Books for young adults

I was speaking with a friend and we got on the topic of books for “young adults”. Later, my friend wrote to me and said “Have you read the Eregon series? I haven't but the boys loved them”
My reply was –

Another plagiaristic nightmare. Have them try Anne McCaffrey’s “Dragonriders of Pern” series. Christopher Paolini stole so much from her books. The Eregon series was okay, but McCaffrey tells a great story and develops characters you end up falling in love with. They were some of my favorite books as a kid.

The Ender's Game series was another of my favorites. I read them again as an adult and was blown away. When I was young I enjoyed the story, as an adult it kind of reminded me “A Clockwork Orange”. They suggest very hard questions. “Orange” asks if it right to take away someone’s free will if society deems them unacceptable. “Ender” as a series, has much more to think about. Is it right to commandeer children as soldiers (very relative now since the whole Kony story has been in the news). Is it right to exterminate a different form of life without trying to understand them first, just because we are afraid (also very poignant as we human continue to fight over things like race and religion).

Back to the plagiarism thing. If anyone would like to see where “Harry Potter” originated, read John Bellairs “The House With a Clock in Its Walls”. It’s a story about a young man who is orphaned, goes to live with his uncle (who is a wizard/ his best friend is a witch). When he goes to his new school, he befriends a boy with red hair and freckles who comes from a poor home and has a bunch of siblings. They then befriend a girl who is unpopular but quite smart. Together, they defeat an evil being. Sound familiar? The original was illustrated by Edward St. John Gorey, who in my opinion was fantastic.

Unfortunately, all three of the authors I have mentioned have passed, Mr. Gorey as well. We will not see anything further from them, but they left us with a spectacular repertoire.