Book Discussion: YA Books Then and Now

 

On the Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog was this question (which had come from this blog):

Have you ever looked at the young adult book section in a modern bookstore and felt out of touch or old?

This got me thinking about what I had read as a teenager.  This includes teen romance series like those in these photos:

I read a great deal of these books in junior high school and in high school. They were popular among others at school. The Sweet Dreams books were at my junior-high library, but I only ever got to check out about two of them! They were so popular! I had some many of these that I bought, along with other series. Several years ago, I discovered this blog that looks at teen book series from the 1980s (when I grew up). This includes some other series that I did not know about and some I'd had but forgotten about! Mystery series as well as romance are included. 

I don't recall the term "young adult" being used when I was a teen. Nor do I recall paranormal romances being a thing then. This seemed to come along well into the 2000s, perhaps even in the 1990s. I got hooked into the popularity of the Twilight series, and have been reading more since then. I still enjoy the YA genre.

As for feeling out of touch, looking at the selections of YA books in stores today does not surprise me. They seem to be keeping with the times by including texting messages in books and with more LGBTQ+ teen books on the rise. I imagine if series like Sweet Dreams and Wildfire and others link in the blog were still around, they would keep up with the times as well. But thematic series such as those seemed to have disappeared in favor of series of two or more books, such as Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. Nearly all the Sweet Dreams books were standalones, except for one or two that was a sequel to an earlier book. Same for Wildfire, though there were a few sequels such as the Christy books seem in the picture above. The Silhouette books had several sub-series, including one that followed a couple from their teens all the way to marriage and having children. But now separate series seem to be the way many YA books are constructed, as opposed having a single series monk that contains mostly standalone books. Though series books did exist back then as well. 

What is your take on YA books of today? How do they differ from those of your childhood?

The question above is from a blog hop at Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer. Click here to see others's responses. I'm including my post at this as well.

A to Z Road Trip 2025 #AtoZChallenge2025

 

IT'S ROAD TRIP TIME!

Road trip is our annual post-challenge tradition, which gives everyone an opportunity to visit others, and catch up on things they missed in April. Do you have blogs on your list you didn't get around to read? Did you run out of time and not get to follow along as much as you wanted to? Here is your chance!

FIRST: Sign up for the Road Trip! You can do it here. You can choose which one of your A to Z posts you want people to land on. Also, get the Road Trip badge from the graphics page above for your own blog!

SECOND: Get copies of the Road Trip List and the Master List to use as a guide!

THIRD: Start visiting blogs! You can go through the list of those who are participating in Road Trip. Read some posts, leave some comments! Leave a link to your blog. Visit back those who visit your blog. Go to the Master List, and visit some blogs that you didn't get the chance to in April! Enjoy!

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST: There is no time limit for Road Trip! Visit and read at your leisure. 

HAVE FUN!

13 Things This Week

Colleen at The Thursday 13 holds a weekly blogging prompt where bloggers make a list of 13 things on Thursdays. The topic is for you to choose. The blog host doesn't have any official graphics to display on the Thursday 13 posts, so I decided to whip one up myself. 🙂   

Some things collected from around the Internet this week.

Summer Reading Challenge: Read the Rainbow

Another favorite summer reading challenge.  It is to read books in all different colors on the covers.

Red:

Orange: 

Yellow:

Green:

Blue: Fired Up--Jayne Ann Krentz

Purple:

Black: Beautiful Creatures--Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

White:

May Bookish Bingo

 Here is the new card for May. 

My Books:

1. Collection of Stories & Poems--Edgar Allan Poe (5 squares): Audiobook, Beard, Suspense, Premonition, Bad Weather
2. Rider of Last Creek--Louis L'Amour (7 squares): Library Book, Physical Book, In a Series, Unusual Mode of Transport, Origin Story, Escape, Sunrise/Sunset
3. Tricks--Ellen Hopkins (5 squares): E-Book, Not a New Release, Book Club Read, Free Space, Mother/Grandmother
4. Beautiful Creatures--Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl ( square): Multiple Authors

A to Z Blogging 2025 Reflections

 

Another A to Z Blogging event has come and gone and now it's time for reflections posts. It begins tomorrow, but I'm posting mine today. 

