"Young adult" Trek novels

[Therin of Andor]

I think I actually started reading the Robots and Foundation series the year after I read those books - first or second grade, probably.

Hence the problem with longevity and marketability for "young adult" lines of books. Really avid readers often tend to leap from picture books and/or comics straight to quite adult novels.

Kids who are so-called reluctant readers may or may not catch the independent reading bug depending on the "must know" quality of the content of the YA novels they happen upon. Then they, too, may leap for adult novels. Or simply stop reading altogether.

 

[Baerbel Haddrell]

No, the original quote is from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:11: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." C. S. Lewis was doing a fakeout there -- beginning with a familiar Biblical quote that meant one thing, then surprising the reader by saying something different that reversed and critiqued the original sentiment.

I'm not sure it critiqued the original sentiment so much as the way it's commonly used to squelch fun. Part of growing up is also putting aside the fear of what others will think of you.

And Rush--my comments about the New Frontier series aside, I DID like Peter David's YA work a lot.

I have all of the YA books although there are a lot of them I have never read. I enjoyed Peter David`s YA books very much and mainly read the DS9 YA books which were very enjoyable, too. I haven`t introduced my daughter to DS9 yet but intend to at least show her some episodes to get her familiar with the characters.

I don`t care what others think of my hobby. I have no trouble looking at children`s books, buying comics, whatever I am interested in. My parents told me when I was a child that I will grow out of my "obsession". I never have. My mother told me once, instead of putting your nose in your books, go out dancing and find someone! Well, I found someone thanks to my hobby.

Childishness in moderation is good for you. Also adults like to play. Some might find Star Trek childish. Others wonder when they see passionate sports fans.

 

[Stevil2001]

Mystery of the Missing Crew was the first Star Trek book I ever read.

I used to be baffled by the mention on the back that Data was left with a "skeleton crew" because it was the aliens who were skeletons! What was that back cover writer talking about?

Capture the Flag was indeed the best of them, though it shared the problem of most of the books that the cadets acted less like college students and more like people in junior high.

 

[Trent Roman]

Capture the Flag was indeed the best of them, though it shared the problem of most of the books that the cadets acted less like college students and more like people in junior high.

Well, they were books aimed at around that age group, so I suppose it makes sense that they would act that way in order to best relate to the target audience.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

I was in late elementary school when I found the Young Adult Star Trek books. I had already started reading the Adult-Adult Star Trek books but I thought it was fun to see the characters in their youth. The one that sticks out the most in my mind was called "Atlantis Station." I think it was either a Worf or a Geordi book. I had gone through a phase where I had a fascination with the legend of Atlantis, of all things, so that got my attention. I also distinctly remember reading the trilogy of young-TOS books in a free reading class and laughing at a section where Kirk and Co. decide to trash the villains' hideout/equipment for an extra little sting. The kid I was sitting next to said "I didn't know Star Trek was funny!"

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Capture the Flag was indeed the best of them, though it shared the problem of most of the books that the cadets acted less like college students and more like people in junior high.

If you'd been assigned to MY suite for freshman year of college, I think you would've revised your opinion of college-age maturity WAY down and the accuracy of the Starfleet Academy books WAY up. My roommates/suitemates were AWFUL. The saddest part was that I--the person that was still a minor when I first went to college--was the one that lasted the year without either a) flunking out or b) debauching myself.

I could tell stories about these immature people forever, but I won't because...ew.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

I have David's Worf's First Adventure. I LOVED it!

I don't care what anyone says. David is one of the BEST Trek writers EVER!

And I'm all too aware of David's style of humor. It is EXCELLENT. So David doesn't take the characters with 100% seriousness. So what? At least in his books, the characters know how to lighten up--and laugh at themselves!

Take this exchange from Strike Zone. The context is that the average Klingon hides a dozen knives in his uniform:

Picard: Mr. Worf, you don't have twelve knives about your person, do you?

Worf: Of course not, sir.

Picard: Good. (Long pause, then...) How many knives do you have?

Worf: Fourteen.

Klingon Ambassador: Fourteen knives? In a uniform not designed for concealment? Very impressive!

Worf: Everything about me... is impressive....

Picard:

This is all very well and good of course, but then you read Before Dishonor where his style of humour does not fit at all, and frankly nearly all of it dies on it's ass.

The only YA books I had were the DS9 one with Jake and Nog in some kind of arcade thing, and the one which followed Picard trying to get into the Academy against his father's wishes. That book remains one of my favourite Picard stories to this day.

 

[Trent Roman]

The saddest part was that I--the person that was still a minor when I first went to college--was the one that lasted the year without either a) flunking out or b) debauching myself.

