My First Ever Giveaway!
(Is it Give-Away? Or Giveaway? Firefox approves of both of them.)
I’ve mentioned in passing that I finally got back into reading this year. I’ve always been a big reader but life has kept me from books the first two years of NikkiZ’s existence. I think I just got too busy and the only books I read were the Harry Potter books when they were released.
But this year? It’s been completely different. I rediscovered my love of teen/young adult fiction for the first half of the year. It started with the Twilight books back in January when I bought a copy for myself and for my sister-in-law. After demolishing those three books in less than a week (The fourth comes out August 2nd if you’re wondering), I hit the James Patterson Maximum Ride Series since I love him so much as an adult fiction writer. Both series were fantastic and have books coming out this year to add to them. I love series book.
Since I’ve mentioned my love of Teen Fiction reading, a certain blogfriend mentioned that her brother writes for that general age group and had a big book release coming up. She sent me a link to the book’s website The 13th Reality as well as her brother’s blog. I was immediately interested in this new series. I asked begged for her to get me an autographed copy when he signed books in Atlanta and sent her the money before she was even able to say “Yes” – giving her no choice in the matter. But – she did better. She got me two autographed copies. One that has mine and LilZ’s name in it, and another just signed. They arrived on Friday and I’ve been hatching a plan for the second autographed copy ever since.
So – I’m hosting my first giveaway! LilZ and I were both in the middle of reading different books when the package arrived on Friday, and he has since finished his book and is over halfway through The 13th Reality. He is forcing me to stay up late every night (I was up until MIDNIGHT Saturday…that is SO LATE for me!) to finish the book I’m reading so I can start on The 13th Reality. He says it’s THAT GOOD. If I had the brain capacity to read two books at once, I would, but that never turns out well. I’ll surely have it done by Friday, but until then, LilZ would like you all to know that THE BOOK IS SO GOOD.
For the drawing, I’m going to ask you all for either (A) Your favorite author/book when you were a tween/teen or (B) Your favorite teen/tween writer as an adult if you are like me and love reading children’s fiction. Anyone who leaves an author name or book title will be entered in a drawing to win an autographed copy of The 13th Reality. And you’ll just have to trust me – this will be a very prized possession for whoever wins it. I’ll do the drawing on FRIDAY and I’ll put the book in the mail before the post office closes that day. You must leave a valid email when you comment so I can get your mailing address from you when you win. So – go for it! Tell me what Teen/Tween/Young Adult Fiction writers you love the most!
(Of course – if you just want to hurry and buy your own copy – here is the link on Amazon for you to do so.)
Update To The Contest – I’m halfway through the book already and it’s so good that I’m expanding the contest.
1st place is still the autographed copy of the book.
2nd place is an autographed poster with a non-autographed copy of the book that I bought tonight and haven’t touched since I came home from Barnes & Noble.
3rd place is a non-autographed copy of the book that I bought tonight and kinda read a little bit while I waited for my son to finish with MY copy. So it’s kinda used. Partially. Like…100 pages are used and the rest are BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW. Sorry. But still! Free! Great! Book!
Contest is now over! Winners will be posted today!
Oh, I loved Judy Blume books. Forever is still one of my all time favorites.
I am sure I won’t be the only one to post this but as a pre-teen I LOVED Judy Blume, The Great Brain Series, and the Betsy and Tacy books. In my teens I voraciously read Steven King, VC Andrews, and any other trashy stuff I could get my hands on.
How awesome! a give-away!! Okay, when I was a pre-teen I read a lot of R.L Stein (horror stories – gotta love them!) I also started sliding into VC Andrews, and when you’re 12 or 13 reading about brotherly/sisterly incest, its BOUND to have an impact! They’re both great writers, however.
Congrats on the contest! Have fun!
I still read teen fic, too! My favorite is MT Anderson; he wrote “Feed”, which is fantastic, and he won the National Book award for “Octavian Nothing.” His middle grade series “Whales on Stilts” is hilarious too.
I was asked to review the last James Patterson Maximum Ride book and I really liked it! I’m holding giving it to The Kid to read (at least for a little while) mainly because of the really sassy way the characters talk. It’s bad enough he calls me Dude all the time…
Stephenie Myer, John Green, Sarah Dessen, Meg Cabot…the list is endless! I am a Young Adult Librarian so I can read YA books all day long
A giveaway! Books! So exciting! As a young teen, I LOVED reading anything by Christopher Pike. Anyone who knew me knew that I was a huge Christopher Pike fan. My friends and I used to debate who was better, Pike or R.L. Stine. These days I’ve gotten into reading the Twilight series, although I have yet to start the second book.
I LOVE Shannon Hale, especially her book “The Goose Girl.” And this book looks amazing! I’d love to win it!
As a teen I never had a favorite author, I just like reading different kinds of books. I read mostly science fiction then.
As an adult, with the exception of the Harry Potter series, I read mostly non-fiction.
I’d have to say my favorite author is Hunter S. Thompson. I think my favorite book by him is Hells Angels with Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas a close second.
i love love love francesca lia block’s books. so great! i love the harry potter series, of course, and also love the Charlie Bone series of books, although that’s a bit younger than teen fiction.
I probably use the term “Teen Fiction” a little loosely. Since my son is a Teen, I consider everything he reads “Teen Fiction”.
