Young Adult Book Nostalgia (From the 1980s and early 1990s)

[jjane617]

Hello all -

Just wanted to start a discussion on young adult books from the '80s and '90s. In my fourth grade class our teacher introduced "Troll" book orders and I don't think my life has ever been the same since I pretty much became a book worm after that. I started out with The Baby-Sitter's Club and Sleepover Friends and then quickly moved onto Nancy Drew - the older hardcover and newer paperback titles. After that, I got into V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic Series and Lois Duncan and some of the R.L. Stine's. What kind of books were all of you reading in your youth? If anyone wants to discuss any Lois Duncan, then I am also especially interested as that author initially got me interested in suspense and horror genres.

Cheers!

[becke_davis]

Lois Duncan is a friend of my family, I've known her since I was a kid although I haven't been in touch with her in awhile. She and my aunt are close friends. She mentioned my cousins in her book Season of the Two-Heart, and she gave me a signed copy on my 12th birthday. She influenced me a lot when I first started writing professionally. I thought it was ironic that one of my daughter's favorite books as a teenager was Daughter of Eve. I read all of her books when they first came out, but my daughter was completely addicted to her books.

My daughter also loved, still loves, the Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. She looked up the author's phone number when she was in 5th grade and was shocked to find she had a listed phone number. She called her and interviewed her, and the interview was published in our local paper. I thought that was really nice of the author to be so generous with her time, and to be so patient with a young fan.

My daughter also loved the Babysitter's Club books, and many others. She moved on to the Gossip Girls series, and now she reads those Manga graphic books, anything by Francesca Lia Block, and lots of other interesting authors.

[Wrighty]

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jjane617 wrote:
Hello all -

Just wanted to start a discussion on young adult books from the '80s and '90s. In my fourth grade class our teacher introduced "Troll" book orders and I don't think my life has ever been the same since I pretty much became a book worm after that. I started out with The Baby-Sitter's Club and Sleepover Friends and then quickly moved onto Nancy Drew - the older hardcover and newer paperback titles. After that, I got into V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic Series and Lois Duncan and some of the R.L. Stine's. What kind of books were all of you reading in your youth? If anyone wants to discuss any Lois Duncan, then I am also especially interested as that author initially got me interested in suspense and horror genres.

Cheers!

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I loved the book orders from school!! My mom would let me order as many as I wanted and I took advantage of that. I must be older than you but I still enjoyed a lot of those authors. Judy Blume was a huge influence in my childhood. Every girl read Are You There God? It's Me Margaret. Lois Duncan's books were great too.

[becke_davis]

I was on the PTO and we helped with the book sales, so not only did my kids load up on their favorites but I ended up buying additional books that I thought they might like, too. I think we kept Scholastic in business! In my day, it was Weekly Reader. Does that even exist anymore?

[Wrighty]

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becke_davis wrote:
I was on the PTO and we helped with the book sales, so not only did my kids load up on their favorites but I ended up buying additional books that I thought they might like, too. I think we kept Scholastic in business! In my day, it was Weekly Reader. Does that even exist anymore?

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My kids are teenagers now but when they were in the elementary school they had the Weekly Reader (or a new version of it). That was great! I love these nostalgic threads. It brings back memories of readings that I really enjoyed but had forgotten about.

[becke_davis]

I know what you mean. It's fun to remember books we liked when we were young. My daughter is so into kids books, she has kept most of the books from her childhood (as you might guess from my posts, there were a LOT) and she has collected them her whole life. She could open a bookstore at this point.

[MattW]

Hi all-

Just wanted to let you know that there's a new Kid Lit board. There, we're talking about all things to do with children's and teen books, from new releases to favorite reads.

Hope you'll come join the discussion!

[krenea1]

I read R. L. Stine Fear Street Series and Christopher Pike.

[Wildflower]

Hi! Wow, what a cool thread! I loved all kinds of books! I remember Troll and Scholastic fondly and would be so excited when we received the order forms! So many lovely choices! I read all of the Judy Blume books, Nancy Drew, some Beverly Cleary, some of he Sweet Valley High series (the original one). Some of my favorite individual books from my youth are: Seventeenth Summer, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Wheel On The School and The Hundred Dresses.

