Inspired by the thread on horsey fiction: a thread on teenage fiction from the 70s and 80s

[Bookridden]

I loved the nostalgia of reading the pony books thread. I graduated onto teen reads at about 13/14, and wondered if anyone remembers these:
Sweet Dreams romances (American, mass produced, total hokum but strangely addictive)
The British version of Sweet Dreams, which I think was called Heartlines. The setting was a bit less glamorous but the basic idea was the same.
A trilogy by Francine Pascal about a selfish, bitchy girl called Caitlin (think her bf was called Jed)
Sweet Valley High - obviously.
And then there were individual titles that stood out :
A Fortunate Few by Tim Kennemore
Second Star to the Right by Deborah Hautzig
The best little girl in the world by Steven Levenkron
The Cool Boffin by Pete Johnson

So many more. Great times for teenage readers.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit

I think I remember that dream journal one - if it’s the one I’m thinking of, my copy had a dark cover, with a girl looking at a book with light coming out of it.

But I can’t remember the name. Or the author. This is going to bug me now 😬

My favourite was through the barricades set in Northern Ireland. Can’t remember the author but the 2 main characters were Sadie and Kevin

@StitchesInTime

Yaaaasssss! Black Cover, Pink Writing, girl with a book on her knee

Though I've forgotten the name and author, I've never forgotten the story, it was a really mature look at the impact of adult discontent for a teen story

@Krouse64

Joan Lingard, there were about 5 of them, they eventually moved to Liverpool to escape the stigma

Yes, Joan Lingard’s Kevin and Sadie series and also her Maggie series.
Sue Barton, Sweet Dreams. Chalet School and Trebizon.

@Amyspickledlime That's Waiting for the Sky to Fall by Jacqueline Wilson.

Fantastic book - I also enjoyed by the same author The Other Side, Amber and This Girl.

These were two of my favourites - New Patches For Old by Christobel Mattingly, about a girl whose family moves to Australia, and A Break In the Sun by Bernard Ashley, about a girl who runs away from her arse of a stepfather and joins a travelling theatre group heading to Kent, where she used to live.

A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry, Find A Stranger Say Goodbye, same author. it was about a girl who was adopted and finds her real Mum is a famous model.
The village library had a tiny YA section so I read these over and over. Also Daddy Long Legs, no idea of author. The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden.

I learned a lot from Lace by Shirley Conran and various Jackie Collins. But they were definitely not teen fiction.

Daddy Long Legs is lovely 😊

By Jean Webster I think

Judie Blume - learnt so much from her books as I had a mother who would have died rather than talk to me about periods.

Lace, Flowers in the Attic and The Thornbirds - certainly not suitable but all did the rounds in my school!!!

Dodie Smith's brilliant I Capture the Castle.

In school we read My Family and Other Animals and Cider With Rosie which I still love today. Also Stig of the Dump, which was really for younger kids, but I really liked the sense of adventure and freedom in it. Similarly the very old, but very fun, The Family From One End Street. I must have had a thing for old classics because I also love Little Women and What Katie Did.

Flowers in the Attic and the other books in the series were very popular at my school. So grim when I look back at them now

Dancer in the wings by Jean richardson. About a girl called moth. Loved the trilogy. Yes to the series of teen romances. I remember one about a girl who was top of french class then a new boy joined ho was better than her,they go on an exchange trip to france and fall in luurve.

Under goliath, flowers in the attic, Judy blume, lace (the tv series of this was on at the time). Fantastic time for books.

So many books.

Papergirl I loved New Patches for old - I bought it for my daughter a couple of years ago. An old paperback - I may read it again after this thread!

I remember the Sweet Valley High book about Regina, who died of a drug overdose. I may have shed a tear.

Anyway, I read them all. And, all of Judy Blume's books.

I read everything in the library. Also, the boys in my Science class would lend me their Christopher Pike books. A bit like Stephen King for teens. Loved them.

I've just remembered - I read Cain and Abel by Jeffrey Archer in my teens. And, Dead Babies by Martin Amos. I think I read a few Danielle Steele books too. Lending each other books was definitely a thing.

Yes to Flowers in the Attic - my (all girls) school were obsessed with them.

I loved the first Adrian Mole diary - I read it for the first time when I was in year 6 and giggled at all the sex references. I re-read it recently and realised all the ones I must have missed!

These were the 90's but:

The Night World series by L J Smith (who wrote The Vampire Diaries). The first one is the series was called Secret Vampire and I read it about 20 times. It was a properly romantic love story to my teenage brain.

I loved supernatural stories and read a book called Uncle Vampire when I was about 13. I merrily read most of the book thinking it was about an actual vampire until it reached the end I realised it was about sexual abuse. It really shocked me and left such an impression. I keep meaning to re-read as an adult.

TheMemoryLingers Thank you! I never thought it was Jacqueline Wilson 😮 Definitely going to seek it out again. One of those books that sticks with you.

I read the Jean Richardson books - which reminds me of some more by Jean Ure - Nicola Mimosa and Hey There Supermouae

I read series set on a fictional American island about a girl called zoey. Anymore read then? I remember them being published one at a time. That was 90's though. They were a bit pervy really.
I remember forever Judy Blume being passed around too

I read a book called break in the sun too which had a profound effect on me.

I read the Adrian mole books as a teen and all the later ones in my 30's. The prostate years broke my heart. She Townsend was an amazing writer about ordinary people

@nevernotstruggling Zoey fools around? There was a whole series by Katherine Applegate. I remember these - such teenage angst!!

Anybody remember the Trebizon series of books about a girls boarding school? I loved reading those.

I had all of those too 😀

I did read one of the Flowers in the Attic books - was very weird