Cosigned on CYOA. I saw The Mystery of Ura Senke in reprint in the bookstore the other day, I almost picked it up. Some CYOA books are unbelievably disturbing. The one in Egypt with the mandalas and such? What the fuck?
Interesting question, though! I'm going to list the first ten I decided on and not let myself revise the list, otherwise I'd spend forever nitpicking over narrowing it to just ten. In a semi-arbitrary order:
10. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg
This book was my biggest wish-fulfillment fantasy as a kid, or one of them, definitely. When I wasn't dreaming about some idyllic pre-WWI childhood involving some kind of animal companion (Rascal, for instance), I was thinking about running away. At the time Mixed-Up Files was like, the coolest runaway fantasy ever -- living in the Met off fountain coins and sleeping in antique beds, how genius is that? Many a childhood runaway plan was based on this book.
9. Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, by Kathryn Lasky
This was one of the Dear America Royal Diaries books, and though I wasn't big into Dear America in general (though I read a lot of them), man did I love this book. I reread it to death. The intrigue and pageantry all appealed to me, I loved hearing about the different palaces for different seasons and the masques and the balls and the things they all wore, plus the fucked-up Tudor family held its appeal for me at the time, even in YA form; I think I was also invested in tiny Elizabeth Tudor/tiny Robert Dudley for one reason or another.
8. Agent Arthur (and other Usborne Puzzle Adventures)
I FUCKING LOVED USBORNE PUZZLE ADVENTURES. I loved puzzles in general, but Usborne Puzzle Adventures had a sense of humor that I adored, as well as taking place in all these bizarre fun over-the-top worlds of pirate treasure and villainous archaeologists and shit, or in the case of Agent Arthur, bumbling Bond/M:I-esque secret agents. Also they had puzzles, which made me feel like I was contributing. I was so delighted spending so much time working out illustrated mazes and simple ciphers.
7. d'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths and d'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths, by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
I think a lot of people had some kind of Formative Children's Myth Book or two and mine were the big d'Aulaire anthologies with their black-and-white illustrations. I actually read the binding right off both of these. The second one sparked off my childhood identification with Loki.
6. Dragon Prince and Dragon Star (Dragon Prince, The Star Scroll, Sunrunner's Fire; Dragon Star, The Dragon Token, Skybowl), by Melanie Rawn
Not gonna lie, I adored Melanie Rawn as a kid and her fantasy worldbuilding and ridiculous million-family-member noble house melodrama probably planted the seed for what was eventually going to be my love for A Song of Ice and Fire. Lord Andry of Radzyn Keep was my favorite. I think Pol and Andry opened the door to my love of stories about ugly but not evil human beings.
5. Galax-Arena, by Gillian Rubinstein
Has anyone else read this book? It was on lend at my elementary school library. It probably shouldn't have been, since it was a creepy dystopian story about adult exploitation of children, body image, death, child trafficking, and Lord of the Flies society-making in slavery situations, but it was the most bone-chillingly insightful thing I'd read at the time and I kept checking it out to read after my library helper shift was over. Terrifying stuff.
4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Ha, where to even begin with this one. In a world full of jock hero archetypes I hated and nerd hero archetypes I thought were stupid and condescending, Sherlock Holmes was like, the hero I wanted to be before I admitted to myself I wanted to be things. You could probably boil down my biggest fictional role model influences to a cross between Holmes and Batman. Also, I shipped Holmes/Watson before I even knew what shipping was. Be still, my tiny gay heart.
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
It is now a little uncool to admit you ever loved the crazy reactionary granddaddy of YA sci-fi, Orson Scott Card, and his fucked-up jingoistic Randian views promoted in Ender's Game, but you know what, there was a time when I did. A pretty sizeable time. I think there's a reason why Ender's Game is so dangerously alluring to lonely, serious, misunderstood-feeling kids the world over. It's the ultimate revenge fantasy.
2. Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson
I've read the entire run of C&H collected in trade, cover to shining cover. I had time to kill before swim practice every day. Bill Watterson is still probably my gold standard for satire and his illustrations my gold standard for sequential art -- I learned so much of what I learned about the world from C&H, and unlike Ender's Game, I do believe it taught me well.
