30 Day Book Challenge - Day 6

Day 6 - Favourite Young Adult book

I read a lot of YA stuff. I read a lot of it as a child/teen, although it wasn't called YA then. I've read a lot since then as well. I got a real taste for it when I was teaching English and had to teach YA novels. Authors I loved include Cynthia Voigt (Come a Stranger, Tell Me if the Lovers are Losers), Margaret Mahy (The Haunting, Catalogue of the Universe) and of course L.M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott. There are a lot of newer YA books I love as well, but I choosing one of the older ones.

A special honourable mention has to go to Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden. Ellie and her friends decide to go camping in the bush for a weekend before they go back to school at the end of the summer. When they return home they discover their town has been invaded by an unnamed enemy and they seem to be the only line of resistance. The book, and indeed the others in the series, draws you in and keeps up the tension throughout. Can they survive? Can they rescue their families? Can they defeat the enemy? And if so, what will it cost them? Brilliantly written.

So the winner: my favourite YA book is Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody. Obernewtyn is set in a post-apocalyptic world. If released today, it would probably be described as a dystopia. The ruling council have declared that all those showing signs of being different are labelled Misfits and destroyed. For humans, this means ritual burning. Elspeth Gordie is sent to work on a farm after being orphaned. There she is selected by Madam Vega to travel to the mysterious Obernewtyn. There she discovers that there are others with similar Talents to hers and they fight to restore the rightful master of Obernewtyn and set up a haven for other Misfits.

I was around 12 the first time I read this book and loved it instantly. I haven't read the whole series, there was a 10 year break between two of the books, but I've loved the books I've read.