Wednesday, 29 September 2010

5 Contemporary YA Authors Recommend...

For this final '5 Contemporary Authors..." post, I gave each author a list of themes/perspectives and asked them to volunteer their recommendations for our contemp YA reading.  As a reference - click on the book title for the Goodreads link and the authors name to be taken to their official website.

Thanks to Courtney Summers, William Kostakis, Lili Wilkinson, Melissa Walker and Siobhan Vivian for answering my questions and providing some great reading recommendations.

Contemporary YA Recommendations

Siblings -
Courtney ...Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams
Lili...Theodora's Gift by Ursula Dubosarsky
Melissa...SUITE SCARLETT and SCARLETT FEVER by Maureen Johnson (amazing family dynamics!)
Siobhan...THE SECRETS OF THE SULLIVAN SISTERS by Natalie Standiford

Parent/Teen -
Courtney ...Skin Deep by E.M. Crane
Lili...Dear Swoosie by Kate Constable and Penni Russon
Siobhan...TYRELL by Coe Booth

GLBT -
Courtney ...My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Lili...David Levithan's Boy Meets Boy
William...Pink by Lili Wilkinson
Melissa...BOY MEETS BOY by David Levithan is a perfect love story, in the GLBT world and beyond

Grief -
Courtney ...Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder
Lili...Skellig by David Almond, Love that Dog by Sharon Creech.
William...Hunting Elephants by James Roy
Siobhan...GRIEF GIRL by Erin Vincent - so unbelievably honest and heart-wrenching
Melissa...STONE GARDEN by Molly Moynahan. Such an amazing exploration of grief, with moments that caught in my throat.

Fluff (I hate this word but you know what I mean) -
Courtney ...I also hate that word, but for a light and funny read, I say Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison.
Lili...Meg Cabot's Ready or Not.
William...NO I DON'T :P
Melissa...Frenemies series by Alexa Young. These are smartly written send-ups of bratty girls with hearts deep down inside.

Male perspective -
Courtney ...The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp or Catch by Will Leitch
Lili...Melvin Burgess's Doing It
William...Jarvis 24 by David Metzenthen
Melissa...GENTLEMEN by Michael Northrop. These guys feel like guys, less emo than lots of YA boys, and more real for that.
Siobhan...PARANOID PARK by Blake Nelson

Duel perspective -
Courtney ...All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab
Lili...Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn (coming out later this year), and Cath Crowley's Grafitti Moon
William...Loathe them all.
Melissa...TANGLED by Carolyn Mackler. There are four voices in this one, each with its own story and strength, and yet they tie into a perfectly created package. It's pretty masterful.

Additionally...
Melissa...Somehow I want to mention the Ruby series by E. Lockhart here too. Not sure where it fits, but I just adore Ruby's voice in each book. I laugh like crazy while I read--I want to be her friend.


Participating authors:
Courtney Summers is the Canadian CYBIL award winning author of Cracked Up To Be, Some Girls Are and forthcoming title Fall for Anything. Website.
Lili Wilkinson is an award winning Australian young adult author who has written both contemporary and historical YA. Her most recent release in Australia and in the US is the fantastic title, Pink. Website.
William Kostakis is another young Australian YA whose debut title, Loathing Lola was released in 2008.  Currently he is touring across Australia visiting schools and bookstores sharing his naughty wit.  Website.
Melissa Walker is a journalist, author, readergirl and all round YA cheerleader - there is nothing this lady can't accomplish.  Her most recent release Lovestruck Summer was a blogdom favourite.  Website.
Siobhan Vivian is an author that I am currently fangirling over.  Seriously, read her back catalogue.  Her newest title has just release, Not That Kind of Girl and you will love it. Website.


Thank you for reading.

4 comments:

simmone said...

ooh I loved this series of posts! Thanks snarky :)

Cecelia said...

Love this post! All of those responses are fun, and now I have a few more books on my radar.

Lisa_Gibson said...

Great post and this whole series of posts was really great. :)
Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover

Khy said...

MELISSA WALKER HAS SUCH GOOD TASTE! RUBY! <3