I love, love, LOVED Christopher Pike books when I was a kid. LOVED.
I loved “A Wrinkle in Time” as a teen. And I still love teen fiction! The Traveling Pants series and of course, all the Harry Potter books!
Growing up my favorite was probably anything Judy Blume, also L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gab;es series. Now, as an adult, aside from the Harry Potter books, I have really been enjoying the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I wish I had read them as a teen.
My favorite book when I was younger (no idea how young exactly) was “Listen for Rachel” by Lou Kassem. Probably, nobody’s heard of it. Also, “Beauty” by Robin McKinley, and every other book she’s written.
I saw somebody mentioned the Betsy-Tacy books and I loved those, still re-read them occasionally, as well as a very sweet book, “Mandy”, by Julie Andrews, the fantastic singing and dancing lady.
If I win, will you still send me a book even though I’m in Shanghai?
And also, thanks for asking! What I great place to get some YA reading recommendations.
I love Judy Blume books when I was younger. I also really enjoyed the Sweet Valley series and the Babysitters Club series. R.L. Stein was a fave of my, too.
Judy Blume was probably my favorite back then, BUT I have to say teen fiction has come a long way. My son is almost 12 and like you and LilZ, we are enjoying reading books together now, we finished the first two in the Maximum Ride series and I read two of the Twilight series also (a bit old for him yet I think), I have #3 on Mt. TBR. His favorite author right now though is Gordon Korman.
I didn’t develop a love for reading until I was past my teens, so I can’t comment there. But I have read several “favorites” since then. Of course the Harry Potter series tops the list, however, I made myself re-read some of the books that were required in school – and loved Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn! Younger than a teen read, my daughter and I are currently reading Encyclopedia Brown and we love that series, too.
When I was a teen, I loved Judy Blume and Gary Paulsen. I was a voracious reader though. I did and still do read everything. Right now my YA authours are Rachel Caine and P C Cast for their vampire series. I, also, enjoy Mercedes Lackey who has some books that are shelved YA. I know there are more but I can’t think of them right now.
I totally read teen books, and my favorite has been a series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes including Hawksong. So good.
Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder I loved these books growing up, reading was one of my favorite things ever…still is
I’m really glad to see I’m not the only adult who loves teen fiction. I’m reading a really cute book by Ally Carter called “I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You.” It’s sort of like Alias: the teen years and it set in a spy boarding school.
Other former and current teen fiction: Lurlene McDaniel, Meg Cabot, RL Stine, Christopher Pike, Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew.
Many – there are a lot of us adults loving the Young Adult books, aren’t there? I wanted to pop in again and say I loved the Madeleine L’Engle books as well.
I LOVE teen fiction…it appeals to me a lot more than most adult fic books do. I guess that makes me immature?? LOL!
Anyhoo, my favourite book is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Insanely good and it combines a romance and vampires…it doesn’t get much better than that!
I also found the Twilight series this year… And have read some more teen fiction since then – Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr is pretty good, I really enjoyed A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (taking Rebel Angels on vacation)… As a kid I loved the Redwall series about the mice and badgers, so fun!
I actually like Meg Cabot books. They are girl fluff fiction. They read fast and they are just fun.
My favorite author when I was a teen: Anne McCaffrey (though she’s not exactly a YA author, more like a fantasy/sci-fi one)
My favorite YA author now: Alison Croggon (and I just got a new book of hers – well, new to me, it’s been out a little while – to read while I lounge on the couch for the rest of the week, ie. recover from my surgery tomorrow. And yes, I just through that last bit in there to make you feel all sympathetic and want to send me the book, because I read really really fast and I want another new book to read
Phillip Pullman. The His Dark Materials series had me obsessed. I am really looking forward to the next book when it comes out. If it ever does, that is.
I read everything I could get my hands on as a kid, but as a tween read every Babysitter’s Club book I could get my hands on.
I just want you all to know that LilZ just IMed me saying that “All your blog friends like the same books I do!” He’s loving seeing you all mention his favorite authors/books.
I love all the Harry Potter books and anything Judy Bloom
As a teen it was all about Judy Blume.
Now? Harry Potter, Meg Cabot, Twilight Series, The Wrinkle in time series, oh, so many more. I love teen fiction. And so do my tween/teen boys – although one one prefers sci-fi all the way (HP, Ranger’s Apprentice series & Tolkien especially).
Oh, almost forgot the Series of unfortunate Events. (Is that teen or tween?)
I just re-read the Twilight series this weekend. Yes, all 3 books in 3 days, I’m nuts. My 15 year old daughter, TJ, is the one who got me hooked on the series. If I were to win your extra copy, she’d probably steal it and read it first. I’m SO excited that Twilight the movie will be coming out in December. Also, don’t forget The Host, by Stephenie Meyer is coming out in May…it’s not teen, but it’s supposed to be really good. There’s an excerpt from the book on her website.
I also love Harry Potter. Believe it or not, when Narnia came out, I read the books for the first time (as an adult) before I saw the movie and really enjoyed them. I saw that someone else mentioned Anne McCaffrey and I loved all the dragonrider/Pern books when I was a teenager. I always was a fantasy/sci-fi/escapist reader.
email me at klynnd at gmail dot com if by some strange chance I get lucky.
If not, I may have to check it out and buy it myself.
