Clean Young Adult Novels

Mothers

Tue, Apr 30 2019, 9:23 pm

My mid-teenaged daughter is a voracious reader, but many books on her reading and/or interest level appear to be inappropriate. We are looking for clean books that have no bad language, inappropriate relationships, and/or explicit s-xual conduct (minimal physical contact preferred).

All recommendations greatly appreciated. (She’s getting desperate.)

Thanks in advance.

Mothers

Tue, Apr 30 2019, 9:31 pm

BetsyTacy wrote:

Is she wiling to read historical fiction? I don't even necessarily mean Lucy Maud Montgomery, I mean something like Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi, written in the 1980s.

Possibly. (She loved Johnny Tremaine.). As long as they’re clean, we’ll try them.

Thanks

Mothers

Tue, Apr 30 2019, 9:41 pm

amother [ Bisque ] wrote:

The jewish bookstores are full of appropriate novels.

She generally doesn’t like the Jewish novels (although she does read them on Shabbos when she tries not to read Non-Jewish books). Unfortunately, there is a much greater variety of Non-Jewish books and much higher quality writing. Still if anyone has recommendations for specific Jewish novels that are well written we’ll take those, as well.

Thanks.

amother

Black

Tue, Apr 30 2019, 10:04 pm

Some older authors (but easy to find used on eBay or Amazon):
Bess Streeter Aldrich
Loula Grace Erdman
Elizabeth Speare (just not The Bronze Bow, it is about the start of x-tianity). But The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Calico Captive sound like they are right up her alley.

If she liked Johnny Tremain, she will probably like the books by those authors.

amother

Puce

Tue, Apr 30 2019, 10:48 pm

Caveat: you should probably read all of these before giving to your daughter to see what you may find inappropriate.

I loved Sylvia Waugh's series about the Menyms, cloth dolls who came to life. There's a little bit of mild romance in one book. She also has 3 books about families who came to earth from another planet.

I love these kind of imaginary books. Guess I'm just a young adult at heart.

Also M.J. Putney's Dark Mirror YA series (but watch out, I believe her other books may be steamy).

Patricia Wrede Magic & Malice 2 books Mairelon the Magician, and Enchanted Forest Chronicles

amother

Mustard

Tue, Apr 30 2019, 10:56 pm

Mothers wrote:

I loved Freefall by Miriam Zakon. Originally serialized in Mishpacha and recently came out in book form. Very well written and engaging plot and characters.

devorah1231

Tue, Apr 30 2019, 11:45 pm

amother [ Black ] wrote:

Robin McKinley
Madeleine L'Engle (the Austin family books)
Frances A. Miller
These are a bit older, probably 1990s, but definitely still in print.

Robin McKinley has written dirty books.
General advice, when you go to the library, stay on the children's floor. I still do, and read Pride and Pejudice fanfiction when I want something a bit more mature. If it says YA on the side, very good chance it is trashy. That's the difference between adult and YA - how trashy it is. Adult may be ok. Not bad is this series:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod....._labf

Also things like these:
https://www.amazon.com/Daddy-L.....r=1-2
Almost anything by LM Montgomery, L Frank Baum (besides oz), some classics like Pride and Prejudice.

You can PM me for more ideas, no time now when I don't even know if OP is reading this Very Happy

amother

Black

Wed, May 01 2019, 12:16 am

The only book by Robin McKinley that I would describe as "dirty" would be Deerskin. And honestly, I'd forgotten about it, I read it as an adult.
I don't think it would be categorized as young adult anyway. It's an adult novel. Certainly adult subject matter. I don't think your average library would have it stocked.
I was thinking of her books that I actually read as a teen, such as Beauty. There is nothing objectionable about that, I think I came across it in my BY high school library.

A bit off topic, but seeing your recommendation of Beatrix Potter novelization reminded me of Diana Wynne Jones, a really excellent YA author. (The reason Beatrix Potter reminds me of DWJ, is because they were neighbors when Diana was young. And evidently, Beatrix was a nasty woman who hated kids and would yell at them and hit them with her cane. After reading that, I just can't take her seriously. And anytime I see a mention of her, that pops into my brain. Just an interesting tidbit of information. Also, DWJ had both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien as professors in university. Tolkien was ok, but resentful of having to give time to teaching. Lewis was a great teacher and very, very nice. More interesting tidbits that kind of blew my mind when I read them, lol.)

amother

Black

Wed, May 01 2019, 12:58 am

Victoria Holt--absolutely clean, but might be too old fashioned for her
Avi-- can't vouch for his more recent stuff, but definitely anything he wrote in the 90
Some of Cynthia Voight's YA, such as Jackaroo or Izzy Willy Nilly
Helen MacInnes-- her books are back in print
Mary Stewart-- most of her books are fine. Definitely Madam Will You Talk and Nine Coaches Waiting

Aylat

Wed, May 01 2019, 5:23 am

I second the Dianna Wynne Jones. If she likes her style, there's loads to read - she's a prolific writer! Almost none of the books have any romance at all, and of the two or three that do,
it's not the plotline focus, and I can't recall anything more than a light kiss. (Correct me if I'm wrong anyone.)

perquacky

Wed, May 01 2019, 11:55 am

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. These are shelved in the adult section at the library, but they're super clean. The protagonist is a genius 11-year-old girl who solves mysteries using her impressive knowledge of chemistry. Takes place in England after WWII.

the world's best mom

Wed, May 01 2019, 2:10 pm

There are many old thread on this , in case you are interested in looking them up.

Avi has some good books, and Mary Downing Hahn. You should probably check them out first though.
Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce
Anything by Frances Hodgeson Burnett
Greenglass House
Letters From Camp is a cute, clean book by Kate Klise
Sherlock Holmes books
ELizabeth Enright's book- the Melendy Quartet (The Saturdays, The Four story Mistake...) and Goneaway Lake and Return to Goneaway are all great.

Some of my suggestions are more for children, but I still like reading them, and so do my teenage daughters.

PinkFridge

Wed, May 01 2019, 9:13 pm

Just know that in your local public library if something has a YA sticker for Young Adult on it, you'll likely want to steer clear. I read a monthly book magazine our library gives out and if the books they review are any indication of the genre....blech.