Well, flunking out is bad, but self-debauchery? Depends how well you do it.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Rush Limborg]

And Rush--my comments about the New Frontier series aside, I DID like Peter David's YA work a lot.

Glad to hear it, mate!

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

The saddest part was that I--the person that was still a minor when I first went to college--was the one that lasted the year without either a) flunking out or b) debauching myself.

Well, flunking out is bad, but self-debauchery? Depends how well you do it.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Uh...it was pathetic. Trust me.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I don't know that John Peel posts here--but to this day, I'd LOVE to get an answer to that, if I'm right.

Try asking at his website:
http://www.john-peel.com/

Thanks, Therin! I did get an answer last week, and as it turned out, I was correct that the Tak and Gavron in Objective: Bajor were the same ones as in Prisoners of Peace.

What surprised me was that according to his response, I apparently I gave more conscious thought to how the characters moved from book to book...but then again, I suspect that while he didn't necessarily realize consciously what he was doing, that "spider sense" you get as a writer for why things work probably kicked in and he did put the pieces together on a gut level. (That's been my own experience with writing--sometimes I have a character do or say something and it just happens without thinking...and then it turns out to be exactly what was needed, even if it came out of the blue at the time.)

 

[Scott Pearson]

Read them all, as an adult, when they came out. A few years ago read them all again to my daughter. It was a lot of fun.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Read them all, as an adult, when they came out. A few years ago read them all again to my daughter. It was a lot of fun.

Now that's something I hope to do someday! Has she watched the show? If not, was she able to appreciate them on their own merit?

 

[Scott Pearson]

Read them all, as an adult, when they came out. A few years ago read them all again to my daughter. It was a lot of fun.

Now that's something I hope to do someday! Has she watched the show? If not, was she able to appreciate them on their own merit?

At that time she had seen all the animateds, about dozen TOS, a handful of TNG, a couple DS9, and maybe one VGR. So she was familiar in varying degrees with the elements and characters of the shows. Sometimes I'd fill in some background to help her out. I think she would have enjoyed them regardless, but it definitely adds to them to know more about the Trek universe.

Ella is ten now, and has long been past the age of needing to be read to, but we both like it so much that I continue doing it. It also gives me the opportunity to edit as I go if I'm reading her something that's meant for adult audiences or something older, like Edgar Rice Burroughs, that will sometimes use racial terminology that was commonplace then but certainly inappropriate and insensitive, especially from a modern perspective. And it also serves as a learning experience, because I'll explain to her what I'm editing out and why. But I digress . . .

 

[Bryan316]

In going through my old books, I found all of my ST YA novels sans DS9: Space Camp (which I swear I have). TNG's Capture the Flag was probably my favorite overall. The shortlived TOS and VOY YAs never did it for me, but the TNG and DS9 books were great back when I was in that target age.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Just dug out Prisoners of Peace again. Obviously I've grown WAY up since then, but it was still such a neat little story considering the age it was written for.

 

[ScottDS]

I remember reading "Worf's First Adventure" in the fifth grade (1993-94). Little did I know I had to present it in front of the class. Needless to say, fifth grade wasn't a very good year for me (Trek didn't exactly help my popularity ) and you could smell the scent of fresh blood in the room. And I had to improvise because I didn't know we'd be presenting book reports that day.

And as far as that C.S. Lewis/Bible quote, my favorite interpretation is Phil Hartman's on Newsradio: "When I was a child, I spoke as a child and thought as a child and when I became a man, I took that child out back and had him shot." Man, that was a great show!

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

ScottDS--I was SO lucky that when I had book-report assignments and I'd had Trek books for the week, that we turned them straight in to the teacher without having to let anybody else see (I happened to be reading the adult DS9 novels Betrayal and Devil in the Sky on those weeks). Of course, everybody knew what I was reading and that I didn't give a damn what they thought.

This makes me wonder, though--what did you get on that book report? A good grade, I hope?

 

[ScottDS]

Thanks for asking but I honestly couldn't say. It was 14 years ago. My mom kept all my stuff from K through 5 in a box which is gathering dust and mildew on the top shelf of a closet. I probably looked through it a couple years ago but I don't believe there is anything in there relating to this report.

On the other hand, I probably got at least a B since I usually got all A's and B's in elementary school. Fodder for the bullies, of course.

 

[Stevil2001]

We had to do a book report on a book by an Ohio author when I was in the fifth grade, and I did John Vornholt's YA novelization of Generations. I brought in my MicroMachine set from the movie in to help demonstrate my summary.