Russell's Irregulars: the YA reading perspective

vicki · #1 02-24-2009, 01:18 AM

I thought it might be fun to have a thread on reading LRK and other authors from a Young Adult perspective (ie teens-early 20s, although there is some dispute as to the range). I used to run a wonderful YA reading group that included people of all ages, talking about YA/YA-friendly books. And since the early Russells in particular are so beloved by YAs, it seems like a fun idea to call it Russell's Irregulars.

So here 'tis!

Anyone else here a fan of YA books? Or did you first meet Russell when you were a YA? Can you remember how wonderful it was to find a book that captured your imagination and helped shape you as you were moving from childhood into maturity? Have a seat here at the campfire and tell us about it!

Pat Floyd · #2 02-24-2009, 02:13 PM

Vicki, you just gave me the idea to give my niece BEEK for her 15-year-old birthday this June!

I've just spent too long looking for when the use of the YA classification began and found a reference to a 1969 book about YA use of NF for information gathering as if it were a first and about the first of a 3 volume work published in 1989 about selecting YA fiction. Any more light on the subject? When I was 12-18 books fitting this classification had undoubtedly been written, but our poor public librarians had to decide whether they should go to the children's or the adult library around the corner. I expect the limited shelf space in the children's library was a factor.

vicki · #3 02-24-2009, 08:21 PM

Pat, BEEK is a wonderful YA read! I think your niece will take to it like a duck to water.

YA books as a genre didn't *really* get going until Sheri and I were out of the age range. S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders was an early indicator of what was to come, and young people turned to it in droves. There was such a need for literature for people between childhood and full-blown adulthood and for a long time there just wasn't much out there. I remember loving the school library *so* much in elementary and middle school, but going to high school and finding mostly dusty old classics--more suited to the 30-and-over crowd than to someone just exiting childhood--in the fiction section. Some of them were good and enjoyable, but they didn't speak to me the way that some of the YA reads that have come along since would have. I *really* could have used some Mary Russell stories back then!

Pat Floyd · #4 02-24-2009, 09:27 PM

Thanks, Vickie. We see, then, the emergence of the idea of youth culture and the literature to meet youth needs in the late 1960s. When I look at a composition book of book reports I wrote when I was 11, they range from The Three Musketeers to extremely juvenile titles. I don't remember the age we were allowed to get an adult library card, but that library's stacks were dark and not inviting, and the librarian sometimes questioned my selections and grudingly checked them out to me. High school, which began with 8th grade, and its bright and excellent library became my main source of reading pleasure.

classics_fiend · #5 02-24-2009, 11:44 PM

Hello!

I'm sixteen when I discovered the series, sixteen when I stumbled across the book last December. So I'm kind of a newbie. (But I have read all the Russell books!) When I found out it was about a fifiteen-year-old girl who tripps over my hero while reading (I'm a proud book worm), I HAD to read it. The moment I read the chapter excerpt on the library data-base, I was hooked.

Strawberry Curls · #6 02-24-2009, 11:57 PM

Hi, classics_fiend, love your nom btw, I'm Strawberry Curls and at the other end of the spectrum. I found Mary Russell in 2005 when I was 58 and was immediately captivated. If only there had been a protagonist like Russell when I was a youth. I had Nancy Drew and that was about it. There is nothing wrong with ND, but Russell is so much more.

Anyway, I'm glad you have found your way to the VBC and if you are at all interested in Russell and Holmes FanFiction (reading or writing or both) check our Letters Of Mary a yahoo group devoted to all things Russell and Holmes. We are a friendly lot and welcome all ages. If you have any questions drop me a Private Message (PM -- the upper right hand side of the page header) and I will be happy to answer what I can.

Now that you have made your first post, I hope to be reading many more. Again, welcome. --Alice

2bnallegory · #7 02-25-2009, 12:22 AM

Hi Classics_fiend, nice to see a new joiner.

I don't know if YA was an option when I was a ya, remember just jumping in sci-fi and fantasy because that was all I could find that was interesting. Grew up in towns with small and ill supplied libraries, er just library. I didn't discover YA until recently, last 10 years

but their are many that I like including Artemis Fowl.

I remember reading Piers Anthony and think that was geared to the YA but it wasn't really a classification at that time.

The Grey Badger · #8 02-25-2009, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmwifetwo

Since I started reading by the time I turned 3 and was banned from the reading corner in Kindergarten, I'd outgrown the YA books before I became old enough to read them. I never did like the Sweet Valley High variety, nor did I understand hero-worship of David Cassidy, which I now realize has a lot to do with probably having more than a few Aspie wires in my brain.

I read Anne of Green Gables - first 3, boxed set that I still have - as we headed back home from PEI the summer I was 8 and my Mom helped me find the rest of the books and all the other books she wrote from the library.

I own every Nancy Drew that was printed in the original yellow covers. Again, all before I turned 12. Ditto with Laura Ingall's Wilder, Judy Blume - yes, I had a copy of "Dear God, It's me Margaret" that my Mother bought for me. She also bought me "The Keeping Days" books as well.

Luckily, shortly after my 15th b-day I started working at the library and discovered Regencies. I've read so many now that the genre no longer interests me but I think it was a good jumping off point for a teenager into the adult section of the book stacks. Another from there I read "Tisha", the story of a woman teaching in the North, which I found again a year ago and bought a copy. Then I started discovering mystery stories.

And that... how I got from there... to here.

Sheri

Oh, you'd really enjoy the Kate Shugak mysteries by Dana Stabenow, then, I think.

Pat Floyd · #9 02-25-2009, 01:02 PM

Welcome, Classics Fiend! It's great to have you join us.

vicki · #10 02-25-2009, 04:10 PM

Hi over here, Classics Fiend! *waves enthusiastically*

You'd never know that Classics Fiend is new to the Russells--she's been slicing and dicing her way through the Russell quote-game on twitter.com/mary_russell, and won last week's prize drawing, to boot. Kudos, CF!

Sheri, I haven't thought all that much about Regencies like those of Georgette Heyer as being YA-friendly, but they really would be for most YA readers, I think. I *heart* Georgette Heyer. Oh, and I second Badger's recommendation of the Kate Shugaks--I think you'd like those, and I think they'd have some YA appeal, but not so much as the Russells. I seem to have lost my first Kate volume somewhere amidst the shelvish cacophony here. (waaah!), but if I can find it, I'll send it to you.