Young Adult Fiction for Adults discussion

It seems to me that especially in the ralm of children's books, things go out of print pretty fast. I find it really sad when I want to gift a child with a book I enjoyed as a child and it is out of print!

Of course, every generation of kids has their own particular favorite series. Maybe the books I recall so fondly would not be appreciated by kids today.

I loved The Giver when I was a kid. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there are sequels!! I need to read them, I really do... :)

In 7th grade my favorite series was Fingerprints by Melinda Metz.. They were so good. I reread them senior year of high school and still loved them. Because of this thread I just looked them up on goodreads and apparently in May they're combining the first 3 books and republishing them, which is really cool! They've been out of print for a while but they have everything that young adults are looking for today, a strong heroine, love triangles, mystery, thrills, and of course, a supernatural element! ahhh. I think I may need to go read them now.

A lot of my childhood favorites have come back into print in the last 10 years -- I'm always surprised! I suppose it's because of all the nostalgic adults buying them for kids.

Some of the books back in print:

The Melendy series by Elizabeth Enright, plus pretty much everything she ever wrote.
The Alan Garner Weirdstone series.
The 13 Clocks.
Most of the Zilpha Keatley Snyders have been rereleased, although I think Season of Ponies is still MIA -- you can get The Velvet Room in a new edition, though.
Most of Eloise Jarvis McGraw's fantasies and historicals
Julie Andrews' books
Elizabeth George Speare's entire ouvre, I think.
Even the first 12 Cherry Ames are back! I need to buy a set of those, I just loved them.


All the Beverly Cleary, most of the Lloyd Alexander, Edward Eager, John Bellairs, and the Dark Is Rising series never went OUT of print, as far as I know.

My favorite books have been reissued thanks to the popularity of Twilight. They are the night world series by L.J. Smith

I know this is a very old feed, but I thought I would mention Gyo Fujikawa - my favorite was "WELCOME WAS A WONDERFUL WORD". His books were amazing to read and the pictures were amazing.

Cathy wrote: "A lot of my childhood favorites have come back into print in the last 10 years -- I'm always surprised! I suppose it's because of all the nostalgic adults buying them for kids.

Some of the books..."

Thanks to ebay, I have managed to acquire the entire set of Cherry Ames books (though I had to get reprints of the last two - originals were just too expensive) I loved those books when I was younger.

I'm so glad the Dark is Rising series isn't out of print. I fell in love with the series when I was a kid and haven't purchased it yet, but it is in my #1 slot on my wishlist.

I am desperate for the Circle of Three books by Isobel Bird to come back in print (preferably in nice bind-ups!) I know there was some talk about it a few years ago, but they decided against it :(

I looked up your Circle of Three books and Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and a few others have them for sale new, so they may be in print again.

They sell them used and as eBooks, but not as new printings. If they were back in print, I'd have to get a little miffed at the author for not telling me-- I mean, I run the fansite! :P

lol, then they are all lying because they are selling the books as "new".

anyone remember trixie belden?

I do - I have all the Trixies except for the Galloping Ghost one. I'm still trying for that one.

I loved Trixie Belden and the Bobbsie Twins, and the Boxcar Children, and Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys, and... oh my goodness there are some real gems written a while back.

I so wanted to be Trixie or in her club when I was that age!

I still have some of mine and re-read them last year. Such a simpler life.

I've always wanted to find the adventure books by Enid Blyton that I enjoyed so much in junior high school. They were almost impossible to find for years, and I just now discovered that most (or all?) of the Famous Five and Secret Seven series are available as new paperbacks on Amazon!

Precious Bane by Mary Webb

Traci wrote: "In 7th grade my favorite series was Fingerprints by Melinda Metz.. They were so good. I reread them senior year of high school and still loved them. Because of this thread I just looked them up on ..."

Traci - I know it's been a while since you wrote this post, but I'm so glad I found someone else who LOVED the Fingerprints books! I read them going into seventh grade and I just loved them. The titles have been changed some for the upcoming omnibus, but I'm really excited more people might discover Fingerprints, no matter what its name is!

Tracy wrote: "Traci wrote: "In 7th grade my favorite series was Fingerprints by Melinda Metz.. They were so good. I reread them senior year of high school and still loved them. Because of this thread I just look..."


YAY! I never find anyone who knows about these books. I forced my sisters and three of my friends to read them back in the day (like 8 or 9 years ago. jeesh. It doesn't feel that long!) but anyone I try to convince these days won't touch them. :[ I'm excited for them to get reprinted as well.. Hopefully there will be a newfound love for them :D

This was the first series that I had to experience the whole "waiting months on end for the next book to come out" thing.. now that's so common that it doesn't phase me, but back then it drove me insane... ooh how times change.

Traci wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Traci wrote: "In 7th grade my favorite series was Fingerprints by Melinda Metz.. They were so good. I reread them senior year of high school and still loved them. Because of this thre..."

I found them when they were out of print--I eBayed some of them and somehow found the last three books for free at a giant book giveaway. (Best luck of my life, considering how expensive they were OOP!) I really hope more people will give the series a shot; I loved both Fingerprints and Roswell High by Melinda Metz and I'm hoping she'll start writing again if the omnibus sells well. I'm even holding out hope for more Fingerprints books... :)

How about To Kill A Mockining Bird?