I’m not commenting to enter the contest since uhhh, I have my own copy and finished it for the second time last night.
I’m so happy LilZ thinks the book is THAT GOOD! That’s pretty much the general consensus among every one that reads it so YAY!!
I only read horror as a teen. As a pre-teen I was into Judy Bloom and the Babysitter’s Club books, but then I discovered grunge music and became cool and decided that I was too grown up for such fluff.
Now as an adult, I am slowly becoming obsessed w/ teen fiction. I’ve read all the HP books multiple times over and just started reading the Twilight series (library JUST called letting me know my book on hold is in). I also checked out the Golden Compass and look forward to reading it as well.
I will have to make a list of the authors listed here, weee!
Good luck guys! I know you’ll love the book!
When I was a teen, I loved Mary Higgins Clark books. And Sue Grafton books. I was really into the murder mysteries. More recently, I’ve read all the Harry Potter books. I also read a lot of chick lit these days. I don’t know many teenage girls, but I imagine they read chick lit too!
Hey Miss Zoot,
I just wanted to say thanks for the nice words about my book. I was, of course, more than happy to sign a couple of books for you, and I hope the giveaway goes well. Good luck to you guys!
My sister only had great things to say about your blog, and I’m glad we connected. Say hi to LilZ for me, he seems like a studly dude. Especially since he likes my books.
Have fun, and I hope the winner likes my book!
James
(I’m so geeking out on the fact that James Dashner himself just commented on my blog. I’m such a dork.)
(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)
(Obviously LilZ is geeking out too.)
Anything U.S. Civil War especially Shelby Foote.
My current favorite young adult author is a running tie between Susan Beth Pfeffer (Life as We Knew It was truly gripping and I can’t wait for the next in the series!) and Marcus Zusak (The Book Thief was engrossing and… full disclosure here… I sobbed through the final 50 pages). I’m more than welcome to entertain a third favorite young adult author if given a chance…
As a teenager, my favorite book was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. My favorite author during that time period was Tom Robbins (still one of my favorite authors!), but he’s not really a teen fiction kind of author. I just recently read The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman, because I loved the movie so much. The books in that series are actually categorized as Youth/Young Adult, so I think that counts for your contest! I highly recommend at least that book, and I plan to read the others in the series. Especially to anyone who liked Harry Potter, or who enjoys reading fantasy books.
I loved christopher Pike and R.L Stine. My son is almost 12, isn’t nice to be able to share a love of books with them? I am always giving him ideas on what to check out at school.
I love teen fic. The first one(s) that came to mind were the Nancy Drew & Hardy Boy Super Mystery series. I gobbled those up as soon as I found them in the bookstore. The first in the series is Double Crossing. I still own that one and the other 35 in the series.
I’ve always been such a huge reader, and I’ve also never grown up. So my Teen Books list is exhaustive. As a kid, I guess some of my faves were by Cynthia Voigt (Homecoming, Dicey’s Song, A Solitary Blue…). I still love those as an adult, but other ones I read on a regular basis are To Kill A Mockingbird, L.M. Montgomery and Madeleine L’Engle.
It’s SO nice to know I’m not the only one who still reads Young Adult books.
I feel that Harriet The Spy also has to be mentioned. SO much better than Nancy Drew.
as a teen I loved the early books by Jeffrey Archer – “Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less” (STILL one of my favorites) and “Kane and Abel” … I also loved the early Michael Crichton including the Andromeda Strain, Congo & Sphere. My family were huge readers when we were kids … so if there is inappropriateness for teenagers in these books, I apologize ahead of time … I don’t remember any, and we had some awesome dinner conversations about these particular books.
i loved the sweet valley and the baby sitter club series. river heights was also really good and who could forget ‘are you ther god, its me margaret” by judy blume!
I read every single thing by Christopher Pike when I was a kid. Every week or so I’d try to con my mama into buying me a new one. Good times.
My favorite YA book is, A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. It is an interesting story, beautifully written and kept both my daughter and I engaged. At one point she told me, “Mom, it sounds like poetry.”
Margaret
My favorite book as a child was The little white horse by Elisabeth Goudge.
I’m cracking up over y’all geeking out. He’s my brother y’all!!
Course, I got pretty geeked out at his book signing too
Pre-teen I read the Sweet Valley High and Babysitter Club series.
As I got a bit older I read VC Andrews all the time.
As an actual teen I was all about J. D. Salinger. _The Catcher in the Rye_ was my Bible, and no one could convince me that Holden Caulfield wasn’t seeing the world with perfect clarity.
Now that I’m a grown up (and working on a doctorate in kid lit), I’m mostly interested in fantasy for teen and juvenile readers. I like Neil Gaiman’s _Coraline_ and I really enjoyed a book that came out last spring (and is now available in paperback) called _Un Lun Dun_ by China Mieville.
Babysitters Club – and now they have the movie and tv show (or at least on video) so I can watch it with my niece and act like I am acting like it is just so cool. Except that I still love it!!! lol
Don’t geek out – I’m not that famous. Yet.
Nah, I’m just happy for the promotion. Thanks, and may the best person win!!!!!
James
I liked Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach, etc. I also read all the Trixie Belden books. I love the Harry Potter series and just got through the Dark Materials series. My mom has plowed though the Twilight series and I’m about to start on that.
