YA Realistic/ Diary/ IM/ Epistolery

Epistolery novels have been around for awhile. These are novels that are written as letters, either between characters or from one side. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary is an example of an epistolery novel. Paula Danziger and Ann M. Martin collaborated on the popular, P.S. Longer Letter Later. In the technology infusion which has made letter-writing a quaint relic from the past, Danziger and Martin created a sequel called, Snail Mail No More.

Novels written as diaries have also gained popularity and the Dear America series and the various spin-offs are very popular but not to be mistaken for real diaries.  

Cabot, Meg	Princess in Love Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo knows she should feel lucky. She's a princess after all. That doesn't stop her nemesis from poking fun at her every time Mia sticks her big foot in her mouth (which is often). She's got a boyfriend and she should be happy, but she is avoiding kissing him because there aren't any sparks. She secretly loves her best friend's older brother which is silly because he is a senior and attached at the hip to Judith and only sees her as his kid sister's best friend. On top of all this angst, she is being drilled to death by her grand mere in preparation for her presentation to the Genovian people over Christmas break.
Goldschmidt, Judy	The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez Seventh grader, Raisin Rodriguez finds herself transplanted from Berkley, California to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when her divorced mother decides to marry the guy who bought her company. Raisin is understandably upset to leave her friends and travel clear across the country to blend families with a guy she's not even sure she likes and start a new school in seventh grade. So she establishes a weblog where she pours her obnoxious heart out to her two best friends. This is a rip-off of the Georgia Nicholson books and not done nearly as well. Even though Georgia is self-centered and obnoxious, somehow, I never worked up any sympathy for Raisin. She and the author were just trying too hard.
Malkin, Nina	6X: The Uncensored Confessions The confessions are supposed to be the "video diaries" of four members of a teen-age rock band on the fast-track to superstardom. The four voices are attractive and interesting and the story is engaging, if somewhat predictable until the last section where surprising plot twists felt like a cold water wake up call. The cliff-hanger ending promises a sequel.
Myracle, Lauren	ttyl ttyl, aka, "talk to you later," is written entirely in Instant Message (IM) text. The pages even imitate a computer screen. Three bffs, Angela, Maddie and Zoe, begin tenth grade vowing that nothing will come between them. However, Angela has boy problems, Maddie has attitude problems and Zoe is about to get in over her head with a young and flirty teacher and everyone has an opinion. Will their friendship survive? Clevery and engaging, but one or more of the characters make some questionable choices.
Rennison, Louise	Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging This book is not for everyone. Boys will not be interested in this book. Girls will definitely love this book. But it can get a bit over the top. I loved this book. I laughed until I cried throughout much of it. It is the diary of fourteen-year-old Georgia. She is one of the most obnoxious, self-centered, cruel teenagers one could imagine. She lives with her mother, father and baby sister somewhere in England. She is completely PRE-occupied with the zits on her face, the size of her nose(among other things), her appearance and boys.
Rennison, Louise	On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God: Further Confessions of Georgia Nicholson Georgia's irreverent diaries continue as she starts dating Robbie (aka the sex god), and worries about a possible move to far off New Zealand among countless other minor and major events in a teenager's life. Not as laugh out loud funny as the first, but Georgia's voice is frank and funny.
Rennison, Louise	Knocked Out by My Nunga Nungas The third installment of the confessions of Georgia Nicholson continues as she is dragged on a vacation to Scotland by her mother and father. How will she ever survive their general dimwittedness?
Rennison, Louise	Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants Georgia's back as opinionated and obnoxious as ever, Angus has impregnated Mr. and Mrs. Next Door's pedigreed cat, the SG is touring and Georgia has dreams of following him on tour. Muti and Vati continue to be annoying and clueless, Libby is not yet potty-trained and still a tyrant. She and the ace gang make a class trip to Paris and Paris survives.
Schindler, Nina	An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries This is a breezy story told in letters, cards, memos, emails, and text messages about a seventeen-year-old Canadian boy named Tim who spots the girl of his dreams on a city street. When she drops an envelop, he assumes that the name and address on it is her and writes to her. The envelop actually belongs to her room-mate, who is amused and intrigued by Tim's audacity and charm. She writes an amusing letter back letting Tim know that she is not the gorgeous girl of his dreams but a plain girl, two years older, working in hotel management training and "practically engaged." Does that deter Tim? There is something in Amelie's letter which intrigues him as well. Interestingly, though this book is set in British Colombia, Canada, it was translated from German by Robert Barrett.
Wittlinger, Ellen	Heart on My Sleeve Told completely in email, IM's, snail mail and postcards, this clever novel works better than the cute but strained, ttyl. It tells the story of Chloe and how complicated her love life gets when she meets Julian at a weekend get-together for prospective freshmen at the college she wishes to attend. She has been dating her best friend forever and loves him, but isn't in love with him. Her best female friend has been dating her bf for four years and assumes they will all get married and have babies and live in the same town together even though the four of them are going to four different colleges. Chloe begins a long-distance email relationship with Justin, plans her summer of camp counseling and asks her big sister for advice. Her big sister has news of her own. The novel is often laugh-out-loud funny and quite satisfying.