to feature her here. So on to the questions.

Why do you love YA?

For me, reading is all about being entertained – I love that YA books allow me to just get lost in the story and be part of the world the character is in. They are vibrant and fun and honest. I never seem to tire of reading YA books because I feel like I am reading various genres – Mystery, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Romance, etc. – all in one book.

And one big plus factor – YA books are cheaper than those from other genres.:D

What are some of your favorite books/series/authors?

I’m fairly new to YA, so I haven’t really been able to try a lot of authors yet. So far, the books/series that have stood out for me are:

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
The Mortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare
The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner
The Jessica Darling Series by Megan McCafferty (although when I read this, I didn’t know it was classified as YA)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

What can you say to encourage other people to read YA?

The most important point is to not let the YA classification stop a person from reading a book. There are just so many misconceptions about the genre, and it would be good if people just let go of their pre-conceived notions and give it a try.

I think also that parents of teenagers would benefit a lot from reading YA. There are a lot of complex characters and relevant issues in YA books, and I think it would help a parent to understand their kids and how to relate to them. Aside from that, I believe that discussing a book would be a great way to bond with kids.

Besides, I think that YA books helps us adults to stay young at heart. 😀

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Thank you, Celina, for answering these questions! Those are some insightful answers. I agree that reading YA is like reading all sorts of genres rolled into one. It’s one of the reasons why I like YA fantasy – it has adventure, worldbuilding and usually romance in it. I hope you get to encourage more of your buyers to read YA. 🙂 You certainly gave good reasons to read the genre. I’ve given you several recommendations already (Hello Queen’s Thief series!) so I think it’s time to let others recommend books for you. To those who’ve read this post, what are your recommendations for Celina? Based on her answers, what are some of the books that you think she’d like?