Wild Things: YA Grown-Up discussion

* Most Gary Paulsen books
* Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
* Most books by Will Hobbs (although some of them could be called historical fiction as well)

I think action/adventure is a tough one to pin down because it is in so many books that can be classified in other genres - fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, etc.

Luann wrote: "I think action/adventure is a tough one to pin down because it is in so many books that can be classified in other genres - fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, etc."

I agree. I think a lot of the survival stories could fall under this category. Stories like those by Gary Paulsen, as Luann said. I always think of the Maximum Ride books as Action/Adventure but really, they're Sci-Fi. So maybe we have to consider our genres differently? Or the wording? In this case, Sci-Fi as the genre, with Action/Adventure as one of the aspects? Or something.

I'll add a few to the list:
*Young James Bond series by Charlie Higson
*Gordon Korman - Everest series, On the Run series, Island series, Kidnapped series

And what about the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix? I haven't read them, but they seemed pretty adventurous. Or would those be more Sci-Fi, too?

I know for sure that action adventure is more interesting to this girl than it is to my brother.

Dragon Eyed ...ha ha the girl sounds a bit like me! (??)

I love the idea of this group..I find YA fiction hugely entertaining and even inspiring. Is there a defining character to this genre? Some may think I have been living underground, :) ...anyway I was pleasantly surprised to find a section in the library some years back for YA fiction. For someone like me who is a binge reader on and off believe me it made my visits to the library a delightful experience. I wonder if all those old books from Those days would be considered YA fiction...like The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew (can't imagine youth fighting crime in the context of literature except if they are costumed in today's times)

It's good to be young! Thank heavens I don't need to act old before it's my time just cos there was childhood with dare I say Enid Blyton and the Narnia kind of books, and then right afterwards there's Maturity (which I think means premature grey and having children of your own).

I'm sorry I'm just a bit jaded with all those English children finding magical things and creatures at the beach, guess I watch too much tv....

I like the Narnia books Star Princess, I agree that they are juvanile, but that is one of the things that makes them so good. I know that I'm planning on reading children's and YA books until my eyes are so old and bad I can't read.

Luann wrote: "I think action/adventure is a tough one to pin down because it is in so many books that can be classified in other genres - fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, etc."

I have to say I agree with you, Luann - I can't think of a tougher genre to identify as there is so much cross-over. I suppose you have to look at a book and then decide if you categorise it on the theme, or the content.
Taking the Maximum Ride books as an example, as Alexis points out, the theme of the books has its roots in sci-fi, whereas the content sees the bird children flying around, escaping the bad guys etc - what I would class as action/adventure, and correct me if I'm wrong (it has been a while since I read them) but I can't remember if the plot has them trying to discover all that much about how they were created, and the processes involved. Now for me, if they had done that, I'd be more inclined to class them as sci-fi - as they are, I'd class them as action/adventure, because that is what the plot focuses on.
But that's just my view of things.

it's all it comes down to really is genre vs. content

Runaway Storm by D. E. Knobbe is a brand new book and definately fits the action adventure catagory. It is a wilderness survival story with a touch of romance between Nate and goth girl Kat who end up being chased by smugglers in the Canadian Gulf Islands. think Will Hobbs or Gary Paulsen books with a slightly older twist and plot. definitely worth the read. The scenery is spectacular...makes you want to go adventuring yourself!

I try to style my book A Measure of Disorder as YA Fantasy/Adventure. It's about a group of normal kids who get thrown into a new world and their adventures there. The world is fantasy, but not so much wizards and knights as most people think of fantasy.

It's an interesting question. I think many books can be classified in multiple genres/sections.

Caroline wrote: " Luann wrote: "I think action/adventure is a tough one to pin down because it is in so many books that can be classified in other genres - fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, etc."

I hav..."

Caroline wrote: " Luann wrote: "I think action/adventure is a tough one to pin down because it is in so many books that can be classified in other genres - fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, etc."

I hav..."