[Willson]

I may be a little younger than some of you (20). But when I was in school, we had a book fair that would come to our library and set up shop there. They had tons of books at reasonable prices. I remember telling my parents that the book fair was coming to school and they would give me $20 or something and I would get something like 4 R.L. Stine "Goosebumps" books. The goosebumps series was extrememly popular when I was in elem/middle school. I also enjoyed other books at that age. One that is sticking out to me right now for some reason, was this big book on how to make paper airplanes. I can actually still remember exactly what it looks like!

[SALi]

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Willson wrote:
I may be a little younger than some of you (20). But when I was in school, we had a book fair that would come to our library and set up shop there. They had tons of books at reasonable prices. I remember telling my parents that the book fair was coming to school and they would give me $20 or something and I would get something like 4 R.L. Stine "Goosebumps" books. The goosebumps series was extrememly popular when I was in elem/middle school. I also enjoyed other books at that age. One that is sticking out to me right now for some reason, was this big book on how to make paper airplanes. I can actually still remember exactly what it looks like!

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yea thats how it was for me too. The library would close off one section and make it into a book fair. I remember they did it mostly during parent conference weeks. i would sit in there while my folks talked to mine or my brothers teachers by the time they came to get me i had a stack of books i wanted to buy.
i loved the goosebumps and baby sitter clubs book. i also liked this other series that i cant remember the name of but the books were written like journals from young adults during different time periods in america. the one i remember had to do with the oregon trail.

[Melissa_W Moderator]

The "Dear America" series? These are starting to make a comeback, especially among young girls in our area.

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SALi wrote:

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Willson wrote:
I may be a little younger than some of you (20). But when I was in school, we had a book fair that would come to our library and set up shop there. They had tons of books at reasonable prices. I remember telling my parents that the book fair was coming to school and they would give me $20 or something and I would get something like 4 R.L. Stine "Goosebumps" books. The goosebumps series was extrememly popular when I was in elem/middle school. I also enjoyed other books at that age. One that is sticking out to me right now for some reason, was this big book on how to make paper airplanes. I can actually still remember exactly what it looks like!

---

yea thats how it was for me too. The library would close off one section and make it into a book fair. I remember they did it mostly during parent conference weeks. i would sit in there while my folks talked to mine or my brothers teachers by the time they came to get me i had a stack of books i wanted to buy.
i loved the goosebumps and baby sitter clubs book. i also liked this other series that i cant remember the name of but the books were written like journals from young adults during different time periods in america. the one i remember had to do with the oregon trail.

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[SALi]

yea it was the "dear america" books. i found them earlier today when my mom was cleaning out a closet.

[allenctynimrod]

I read a ton of the RL Stine Fear Street books and Christopher Pike's books as well. Goosebumps was big when I was in Junior High but I always thought they were a little to juvenile for my age and enjoyed the darker Fear Street books more.

[krenea1]

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allenctynimrod wrote:
I read a ton of the RL Stine Fear Street books and Christopher Pike's books as well. Goosebumps was big when I was in Junior High but I always thought they were a little to juvenile for my age and enjoyed the darker Fear Street books more.

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Yes, I thought goosebumps was for the younger crowd myself. We must be pretty close in age then.

[allenctynimrod]

I've hit mid 20s now so you can probably gather from that .

[HPFANATTIC25]

I think R.L. Stine is what turned me into a bookworm in the first place. I liked the Goosebump ones also.. but again they were a little on the juvenile side for me.. my faves were the Fear Street series. Even now when I'm between books I'll grab one that's laying around the house and read it in like 2-4hours(depending on if it's the cheerleaders series or not). Stine was my absolute fave author in middle school and into early high school, I just branched from him.

[krenea1]

same here!

[Everyman]

The whole idea of having nostalgia for the 80s and 90s makes me scratch my head.

[Liamum]

>>remember Troll and Scholastic fondly

Me too!! Wow. this thread is bringing up some memories for me. Just the other day I was reflecting on how much I loved Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Witch's Sister (the whole series), Lois Duncan, and some RL Stine.