Looking forward to this new series – and how cool is it that the author commented on your blog!!!
Keep up with the recommendations so I know what to try next!
I loved the Babysitter’s Club but my ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK AND AUTHOR OF ALL TIME in my teenage years was “Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky. It had a lot of sensitive issues in it but seemed to sum up feelings of high school so well. Love. If you couldn’t tell!
I looooved Christopher Pike – my favorites were the Remember Me series, and the Last Vampire series. Squeee! Must hit Amazon to buy and re-read.
Chris Crutcher – Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. He writes about some serious issues – like child abuse, death of parents and such, but in such a way that kept me seriously interested. I’ve read almost all of his books multiple times.
Other than that – all the Roald Dahl books. And the Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe series.
I would read about a hundred books a month as a teenager, so there’s no way I can remember them all!
I loved R.L. Stein as a teen, but Piers Anthony was and is such a fun entertaining author. A series that I love now is Artemis Fowl, another fantasy/reality mix that is great!
I loved Judy Blume and Trixie Beldon books when I was a teen. I worked in an elementary school for a while a few years ago so I got to read tons of great YA books. Right now I love the Twilight series and Harry Potter. I can’t wait to read some of the authors mentioned above!
It’s hard to remember all the books from my teenage years. I don’t think I read teen fiction then. I think by then I was reading Stephen King and also really into science fiction – Fredric Brown was my favorite and Jack Finney.
Now I do read teen fiction. After Veronica Mars premiered, I read all of Rob Thomas’ fiction. Ed Bloor. I really like Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock. That’s off the top of my head. By the way, I spent a good amount of time yesterday trying to figure out what the title was so I could request it from the library based just on your flickr note. (was the link there the whole time?)
As a teen I read a lot of R.L Stein as well.. But my fave then.. and still in my top 5 now is… Christopher Pike. He ROCKS as an awesome teen fiction writer, lol
Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby series and then Judy Blume….now I want to go read them again. Thanks!
Wanted to add Crackback by Jon Coy – very realistic high school football depiction.
As an adult my teen author fave is Cohn.
As an adult in my early twenties though I was totally into any of the goosebump books.
As a teen my fave author was SE Hinton
I arrived here by way of James’ Dashner’s blog. I think my favorite book as a teen was Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. Now I love so many books. My son got A Door in the Woods for his 6th birthday and the whole family became obsessed with Jimmy Fincher. I am so excited to read this new series and would love to win an autographed copy! I also became thoroughly sucked into the Twilight world over the summer. I love Shannon Hale and Gail Carson Levine. Currently I am Reading The Looking Glass Wars Series by Frank Beddor.
As a teen I loved Christopher Pike. I started reading them at 8 or 9 though and had nightmares. Awesome. I also loved Caroline B Cooney’s books. Especially ‘The Face On The Milk Carton’. Deirdre Corey and Betty Ren Wright were big favorites too. As a teen I also loved reading the not so teen Danielle Steel and all the Harlequin Romance novels the library could order in- Damn Catholic school. As an adult I like Sarah Desson and of course the Harry Potter Books. Gee Zoot, did you have to make me have all these happy cozy book thoughts on a week when I’m super busy and can’t take time to read a cereal box ? Just kidding, who doesn’t love thinking of their favorite books?
I should have read all the comments before commenting. It’s so awesome to see most people loved the AMAZING Christopher Pike. And I didn’t think about Sweet Valley High and The Babysitters club but I loved them. I was so sure I was going to set up my own Babysitters Club. I was going to be like Claudia so I could eat tons of junk food and still be beautiful!
I loved reading Judy Blume, Paula Danzinger, Mercedes Lackey, Stephen King, and VC Andrews when I was a teen!
Now though I am addicted to all the Harry Potters and the Twilight series! Love Stephanie Meyers, she’s a very talented writer! Did you know they’re filming Twilight the movie in Oregon right now!? Supposedly it will be coming out in December 2008!
Too bad I don’t have any teens in the house, I just read them for my own enjoyment!
I LOVED the series of Oz books by L. Frank Baum. There were 13 more stories after “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. My third grade teacher read us “The Patchwork Girl of Oz” and that was it, I was hooked. They were all written in the 1900-1920 range, but are still relevant today.
My fave author was Judy Blume.
As a kid, I loved the classics: Louisa May Alcott in particular. But more recently I adored the Traveling Pants series and HP, of course. My son (13) is a huge fan of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, but couldn’t be bothered to read Harry Potter after #4 (which I read to him.) I have adult friends hooked on the Twilight series, so I think that’s next for me.
My fav author was VC Andrews. I loved everybook she wrote. It was sort of like Danielle Steel for the young teens..I’ve heard shes passed away but her staff still trys to produce her books the way she did. Not sure if thats true, but thought it was a very onteresting fact if it is…
My email cheekabeeka@gmail.com
PS love the pic of NikkiZ below with her pink shoes..so adorable!
What a fun idea! My favorite author when I was a teen was Lloyd Alexander–love his characters Taran Wandered, FFlewddur Fflam, Eilonwy!
