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In this post, Jennifer Hart reminisces about the books she read when she was young, from Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret to Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy Ray series --- and why the allure of YA literature is still just as great and perfect for book club discussions.


The release of Reading Group Choices' most discussible books of 2007 last week got me to thinking. Among the top eleven choices (there was a tie), voted on by book group leaders representing more than 50,000 book group members, was a young adult book --- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

While some may be surprised at the inclusion of a book for children on a list voted on by adults, one look at the description --- the story of a young foster child in WWII Germany who steals books because she cannot afford them, and who shares them with a Jewish man hidden in her basement --- and you can imagine the wonderful discussion that would ensue after reading it.

I was heartened to see the book on the list because I love young adult books, and always have, since, well, I was a young adult. There are books that I read when I was 12 that I re-read to this day. The ones I return to the most are the Betsy-Tacy books, a series about Betsy Ray, a young girl growing up in early 1900s Minneapolis who dreams of becoming a writer. Not only did I love Maud Hart Lovelace's semi-autobiographical books as a child, but I turn to them several times a year --- for me they are the book version of comfort food, and the Ray family feels as close to me as my own. And when I meet someone who knows the Betsy-Tacy books (we're a small but passionate group), I immediately feel a deep connection with them. I feel similarly, if not quite as passionately, about books by Beverly Cleary, Ellen Conford and Paula Danziger. And it's not just the classic YA books that I love. I devoured all of the titles in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, as well as Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson series.

A book group made up of 5th graders recently wrote about their discussion of Judy Blume's classic girl coming-of-age novel, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, on Book Club Girl. Reading about their reaction to the book brought me back to my first time reading it --- I remember exactly where I sat when I read it, its effect on me was so great. And judging from the comments their post received, many others felt the same way and loved hearing a new generation's response to the book.

For those of us longing to return to the literature of our youth, or to discover the best of today's YA books, Nancy Pearl's Book Crush: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Interest is a wonderful collection of her favorite books for children, including middle grade and young adult. She recently ran a contest where readers wrote about their first "book crush." Reading the winning essay about Beverly Cleary's Fifteen perfectly summed up how I felt about these books when I was young and how I feel about them now. These are the books that helped me to grow up, and now they are the books that comfort and sustain me in my "grown up" life.

Why not consider reading a YA book for book group? Imagine comparing your reaction to a book when you were 12 to your reaction now and discussing what a book meant to you back then and how it influenced the adult you've become. Over wine. Now that's something my 12-year-old self would appreciate.

---Jennifer Hart
BookClubGirl.com