Posted February 25th, 2011 under Books, SCBWI, YA Cafe
YA Cafe: Why Contemporary YA Rocks (+ a Giveaway!!)
a href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/–vGnwcEU_3w/TWci-MUvvdI/AAAAAAAABos/nGZJwZu5EIo/s1600/YACafe-LOGO-blue.png” onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}”img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577465115377122770″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 175px” alt=”" src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/–vGnwcEU_3w/TWci-MUvvdI/AAAAAAAABos/nGZJwZu5EIo/s200/YACafe-LOGO-blue.png” border=”0″ //a div style=”TEXT-ALIGN: left”iWelcome back to YA Cafe, where book lovers can gather and chat about teen literature. I’m your /iibarista/ii, along with Gabriela from /ia href=”http://www.iggiandgabi.blogspot.com/”iiggi/iiamp;/iigabi/i/ai./i/divdiv style=”TEXT-ALIGN: left”ibr //i/divdiv style=”TEXT-ALIGN: left”iEach Friday we pick from a menu of topics and share our thoughts on our respective blogs. We’ve also got plans brewing for interviews, events and even some exciting giveaways, so stay tuned! Join the discussion by responding in the comments, on your own blogs or on twitter using the hash tag #/iiyacafe/ii./ispan style=”font-size:+0;”span style=”font-size:+0;”/span/span/divdivi/i/divdivspanspan/span/span /divbr /spanspanstrongspan style=”color:#3366ff;”Today’s Special:/span/strong Why Contemporary YA Rocksbr /br /This topic is near and dear to me because /span/spanspanmy WIP is contemporary YA and it’s my favorite type of teen literature. (For those of you who are new to YA, contemporary is essentially realistic fiction.) I love a good fantasy/paranormal/dystopian novel, but there’s something about contemporary YA that always draws me in. Like pasta is my go-to food on a menu, contemp YA spanis my go-to genre. I crave it and if it’s good, it never fails to satisfy me. Yum.br /br /Contemp YA may not/span/spanspan fill as many spots on the New York Times bestseller list as its fantasy/paranormal/dystopian counterparts, but it’s clear readers love it. Just look at some of the a href=”http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/Printz.cfm”Michael L. Printz award/a winners from the past few years: a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6512140-going-bovine”emGoing Bovine/em/a by Libba Bray; a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1162022.On_the_Jellicoe_Road”emOn the Jellicoe Road/em/a by Melina Marchetta; a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99561.Looking_for_Alaska”emLooking for Alaska/em/a by John Green. Nothing in the award rules states that the winner must be a contemporary book, but they keep winning. Not only did spanthese books get the judges’ attention; they are also very popular amongst teen readers.br /br /Then there are /span/spanspanbooks like a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6936382-anna-and-the-french-kiss”emAnna and the French Kiss/em/a by Stephanie Perkins and a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6604794-the-sky-is-everywhere”emThe Sky is Everywhere/em/a by Jandy Nelson, which readers talk about endlessly. I picked up both of them after reading rave review after rave review on blogs and Twitter. They’ve benefited from word spanof mouth marketing, and now are two of my favorite books.br /br /spanSo what’s so great about contemp YA? Why do I love to read and write it? My reason is simple. I like to read about protagonists facing real-life challenges that remind me of the things I’ve gone through. I connect more to characters and situations in contemp novels. This isn’t to say that I haven’t connected to characters’ emotions in fantasy novels. But those stories are fantasy. They’re not normal. They’re not real life. Some readers prefer that because they enjoy escaping our world. I prefer to read to make better sense of today’s world./span/span/spanspan style=”font-size:+0;”span style=”font-size:+0;”br //span/spanspan style=”font-size:+0;”span style=”font-size:+0;”/span/spandiv style=”TEXT-ALIGN: left”br //divdiv style=”TEXT-ALIGN: left”spanspanThat’s why I think contemporary YA rocks. strongWhat about you?/strong Be sure to check out fellow barista Gabriela’s answer on a href=”http://www.iggiandgabi.blogspot.com/”iggiamp;gabi/a!br /br /Now for some exciting news. In honor of today’s topic, Gabi and I are giving away a strong*signed*/strong copy of Sara Zarr’s National Book Award finalist novel, a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33906.Story_of_a_Girl”emStory of a Girl/em/a! Here’s a short description from Good Reads:br /br //span/spanspanspanemWhen she is caught in the backseat of a car with her older brother’s best friend – Deanna Lambert’s teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of “school slut,” she longs to escape a life defined by her past. With subtle grace, complicated wisdom and striking emotion, The Story of a Girl reminds us of our human capacity for resilience, epiphany and redemption.br //embr /spanI’m in the middle of reading it now and it’s amazing. Seriously, it’s a story every girl (and boy) should read. 