Oh, gosh… I had so many books that I *loved* as a teen. But my absolute favorite author, L.J. Smith, had several series that I loved:
The Forbidden Game Trilogy (The Hunter, The Chase, The Kill)
The Secret Circle Trilogy (The Initiation, The Captive, The Power)
The Dark Visions Trilogy (The Strange Power, The Possessed, The Passion)
and what started as a trilogy, but turned into a 4-part series:
The Vampire Diaries (The Awakening, The Struggle, The Fury, Dark Reunion)
I started with the Forbidden Game Trilogy, which to this day, is probably still my favorite, and has been re-read until the covers are falling off!
I was totally addicted to Christopher Pike books as a teen. Especially the Last Vampire series.
Artemis Fowl series, the Harry Potter series, and pretty much anything by Meg Cabot. I’m 32 and I still go into the ‘young adult’ section in the book store–there is something so enjoyable about reading an entertaining adventure without all of the depressing ‘real life’ poking through. I’m definitely going to be buying 13th Reality either way!
Oooh, this book sounds good! Put me in the drawing, please!
My favorite book and author when I was a teen was The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien…doh!
My favorite teen writer now [I guess I'm an adult
] would, of course, be J.K. Rowling 
Have you heard of a YA book called The Black Tattoo? I saw it in Borders this weekend, and it looked wicked good!
I loved Christopher Pike when I was younger, and then I graduated to Stephen King. Unfortunately, I seem to have outgrown Stephen King finally. This kind of makes me sad!
I was a huge reader as a kid and teen… I read a lot of the classics as a teen, but as a pre-teen I remember reading all of the RL Stine books and that type of thing. As an adult, I’ve loved the Harry Potter series and the kids the school I worked at got me to read Eragon – and I’m now reading the second book in that series, which I’m enjoying, too.
Where to begin. I re-reading Anne of Green Gables, I love The Julie of the Wovles Series, and most recently Erogon and Eldest and SO Yesterday. All are great books.
I keep hearing about the Twilight series. I really do need to read them.
I was a pretentious teenager. My favorite book back then was James A. Michener’s “The Drifters”. I still love this book so much and am not sure what business a teenager had reading it.
Growing up my favorite books were the Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald although those are more preteen age. I also loved Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing and Encylopedia Brown but again that is more preteen although it is the same age group as The 13th Reality… I really just loved to read anything and everything but, over all I’d have to say my favorite author was Judy Bloom.
As an adult reading teen books I’d have to say JK Rowling and Christopher Paolini
Haha I love the author comment and your and LilZ’s reactions. Too darn funny. You should print that and frame it for LilZ’s room ;0)
I really loved Madeline L’Engle, and Judy Blume, and now I love Meg Cabot…my kind of cheesy ;0)
Read Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, Phyllis Whitney, etc. in my teens. My favorite books from childhood were ” Eight Cousins” by Louisa May Alcott and “The Ghost of Dibble Hollow”….I’ve forgotten the author’s name….
As a teen I loved the Susan Cooper series called “The Dark is Rising.” I checked each out of the library multiple times, and have been known to pick them up again as an adult. Actually in the past year, one of the books was made into a movie – but it was here and gone so fast I never got to it. Thanks for the trip down memory lane through this giveaway/entry and comments!!
I really liked Paul Zindel as a teen – he wrote The Pigman and My Darling, My Hamburger
You’ve left me no option but to comment esp. since a few of my fave authors have not been mentioned: Joan Lowery Nixon and Lois Duncan.
And of course Madeleine L’Engle, but others have put her down. I still have all of her books. I need to try and put them in proper order and reread them all. First time through was just in whatever order I found them, but that got confusing!
Judy Blume and Christopher Pike – yesterday, today and tomorrow.
I’m an elementary school teacher and I read a ton of children’s books. Right now, my favorite is anything NOT Junie B. Jones
For my kids, this year I have read them Bridge to Terabithia and Katherine Paterson and Holes by Louis Sacher. I am not as familiar with teen literature – but I remember loving Cynthia Voigt, esp. Homecoming, Dicey’s Song, A Solitary Blue and Come a Stranger.
i loved LOVED christopher pike books when i was in ms/hs, also loved r.l.stine and the babysitters club books. currently (b/c one of my favorite things to do to relax is to read YA books) i enjoy all j.k. rowling, christopher paolini and c.s. lewis. my all time favorite YA authors are norton juster and roald dahl. LOVE.
(i dont comment often, but i sure love reading about you and your fam! thanks for writing and letting us in your life– and good luck with AndyZ!)
As a teen I loved R.L. Stein and Christopher Pike. I would read almost a book a day and most times read each one numerous times.
As an adult I adore the Harry Potter series of course. Everything else I read is mostly chick lit. I will be checking out the books that you mention though.
I am SO dating myself with this…When I was a young teen, I loved Nancy Drew mysteries, Hardy Boys, but more than anything in the world, I loved Cherry Ames: Nurse…whatever books. They were not new when I was a kid and I’m 52. As an adult, I think I have read most of what is out there and I still often read teen fiction. My favorite that I read as an adult was “The Education of Little Tree”. I’m currently reading the entire “Maximum Ride” series and loving them!
I loved Judy Blume as a kid “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” taught me a very important lesson!! Later, I read them all. I also loved Scott O’Dell.
As a grown-up, I discovered Madeleine D’Engle and felt so cheated that I had not grown up reading that series. I also did not discover Sarah, Plain and Tall (and the follow-ups)until I was grown.
