READY FOR AWESOME, YOU GUYS?!

[telophase]

Right! So once again my workplace is doing the Secret Santa thing for the Alliance for Kids, which is where they deliver a bunch of cards to us, each one with a kid's name, age, clothing size, and gift wishes, and we pick one or two and buy a few gifts and hand them over. The parents/guardians wrap them and give them to the kids. (These are kids who are in the system somehow, often because they're escaping from abusive situations.)

Anyway, nobody wanted video games this year, but these are the two I picked. I'll need suggestions from you guys! (They're not related this time. I think I picked sisters last time.)

Note, these are not their real names. The AFC people assign them these names for anonymity.

MADISON. Madison is 9 years old, and her wish list is, and I quote: "Science, Legos, arts & crafts, books." SCIENCE! AWESOME! I'll have to shop around and see what I can get her that involves science. Possibly some good science-related books? Parents of science-interested 9-year-olds: what books and other toys do your kids like?

MARIA. Maria is 13, and wants "Anything Twilight" and books. Yes, yes, I know, Twilight. I will probably purchase her something Twilight-related that is small and is not the books, as I assume she's already read them. What I would like to do also is get her BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS that are BETTER THAN TWILIGHT. What would YOU recommend for a 13-year-old Twihard that doesn't have the skeevy relationship dynamics, but still might speak to her id in the same sort of way that Twilight does? Vampires & werewolves a bonus, as I have no idea if she's Team Edward or Team Jacob (or, perhaps (if only), Team Bella).

Comments

[yhlee]

Wait! I do have a possible rec for Maria, although full disclosure, the author is a friend of mine. Fang Girl by Helen Keeble. It pokes affectionate fun at some of the vampire tropes (and I do mean affectionate--Helen is a Twilight fan herself) while being a great romp in its own right. Vampires with romance elements, I don't recall any werewolves. It's a very fast read if you want to check it over yourself first. I really loved it. :-)

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She's on my f-list and it's something I've thought about trying, but had (temporarily!) forgotten about. Sounds like a good plan, thanks! :D

(I like the idea that it's affectionate fun, so it wouldn't be like I was denigrating Maria's fandom!)

[yhlee]

For something from the opposite direction, I think L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries books (the first four; I hear the follow-ups are dire but haven't read them myself) are back in print since they made a (still-running) TV show of it. So the Vampire Diaries books play the vampire stuff much more straight-on, but what is interesting is that the heroine is very unusual: she's extremely proud, prickly, goes after what she wants--she's definitely the dominating figure of the books and she is not in the least someone who waits around to be rescued. The books were written (I think) in the 1980s or something, but still, they're pretty cracky in a fun way. I think this review is pretty fair as an assessment, although I kind of liked Elena for her strength of will and the reviewer didn't like her because she wasn't "nice" enough. At the least, it would offer your giftee some variety in her vampire story heroines.

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Thanks! :D

[helen_keeble]

Hee, I was about to blow my own horn, but Yoon has already done it. *grin* Yeah, the protagonist of FANG GIRL is a cool, sensible, sarcastic Twihard - part of my purpose in writing the book was to gently poke fun at some vampire cliches without mocking people who like them (like myself!). I've had some nice comments back from 13-year-old readers, too!

Other recommendations: TEAM HUMAN by Sarah Rees Brennan (another humorous look at the vampire genre), THE DEMON'S LEXICON also by Brennan, MARKED by P.C. Cast (vampire boarding school), I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU by Ally Carter (not paranormal, but great all-girl spy-school hijinks),... er, I was about to recommend Cassandra Claire's CITY OF BONES, but it's big enough that she's probably already read it (particularly with the movie coming out next year).

Thinking a little broader, what about Terry Pratchett? THE WEE FREE MEN is a good YA intro to Discworld.

[telophase]

Awesome, it sounds perfect! :) Thanks for recs, too!