well, i did eventually - and went with the king.
but, i just finished grade two, here, and i'm consequently somewhat at the mercy of the adults around me. i was frequently gifted books, and i read most of them. nobody reads every book their grandmother gives them...
but, i'm just googling "tween books from the 80s", and it's predictably a bunch of pornographic smut. i wouldn't have gone anywhere near that stuff.
the one thing i remember trying out briefly was rl stine, but i decided pretty quickly that i was well beyond it. there was a tv show with goosebumps adaptations, but it didn't have the character depth of a king novel, which was a big part of what i liked about reading king. the attempt to get into the head of a rabid dog, or a kid that can't stop themselves from lighting things on fire...that's what kept me coming back, rather than the plotlines, exactly. and, again - i expect to realize the criticisms of king, but there was still a giant gulf between these king texts, which were written for less educated adults, and these stine texts, which were fully intended to be kids' books.
i never really liked being a kid...
so, i mean, that's my answer - i quickly deduced that all of the texts being marketed to me as "young adult" were just empty, pornographic trash. and, i'd hold to that view now, too. i wanted something more substantive than that...
