I was really excited when I read these ruminations on fondly-remembered Young Adult fiction over at Jezebel.
Lizzie Skurnick's rambling remembrances are fun to read even if you aren't acquainted with the books she covers -- I'm not yet, but I absolutely want to be as of right this second. She writes about The Grounding of Group 6, in which a group of teens are sent off to an elite boarding school ... to die! I just love this concept so much, I really need to spend a rainy afternoon reading this book right now. Skurnick has another piece on the works of Lois Duncan, who sort of sounds like a Patricia Highsmith for pre-teen girls (you know, killing someone and stealing their identity? kind of Ripley-esque, no?). I just wish I could hide books under my desk and sneak-read them at work, the way I used to in math class.
Anyway, I look forward to more posts in this series. There's kind of an '80s theme going on right now, which makes me wonder what "modern" kids are reading ...
2 comments:
If you've not read Lois Duncan, you have a real treat ahead of you! Though I haven't looked at her since middle school, so I can't promise she's as good as I remember, her books terrified me when I read them back then.
And while I'm pretty confident that The Grounding of Group 6 doesn't hold up well, the post at Jezebel gives a really good sense of the trashy, transgressive (for a preteen) fun that it was. It, and Thompson's other novels, made quite an impression on me back then!
Oh, I'm sure The Grounding of Group 6 is kind of trashy in that 80s teen fiction way, which is why I'm dying to sink my teeth into it! I'm crazy lowbrow, and I love Dynasty-era drama.
I would love a snow day right about now ...
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