Stephanie Myer IS awesome and I can’t wait for the new book!!
I love a good book and what age it is written for is totally not a factor for me!!
books! I love them!
When I was a kid I liked the babysitters club books. When I was a teen I was into the earth’s children series by Jean M. Auel and the vampire chronicles by anne rice.
Now my favoritest book ever is the time traveler’s wife by Audrey Niffenegger. And I also love HP, the twilight series and memoirs of a geisha by arthur golden.
I am sure there are a lot more I just can’t think of them now.
My favorite books when I was a teenager were Gone With the Wind and The Thornbirds. My friends thought I was a total geek.
I just had to pop in again and say that I’m already halfway through “The 13th Reality” and I have to agree with LilZ. IT’S SO GOOD. Seriously. It’s so good I’m going to ADD to my contest and give away a total of THREE BOOKS.
Yay Zoot!! You’re awesome!
My fave as a tween/teen was The Babysitter’s Club series (and of course everyone loved Judy Blume so I did too).
My fave as an adult is by far Harry Potter. I can’t wait to see movies 6, 7a, and 7b although I will probably be very sad to see it all end.
My all time favorite books were/are A Girl of the Limberlost and Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter, as well as Glory Road by Robert Heinlein. All three are amazing. I still reread them whenever I have the free time. I definitely recommend them!
I abosolutely LOVED babysitters club, sweet valley high, peter jennings, roald dahl.. the list is endless. i moved onto adult fiction really early. i was born in new zealand and in primary school (i think that’s grade school in america) i worked in the library so i devoured everything i could get my hands on. oh, nearly forgot the saddle club! the librarian would let me take the series away for holidays, so cool of her thinking back on it.
my favourites now for the teen/tween books would be j k rowling of course, stepehenie meyer and theres a series leant to me recently called the uglies series. can’t remember the name of the author, but very good!
My younger brother got me into the Max Ride series as well.
The best ever teen series is John Marsden’s Tomorrow series. Not sure how big it was outside Australia, but if you can pick up a copy of the first one, Tomorrow When The War Began, I recommend you do.
I still love my favorites from my teen years: Everything by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Maud Hart Lovelace, Louisa May Alcott, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Apparently I’m into authors with three names.
christopher pike all the way which…is weird because I won’t touch horror books these days…course I lived on the edge back then…
Love to read this book!!
Judy Blume when I was growing up.
DD LOVED Meg Cabot (and the Twilight series)
I enjoyed Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as an adult enjoyer of teen fiction.
My favories as a kid, like a lot of others, was Judy Blume. I also loved Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Hardy Boys and anything with a mystery. Is it too geeky to say I read all the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books too?
As an adult I have read some of the Harry Potter books and there are so many others on the “when I have time” list – A Wrinkle in Time, Redwall, Twilight and so many others I have heard good things about. I have a pre-teen son so I buy them for him and always think I will read them but never seem to have the time.
Having lived in India all my life, I didn’t have access to a lot of great kids books. (Now the scene has changed, of course!)
Remember loving “The adventures of the Faraway Tree” by Enid Blyton. Though its more a kids book, I remember re-reading it so many times even as a teenager.
I never win anything, especially in draws, but just wanted to leave my fave author here among all the others
I love “The Outsiders” and “That was then, This is now” by S.E. Hinton. Both of those books were amazing in my mind.
Harry Potter also rocks, of course.
But I’d probably have to say my favorite author that’s considered a teen author now would be Meg Cabot. I started with reading her princess diaries books, and then I got “All-American Girl” which I’ve read… 2 or 3 times now. It’s about this artist high school girl who saves the presidents life, and about her struggles with being a new-found celebrity. She just recently came out with a follow up, “Ready or Not” which is about her struggle with becoming sexually active or not. They’re amazing books, and I like them, too, because they’re easy reads. And I couldn’t put it down.
She even has a blog!
I was also a Christopher Pike addict as a teen. Now I find myself consuming YA lit with a passion previous unheard of for the majority of adult novels. I LOVE IT.
Best thing I’ve read recently? American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. Really brilliant.
As a middle school media specialist, I have read a lot of books but my favorite author (by far) is J.K. Rowling! By the way, if I win the book will be added to my school’s library collection so fingers crossed
I wouldn’t consider myself an adult yet, even though I am no longer a teen (I turned 20 last August, CRY).
I love love love the Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison. I also like the Gossip Girl series, anything by Melvin Burgess (especially Smack), and, of course, Harry Potter.
I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, Holes by Louis Sacher, the whole Anne of Green Gables series, Trixie Belden.
I’ve enjoyed the Twilight series and the Traveling Pants series as an adult.
I also read Hoot because you and LilZ enjoyed it so much.
Oooh, count me in – I just had my first giveaway and it’s so fun to be able to, you know, give away stuff – oh, and have you checked out Twilight, the movie page?
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html
My two oldest girls and I can’t hardly wait for Day Break. Of course, they’ve got first dibs. Selfish little things.
The MUSE: I totally forgot about the L.J. Smith chronicles! Those were THE BEST. THE BEST.
My favourite books as a teen and as an adult is definitely the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman. Nothing at all, since I have read that series has beaten it. And I don’t think anything ever will. I mean come on, I love it more than Potter.
