Category Archives: Vintage YA Fiction
The Truth About Mary Rose By Marilyn Sachs
Was Aunt Mary Rose really a hero? Or has Mary Rose been living up to a lie? Background: Marilyn Sachs is best known for a number of interconnected middle-reader books set in a pre-Robert Moses South Bronx in the early … Continue reading
The Son Of Someone Famous By M.E. Kerr
“MY MOTHER SUSPECTS I AM SLIGHTLY UNNATURAL.” We noted the death of YA giant Marijane Meaker, best known as M.E. Kerr, at the end of last year: as one of the writers at Harper & Row under legendary editor Ursula … Continue reading
The Fabulous Five #13: The Christmas Countdown
“I want a puppy for Christmas so badly. I’ll die if I don’t get one.” I’ve had a few requests for The Fabulous Five series, Betsy Hayne’s spin-off from the Taffy Sinclair books, the first of which was reviewed here … Continue reading
Nurses Three: Danger Island (#5) By Jean Kirby
If her terrible injuries were to be tended, it was up to strangers – people like Penny – to do what must be done… Continuing our annual fall retrospective of Whitman girls’ series books with the 5th volume in the … Continue reading
Robin Kane (#4) The Candle Shop Mystery By Eileen Hill
“He can’t do that!” Robin exclaimed. “I’m no lawyer, Mr. Lodato, but this is the United States of America and no one can take anyone’s child away from him like that!” Background: Usually, fall means a look at the “girls’ … Continue reading
Rod Serling’s Night Gallery
Don’t miss television’s most imaginative show… If it’s summer, it must be time for watching reruns on TV and checking out novelizations of movies and TV shows out of the local library! (What? Isn’t this everyone?) A few summers back … Continue reading
Love At First Sight (First Love From Silhouette #9) By Elaine Harper
How could nature have produced such virile perfection? Background: I am on the record about how I’ve turned around my opinion on Silhouette’s First Love romances (“AMERICA’S publisher of Contemporary Romance”), at least when it comes to Elaine Harper’s terminally … Continue reading
Fat Jack By Barbara Cohen
“A person never gets over high school, Judy.” I’ve written before about my general impression of YA fiction moving from topical issues based on shock value in the 1970s (Drugs! Cults! Satan!) and into more internal crises of the characters … Continue reading
Kathleen (Sunfire Romance #8) By Candice F. Ransom
There were times she wished she’d never come to America… Background: Scholastic’s Sunfire series is a cautionary tale about judging a YA Romance by its cover. Lurking behind the overheated cover art and melodramatic taglines are some of the best stories and most … Continue reading
Christopher Cool TEEN Agent #3: Department of Danger By Jack Lancer
The Department of Danger! There was something about the words that sent a faint chill down Chris’s spine. Background: It is somewhat comforting that (for at least a few more volumes) I know I can always fall back on Jack … Continue reading
Lost Classics of Teen Lit: 1939-1989 