As always, it was fun reading and commenting on other participants' blogs, and seeing others comment on my posts. Some of the blogs I looked at the most this year were the following:

Laws of Gravity (which I already read regularly) was one of those who went with random blogging, fitting the letter of the day.

Mainely Write had a theme of poetry with watercolor paintings. I learned a lot of new poetry forms from this.

Balancing Act had the theme of "Songs of My Heart." Two songs she picked were the same as mine (this one wouldn't allow me to comment on the posts, however). 

Tossing It Out had alliterative titles for each letter of the day.

The Sound of One Hand Typing was another who chose random blogging, the post fitting the letter of the day.

Postcards From the Bookstore allowed readers to pick the word of the day for each of the letters. 

Penwasser Place had a history theme.

Multicolored Diary did women's epics. 

And there are just too many others to mention!

Any blogs I missed, I hope to visit during the Road Trip that begins next week. I also plan to revisit some of the ones I read last month. 

As for my theme of Novelty Songs, I got a lot of comments. There were people who knew the songs listed, and some, like me, to whom the songs were new. It was fun finding new songs during my A to Z preparations last month. I wrote and scheduled all my posts in March so I could have a little more time to visit other participants' blogs. 

I really liked the graphics for this year. The host blog already has a preview of the graphics for 2026. I hope to decide on a theme early next year and get my posts done ahead of time as I did this year. Schedule-posting works great for an event like this.

Z: Zombie Jamboree

Zombie Jamboree

We have come to the end, and Z was as tricky as ever. A search of songs on Youtube produced this song, which was new to me. Yet it seems to fit and as always, it was fun finding something new.

The song was originally titled "Jumbie Jamberee" (sic). A jumbee is a type of mythological spirit or demon in the folklore of some Caribbean countries, and is the generic name given to all malevolent entities. The song's references to Carnival also suggest a connection to the Moko jumbie, a protective spirit figure represented during Carnival on Trinidad by stilt walkers and dancers. The switch to "Zombie Jamboree" occurred very early with King Flash's version (see video below) with those lyrics coming out in 1956, only three years after "Jumbie Jamberee" first appeared (from link above). All this stuff was new to me 🙂 The song is done in calypso style. The Kingston Trio also did "Zombie Jamboree," as did Harry Belafonte, who was known for calypso music.

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And that's the end. Hope you have enjoyed my A to Z posts. A reflections post is coming.

Y: Yes! We Have No Bananas

 

Yes! We Have No Bananas

This is a popular novelty tune written in 1923 by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn. It has been recorded by numerous artists including Louis Prima and Billy Jones (both of whose versions are below), among others, many in 1923 alone. It is one of the best-selling books of sheet music. 

Below is a video on the story of "Yes! We Have No Bananas." 

The song also found its way into commercials. I seem to think this was how I first heard the song.

X: All My Exes Live in Texas

 

All My Exes Live in Texas

Here we are--that ever-pesky letter X! Almost every year I have to do this one by finding something that has an X in it somewhere, often not at the beginning. 

This was the best I could find for this letter. Some will argue whether this can be considered a novelty song. It's also far from one of my favorites, but am familiar with it. George Strait mania was rampant in the 1980s. I've heard this and other Strait songs performed at the local karaoke bar (at least during some of the last times I went). I live in a rodeo county, after all. "All My Exes..." is what is called a list song. 

 

The song was released in 1987 on Strait's album Ocean Front Property and was  nominated for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards in 1988.

Here is a remake from a female perspective.

And by Patrick Star from SpongeBob. Now this comes a little close to a novelty record, in my opinion. (The video I'd originally included for this one was later marked private, so I posted a different one, just days before posting day).

Some Extras Before We Reach the End

Only three days left till we reach the end of the month and the alphabet. 

There were a few other songs I had considered for two of my letters, but decided against including. If you want to know what they are, click here and here. Both were frequently played on Dr. Demento, a syndicated radio show that specialized in playing novelty songs. I don't recall any station near me carrying his show. Did any of you ever get his show?