The Sweet Valley High series… hands down. I totally wanted a twin sister.
Almost everything that everyone else mentioned. Also Carl Hiaasen’s teen fiction (Flush and Hoot), which I don’t think was mentioned yet. I am really excited to start the Twilight series, but am waiting to get it from the library. Should I suck it up and just buy them?
Ya know, I am totally amazed at all the comments!
If you want a sneak peek at the book *aka the first 2 chapters* be sure to check out the 13th Reality website. Click on “About the Book” and you should be able to pull up the chapters.
Oh how fun! I just finished my very first give away too!
Anywho, when I was a teen I read a ton of Girl Talk, the R.L. Stine series, Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew, Babysitters Club, but my favorite was CS Lewis ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’. I lost count of how many times I read that book. Basically you name it, I read it.
Now, I’m mostly in adult fiction but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Harry Potter Books. I have not read the newest installments mostly because I want to wait for them to all be out and I’ll buy the whole set-I get impatient between releases.
I read all the time. I can usually knock out a book or two a week. I really don’t know how I find the time but having no cable really helps.
I have read so many books that I honestly can’t remember too many of those I loved as a teen. I just know the ones still on my shelves. The Myth Series by Robert Aspirin & Anne of Green Gables are what are still in readable condition.
I read a ton of YA fiction now, and some of my favorites are:
The Artemis Fowl series
The Bartimaeus Trilogy
Harry Potter (of course)
Twilight Series
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
And so many more!
Steven King then….Steven King now. Love, love, love his writing!
A) Maybe V.C. Andrews (although I’m not so sure she would be considered a teen writer. I do know I read a lot of her stuff when I was that age.
(B) J.K. Rowling for sure.
Cynthia Voigt, especially Dicey’s song………more recently Holes by Louis Sacher, and oh yeah….every seventeen year old should read Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.
I think it’s great the way you and your son connect through reading!
Gosh I was such a reader that it is hard to choose! I loved Judy Blume Madeline L’engle and the babysitters club books, although at about 13 I started reading Danielle Steel and Jeffrey Archer because the books were so thick and it was the same price for about 5 times as long. In Canada Gordon Korman was very popular and the only books my brother would read (we are opposites). Now I think my fav is JK Rowling. No matter how many times I read the Harry Potter books or listen to them on my ipod they are still just so good. I think I love tween/teen books because they are imaginative and they allow for more possibilities because kids are more accepting of other outcomes. They also never get too upsetting (Dobby’s death excluded), I mean you know there are certain subjects that just won’t be introduced and when you look back at what was such a “horrible trauma” back (someone is dating the guy you like and you’ll never like anyone else again ever because he was the one! He could skateboard! There is no one else on earth that cool!) you have a bit more perspective.
Amen to Judy Blume, Ann M. Martin, Christopher Pike, R.L. Stine, and V.C. Andrews! In terms of non-serial books, The Westing Game and Flowers for Algernon were/are the bomb diggity.
Definitely Judy Blume and I was thrilled to see that she has a blog of her own!
I can’t believe I’m only the 2nd person that LOVED Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Series! I have been trying to get my 9 yr old son interested in them, but so far to no avail.
I also really enjoyed CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien as a teen, and in high school I discovered Anne McCaffrey’s The Dragonrider’s series in the school library and had to PURCHASE the books I liked them so well. I still have them all and re-read them every now and then.
When I was a senior in high school I started reading Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles as well, but I had to wait for my mom to finish them first because they were her books!
As an aside: I know they aren’t REALLY teen books, but I also really like the Spiderwick Chronicles, which my son is just now starting to read. I devoured all the books in one sitting and they are very well written.
Now I’m all excited about the fact you extended the contest! Sounds like a great book!
–Mary
I was the world’s biggest R.L. Stein fan…. Fear Street all the way!
I loved Cynthia Voigt, Paula Danzinger (The Cat Ate My Gymsuit) and of course Judy Blume. As an adult, if you count Harry Potter, JK Rowling has been my favorite “childrens’ lit” book. I also have enjoyed the Pendragon series. My favorite books when I was a kid were still The Little House on the Prarie and Chronicles of Narnia series(es?).
Oh and as an older teen, I was way into Stephen King, VC Andrews and some Anne Rice. I was so emo.
I loved Isabel Allende, Toni Morrison, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Walker, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, SE Hinton, Madeline L’Engle, The Great Brain, and the list goes on! Oh, and anything about King Arthur. And there was some book about two girls in a cabin in the winter making hominy–I still can’t find the name of that book!!!
The Dark is Rising Sequence
Narnia
His Dark Materials
Harry Potter
Spiderwick (too short though!)
Wrinkle in Time – etc..
Thanks to everyone for more books to look into!!
Okay, here’s a long list: Harry Potter, Judy Blume, Nancy Drew (I read every one), Wizard of Oz (I read every one), Philip Pullman, C.S. Lewis, Anne of Green Gables….I can’t think of more, but oh there’s more. I love to read and read non-stop as a kid. Oh! One more that I really liked as a pre-teen I guess (because I’m a geek) was a book called The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts.
I will be reading this book even if I don’t win. It sounds great.
As a tween? Madeline L’Engle and Judy Blume… As an adult? Philip Pullman, C.S. Lewis and of course, J.K. Rowling.
