Can anyone point me to some titles of books that instead of being just straight chapters have other things, like notes, diary entries, etc in-between the chapters? Thanks in advance. YA or MG, both will work.
Looking for books with varied structure
About the Author: Susan Taylor Brown
The Anastasia books by Lois Lowry often used this, and it was very amusing. 🙂
Thanks, Phoebe. Totally forgot that.
Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf by Jennifer Holm
Oh and I can’t believe I haven’t read this one yet. It’s been on my list but fell through the cracks. Thanks, Lisa.
Each Little Bird that Sings has Comfort Snowberger’s “Life Notices.” A wonderful book!
Ooh, and that one is on my shelf. Thanks for the reminder.
And then there’s the hugely popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Practically no straight writing in there. MG boys adore them for some reason.
Thanks, Christine. I have yet to read one of those but you’re right, very popular.
Not MG or YA, but “Carrie” and “Dracula” both come to mind.
Really? Will have to go to the library and check them out. Thanks.
Patricia Wrede/Caroline Stevemer, Sorcery & Cecilia, or, the Enchanted Chocolate Pot, was originally written as a “letter game.” The letter game is when you and your friend assume personae and write letters to each other under those personae. (I had a friend in junior high with whom I did this, carrying on a torrid on-again, off-again affair between the Sherrif of Nottingham and a female associate of Robin Hood; we weren’t sophisticated enough to come up with a Sherrif/Merry Man romance.) Usually they get silly and dribble off quickly, but they found themselves creating a complex interwoven story, a fantasy Regency romance, and now it’s a book with sequels in similar format.
Peni
I’m almost embarrassed to suggest these, but The Babysitter’s Club series. 🙂 Each chapter begins with a diary entry or letter.
That’s weird. I asked that same question a few years back. And the book I wrote is being published in 2011.
David Lubar’s True Talents does. I’ll try to remember the others.
The Center of the Universe: Yep, That Would Be Me by Anita Liberty. Written in 1st/present. Diary format with poems at start of chaps. YA contemporary.
“The Dust of 100 Dogs” by A.S.King has tips on the does and don’ts of raising a puppy (because the MC spent 100 lives as a dog) in between some chapters.
The YA novel Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty is all notes and diary entries and lists, etc. I love this book.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers is a mix of novel, tv script, and diary.
Linda Sue Park…. darn it, now I can’t remember the name of it! The one with– Project Mulberry! That’s it. Park has “conversations” with her main character in between the chapters. Reminds me a little of your letters to FlyBoy.
book written with unique structure
Your own, Sylvia : a verse portrait of Sylvia Plath / by Stephanie Hemphill, a YA book written in various forms of poetry that reads like a biography of Sylvia Plath. It is lovely!
Lisa in Little Rock
Hidden Talents, by David Lubar.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Story of a Girl, by Sara Zarr