I agree with Caroline. I think the genre's tough to classify, but it seems to me that traditional adventure tales, such as Treasure Island or Indiana Jones, usually involve a journey into the unknown. Along the way, the protagonist meets extraordinary characters and finds herself in extraordinary situations; then she overcomes these things and ultimately achieves the goal of her journey, whether that goal is escaping the island or finding the grail before the villain. Anyway, that's my take on the matter.

http://www.jdrykken.com

I'm into YA Fantasy/Adventure so I like "Percy Jackson" series and "Eragon" etc.

I don't think there is a huge difference in the genre other than the modern books are set in more fantastic settings where the classics were based on more realistic.

The protagonists are involved in journeys mostly alone or with a sidekick or two (parents are off the scene) Their undertaking involving risk even physical dangers, they must overcome all the barriers to achieve the goal or to defeat the villain. They are also growth in the characters physically and emotionally.

Hi everyone. I'm Stuart and I've just joined Goodreads. I love A/A stories and this discussion attracted me straight away. Some of the posts go back away so I hope I’m not too late.
I loved John Carter of Mars (Book 1) A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice-Burroughs (the ultimate self-published author), where American civil war Captain John Carter finds himself transported to Mars. The reduced gravity transforms him into a super athletic warrior who soon finds himself elevated to chieftain status and vying for the love of a beautiful Martian princess. At the time the book was written in 1917, Mars was a mysterious world to readers and fodder for a whole series of John Carter adventure tales and stories like HG Wells’ War of the Worlds. Incidentally A Princess of Mars has characters called Jeds and Padawans. Hmmm. Where have we come across those before (or should I say, after?)
One of the oldest Sci-Fi adventures I’ve read is The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Published in 1871 it is the adventure of an American mining engineer who climbs down a mine-shaft and discovers an alien race called the Vril-ya living in a vast subterranean kingdom with a mysterious energy source called Vril. I have to admit the language of the story is archaic and difficult to read. That not withstanding the hero is transported to an ‘alien’ world where the story takes place and the laws and customs and powers of the Vril-ya are very alien to the human hero of the story. What also fascinated me was the alleged real-life Nazi quest for Vril to power top secret WW2 terror weapons supposedly in development in the 1940s. Weird!
I grew up loving Herge’s TinTin books and the Marvel comics and the Dan Dare comic strips in The Eagle boy’s comic. Herge only left Belgium once, I believe, to travel to America. All of the far-flung settings TinTin and Snowy find themselves in came from Herge’s research studying world affairs and his own skull-cinema.
I guess you’re thinking I only read old stories. True in part, but I enjoyed His Dark Materials and the Philip Reeve Mortal Engines books and in answer to what makes a YA Action Adventure?
I believe that most A/A stories see their protagonists participating in a quest or journey of some kind in an alien (I don't mean space type necessarily) environment. The MacGuffin driving the hero to succeed against-all-odds could be the rescue of a character in peril, or the recovery, or destruction of an artefact that is the key to overcoming some overwhelming evil that threatens the world in which the story takes place. I also believe that many contemporary adventure stories stand firmly on the shoulders of classics going way back to the grisly medieval word-of-mouth tales of murder, torture, sex, and incest captured in the bindings of the central European fairy stories gathered by the Brothers Grimm.
P.S. Sorry it's been a bit long...

Good question as I pondered this when I started writing my latest book (something of a thriller-romance-contemporary-disaster hybrid)...such a difficult 'genre' to pin down, as by and large, YA is very free and open to experiment...lots of cross over...which is what makes it great to read and fun to write. I hope it stays that way and doesn't become too stiffed into rule book categories, with authors and readers chasing very specific 'genre' books.
Kara

For me, Action/Adventure books need a few key things:

-fast paced plot
-numerous small crises and at least one big one that the character(s) need to figure out
-dangerous setting
-a fight for survival

Some examples that I consider Action/Adventure:
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Island by Gordon Korman
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen