Grown Ups and "Growing Up"s
Crossover fiction for your kid at heart
Hey! Welcome to another issue of Frum Books, home of everything related to the frum publishing world. YA fiction is doing something right. The angst of the teenage years has been captured with an emotional depth that has not been replicated in adult fiction. This collection features the best of crossover fiction, books originally intended for a younger audience that have ageless appeal.
Stargazing - Read if you like a touching and dynamic story of a broken family sruggling to come together
The thing with crossover fiction is that it always appeals to something universal, which is emotion. When we go beyond the cliche and actually dig into it, everyone can relate to real emotion, from children to adults, because everyone experiences emotion. Everyone has hope, grief, anticipation and rejection.
Additionally, something that you want to do when you write for teens is have that added adult layer. It doesn't matter if the teens won't understand it all, they'll just skip over the extra details or the deeper level, but the adults will appreciate it. And it also means people can reread and understand something new when they read it again. - Rochel Grunewald Samet
Iron Gates - Read if you like gentle and light historical fiction in a charming English setting, set in the 1950’s
Dual Discovery - Can’t leave this one out, so appropriate to the time of year! Read if you like adventurous historical fiction that explores the nuances of a familiar time-period
Out of Step - Read if you like an introspective and engaging coming-of-age tale
Everyone remembers what it's like to be a teen, and if I was able to capture it well, people enjoy reading about that. I worked very hard on character development. People feel like they get to know the characters and watch them develop. - Ariella Schiller
Read more in our interview with Ariella - A Chat about Out of Step, dreams coming true, and the time warp of teen writing
Shadows on the Moon - Read if you can handle a drama that is both hilarious and a tear-jerker at the same time, strong and complex characters
Song of the Sea - Read if you enjoy touching and humorous coming-of-age fiction with a unique storytelling style
Dancing in the Dark - Read for an intensely emotional experience, provocative with touches of humor intertwined. (Includes sensitive material)
This is America! - Read if you like a fast-paced and dynamic historical family drama set at the turn of the 20th century
I'm not talking down to people. Kids are just as smart as adults. I realized that their understanding and their experience is limited, so you have to make allowances for the fact that their world experience is more limited than your older audiences. But their understanding when something is explained to them is perfectly adequate. - Henye Meyer
Read more in our interview with Henye Meyer - A Chat about genre, process, and the infinite spiral of research
Invisible Me - Read if you’re ready for something fresh, a serious novel in a creative format, with sudden laugh out loud moments througout
The Cliff Line - Pick up for a fun read, fast-paced and adorable dialogue