Saturday, September 25, 2010

Older Teens and 20 Something's Part 1

I’ve been seeing a lot of discourse around the library blogs lately about service for older teens and new adults and whether or not they should be included in Young Adult services, have their own services and collection or be grouped with adults.

The YALSA blog had an article about it in April which can be found here. http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2010/04/09/serving-older-teens-and-twenty-somthings/

I know that you can’t create a box and say that’s what late teens and 20 something’s read since people are just not uniform. Like teens or those who are in their later 20’s, I’m sure they read a little bit of everything. However, this past week Youth Services Corner highlighted some great books that look at the college experience, so I’m going to repost many of them here and add a few of my own. Feel free to check out her blog.
(A) = Adult Fiction

An Off Year by Claire Zulkey
Upon arriving at her dorm room, eighteen-year-old Cecily decides to postpone her freshman year of college and return to her Chicago home, where she spends a year pondering what went wrong while forging new relationships with family and friends.

Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty
Leaving her New Jersey hometown for New York City's Columbia University, Jessica Darling finds her life on the upswing, until she lands an internship at an ultra-hip Brooklyn-based magazine, and she is torn between three very different men.

College Girl by Patricia Wiez (A)
Struggling with private demons from her home life in spite of her attractiveness and ambition, sexually naive college senior Natalie Bloom falls for an untrustworthy man who preys on her insecurities,and manipulates her into self-destructive behaviors.

Dirty South by Philip Thomas
When Kenya and Lark leave New Jersey to attend college in the South, Lark becomes jealous as Kenya gains popularity and becomes the star of a dance troupe.

Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares - As their lives take them in different directions and to different colleges, Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget discover many more things about themselves and the importance of their relationship with each other.

Hacking Harvard by Robin Wasserman
When three brilliant nerds--Max Kim, Eric Roth, and Isaac "The Professor" Schwarzbaum--bet $20,000 that they can get anyone into Harvard, they take on the Ivy League in their quest for popularity, money, and the love of a beauty queen valedictorian.

Obedience by Will Lavender (A)
The students of Winchester University's class on Logic and Reasoning are given a strange assignment by the creepy Professor Williams, to follow a series of clues to find a missing girl who will be murdered if she has not been found by the end of the term.

RX by Tracy Lynn
Thyme Gilcrest uses a friend's Ritalin to help her get through crunch time at school and develops a full-blown addiction, becoming the ringleader for a prescription drug trade in her circle of overachieving friends.

Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot (A)
Former pop star Heather Wells has left behind hordes of screaming fans to settle into a new life, but when strange things start happening at her college, she finds herself once again in the spotlight, this time as a detective

Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreud
Eli University junior Amy Haskel finds her life turned upside down when she is invited to join the Rose & Grave, the country's most powerful and notorious secret society, as one of the organization's first female members.

The Ivy by Lauren Kunze
When Callie arrives for her freshman year at Harvard, she encounters her three vastly different roommates, new friendships, steamy romance, and scandalous secrets.

Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt
Courtney must drive across country to attend college orientation with her ex-boyfriend while still fuming that he dumped her for a girl he met online, but the two of them learn valuable lessons about themselves and each other along the way.

Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn
Consumed with emailing, online video games, and the many distractions of her electronic gadgets, hyper-frenetic Columbia University freshman Veronica, known as Very LeFreak, enters a rehab facility for the technology-addicted after her professors and classmates stage an intervention.

9 comments:

Ashley @ Book Labyrinth said...

I do think this issue is interesting, especially since I think I fit into that category... I love YA and don't want to stop reading it, but I'd be interested to see more books with characters in their early 20s. I also think that there is a big lack of services for people in their 20s. I would love to be involved in library programs, yet I don't ever see any where I feel like my interests are being targeted. Definitely an interesting thing to think about...

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

Thanks for posting this, Katie! My age means I should probably read more adult fiction, but I like characters my age, so this could work...I think I'll still read a lot of YA, but this list should help!

Jen said...

I also wish there were more books with main characters in their early 20's. It seems like there is really no "in-between"...there's YA books with the characters still in high school or there are adult books with characters in their late 20's and are married/have kids.

I really wish I could find more books with characters who have just graduated college and are still job searching and trying to find out what they really want to do.

Thanks for posting that list of books! The only book I've read off of it is Charmed Thirds.

Katie said...

Ashley - Its interesting because I don't actually think there is a 20 something genre, either they still read YA or they read adult. Who knows. I'm going to be looking at library programs for this age group in the next part.

Melissa - you don't have to be a teen to enjoy YA, read whatever tickles your fancy. :)

Katie said...

Jen, GREAT point! I'm going to try and find some for you :)

Katie said...

Jen: Here are some options.
- Queen of Babble Series by Meg Cabot
- The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes Rodriguez
- A Gate to the Stars by Lorrie Moore
- Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
-Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
-The Pink Ghetto by Liz Ireland
-Commencement by Courtney Sullivan

brandileigh2003 said...

Yeah- I am 25, a stay at home mom, and I still LOVE YA.

Jen said...

Katie-- Thanks so much for posting those books!! I really appreciate it! I'll look them up in the morning! :)

I do still love reading YA books too. I think over the past couple of years the quality of YA has improved and it seems like there are more YA books published each year (or maybe its just me).

Jen said...

I just wanted to say thanks again for posting that list of books! If I come across any books that fit the "in-between" I'll let you know!

There was one book I read a couple weeks ago, 'One Day' by David Nicholls. The book begins with both main characters graduating from college and the book spans over the next twenty years or so. But for maybe the first five years or so after college, you see how they struggle with things, like finding a job/their place in the world/ect.

Sorry for rambling!!

 
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