Why YA?

Earlier I wrote a post entitled Why YA? in response to Joel Stein's proclamation that adults should only read adult books. To date it is my most viewed post. It has also received the greatest amount of feedback, publicly and privately. So many of you have written me and talked about various YA books and how they changed your life. And many more of you talked about how important it is for adults to be able to engage meaningfully with teens about the things that matter most to them.

Now it's your turn!

So I thought we would take the dialogue and turn it into a regular feature here at TLT and give you the chance to voice your opinions and share what ya means to you.  What books, exactly, do you think that adults should be reading - and why? I hope that you will participate.  This is a great RA and collection development tool, and a fun way to discuss titles you love and how they affected you as a reader.  So . . .

Why YA? posts so far
Pandemonium (Lauren Oliver) as discussed by Karen Jensen of TLT)
13 Reasons Why (Jay Asher) as discussed by Karen Jensen of TLT
The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collines) as discussed by Sara Ansted
Love is the Higher Law (David Levithan) as discussed by 2012 Printz Award Winner John Corey Whaley
Between Shades of Gray (Ruta Sepetys) as discussed by Victoria Scott
"I Love YA" (with apologies to Randy Newman) as discussed by Jennifer Rummel
Harry Potter and The Fault in Our Stars as discussed by Leah Miller
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (Chris Crutcher) as discussed by Karen Jensen of TLT
Please Ignore Vera Dietz (A. S. King) as discussed by Jenny Torres Sanchez
The List (Siobhan Vivian) as discussed by Stephanie Wilkes
The Giver (Lois Lowry) as discussed by Lauren Kate
Mr. Was (Pete Hautman) as discussed by Pete Hautman
Bitterblue (Kristin Cashore) as discussed by Annette Birdsall
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) as discussed by Lindsay Cummings
Where the Red Fern Grown (Wilson Rawls) as discussed by Craig MacLachlan
The Story of a Girl (Sara Zarr) as discussed by Lisa Burstein
Ash (Malinda Lo) as discussed by Christie Gibrich
The Year of Ice by Brian Malloy as discussed by author David James

The Discussion
Why YA?
Why YA? The Remix

Here is how it will work

Write up a guest blog post in a word document and send it to me via email as an attachment to kjensenmls@yahoo.com. Talk about a specific ya title, why yas like it, what it means to you, and why you think adults should read it.  Note: teens and adults can share.

Include in your email a brief bio as you would like it to appear on your post. You can use only a first name if you would like. Also, please include a head shot if you would like.

Don't worry about book covers, I can find and add those easily.

This isn't really about Joel Stein (you don't even need to mention him in your post!). It's about adults talking meaningfully about the ya literature that moves them. It is also about teens talking about the books that move them - teens, please feel free to share what books you love and why you think adults SHOULD read them. And it's about bringing adults and teens together in meaningful ways because we have so much to give to one another. Plus, ya literature is amazing. Well, most of it.

I'll post updates as I receive them. Hope to be hearing from you all soon. Happy reading.