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Posted

Humor . Books written like Huck Finn ,the characters are colorful ,full of life, go on adventures ( on EARTH) ,doing funny things with friends or getting themselves into an adventure that might be quite a challenge to get out of ..

 

Something more lighthearted about school days ,friends and being goofy . Playing pranks on the teachers , etc ..

 

Too much of YA is dark, serious, dangerous, sad . Is this just a trend in books ?

Posted (edited)

The funniest series I've ever read is Spud by John van de Ruit. It's effectively the South African equivalent of Adrian Mole, except it's set in an all-boys boarding school and it is seriously funny. It has 3 sequels which are just as good, if not better, too. (I've linked to my review, if you're intrigued by it)

 

Have fun with those!

 

 

Too much of YA is dark, serious, dangerous, sad . Is this just a trend in books ?

I'd argue that's a reflection of the zeitgeist. We're living in a time where we don't know what our future is going to be like. Books are reflecting this existential crisis by painting a very dystopian picture of the world.

Edited by Palagrin
Posted

Humor . Books written like Huck Finn ,the characters are colorful ,full of life, go on adventures ( on EARTH) ,doing funny things with friends or getting themselves into an adventure that might be quite a challenge to get out of ..

 

Something more lighthearted about school days ,friends and being goofy . Playing pranks on the teachers , etc ..

 

Too much of YA is dark, serious, dangerous, sad . Is this just a trend in books ?

Maybe Hugo? Haven't read it yet (tried but failed to find a copy) loved the movie though. It's all about a boy who lives in a train station and about the first movie director.

Posted

I'm not sure Hugo is light-hearted - it's certainly not comedic, if the film is anything to go by! At least, not overtly.

Posted

Oh..I thought the movie was great...all about the magic of movies and about never giving up on your dreams.

Posted

I'm looking for Beth - she seems to enjoy contemporary YA, preferably with some humour. Granted she's not read much, she's really enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars (John Green), Geekhood (Andy Robb) and Geek Girl (Holly Smale). Any ideas similar to these anyone?

Posted

Yeah. There just aren't that many YA books that I know of that are lite comedy types. I went through the lists of books I keep in my head again and the only books that might be closer what Julie was looking for are the books Terry Pratchett wrote for younger readers. But then they might be to young?

Posted

I'm looking for Beth - she seems to enjoy contemporary YA, preferably with some humour. Granted she's not read much, she's really enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars (John Green), Geekhood (Andy Robb) and Geek Girl (Holly Smale). Any ideas similar to these anyone?

 

How about Ann Brashares' Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Michelle?  I loved those books. 

Posted

Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series, 'Wee Free Men', 'A Hat Full Of Sky', 'Wintersmith' and ' I Shall Wear Midnight'.

 

It's an original coming-of-age fantasy story set on the chalk hills in Terry Pratchett's Discworld. The series gets better with each book, and I felt by the time I had read the last that I wished they had been written when I was entering my teens. Tiffany is a character that really grows on you, and her learning of the craft of witching is clever and sometimes even profound. There is humour and wisdom and the joyous inclusion of the daft yet deeply loyal,  Wee Free Men. :smile:

 

A series I haven't read, but it is on my wish list is 'Diary Of A Wimpy Kid' by Jeff Kinney. There are 8 books in the series so far.

 

In interview (wimpykid.com) the author said,  "I wanted to write a story about the funny parts of growing up and none of the serious parts. I had a pretty ordinary childhood, but lots of humorous stuff happened along the way. So, I decided to write a book about what it was really like to be a kid, or at least what it was like for me."

Posted

The Wimpy Kid books are very much kid's books to me, but apparently they are popular with younger teens too. I think Beth was still enjoying them up until about 12. It's the same with the books by David Walliams, Amy loves them at 9, but Beth still sneaks them for a read.

Posted

My kids have loved the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, Robbie not long ago read them age 8, my 12 year old daughter will still read them when the publish but they don't take her very long! Robbie is now enjoyed the Tom Gates books which are aimed at a similar age. :)

Posted

How about Ann Brashares' Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Michelle?  I loved those books. 

I looked quickly, and saw 1, is it a series? The one I saw looks good, will look again later.

Posted

I looked quickly, and saw 1, is it a series? The one I saw looks good, will look again later.

The rest of the series is The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood and Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood.  It looks like there's even a fourth one coming out, Sisterhood Everlasting.  I've only read the first three but I've really enjoyed them :).

Posted

I have the four books on my shelf (unread), didn't know there was a fifth one coming out! Thanks for that :).

Posted

I agree with Chrissy as I love Prachett!  A lot of his books have me sniggering behind the pages and trying not to laugh out loud in public! (I still call cows "Coos" and sheep "Ships" after reading these books)

Posted

Hi, folks - and thanks to Michelle for mentioning my book! I think people tend to forget just how funny our teenage years are - primarily because of how extreme we are at that age; there's no such thing as a 'flatline' of a day - it's all massive peaks and troughs. Without realising it, teens can be some of the funniest people on Earth - much like Basil Fawlty was, because of his extremes of behaviour.

 

But the other thing about humour is that it does allow you to slip some serious stuff under the radar; issues that might be a bit heavy or sensitive can sneak in and be presented in a much more accessible way. That's not to say that every gag should have a huge, moral undercurrent - but it is a good way of communicating messages without actually overstating them.

 

There's my hat in the ring!

 

Andy Robb

  • 4 months later...
Posted

Well I have thought about it and I have to say that I don't really know any humorous YA book besides Pratchetts few YA books. Even when I was growing up the books that were YA were mostly horror or sickly.

 

There are the Famous Five books, they are great fun :) .

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