A question about "young adult" books. Help??

audihax

I remember reading the book "Under the Hawthorn Tree" years ago when I was in school. Now I am 23 and am considering buying the book to read again. But it says its written for "children/young adults".

My question is, will the book seem very childish to me when I read it, or will it still be interesting to read as an adult? I'm afraid the text in the book will be huge or something. I don't want to buy it if it's going to be written very childishly.

Celtise

In my experience, some books still work when you read them when you're older and just others don't. I haven't read this particular book as an adult (hahaha) but I do remember reading it alot as a kid so must look it up myself.

Monkey61

It's a good one to read purely for reminiscence. Bear in mind though it is very poorly written, the text is quite short and you will fly through it. And it is aimed at 8-10 year olds (thereabouts anyway, we did it in school in 3rd class) But it's still fun if you liked it the first time.

That book was the bane of my Children's Literature lecturer's life when I was in college. She thought it was absolute muck and could not understand how it held such a special place in the hearts of most Irish primary school children of the 90s. She had to put it on the course because the demand was so high every year.

I re-read it again recently and was surprised by how sparse the prose actually is. My imagination had added so many details and embellishments. I was continually stunned at how brief each memorable incident is. That said, it's still emotional and I still got a bit misty eyed at the end.

SuperInfinity

Celtise wrote: »

In my experience, some books still work when you read them when you're older and just others don't. I haven't read this particular book as an adult (hahaha) but I do remember reading it alot as a kid so must look it up myself.

This is so true, the same goes for tv programmes and movies. Some of these things are marketed towards "young adults" just because that's how their marketing strategy is, they want the lucrative smaller market rather than being shoved in with all the others. Don't count on there being a Harry Potter style rebellion for everything that is marketed towards young people but worthy of adult consumption.

Waterford City Council Library Services

You should definitely pick up a copy of Under the Hawthorn Tree! You'll be happy to know that Marita Conlon Mackenna wrote two follow-ons in the Children of the Famine series: The Wildflower Girl, following the younger children as they emmigrate to NY and Fields of Home following their journey into adulthood and to reclaim their past.

We have all three in branches of our library, if you can't bring yourself to invest in something that might have dated irrevocably. You should definitely have another read of it though- childhood nostalgia is hard to beat!

thenakedanddead

During my first year at secondary school, we did a bookswap thing in English. One of the girls gave me that particular book to read. I hated it, couldn't get past enough to even get a reasonable idea of what it was about.

When - the next Monday (ok capital M you pedantic fuckwits) or so - she queried as to what I thought of it. In less pejorative terms, I basically said I thought it was pretty shit indeed. She seemed pretty hurt.

Anyway, as luck would have it, we had to do a book review. shitting myself, I glanced at the back of the book, wrote some dogmatic bullshit about their long and arduous adversities and got, I think a B+.

Apologies for incoherence

Saaron

When I was younger this was one of my favourite books! Can't remember if it would be suitable for someone slightly older though. I read it too long ago.

thenakedanddead

Saaron wrote: »

When I was younger this was one of my favourite books! Can't remember if it would be suitable for someone slightly older though. I read it too long ago.

At what age?

Saaron

thenakedanddead wrote: »

At what age?

I was about 13. I'm 20 now..

sceptre

SuperInfinity wrote: »

The red line under "monday" isn't part of the default boards configuration, either you put some type of spellcheck on here or it was a part of your browser configuration.

Indeed - boards doesn't offer a spellcheck feature even for those who want to see one.

Politeness towards other forum members and their views is expected (as well as being good natured) - let's keep it that way please folks. As well as looking at the thread title and remembering what the thread is about:) I don't want to start issuing swathes of cards or bans on the Literature forum.

audihax

audihax wrote: »

I remember reading the book "Under the Hawthorn Tree" years ago when I was in school. Now I am 23 and am considering buying the book to read again. But it says its written for "children/young adults".

My question is, will the book seem very childish to me when I read it, or will it still be interesting to read as an adult? I'm afraid the text in the book will be huge or something. I don't want to buy it if it's going to be written very childishly.

Give it a go. Books like watership down are classics and you'd read them at any age, this might be similar. I loved under the hawthorn tree when I was younger.

Mellor

I remember it being a series (Wildflower Girl being one) and often with these series, they grow more complex as you progress as they are design to be read you you grow older.
In that case the later books might be more suitable for adults. But, imo you should read from the start anyway.