Why I keep reading YA fiction

I was born into a family of readers, and it has really paid off over the years. Book recommendations are always forthcoming, leading me to authors I love much sooner in life as well as those I'd never have discovered myself. It's how I ended up loving Louisa May Alcott when I was still pretty young (thanks Aunt K), how I found authors like Nelson DeMille and Robin Cook (thanks Dad), and even how I ended up tearing through VC Andrews novels throughout high school and into college (thanks Mom.)

I continue to love having people in my life who are big readers, people with whom I pass book suggestions back and forth each time we get together. The question, "So, what you are reading?" comes up more often than most others and it's wonderful.

My daughter, who's eight, is just getting to that stage where books are grabbing her attention. More than anything I want to help expose her to great reads. So far, I'm struggling due to her love of graphic novels, which didn't exist when I was a kid and isn't something I read very often. She doesn't fully trust my suggestions when I hand her a book that's solely text. Pippi Longstocking was tossed aside with disdain when I offered it up, but she really liked it when read by her second grade teacher. I know the love for books is there, so I'm working on getting caught up on YA content.

My desire to be somewhat of a book resource for my kids has made me realize I need to know about YA titles published this century. Not just Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but other books that will appeal to a younger reader. As a result, I try to read YA books I wouldn't typically pick up. This is what drew me to the first descendants novel.

I've seen the moves on Disney, but wanted to know if the books stacked up as a possible referral to my daughter.

I have no idea if my kids will be into these, we don't watch a lot of Disney princess movies, but after finishing the first book, I'm looking forward to the second. The writing is definitely geared toward a younger audience, but the story is developed enough to entertain an adult reader. Unlike the movies, the first book is only about the children of villains as they try to live up to parental expectations and fight off feelings of inadequacy. They also learn about friendship even though it goes against their villainous nature. Isle of the Lost is a strong combination of adventure and age-appropriate life lessons good for young readers.

I honestly can't recommend you add this book to your To Read list unless you're a parent who, like me, wants to have an arsenal of books at the ready for when your children come complaining, "I don't know what to read next...."

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

SPOILER ALERT (we like to give major plot points away when we review)

The final book in The Hunger Games Trilogy starts off with a major plot twist - the rebellion against the Capitol is real and a previously “extinct” district is leading the charge. All they need is a face to the uprising, someone to humanize the struggle, someone to inspire allegiance to the cause - enter Katniss Everdeen. Unintentionally, through her actions in the hunger games, Katniss has already become a symbol for rebellion. With one simple act of defiance (threatening to eat poisoned berries at the end of her first hunger games causing there to be no winner) she exposed a chink in the Capitol’s armor, setting off a chain of events leading to the freedom of all the districts in Panem.

So, here we are, having followed Katniss through two hunger games and countless extreme situations. We’ve come to know her as a determined and resourceful girl adept at self-preservation. However, this girl disappears for almost all of Mockingjay. What we get in lieu of the powerful ass-kicking tough-girl is a whining, guilt-ridden thing, too mopey to make up her mind about anything from which boy to love to whether to help the rebellion. She actually gets so annoying with her whimpering and indecision that I ended up wishing Collins would kill her off in true martyr fashion (no such luck.)

The plot line also starts feeling a bit repetitive when we’re brought into a third hunger games. Slightly different in that it’s not an official hunger games, but rather a military expedition through a booby-trapped area of the Capitol, the concept of survival while dodging extreme obstacles is the same. Even though this is war and it’s no longer every man for themselves, you still feel as if you’re in an arena following a small group of people as they try to survive for the last third of the book. The rest of the novel has minor bouts of action that feel more like the characters are at war (a makeshift hospital gets bombed, there’s a hostile takeover of a district, etc.) but most of the story actually takes place underground in the fabled District 13 with the characters doing little more than strategizing, talking, and spending time in the hospital for various mental and physical ailments.

I do have to give Collins credit for not sparing any characters just because they’ve been around for most of the trilogy. This is real war - important people die gruesome, unexpected deaths, get seriously injured, and suffer brutal torture. It’s difficult, at times, to tell who the good guys are. Absolute power definitely corrupts absolutely in Panem, and having fallible characters is one of the best aspects of this trilogy. Everyone feels real because of how they react to the situations they’re put into, the doubts they have, the wrong choices they make. You end up having your favorite characters, but everyone has the potential to let you down. For some reason this feature of the trilogy makes it all the more likeable.

In the end, Panem begins anew, rebuilding on top of the brutalities of the war - thriving without the hunger games to snatch away the lives of the country’s children. Katniss grows up, emotionally scarred but essentially like any other woman. She gets married, has kids, finds small things to be happy about even if the past continues to haunt her. It’s a realistic ending to a very exciting epic.