Alexa Young: WHY DO YOU READ?

For me, diving into a book has almost always been a way to escape—and that's something I needed to do a lot throughout my angst-ridden youth. Back then, when school or family or life in general left me bored out of my mind, I curled up with fantasy novels by C.S. Lewis (I had the entire Chronicles of Narnia collection in a super-cool box set) or twisted sagas by V.C. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic, anyone?). When I was feeling awkward, hideous or otherwise inadequate (especially when it came to certain puberty-related developments that weren't, well, developing), Judy Blume was my absolute favorite author/hero (I think I read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret at least a hundred times). And when I was obsessing over a guy, a friend (or frenemy!), or anything else on the social stratum, I'd reach for a cheesy romance (at age eleven, I couldn't stop reading a book called Dreams Can Come True by Jane Claypool Miner—see below :-O).

 

Now, as I sit here on the brink of becoming a published YA novelist myself, I'm wondering what people will get out of my little fiction project. I hope it provides at least some of the things my cherished books gave to me back in the day—whether an entertaining, unusual or aspirational break from everyday monotony, or an empathetic reminder that everyone, from the cheerleaders to the honors students to the drama geeks (I was all of the above), struggles with insecurities, relationship crises and manic meltdowns of all sorts.

So how about you? What are some of your favorite books, what have you gotten from them, and how do you hope your writing will affect your readers?

Alexa Young, author of FRENEMIES (May 13, 2008)

www.myspace.com/iamalexayoung

www.alexayoung.com

A CLASSIC!

Scholastic, 1981. Ellynne has dreams of being popular, becoming a cheerleader, and having a great boyfriend. After losing 30 pounds and trying out for the squad, the only thing left is Kip. Should she go for him even though he has a girlfriend? Is it right for Ellynne to want to date him? How close are he and his girlfriend, Merri? All Ellynne knows is that Kip is very, very special…