I really can’t wait until Elizabeth gets old enough to share Judy Blume with, so I guess she’s my favorite.
R L Stine was a big favorite of mine when I was younger. Although I loved the books, I would often have to read ahead at certain parts to know that all was going to end well. Prior to reading those, I loved my sister’s hand-me-down Baby-Sitters Club series.
I LOVED RL Stine and Sweet Valley as a teen. These days I am enjoying the Twilight series (glad to see another one coming out soon!), Phillip Pullman (Golden Compass etc. and the Sally Lockhart series), and Meg Cabot (Size 12 is not Fat, etc.)
Carmen!! The Girl With The Silver Eyes. I really loved that book. I’m 25 and its still sitting on my shelf somewhere…
Now that sounds like something I still love to read and I’m years from being a Tween. Does that disqualify me? Hope not, for this book has me really intrigued!
Growing up I was huge fan of the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. The author’s little known in US but elsewhere in the world, she’s IT as far as children’s books go (tweens, teens, kids – she wrote for all ranges). The series is about 5 cousins who gather together during holidays and have many adventures on islands, moors, caravans etc. They’re really quite fun!
Thanks,
abookblogger at gmail dot com
ps – I’m also blogging this great giveaway tomorrow at my book review/contest blog – A Book Blogger’s Diary
Hope that’s ok with you. Thanks!
I read the Babysitter’s Club books from about 2nd grade up until about age 13 or so. I LOVED those books. But other than that I just liked reading so much and read lots of different books.
As an adult, Harry Potter. There have been a couple of other teen books that seem interesting, but I haven’t picked them up yet. I guess I’m afraid they won’t compare to the Potter books.
The classics…Judy Blume…and I devoured my Anne of Green Gables series, all 8 books of it, over and over again! I also really liked Cynthia Voigt, and I just checked over to Amazon and it looks like she’s going strong! Reading through these comments is a trip down memory lane!
A few weeks ago I fell in love with the first book in a new series by N.D. Wilson, titled “100 Cupboards”. I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys tween/teen books.
My absolute favorite books when I was growing up were the “Anne of Green Gables” series by L.M. Montgomery, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, the “Incarnations of Immortality” series by Piers Anthony and ANYTHING by Stephen King.
I love your blog and have been reading it for years. Thanks!
My best friend who is now a teen librarian gave me my favorite book of all time on my 12th birthday – “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” What’s awesome is that because of her current job, she also told me about the “Twilight” books, which I also love. Go figure.
I loved anything by Judy Blume, especially Super Fudge. My kids are teens so now I am into Lois Lowrey and Cynthia Voight. The Giver is especially good. I also liked the Artemis Fowl series and the Charlie Bone series. Great contest!
I’d have to say Meg Cabot and Judy Blume
My all-time favorite author is Madeleine L’Engle. She wrote for adults as well, but I’m partial to her YA books.
I posted earlier but I just thought of another author I loved. Edith Nesbit. Her stories are more for younger than teens, but so imaginative and cute. Five Children and It, The Wouldbegoods, and The Railway Children – all good picks, and they’re old, which means they are public domain and can be read online or downloaded for free at Project Gutenberg or Manybooks – just in case you want to check them out.
Judy Blume with SUPERFUDGE! After I read that book in the fourth grade I was hooked!
I now read James Patterson. Love it!
I loved Stephen King when I was a teenager, and also C. S. Lewis. Probably why I love James Dashner books now – he’s got a true gift. I’m in my early 40′s and enjoy reading them with my 8-year-old son who loves ‘em too.
A long time lurker chiming in with my love of teen fiction! I recognize a lot of the books mentioned here, but one author I am currently loving is Garth Nix. I adore the Old Kingdom Trilogy and have just started The Keys to the Kingdom and it is quite enjoyable so far.
I’ll have to read The 13th Reality, it looks to be right up my alley!
I loved V.C. Andrews, and Harry Potter of course (though I was only a teenager for the first 6 books). A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my favorite books as well.
Another Anne McCaffrey fan here, but I’ll mention another title/author that I don’t think’s been posted – I haven’t thought about these in years, but one of my many favs would be “The Borrowers” series by Mary Norton. Wonderfully imaginative and just slightly possible, even though you know it’s not real. (Sort of like the Harry Potter books.) She also wrote the book that became “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”.
Hello! What a fantastic first give away. I love Nancy Drew Mysteries by Mildred A.Wirt Benson. I know she wrote 23 of the 30 books. Now, I like Michael Cadnum very much. Please enter me in your drawing. Thanks very much…..Cindi
Oh wow! I love this 1st ever giveaway of yours, and I love all the other people’s comments cos we mostly adore the same author when we were teens – Judy Blume!!! (I’m guessing we’re all about the same age now?)
As for the authors I read nowadays, I don’t stick to one. But I tend to read the Fantasy/Fairytale genre more, and I saw one commentator saying she enjoyed The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale – I agree!!! That was the last book I read and it was really enjoyable!!!
Thanks!
I LOVED Judy Blume and especially Beverly Cleary. It’s been fun rereading the Beverly cleary books with my older son, although now we read Harry all the time, which I also love! I thought I was weird for still liking teen fiction…now I know I’m not alone!
Wait…have you read Duma Key by Stephen King? It has to be one of my favorites from him~