Also, while searching I remembered this parody of "The 12 Days of Christmas" from Bob and Doug McKenzie on SCTV. (Another favorite on Dr. Demento). I wasn't sure about including this one either, and as you could see, I chose not to. It's also holiday-themed, another reason I chose not to include it, even though I did include the Halloween-themed "Monster Mash." Even so, I got to thinking of other Christmas novelty songs, including one nearly everyone has heard, as well this one from Cheech and Chong, and many "Twisted Christmas" songs from Seattle DJ and parody artist Bob Rivers, whom I just learned passed away on March 11. RIP. Click here to listen to some of his songs. I had some of Rivers's Christmas CDs (still do actually, I just don't know if my player still works). He also did non-holiday parodies, including a recent one called "Elon's Coming." Do a search if you want to hear this one :)

Last month, while I was searching for songs, a blog I read posted another Bob and Doug McKenzie song called "Take Off." I wasn't familiar with this one at first. I wasn't sure about including it as one of my songs, and eventually chose not to. 

Some letters, as I may have already said, provided more than one possible choice, too many to mention. This made it a little hard to choose just one.

Tomorrow we resume with X. Please join me then.

W: Western Union

 

Western Union

Some might argue whether this can be considered a novelty song. Someone on this site said, "...it's really just a step above a novelty song." This was the lone hit single by the Five Americans in 1967. The title refers to Western Union, the money-transferring service, and the song's lyrics are about sending out telegrams. For those not in the know, here is an explanation of telegrams (from this link):

If you were born after, say, 1980, you may not have any idea what a telegram is. If you’ve even heard of the company Western Union, it is most likely for its financial services division and not for the telegraphy business that it dominated for a century.

For the uninitiated, a telegram was the most efficient way, pre-texting and email, to get a message quickly to its intended recipient. At its peak, all the way back in 1929, it’s said that 200 million telegrams were sent. To put that in perspective, one estimate indicates that in America alone, six billion texts are sent every day. ...

The song's opening notes attempt to imitate the sounds of a telegram being sent, and the lyrics "Dit-Da-Dit-Da-Dit" (in the song's refrain) are also an attempt to imitate the sounds of the message being sent, using Morse Code (from this link). The man in the song is receiving a telegram from his girlfriend who's breaking up with him (lyrics).

V: Video Killed the Radio Star

 

Video Killed the Radio Star

As many will know, this was the first video shown on MTV when the station launched in the summer of 1981. The song was originally recorded in 1979, concurrently by Bruce Wooley and the Camera and the duo the Buggles.  Wooley's version contained different lyrics and did not have the" oh-a, oh-a" hook (link). It is the Buggles' version that is better known and that was played on MTV. It was included on their first album, The Age of Plastic. The song is about concerns and mixed attitudes toward 20th-century inventions and machines for media arts, how some musicians did not translate visually to video. Now MTV shows no videos! The irony! 

The Buggles consisted of singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes (who cowrote the song with Bruce Wooley). Horn and Downes joined the band Yes in 1980 after that group's original lead singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman departed. Downes and Horn would record one album with Yes before the band's temporary breakup in 1981. Downes joined the new supergroup Asia, with former Yes guitarist Steve Howe. When Yes regrouped two years later (with Anderson back as lead singer), Horn signed on as the band's producer, producing Yes's bestselling album 90125.

The song was recently parodied as "New AI's Filling Us With Alarm." Ain't that true!

U: Under the Sea

 

Under the Sea

One of the tricky letters. Not a lot could be found for this one. A list of novelty songs beginning with U gave many I'm not familiar with, some of which I felt were inappropriate to include, and one that goes against my political beliefs (though I don't want to get too much into that). 

Even though I have not seen the original Little Mermaid since it first came out in 1989 and have not bothered with the new one (and don't know if I ever will), I remembered this song. It is sung by Samuel Wright, who voiced Sebastian the crab in the original animated movie. (Daveed Diggs sings it in the remake). Sebastian sings the song to persuade the mermaid Ariel to stay sea-bound after she falls in love with Prince Eric, warning of her of human life and reminding her of the benefits of living under water. The song is done in both a calypso and a reggae style. 

