A Couple YA/Juvenile Fiction Selections

I'm still trying to figure out how non-adult books are classified - obviously, there are picture books, but there is also YA (young adult) that seems to be shelved with books like Hatchett that in my opinion are YA, but seem to be read by kids more in the 8-12 rage, which I suppose is considered juvenile fiction.  I don't know, but when categorizing on my blog, I'm probably overly inclusive about what I consider YA...and I'm starting to read more chapter books intended for a slightly younger audience, so I may need to rethink my labels soon.  In the meantime, here are a few fiction reads for the younger set:

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen:  This book was written in 1986, but I never read it or even heard of it as a kid.  As an adult, many people recommended it to me - or suggested that my 7-year-old son read it.  It's the story of a young boy named Brian whose parents have recently separated.  He lives with his mother, who puts him on a prop plane to go visit his father for the summer.  She also provides him with a hatchet, which he initially finds oddly juvenile.  The plane crashes and Brian is the lone survivor.  The book follows his 50+ days surviving in the wilderness - building shelter, finding and hunting for food, repeatedly failing and learning from his mistakes.  There were some basic aspects of this book that I feel make it not quite appropriate for my 7-year-old - namely the reason for Brian's parents' divorce, which centers around an affair that Brian is aware of but keeping secret from his father.  It is a small but recurring part of the story, and not something that Brian himself fully understands, and I think was presented strangely for a reader younger than about ten or so (not that younger readers haven't themselves been children of divorce or can't understand what it means for parents to separate - I just felt the way in which the subject matter was presented was better suited to an older audience).  But, Brian's adventures and the psychological and physical struggles he endures and overcomes are inspiring - especially for my own children who have zero wilderness survival skills, I'd be interested in seeing how they react to this book in the near future.  I was recently in a bookstore and saw a five-book series by Paulsen that follows Brian after this adventure.  These seem like they could be fun - but also a bit scary - I'm keeping them on my son's to-read list perhaps for this coming summer!

Holes by Louis Sachar:  Sachar is one of my son's favorite authors - but for his Wayside Stories from Wayside School series.  Many teacher friends over the years have recommended Holes to me, but I didn't get around to reading it until just recently.  Stanley Yelnats is a young boy with rotten luck.  He's arrested for a crime he didn't commit and sent to a juvenile detention camp where he and the other inmates are forced to dig holes in the blazing heat all day.  Why are they digging and what are they looking for?  The answer brings together Stanley's incredible family history and sets him on a wild adventure.  This book is clever in its storytelling and just a fun read.  I'll be passing it along to my kids soon.

I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez:  This book is definitely YA - with some pretty complex themes about mental illness and identity.  Julia is not her parents' perfect Mexican daughter.  She can never quite do anything right.  So when her perfect older sister is killed in a freak accident, Julia is caught between needing to follow her own plan, and feeling obligated to become the daughter she believes her parents have always wanted.  As Julia navigates her own grief, she learns more about her sister's life - and realizes she wasn't as perfect as she seemed. But what does this mean for her relationship with her parents?  This was a painful read - as an adult reading YA even though I can often feel or understand the intense emotions, I feel like because of the way it's often written things seem overly-dramatic.  I can put myself back in those shoes and think about how I might have felt as a teenager, but as an adult looking back it isn't as emotional.  This book actually made me cry at points, and was quite powerful in its ability to capture the  feelings of being trapped that feel so common for so many teenagers.