One of the questions we're most often asked -- both as bloggers and as librarians -- comes from those who are new to YA, and it's simply "Where do I start?" It can be daunting to point out a title or two as starting points to the YA world. You can't possibly pick one or two titles as essential starting points. You have to know what your reader likes and wants to read in order to feel like you can give them their correct starting point. Yes, I wrote that right: THEIR correct starting point.
So after thinking about this question, we decided we'd address it here at STACKED. But we're not just addressing it ourselves; we've invited 20 (yes, 20) guests to write us a post answering the question "Someone who has never read YA Fiction before is interested in getting their feet wet. Where would you tell them to start?" We told our guest posters the question is open to interpretation, since we wanted to cast as wide a net of answers as possible. The answers we got to this question are fascinating and even for seasoned YA readers, there will be new books to discover.
OUR picks: Kelly Jensen, Kimberly Francisco, & Jen Petro-Roy
Kathleen Peacock (author of Hemlock)
Liz Burns (blogger at A Chair, A Fireplace, and A Tea Cozy)
Laura Arnold (editor at Razorbill)
Julie Cross (author of Tempest)
Janssen Bradshaw (blogger at Everyday Reading)
Susan Adrian (writer)
CK Kelly Martin (author of My Beating Teenage Heart and more)
Lee Wind (blogger at Lee Wind)
Victoria Stapleton (director of school and library marketing at Little, Brown)
Sarah Andersen (blogger at YA Love Blog)
Nova Ren Suma (author of Imaginary Girls)
Catie, Flannery, and Tatiana (bloggers at The Readventurer)
Courtney Summers (author of This is Not a Test and more)
Andrew Karre (editor at Carolrhoda)
Kate Hart (blogger at Kate Hart / YA Highway)
Swati Avasthi (author of Split)
Brian Farrey (editor at Flux)
Trisha Murakami (blogger at The YA YA YAs)
Kirstin Cronn-Mills (author of The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don't Mind)
Lenore Appelhans (blogger/author of Presenting Lenore and Level 2)
Continue reading...
