Tag books

Compelling Characters Make These Great YA Books

Reg Spittle Leave a comment

Whether you call it young adult, adolescent, or coming-of-age, count me as one of many grownups who are avid readers of the genre aimed at 12-to-18 year olds. I am drawn by the powerful characterization in the best of these books. Like you, I was a kid once, and I find good YA fiction relatable, cathartic, and entertaining, to name just a few qualities.

As a teacher, I treasured the opportunity to share the best YA fiction with my students. As a dad, some of my favorite moments of parenthood were when my kids hung on every word when I read books aloud.

Today I spotlight three YA books whose authors have created characters that led me to turn each page of their books with eager anticipation. Two were written by the same woman.

Stay, by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Lucas Painter, 14, has a penchant for caring and a desire to fix people in his life. He literally saves a neighbor woman’s life, but his letter to his brother Roy, who is serving in Vietnam in 1969, has a consequence Lucas could never imagine. The story is told by Lucas when he is 64 and the final chapter grabbed me even more than the rest of the book. Hyde, one of my favorite authors, created other compelling characters in this moving story. This one kept me up at night, as I couldn’t bear to put it aside.

Hello Universe, by Erin Entrada Kelly. Virgil Salinas is a shy, quiet, kind sixth-grader who doesn’t fit in his sports-crazed family. One day, Chet Bullens, a basketball nut who likes to pounce on “weird” kids, commits a prank that transports Virgil and his pet guinea pig Gulliver to a life-threatening predicament. The “joke” causes the boys’ lives to converge with two other kids, self-proclaimed psychic Kaori Tanaka, and Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, intelligent, and lonely. Will the girls get there in time? Hello Universe won the Newbery Medal, one of the most important awards in literature.

We Dream of Space, by Erin Entrada Kelly. Cash is 13, doomed to repeat seventh grade. He loves basketball and watches the Philadelphia 76ers on TV with his dad. He is on his middle school team even though he can’t shoot, but a broken wrist sidelines him. His twin siblings, 12, are also in seventh grade. Fitch, afflicted with a terrible temper, is an arcade player, playing daily until he runs out of quarters. Bird dreams of being the first woman to command the space shuttle. They have a tense life at home, where their parents argue endlessly. It is January 1986. Their science teacher assigns them to form crews to simulate shuttle flight, not imagining for a moment what would happen to the Challenger while her students watch the launch. We Dream of Space portrays daily middle school life while the teacher poses big questions, like “Why do we go to space?” to her students. The book was a Newbery Honor Book.

I have reviewed several other Catherine Ryan Hyde’s books; you can find them on “My book reviews” in the menu.

Jerry West: A Tormented Life

Reg Spittle 3 Comments

I sat in the bleachers, next to the basket, at Loyola Marymount University’s gym. It was 1970 and Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Pat Riley and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers gathered for preseason practice at the coastal California campus. Chamberlain took a breather near the baseline, just a few feet from me. He looked even bigger in person; I remember thinking his biceps were larger than most thighs.

A tap on my shoulder. “Reg, he’s ready for you.” It was the Lakers’ public relations guy. “He’ll meet you in the lobby,” he said, pointing to the doors at the opposite end of the gym.

It has been 54 years, but it feels like yesterday. I pushed the door open and there he was, my hero, and I was suddenly, surprisingly, overwhelmed. My hands shook as I held my reporter’s notebook and pen.

“I am glad to meet you,” Jerry West said as he reached out to shake my hand. His eyes were directed at mine, as they were during our entire interview. “I hear you are off to college soon. Congratulations.”

Of all the athletes I interviewed as a teen-aged journalist at the Oxnard Press-Courier, Jerry West was the kindest. But after reading his autobiography, I know that Jerry West was not kind to himself. Like other Lakers’ fans, I was saddened to hear about his death June 12, 2024, at 86.

While I read West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life, I learned that Jerry West suffered physical abuse at the hands of his father and was crushed when his older brother David died in the Korean War. Depression was an even greater nemesis than the Boston Celtics, which beat his Lakers over and over with the NBA championship on the line.

It turned out Jerry West was much better at fending off pesky defenders than the ghosts that haunted him his entire life.

Basketball fans will be drawn to his revealing anecdotes about other superstars who he observed during his 40 years as a player, coach, and general manager with the Lakers. The shy, private left-handed shooting guard was nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” by Lakers’ broadcaster Chick Hearn for his late-game heroics, none bigger than his last-second, half-court shot that sent an NBA championship game into overtime.

Author Jonathan Coleman helped West with interviews for the book, which includes extensive words from players and other sports figures. Many credit the West Virginian with his efforts to make others feel special. If only he could have found a way to be more satisfied with his own talents and who he was.

At times, West by West was hard for me to read. He shared his regrets for not allowing others—even his own children—to get close to him. However, for 15 minutes many years ago, he made me feel like an old friend.