To Kill a Mockingbird is about the furthest thing possible from being out of print I think. :)

Myself, I'm sad that Berthe Amoss's Secret Lives is out of print. I loved that when I was a kid. It's still available cheaply used but ...

I just had the oportunity to buy Blubber and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume for my little cousins baptisim! It was so much fun remembering how much I loved those books as a child!!

I love Judy Blume.

Me too! Judy Blume is a classic. :d

When I used to pick up books for gifts for nieces and nephews, I would read them first. I remember "Blubber" was the first Judy Blume I ever read. She is indeed a classic and well deserves her reputation. Do modern kids still read her nowadays.

Btw, does anybody remember Constance C. Greene, A Girl Called Al? There were several sequels, but the first book was the best imho.

Aww! There are so many I read long ago that I wish I had copies of. Most are out of print. I wouldn't mind getting all the Ramona by Beverly Clearly books for my library!

Amazon is great! you can get some good books in great condition!! I have gotten quality used books on there! I am sure all the outta print books are there and people have them in good condition!

You're right about Amazon. I tend to get some of my vintage romances off there, probably more than I should. :)

I liked both Zylpha Snyder and John Bellairs... and does anyone recall The Witch of Blackbird Pond? I don't remember the author but loved this story.

I have that book. It is by Elizabeth George Speare. I haven't read it yet but really want to.

I miss Trixie Belden :) I have the Nancy Drew Series and Hardy Boys *sigh. chet* :) I also have the Cherry Ames Series but somehow I lost my Trixie Belden.

Lauren: The Trixie Belden books are fairly easy to find. Try Abebooks.com. That is American Booksellers Exchange and they have a world of used books from many used bookstores.

I'm pretty sure 13 Clocks is back in print. Or I'm imagining things... I was happy to see an Eva Ibbotson display in a bookshop recently.

I have a feeling that some books would be as popular as Twilight if they were released now. It's just a right place in the right time kinda deal. I remember on my favorite Harry Potter site how many people were desperate for a new fix that they latched onto the first next big thin they could find- which was Twilight. Why not Margaret Mahy's The Changeover? Out of print. :(

The ones that upset me most are The Baby-Sitters Club (I loved those books when I was little!) & all the books by Christopher Pike. They brought Remember Me & the Thirst series back out, but he had so many good books... It's sad. I've looked for them to re-read now, no luck.

I was given 40 Christopher Pike books, which was awesome! I got Die Softly, Witch, See You Letter, Final Friends... it was such an awesome gift.

I tried to find Walter Farley's The Black Stallion at Borders and couldn't find it, that was crazy. And while you can get Nancy Drew hardback (the ones from the 60's) still, you can't find the Nancy Drew Files that were more modern from my youth.

My favorite YA books were The Secret Circle by LJ Smith, and those were reprinted with the new YA craze.

My favorite Judy Blume was 'Just as Long as We're Together'.

Wendy wrote: "I was given 40 Christopher Pike books, which was awesome! I got Die Softly, Witch, See You Letter, Final Friends... it was such an awesome gift.


Die Softly & Witch are sooo good. I'm jealous of that gift you got there. lol

It was awesome!

A book that I totally missed when it was in print the first time and completely LOVE now that it is back in print is I have the sequels on my TBR list and can't wait to get to them!

I've really wanted to read Christopher Golden's Body of Evidence series but it went out of print pretty quickly I was only able to get the first in the series. I'm trying to find the rest used because I really like it.

Catherine wrote: "The ones that upset me most are The Baby-Sitters Club (I loved those books when I was little!) & all the books by Christopher Pike. They brought Remember Me & the Thirst series back out, but he had..."

I understand completely about the Baby-Sitters Club! When I started working at a bookstore and found out they were OP I was very upset, but with the last year the publisher has actually started re-printing them which is really exciting. I know for a fact that the first 3 in the series are now available and they are planning to continue to re-print the rest of the series!

My favorite books to re-read as a child were the 'shoes' series and the Gemma books by Noel Streatfeld, the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, the Tripods series by John Christopher, the Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and anything by Walter Farley, Louisa May Alcott or L.M. Montgomery. At least some of these are still easy to find, but most of Noel Streatfeld is out of print.

To those mentioning The 13 Clocks, I got my library to get in a copy since they didn't have one, and the foreword was by Neil Gaiman. It's a really lovely edition if you can it, would be well worth purchasing.

I find it sad, too, when they go out of print - especially when they're good ones! Having said that, I've been re-reading some books that I loved as a teenager, and WOW do they seem dated now!

But I've also seen a lot go back into print - although probably more mid-grade than YA. (Sheila, I was a Blyton devotee too, and noticed that many of hers are back in print!)

A *great* place to find out-of-print books (very cheaply, too!) is www.abebooks.com

I'm curious about Judy Blume too... are any current teens reading her? There was a reference to her in the film Easy A, but that may just be because the writers are our age!