I also wanted to include the video below of kids doing a dance to the song and this short (again, shorts don't seem to allow embedding).

T: Tiptoe Through the Tulips

 

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

This was a hard one to choose a song for. I originally had something else in mind but decided against that one, thinking it was a little inappropriate to include.

This song was first made famous in 1929 by jazz guitarist and singer Nick Lucas. Several others recorded the song that same year. But the best-known version is that by singer Herbert Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim first performed the song on the sketch-comedy show Laugh-In in 1968. The song reached #17 and became Tiny Tim's signature song. Both songs are included below.

S: Summertime, Summertime

 

Summertime, Summertime

The Jamies (named for two of its members, Tom Jamison and his sister Serena) had their one big hit with this record that first charted in 1958 and was re-released in 1962. It is known for its opening line, "It's Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime." The song celebrates the end of a high-school year with all the fun to come over summer vacation.

Other artists have covered the song including this one that I'd never heard of. The song also found use in commercials, such as this one for Ken L Ration dog food, and has appeared in movies. 

It is not to be confused with this same-titled dance song from early 1987 🙂

R: Rubber Duckie

 

Rubber Duckie

One nearly everyone is familiar with. It was first heard on Sesame Street in 1970. Written by Jeff Moss and sung by Jim Henson as Ernie, the song was later released as a 45 RPM record, peaking at #16 on Billboard. 

A disco version was also made:

Little Richard appeared on Sesame Street in 1994, doing a rocking version of the song:

A Special Sunday 16

Since I am trying to limit my non-A to Z posts to Sundays, I was unsure about the Thursday 13. I figured I'd be taking the month off. But I got this idea to do a special Sunday 16. This is a mix of random things from this month so far, some related to the A to Z.

1. While trying to decide on songs to pick for the A to Z, I came across some I thought of posting, but felt they were a bit inappropriate. If you want to know what they are, click here and here. 
2. Both songs above were favorites on the syndicated radio show, Dr. Demento.  Anyone remember that? I don't recall it being played on a radio station near me, though I was familiar with the name. Here is some info on Dr. Demento (real name Barret Eugene Hansen). As noted in my entry on "Eat It," Weird Al Yankovic was inspired by listening to Dr. Demento to perform novelty songs and got his start on the show.
3. Sunshine pop is a new musical term that I learned during my research for the A to Z. It is said to be the genre that the remake of "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" fall under. It's called a microgenre.
4. Fifth Estate is a socio-cultural reference to groupings of outlier viewpoints in contemporary society, and is most associated with bloggers, journalists publishing in non-mainstream media outlets, and online social networks. The band The Fifth State said they got it from a magazine out at the time. 
5. A pipkin is an earthenware pot used for cooking over direct heat from coals or a wood fire. They are not held directly in the flame, as it would cause the ceramic to crack.
6. "List song" is another musical term I came upon in my search for songs. It is used to describe on of the songs I picked. This one comes up later, so I cannot say what it is yet :)
7. Some letters that have already come up and some not yet up were hard to find a song for, leading me to find new-to-me songs. It's always fun to find something new. 
8. Other letters offered more than one possible song choice, making it a little hard to choose just one.
9. Bob Dylan's song "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" is about getting stoned, as the lyrics clearly state. Those two numbers multiplied equal 420. One of the things many people have believed to be the origin of 4/20 as the "weed holiday." 
10. It's been just a little over a year since my colonoscopy, which I was told to repeat every five years. I recalled it last year on the blog during a Sunday break post.
11. Other A to Z participants have used music-related themes, including this one, who so far has used two of the same songs as I did! Another music-themed participant is this one.
12. Several bloggers are doing random blogging for the A to Z, without a theme. I may try it that way one year, if I continue to participate in years to come. 
13. Many of the earworms I've gotten these past weeks have been from songs other than those I shared thus far! That was a bit surprising.
14. This was a bonus post I did during last year's A to Z. The first image came up again today on my Facebook memories.
15. The weather in my area has been weird the last few weeks. No rain, but a few dark, gloomy days. I'm hoping that will end soon!
16. And some humor for Easter Sunday today:

Happy Easter to those who celebrate.