br /br //span/span/spanimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577463135976351890″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 210px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”" src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ITy7LWPQ9ns/TWchK-e06JI/AAAAAAAABok/YpQzgmr_wsM/s320/41dSpSFtFFL.jpg” border=”0″ //divspanbr /We were lucky enough to hear Sara’s inspiring speech at the SCBWI NYC Winter Conference (if you missed it, here’s a a href=”http://notesfromtheslushpile.blogspot.com/2011/01/nyc-2011-sara-zarr.html”recap/a). spanspanWe even got a photo with her at the signing!br /br //span/span/spanimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577454268795169106″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”" src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8CY7Sh80dHA/TWcZG1qFqVI/AAAAAAAABoM/zALxm-VzosM/s400/Sara%2BZarr%2Bat%2BSCBWI.jpg” border=”0″ /p align=”left”/pdiv style=”text-align: center;”emspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: small;”Me and Gabi with Sara herself! She is super sweet and we were so pumped to meet her. Points to her for pronouncing my name correctly on the first try!/span/em/divspandiv style=”text-align: center;”br //divAll you have to do to enter the giveaway is fill out your name and email address in the below form. You get extra entries for commenting here and at a href=”http://www.iggiandgabi.blogspot.com/”iggiamp;gabi/a. The entry deadline is next strongWednesday March 2nd at 11:59PM EST/strong. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s YA Cafe post. Good luck!/spanspanspanbr //span/spanspanbr //spanspan style=”font-size:+0;”span style=”font-size:+0;”iframe marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ src=”https://spreadsheets0.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dE5rMEZfTExGTTJHeFBENDBsMVU0ZFE6MQ” frameborder=”0″ width=”760″ height=”639″Loading…/iframeibr //i/span/spanp/pi/i
ooohhh! i love sara zarr!
1I recently have developed a huge crush on contemporary…thank you Looking For Alaska. And thanks for the giveaway! This book looks awesome!
2I#39;d love to read this book! Thanks for hosting a giveaway. br /br /Contemporary books are my favorite. Real life, real situations, that#39;s what I love to read.
3Sara Zarr is all types of awesome. LOVE this book!br /br /Finished ANNA last week and loved it too.
4Loving this post! And I totally agree about wanting to read about characters who are going through real challenges in real life. Why go for an allegory when real life tells the whole story, right?
5I#39;m with you — I prefer the contemporary, real-life challenges that characters have to face (makes me feel less alone, perhaps?). But you#39;re right — a little fantasy is always good for escape. Cute pic!
6I enjoy YA paranormals but I love YA contemporary. It#39;s also the genre I write.
7So glad there are so many contemporary lovers out there!
8OMGOMGOMG. i looove this post so much! i just wrote a href=”http://aleezarauf.blogspot.com/2011/02/contemporary-depressing-i-think-not.html” rel=”nofollow”this/a post last week, that defended why contemporary was no more depressing than fantasy was. which is because, like you, i am a HUGGEEEE fan of the genre and most of my novels are also contemporary. i love the whole dealing with real-life challenges stuff and being able to sink myself into other people#39;s problems (which are similar to mine) for a while.br /once again, awesome post!br /and im a new follower
9I#39;d love to write contemporary YA but it#39;s harder to fudge the dialogue, the attitudes and details because I#39;m more afraid it won#39;t seem genuine. In the future, or past, it#39;s easier because you either make it up or use a reference of some sort.br /Great post!
10I don#39;t write contemporary (yet, at least) but I love it. Jellicoe Road and pretty much anything by John Green? Love. Oh, and Anna and the French Kiss? Awesome. I haven#39;t read The Sky Is Everywhere yet but it#39;s on my short list of books to buy. And Story of a Girl has been on that list, too. Crossing my fingers that I#39;ll win it!
11GOING BOVINE is actually one of my favorite books. Ever. I told Libba Bray, when I was fortunate enough to meet her that she was my hero. My copy says quot;I#39;ll be your hero if I can have a cape.quot; LOVE HER!!
12@Aleeza: Yay! So glad you liked it. Welcome! I#39;ll check out your post now.
br /br /@Lydia: That#39;s a good point. I can see how writing in the past or future might be a bit easier for that reason. br /br /@Lisa: That#39;s so cool! I love it when an author is as aweome as their books.
13I loved Story of a Girl.br /br /And The Sky is Everywhere was my favorite read last year. br /br /I prefer contemp YA over anything else.
14WOOT! WOOT! Contemporary YA!!!br /br /Love the pasta analogy! Especially since I LOVE me some pasta!br /br /LIke you, I have nothing against fantasy. I think there are many incredible fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi/steampunk novels out there, but I just naturally gravitate to realistic fiction. I love to see kids going through real life struggles and having to deal with them in real ways, because in life teens don#39;t have super powers to help them. At least, I don#39;t think they do, lol.
15Great contest! These books all sound amazing!
16@Medeia: I#39;m so happy to hear you love contemp YA too!br /br /@Anon: I wish I knew who you are! Your enthusiasm for contemp YA makes me happy.
And you#39;re a fellow pasta lover. Awesome.br /br /@Jennifer: Thanks!
17I love fantasy/SF/paranormal YA best, but contemporary YA never fails to entertain me, too- I really should read more of it! I enjoyed Maureen Johnson#39;s books so much, and Anna and The Sky is Everywhere have been on my list for a while… would love to win a copy of this book, too
18@Margo: I think you#39;ll like ANNA and SKY IS EVERYWHERE. Even those who don#39;t read lots of contemp YA have raved about those two.
19i LOVE contemporary YA- and i especially love non-spec, believably real-life writing(AKA not murder/mystery or completely exceptional situations). it takes such a talented writer to make the everyday lives of contemp characters real and engaging enough without needing huge plot devices. (though i will say- i#39;ve been more and more interested in magic realism. cyn balog won me over with #39;sleepless#39;)
20