Sounis' Top Favorite YA Picks

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

And the results are in!! :-) 

 First off, a BIG thank you to everyone who participated!! :-)  And a second thank you for following the rules so closely, you made my life soo much easier, and I appreciate it!! :-)   

I hope everyone had fun!! :-)

So first, the boring stuff (Yes, now I am Really trying to torture you guys by making you wait for the announcement of the winner :-)

We had 214 recommendations from 43 Sounisians that resulted in 119 unique titles/series, encompassing over 300 individual books.  The top 5 with the most votes are as follows:

Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner topped the list with 29 votes!!

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones came in a distant second with 9 votes.

Chrestomanci Chronicles by Diana Wynne Jones rounded out the top three with 7 votes.

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith finished with 6 votes, and

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein closes our top five list with exactly 5 votes. 

            A top ten list would include many titles that received 3-4 votes (and would encompass more than 
                                   just 10 entries :-)

And now, since we’re having so much fun with lists, the top 5 authors are:

Megan Whalen Turner had a total of 29 author votes with just 1 title!!

Diana Wynne Jones had 19 votes in 5 titles/series, including one for her entire canon.

Elizabeth Wein had 9 votes with 2 titles/series.

Melina Marchetta had 7 votes with 4 titles/series. 

AND, there is a four way tie for the fifth place title, so they are, in no particular order:

            Sherwood Smith, with 6 votes from 1 title.

            Patricia Wrede with 6 votes in 3 titles/series

            Robin McKinley with 6 votes in 3 titles/series, AND

            Tamora Pierce with 6 votes, two of which recommend her entire works, and four other titles/series
                         specifically.  

A couple shockers that were lower than I expected:

Harry Potter received only 4 votes, though I noticed that he may have been higher if we had the option of a sixth choice. 

The Chronicles of Narnia received just one vote.

Twilight was not recommended at all (not that I have a problem with that …)

Llyod Alexander did not get more than 2 votes, despite his many novels.

The Hunger Games received just 2 votes, despite its new found fame.

If anyone would like to peruse the full list, they can find it posted on my journal. 


Thanks again to everyone who participated!! :-)
~Bookworm

Comments

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

UGH! That's pretty much what happened with the bookstores around here. It's the reason why I have to order books like QT and Farsala, because they just don't fit into what's "popular" these days. And this is why I also browse in the children's section of my library, rather than the Teens. At least in the kids I can find authors like MWT, Rosemary Sutcliff, Hilari Bell, and Frances Hardinge.

[agentmaly.livejournal.com]

Yes! And have you noticed that a lot of books that used to be classed as YA or even adult have been moved into the children's section? To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic example, but there are a lot of others, most of which I can't remember. I think I've seen The Lord of the Rings in children's sections of libraries before, which makes no sense to me at all. And then there are series that move from one tone to another, like our own beloved Eugenides books - I don't have a strong quarrel with The Thief being in the kids' section, though I think of it as more of a YA book. But QoA definitely isn't a children's book, nor are the others.

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Our library has the whole series in the children's section, but we never really realized 'till CoK came out, and we were like Really? There is no way that is a children's book? (Our library "ordered" a copy of QoA about 2 years ago, but somehow, they never got it delivered, but they would probably put it with the rest...)

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

I did notice. And I was scared when I saw TLotR in the children's section because it made me feel all kinds of inferiority, "Children read these? And I haven't gone through a single page of it?"

I'm not very much concerned if QT is shelved in the children's section. Even at my Uni, in the Children's Lit course, QoA is listed in the reading list. At least, we're expecting children to be able to handle the series, which is actually a good thing, because there's the hope that they will "get it". I understand that there are really *serious* issues in QoA, but I think MWT wrote it well enough that... at the very least, they won't wake up from screaming nightmares. ^^

....but I could be wrong too. I read QT when I was 18, after all, and half the stuff went over my head until I came to Sounis.

[agentmaly.livejournal.com]

Well, I first read (and loved) The Lord of the Rings when I was nine, but I was never a normal child. And just because children can read it doesn't mean it's a children's book. Though in this particular case I believe LOTR was shelved in children's, young adult, and adult fantasy, all in the same library, in order to increase exposure. Which really is a good thing - not all people were going to do what I did and browse all three sections. (I could be misremembering that it was in children's in this particular library, but I know that it was in three separate sections.)

Not at all intending to feed the sense of inferiority. No need to feel inferior if you don't mesh well with someone's style, or if you haven't gotten to something yet.

Yeah, as for children reading QoA, I don't think it would damage them, exactly. If I had read it younger, much of it would have cut deep, but it already did that. I want to say it's more the case that below a certain age they wouldn't really get it - the longing, the depression, the really complex emotions. Then again, I got LOTR when I was nine, so I don't know. Maybe it would be totally fine for a sensitive, perceptive child. I never intended to grow up to be someone who didn't understand children's minds, but I'm afraid I've done it.

Put it this way. The right kind of child could read QoA, understand it, and feel the emotions. But it won't resonate as deep as it will later, when you've been in love, or had a severe injury, or that sort of thing. Though that's true of many things. A lot of literature is much richer to me now that I'm older (early twenties) because I've had experiences that intensify and add complexity to the emotional resonance. Not even because a certain book event will remind me of a particular life event, but because there's a different way of experiencing the world that comes with being older.

It's awesome that QoA is on a reading list at your university. :) I hope you don't mind how long and personal this reply got.

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

No worries. I love long and personal comments. ^__^

Ah, it wasn't you that invoked a sense of inferiority at all. It was the actuality of seeing them in the children's section of my library several years ago when I was already well into my teens. But I didn't read books much anyway when I was a teen, so it's not that big of a deal, really. =D

I remember when I read as a child, every book I read was just that: a book. If I'm not immersing myself in the world, I didn't think much about it. It's totally different now when I read; it's like these books assume a life of their own, so even though I've put them down, the characters stay in my head, and scenes play over and over again, and I can imagine what they feel more clearly. So I definitely understand what you mean that most children would probably not understand the gravity of what Gen goes through (or even Attolia, who is just as complex as Gen), and the emotions and events that come into play. I think what I was trying to say was that maybe that's okay; it's okay to not understand these books like an adult would. I think very cleverly written books should give us a better understanding of the characters and the world with each reread anyway. ^__^