Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas YA

Hey all, I'm Chantal, this is my first post here ever (but feel free to visit my blog ;) ). I write mainly Urban Fantasy of the crappy kind and adult Sci-fi of the even crappier kind. Yeah, I'm still working on the self-esteem thing.

I thought I'd write about Christmas YA fiction, something I've been thinking of trying my hand at some day.

I remember hating Christmas stories as a teen/YA. Even before that actually. They were always corny and full of happy warm mushy feelings without any sort of gripping, meaningful plot. Aside from Christmas traditional tales like the one with the Little Match Girl which, to this day, still makes me cry. One thing that really annoyed me was that the parents always saved the day. Or worse, Santa!

Most fiction around Xmas/Hanukkah/Yule etc seems to be aimed at very young children. Surfing with the Amazon, I found some books classified as YA with Christmassy themes but they all seem to be basically the same stuff with more words. At best, it some kind of teen love story of the sort "he kissed her under the mistletoe! He must love her now!".

So I ask you all, are there any decent, smart Christmassy YA books out there? Something with a meaningful, interesting, non-trivial plot that ties up nicely with the spirit of the season? Oh and, not uber religious for those of us who don't care for religion, just for the message?

2 comments:

Megan said...

Hmm...I can't really think of many holiday themed books, though I too am thinking of trying a Christmassy YA one day. Can't promise it would be non-trivial though. Ha ha.

Laina said...

Hey!!! Found this googling looking for Christmas/Holiday books for this year and figured I might as well share since it's getting close to holiday time soon. This is my list so far. I haven't read any of these, they're ones I hope to read soon. :)

From my to-read list:

(Non-YA)
Christmas Wishes by Debbie Macomber
When Christmas Comes -//-
Snowbound by Lindsay McKenna, Cara Summers & Laura Marie Altom
Once Upon a Christmas by Lisa Plumley

(YA)
The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Catherine Hapka
Kissing Snowflakes by Abby Sher
Ex-Mas by Kate Brian
Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

From Online:

Mistletoe: Four Holiday Stories by Hailey Abbott, Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, and Nina Malkin
My Brother's Hero by Adrian Fogelin
The Tricksters by Margaret Mahy
Jingle Boy by Keiran Scott
The Christmas Killer by Patricia Windsor
Dream Soul by Laurence Yep
Secret Santa by Sabrina James
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Amelia C. Houghton
The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittany Ryan
Kringle by Tony Abbot
A Very Dairy Christmas by Sylvia Hysen
The Christmas Bus by Melody Carlson
The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer
Starry, Starry Night: Three Holiday Stories by Lurlene McDaniel
Snow in Love by Claire Ray

Have a nice day! :)