having reacquainted myself with the yp section of sengkang library i take back what i said about how yp fiction has lost its appeal. i'm going through susan cooper's dark is rising sequence and some of her other books, started on diana wynne jones, read a beverly cleary for teenagers that i hadn't before. oh and also read louis sachar's much-mentioned "holes", which i was always doubtful about despite all the awards it had won (there were always a few newberys that i didn't like) and i wasn't keen on yp fiction that's set in contemporary america. and i'd heard louis sachar on npr once and thought that calling your character stanley yelnats is not cool, just contrived, and possibly taking a dislike to the man then. so, surprisingly, i enjoyed it very much. and think people would too.