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Ferret

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I'm looking for a YA mystery, something fairly recent that would be suitable for English language learners. Their English is pretty good, but I want to avoid anything that's really difficult. Something with clean, simple prose that's under around 80,000 words would be perfect. Thanks in advance!
 

JSSchley

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Can someone(s) rec me some contemporary YA (if dark, even better!) in first-person past tense?

I ask because my brain is going gnarly working on my first-person revision of my WIP. I've read so much present tense lately that the past tense feels bizarre. I need to reset my mind.
 

lenore_x

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Can someone(s) rec me some contemporary YA (if dark, even better!) in first-person past tense?

I ask because my brain is going gnarly working on my first-person revision of my WIP. I've read so much present tense lately that the past tense feels bizarre. I need to reset my mind.
A few I've read recently and really enjoyed:

LIKE MANDARIN, Kirsten Hubbard (not exactly dark, but still a doozy)
TIGHTER, Adele Griffin
FROST, Marianna Baer

Those last two are psychological thrillers with ambiguous ghostly happenings, so I'm not sure if you'd call that contemp, but they are at least framed that way.
 
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Yeasayer

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I'm looking for a YA mystery, something fairly recent that would be suitable for English language learners. Their English is pretty good, but I want to avoid anything that's really difficult. Something with clean, simple prose that's under around 80,000 words would be perfect. Thanks in advance!


Check out Slide by Jill Hathaway. It's been awhile since I read it, but I remember thinking the prose was very basic, almost Middle Grade.
 

Laura Klein

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I'd like to recommend "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz. I just finished it the other day, it's a Mexican LGBT novel. Very insightful and well written, there was several parts that had me tearing up.
 

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Book Recomendations for Quirky/Funny female narrators?

I would love to hear some suggestions of YA books that feature a quirky/funny female narrator, preferably a female narrator that isn't overly obsessed with romance and is just kind of dorky...any good suggestions?
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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I don't know about "dorky," but Evie from Paranormalcy sure has a fun voice. There is a love interest, and she does gush about him somewhat, but that's a subplot.

Also, Sophie from Hex Hall is on the quirky side. Again, there's a love interest, but it's a subplot, not the main plot. (I love those books--they're a lot of fun.)

Third, and probably my favorite--Alexis from Bad Girls Don't Die. She's definitely quirky, obsessed with photography and ghost-hunting, the latter sort of by accident considering how the plot shakes out. Fabulous series, especially the first two.
 
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ellio

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Mia Thermopolis from The Princess Diaries' series.
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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Oh, one more: I haven't read Blaze yet, but the FMC is a comic book geek who, after her crush turns out to be a jerk, plots her revenge in a Marvel heroine way. I think. It's high on my TBR list.
 

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The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (E. Lockhart). Relationships with boys are pretty central to the story, but I wouldn't call it romance.
 

Becca C.

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Mia Thermopolis for sure! I also love Anna from Anna and the French Kiss (it's a romance, but Anna is the absolute bomb) and Lola from Lola and the Boy Next Door (same dealie -- Lola is fabulous). I recently read Nobody's Girl by Sarra Manning and the MC, Bea, is one of the best I've ever read in YA. So funny and awkward and dorky but so real. I've actually missed her since I finished the book.
 

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Can anyone recommend a good current YA mystery? I don't mind if it has paranormal or romance elements to it, but I'd like to read something where the core of the story is a good old fashioned mystery.
 

ellio

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Try Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine. I don't think it was marketed as a mystery but the whole hook of it is "mystery". It's also very funny and well written, which is a bonus.
 

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Try Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine. I don't think it was marketed as a mystery but the whole hook of it is "mystery". It's also very funny and well written, which is a bonus.
Thanks! They have the US version of the story on sale at Amazon for $1.86, so it's pretty much just asking me to buy it :D
 

The_Ink_Goddess

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Can anyone recommend a good current YA mystery? I don't mind if it has paranormal or romance elements to it, but I'd like to read something where the core of the story is a good old fashioned mystery.

Kind of light and fluffy, but A POCKETFUL OF EYES by Lili Wilkinson fits this to a T, especially the "old-fashioned" bit (in a good way).
 

ellio

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hello hello hello
can someone recommend me some good contemporary novels where the main 'hook' isn't romance or a kid with a terminal illness? if possible, one without a major personal trauma either (ie. no LIVING DEAD GIRLS and the like)

thanking you kindly!
 

Becca C.

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hello hello hello
can someone recommend me some good contemporary novels where the main 'hook' isn't romance or a kid with a terminal illness? if possible, one without a major personal trauma either (ie. no LIVING DEAD GIRLS and the like)

thanking you kindly!

I'm currently reading Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown -- it's about a brother and sister. The brother has OCD, but that doesn't count as a terminal illness, does it? ;)

I would recommend How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford (about friends, but still heartbreakingly beautiful) and I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (a tiny romance, but mostly focusing on a mystery and the MC and his friends).
 

The_Ink_Goddess

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hello hello hello
can someone recommend me some good contemporary novels where the main 'hook' isn't romance or a kid with a terminal illness? if possible, one without a major personal trauma either (ie. no LIVING DEAD GIRLS and the like)

thanking you kindly!

INVINCIBLE SUMMER by Hannah Moskowitz
FINDING CASSIE CRAZY by Jaclyn Moriarty
BECOMING BINDY MACKENZIE by Jaclyn Moriarty
FEELING SORRY FOR CELIA by Jaclyn Moriarty
THERE IS NO DOG by Meg Rosoff

Some which feature but not hugely:
DEADLY COOL/SOCIAL SUICIDE by Gemma Halliday (I assume you're asking 'cause you're a bit burned out on the current kinda bleak or overly fuzzy outlook in YA. This is a pretty joyful read, actually.)
 

Periwinkle

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hello hello hello
can someone recommend me some good contemporary novels where the main 'hook' isn't romance or a kid with a terminal illness? if possible, one without a major personal trauma either (ie. no LIVING DEAD GIRLS and the like)

thanking you kindly!
I'd second HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT.
THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE-LANDAU BANDS by E. Lockhart
STORY OF A GIRL by Sara Zarr
 

JustSarah

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Does anyone know the name of this specific novel (or maybe its a memoir?). Its about this boy that takes care of this bird in a cage, is if I'm understanding correctly its a obscure British memoir.

I'm trying to remember if its Pocket full of Naves, Birdcage Full Of Naves, or what.
 

SpinningWheel

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Does anyone know the name of this specific novel (or maybe its a memoir?). Its about this boy that takes care of this bird in a cage, is if I'm understanding correctly its a obscure British memoir.

I'm trying to remember if its Pocket full of Naves, Birdcage Full Of Naves, or what.

You're not thinking of 'Kes: A Kestrel for a Knave' by Barry Hines, are you? It's fiction, not memoir, and I can't remember if he keeps Kes in a cage, but it does have the boy-looks-after-bird and 'knave'-in-the-title elements, and it is British.