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.

Berlie Doherty books, How Green You Are stayed with me for a long time.

Judy Blume, Paula Danziger, Diana Wynne Jones, Michelle Magorian, Alan Garner - all read over and over

Chalet school- I was obsessed for years!
The Omen books - loved to scare myself
Dennis Wheatley- as above!
Lace - what an eye opener
Yes yes to Flowers in the attic - fascinating and slightly weird.
Sue Barton but once I became a nurse I was filled with scorn for Sue

Ah, the Sue Barton nurse books were ace! I didn't really read much teen fiction, I was never censored so was reading adult books that were highly inappropriate from a young age, but I liked the nurse series and also there was a series about a young priest in London, I can't remember who it was written by but I really enjoyed those. I think the parish was St Jude's.

Does anyone remember this book? 2 sisters lived above a newsagents that their strict dad ran. They used to read the books he sold and deliberately break the spine so they could keep them. Oldest sister gets a boyfriend but is so broke she embroiders flowers on her school shirt for an outfit. She uses her watercolours for eye make up. She steals some white stilettos from the playgroup dressing up box when she's on work experience. She may or may not have run away with the boyfriend. The youngest sister gets shut in a department store over night, I think on purpose, but it's really scary. Think the mum may have been obese.

@Amyspickledlime

Yes, I remember this! I remember this book being quite challenging as quite a lot of it is about social class differences. The older girl goes to a grammar school (perhaps a private school?) and finds herself quite isolated because she is from a different background to her classmates. Yet I also seem to remember that she wasn't a totally likeable character either...The white stilettos nicked from the dressing up box stuck in my mind too!

I loved Stranger with My Face, and the idea of astral projection still freaks me out. I still love the Chalet School though I'd imagine I read them when I was younger. We did Under Goliath in school, great book.

Mostly in my teens I read adult books. Jeffrey Archer, Agatha Christie, Dick Francis. Virginia Andrews did the rounds in our school too. Late teens Jilly Cooper. I picked up a Jeffrey Archer recently and couldn't believe how rubbish it was. Read some of the Judy Blume books when my sister had them, so far too young. I remember the Sweet Valley High books too, they were terrible! Though I think the one when the girl ODed made me very wary of drugs.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some really obvious ones.

I loved Judy Blume and Paul Danziger mentioned already, and SE Hinton, The Outsiders, and That was then, This is now (one for the inconsolable crying list).

Does anyone remember Theodore, the mouse who wanted to own a frying pan?

@Buildalegohouse oh aye that's the one!

Lois Duncan! Locked in Time was one of my favourites and I read all her other books too. Was later quite shocked to hear her daughter had been murdered and she'd written a book about her search for the killer.

mirandaWest I still have my copy of Please don’t go. After I’d read it I insisted on being taking to Imhofs, the record store mentioned in the book, on Tottenham Court Road. I have ended up with a lifelong obsession with Jaques Brel!

Dds have also read it!

Yes to Sue Barton and Malcolm Savile. I tried to find copies when my DD was younger but no luck.

I also loved books by Ruth M Arthur and A A Townsend, but again haven't found any in print now.

I loved Break in the Sun too nevernotstruggling. Still got my original falling apart paperback copy. The TV series from 1981 is on YouTube and worth a watch, though not a patch on the book. Nicola Cowper played Patsy - she later played the girl in S.W.A.L.K. if anyone remembers that.

NothingIsWrong I remember How Green You Are. There was a story featuring a rabid monkey which terrified me. Also I remember a description of a gunged up ball of hoarded boiled sweets which I found peculiarly disgusting. I wish I still had my copy.

A Candle in her Room by Ruth Arthur. With lovely illustrations, line drawings. All of her books, hard to find nowadays, about lonely teenage girls, witchcraft, wild places, awkward families with shy characters.

@Seeline crossposted.

@amyspickledlime yes I remember that book but not the authors name.

MaybeDoctor The older sister, Katherine, had won a scholarship to a private school, where as you say, she was isolated by her snobby classmates. I agree, not a totally likeable character - she was quite nasty to her sister, Nicola, on occasion, treated her mum with barely disguised contempt and sneered at her boyfriend's low-brow tastes. I thought she was amazing when I was 13 though!

Mummyeyes It's by Jacqueline Wilson. Back in the early 80s when she wasn't a household name, she seemed to write mainly for teenagers. I've never read any of her more recent books for younger readers, though I know she is wildly popular now

I remember reading at least one book by Jacqueline Wilson before she became popular.

A book I loved was Falling into Glory by Robert Westall (who also wrote the Machine Gunners)

I haven't read Falling into Glory but I really enjoyed the Machine Gunners and even more, its sequel Fathom Five, which was very dark.

The L shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
Mary Stewart
Rumour Godden
I remember the flowers in the attic books but never read them. I was way ahead of my reading age and read all sorts but they were one of the few books my mum actually stopped me from reading. Years later I looked at them and can see why.

I read the L shaped room and its two sequels. Think the L shaped room was best.

I also read another book by her - think it was called One more river about a Jewish girl and her family who went to live on a kibbutz and she ended up becoming friendly with an Arab boy.

I did read a lot then. I wonder if there had been phones then how different things might have been.

@nevernotstruggling I LOVED the 'Making Out' series by Katherine Applegate about the island. Zoe, Jake, Nina, Ben, Claire, Christopher, Aisha, Lucas... Ah, old friends.

Loved Judy Blume and Paula Danziger.

Summer of my German Soldier... heartbreaking.

Lynn Reid Banks - I read the L Shaped Room in my teens and as an adult I read Two is Lonely but for some reason I have never read the middle one. I really enjoyed An End to Running but I was about 20 the first time I read that.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes was a book I first read when I was about 13 and which made a deep impression on me.

From the age of about 10 I read a happy mix of adult and children's books - and still do now!

@MirandaWest

Read it! The girl on the kibbutz and its sequel. Lynne Reid Banks also did The Indian In The Cupboard series!