fiction
A Healthy Addiction to YA Fiction
I’ve been out of my teens for 10 years but I still love children and young adult books. A trip to a bookstore always includes a visit to the children’s section. From old favourites such as L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and Kit Pearson’s The Sky is Falling and its sequels to new favourites – Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, Kate Dicamillo’s The Tale of Despereaux and the adorable and funny Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic – I can’t seem to get enough of them.
Recently I’ve had the good fortune to be the publicist for Mackenzie, Lost and Found, which tugged at my heartstrings from the first chapter to the last sentence. I’ve become a bit of a broken record around the office and amongst my friends with how much I talk about this book. But when you like a book why not shout it from the rooftop. And the nice thing is that others have also embraced Mackenzie. Leah Sparks of VOYA Library Magazine wrote “this solid coming-of-age story offers a unique setting and a likeable young heroine.” And Kelsey Boeckermann wrote on her blog Reading Keeps You Sane, “This book really is a poignant coming of age story with a twist … Kerbel is a great writer. With a writing style that is familiar but distinctive at once she gives a taste of what’s there but keeps you wanting more and more. Overall, this novel was a very well done and extremely original.”
If you want to find out more about this delightful book visit Mackenzie’s author, Deborah Kerbel’s website by clicking here. Deborah is currently doing a blog tour and you can find her chatting with YA Fresh on April 20th and doing an interview with The Book Munch from April 23rd to 26th.
And talking about YA books, 6 of our YA books – Speechless, Fathom Five, Demon in My View, Ms. Zephyr’s Notebook, David Thompson, and Louis Riel - have been chosen by The Canadian Children’s Book Centre for their list of Best Books. A big congrats goes out to their authors – Valerie Sherrard, James Bow, Tom Henighan, kc dyer, Tom Shardiow, and Sharon Stewart.
Now that you know some of my favourite children and YA books – how about you? Share with us your favourite young adult novel and why and receive a copy of Mackenzie, Lost and Found.
Tags: About the author
Erin is a publicist for Dundurn Press. She reads a wide variety of books (maybe even too many!) and wields a vast amount of positively optimistic power over what should and shouldn't be done in the universe.
Discussion
2 comments for “A Healthy Addiction to YA Fiction”
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Hi Erin, almost impossible to name my absolute favourite YA novel. But I can name a few. And I truly love the ones that Dundurn puts out — not just saying that because I’m responding to your blog.
I coordinate the YA section at the Eden Mills festival and Dundurn is usually represented. Last year by James Bow and this year by Valerie Sherrard. Both authors are fantastic.
But if I have to name favourites I’ll split it up into Canadian and other. Favourite Canadian author is Martha Brooks, latest book Mistik Lake, followed closely by Tim Wynne-Jones, followed closely by, well, you get the picture.
Favourite author who isn’t Canadian is probably David Almond, whose first book Skellig is one of my all-time loves.
I think the best YA book written in the past few years is Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. It just feels so fresh and contemporary. I recently read it again after seeing the movie and was reminded how much better it was than the movie, which was actually pretty good. Cautions for language, etc., but a really good read.
You can colour me addicted, too.
Clare
Hi Clare –
I’m delighted that Valerie Sherrard will be at this year’s Eden Mills festival! And good news Valerie has a new YA book coming out this fall called Watcher.
I’ve never heard of David Almond so I will definitely be adding Skellig to my ever-expanding reading list! As well as Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist; I just adored the movie except for the whole chewing gum scenes which frankly grossed me out. Watch for your copy of Mackenzie in the mail which is on its way to you!