1. Matilda, by Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl wrote the truest, most validating fables about bullying and abuse and how sometimes life just fucks you over, particularly as a kid. Roald Dahl was like a proto YouAreNotCrazy.com, with all his stories that weren't afraid to say, no, sometimes adults don't mean well, sometimes they're just fucking sadistic, sometimes you just have to survive. I think somewhere in his cocktail of black humor and absurdity was a real, non-Dan Savage-tainted It Gets Better message that I really, really needed. Also his books are amazing anyway, for humor and fantasy and just straight-up solid YA. I've never been happy with how people adapt them to screen, the darkness is always watered down and made less disturbing, especially with Matilda. Matilda was like, really spot-on solace for smart kids living in abusive situations; Miss Trunchbull and Matilda's parents are still standards for shudder-inducing antagonists in writing for me.
no subject
Interesting question, though! I'm going to list the first ten I decided on and not let myself revise the list, otherwise I'd spend forever nitpicking over narrowing it to just ten. In a semi-arbitrary order:
10. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg
This book was my biggest wish-fulfillment fantasy as a kid, or one of them, definitely. When I wasn't dreaming about some idyllic pre-WWI childhood involving some kind of animal companion (Rascal, for instance), I was thinking about running away. At the time Mixed-Up Files was like, the coolest runaway fantasy ever -- living in the Met off fountain coins and sleeping in antique beds, how genius is that? Many a childhood runaway plan was based on this book.
9. Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, by Kathryn Lasky
This was one of the Dear America Royal Diaries books, and though I wasn't big into Dear America in general (though I read a lot of them), man did I love this book. I reread it to death. The intrigue and pageantry all appealed to me, I loved hearing about the different palaces for different seasons and the masques and the balls and the things they all wore, plus the fucked-up Tudor family held its appeal for me at the time, even in YA form; I think I was also invested in tiny Elizabeth Tudor/tiny Robert Dudley for one reason or another.
8. Agent Arthur (and other Usborne Puzzle Adventures)
I FUCKING LOVED USBORNE PUZZLE ADVENTURES. I loved puzzles in general, but Usborne Puzzle Adventures had a sense of humor that I adored, as well as taking place in all these bizarre fun over-the-top worlds of pirate treasure and villainous archaeologists and shit, or in the case of Agent Arthur, bumbling Bond/M:I-esque secret agents. Also they had puzzles, which made me feel like I was contributing. I was so delighted spending so much time working out illustrated mazes and simple ciphers.
7. d'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths and d'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths, by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
I think a lot of people had some kind of Formative Children's Myth Book or two and mine were the big d'Aulaire anthologies with their black-and-white illustrations. I actually read the binding right off both of these. The second one sparked off my childhood identification with Loki.
6. Dragon Prince and Dragon Star (Dragon Prince, The Star Scroll, Sunrunner's Fire; Dragon Star, The Dragon Token, Skybowl), by Melanie Rawn
Not gonna lie, I adored Melanie Rawn as a kid and her fantasy worldbuilding and ridiculous million-family-member noble house melodrama probably planted the seed for what was eventually going to be my love for A Song of Ice and Fire. Lord Andry of Radzyn Keep was my favorite. I think Pol and Andry opened the door to my love of stories about ugly but not evil human beings.
5. Galax-Arena, by Gillian Rubinstein
Has anyone else read this book? It was on lend at my elementary school library. It probably shouldn't have been, since it was a creepy dystopian story about adult exploitation of children, body image, death, child trafficking, and Lord of the Flies society-making in slavery situations, but it was the most bone-chillingly insightful thing I'd read at the time and I kept checking it out to read after my library helper shift was over. Terrifying stuff.
4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Ha, where to even begin with this one. In a world full of jock hero archetypes I hated and nerd hero archetypes I thought were stupid and condescending, Sherlock Holmes was like, the hero I wanted to be before I admitted to myself I wanted to be things. You could probably boil down my biggest fictional role model influences to a cross between Holmes and Batman. Also, I shipped Holmes/Watson before I even knew what shipping was. Be still, my tiny gay heart.
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
It is now a little uncool to admit you ever loved the crazy reactionary granddaddy of YA sci-fi, Orson Scott Card, and his fucked-up jingoistic Randian views promoted in Ender's Game, but you know what, there was a time when I did. A pretty sizeable time. I think there's a reason why Ender's Game is so dangerously alluring to lonely, serious, misunderstood-feeling kids the world over. It's the ultimate revenge fantasy.
2. Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson
I've read the entire run of C&H collected in trade, cover to shining cover. I had time to kill before swim practice every day. Bill Watterson is still probably my gold standard for satire and his illustrations my gold standard for sequential art -- I learned so much of what I learned about the world from C&H, and unlike Ender's Game, I do believe it taught me well.
1. Matilda, by Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl wrote the truest, most validating fables about bullying and abuse and how sometimes life just fucks you over, particularly as a kid. Roald Dahl was like a proto YouAreNotCrazy.com, with all his stories that weren't afraid to say, no, sometimes adults don't mean well, sometimes they're just fucking sadistic, sometimes you just have to survive. I think somewhere in his cocktail of black humor and absurdity was a real, non-Dan Savage-tainted It Gets Better message that I really, really needed. Also his books are amazing anyway, for humor and fantasy and just straight-up solid YA. I've never been happy with how people adapt them to screen, the darkness is always watered down and made less disturbing, especially with Matilda. Matilda was like, really spot-on solace for smart kids living in abusive situations; Miss Trunchbull and Matilda's parents are still standards for shudder-inducing antagonists in writing for me.