From: Betty Tisel <tiselfar>
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 11:09:17 -0600

Daniel Pinkwater's books for older readers are sheer guffawing bliss. His eponymous Young Adult Novel (am I using the word "eponymous" correctly?) and the Snarkout Boys titles are the particular ones that come to mind.

I seem to remember laughing quite a bit along with crying over Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.

When I've gone to bookstores to find funny, light but well-written stuff for YAs it is a real challenge. You stare at those YA books for awhile and get a very heavy feeling, feel sorry for teenagers and resolve to take the next teenager you meet to a Buster Keaton film festival.

Of course there is a lot of substance there too, but the overall effect on me is that adolescence = problems. And let's face it, it is an intense time of life. The books I loved most from that era (my favorite: Very Far Away from Everything Else by U.K. LeGuin) were intense and funny.


Betty Tisel glad my kids are still preschool ages glad I can still remember the intensity of my own adolescence glad I love to laugh tiselfar at visi.com
Received on Mon 18 May 1998 12:09:17 PM CDT