Armchair BEA--Children and Young Adult Fiction

I had some stuff come up this weekend so I wasn't able to live blog the end of the Armchair BEA week :( So I will do it now a few days after! I also won a prize on day 4 due to my participation! Woot :) I got to choose my top three choices and they'll let me know within a day what I have won! I'm very excited :)

I am really enjoying the discussions on book genres and what our favorites are and what we recommend to others. I love young adult fiction. Just like adult fiction it can be crappy or awesome, but young adult fiction can really pack a big wallop in a small package. I can finish the books pretty fast and get great stories that teach and entertain.

Some of my favorites:

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Looking For Alaska by John Green

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jaqueline Kelly

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

I love anything from historical to zombie and fantasy to mystery and realistic fiction. I have a hard time getting through books that are just candy. They need to mean something to me, either the characters, the plot, the moral of the story, or the world. Something needs to grab me deep inside and make an impact. All of these books did just that in one form or another or all of the above!

In some ways teen fiction and children's fiction can be harder to write. Most teens and children aren't actually writing and publishing books about what they are experiencing. I think it can be tough portraying a world in which teens are the focus when you aren't actually one, even though you may have been one relatively recently...like me...oh, wait.

Another aspect of great teen fiction is how readable it is apart from its target audience. Is this a story only teens or children will like or will adults be entertained as well? I think it has to be pretty tough to make a book accessible to multiple audiences and great teen fiction does just that. So when it comes to fiction, for me, it's young adult fiction all the way!