Tirzah is a junior at Ferris State University, and has been blogging about all things YA at
thecompulsivereader.com for almost five years now. She’s a language geek that can speak three, and she’s set on working in the publishing industry in some capacity after graduation.
1. What YA character do you identify most with?
Ah, that’s such a hard question to answer. I feel like I can identify with so many characters on many different levels. One memorable character was Tabitha from Pure by Terra Elan McVoy. I really liked her struggle to reconcile her beliefs and long-time friendships with reality and the new direction her friends were going. I feel like that’s a very real struggle with so many girls, including myself, especially during the later years of high school and the first years of college.
2. What YA character would you like to be friends with?
I think Kate Grable from Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris would be pretty kick-butt to have on my side in case of a zombie attack.
3. What would you say to someone who says YA books are just for kids?
So untrue…ask 10 YA bloggers how old they are, and I bet you over half are over 18. Then go sit in the YA section of any bookstore and estimate the age of the people who leave with books from there. Then pick up any book written by Ellen Hopkins, John Green, Melina Marchetta, J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Justina Chen Headley, Laurie Halse Anderson…need I go on? The books and the readers speak for themselves.
4.What’s the best part of reviewing YA books?
Connecting with authors and discovering that one book that didn’t get a lot of attention, but is amazing. Then putting that book in other readers’ hands.
5. What’s your advice for YA book bloggers?
6.What’s your favorite YA sub-genre?
I love any sort of fairy tale retellings.
7.Do you have a prediction of the next YA craze (ex zombies? mermaids? suburban kids?)?
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I think that sci-fi is going to continue to expand, which is awesome. There’s not enough good YA sci-fi out there…and not just dystopias (though in some senses, many sci-fi books are also dystopias), but true sci-fi. Bring it on.
8. What book are your most looking forward to coming out this fall?
Um, just one? I’ve read Goliath by Scott Westerfeld, which is amazing, I’m beyond excited for everyone to get to read The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, I can’t wait to dive into Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, who writes beautifully, and the language geek in me is pumped for The Pledge by Kimberly Derting.
9.What’s been your best experience meeting/talking with a YA author?
Meeting with Suzanne Collins just before the release of Catching Fire was an amazing experience I’ll always remember. She took the time to really go in depth about her writing and plotting, was so kind and down to earth, and was appropriately funny and serious. It was an awesome discussion…you can watch it on the Borders Media website.
10.What are your future plans for your blog or future with books in general?
I’m going to keep blogging…it’s such a huge part of my life now that I can’t imagine ever stopping. My goal is to work in publishing after graduation, hopefully on the editorial side, and after that…who knows?
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