Hey YA Readers!
This week’s “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant.
Inspired by the real psychology study popularized by the New York Times and its “Modern Love” column, this contemporary YA is full of humor and heart. It explores the interactions between Hildy and Paul, two random strangers in a university psychology study, when they ask each other the 36 questions that are engineered to make them fall in love. Told in the language of modern romance–texting, Q&A, IM–and punctuated by Paul’s sketches, this clever high-concept YA will leave you searching for your own stranger to ask the 36 questions. Maybe you’ll even fall in love.
The end of October is here, and what better way to spend some time than by catching up on recent YA talk while enjoying sweet Halloween treats.
- Snow White retellings, YA style, in honor of its 80s birthday this year.
- Excellent quotes from John Green’s latest book. Oh, and here’s a Nerdfighter on reading the book.
- 12 of your favorite YA retellings of myths and legends.
- A look at the masterminds behind Rainbow Boxes, Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy, and their initiative to get queer books into the hands of young readers.
- A Harry Potter mug for you. A Harry Potter mug for you. And a Harry Potter mug for you.
- What do you think about these YA adaptations getting a redo?
- 13 YA books featuring bisexual boys.
- A rainbow of queer YA reads.
- Solid middle grade and YA comic book novelizations.
- YA verse novels written by black authors.
- Scary reads for YA fans.
- Recently released and forthcoming bisexual YA.
- 20 great YA books for older teens who are reluctant readers.
- A look at the (very few) YA novels set in Puerto Rico.
- Some YA reads about outcasts.
- YA books featuring asexual characters and whether or not you should pick ’em up.
- And finally, your teeny tiny round-up of YA books hitting shelves through the end of this year.
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I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that we’ve dropped not one, but two, episodes of Hey YA this month. If you love podcasts, then you’ll want to add this one to your podcast player of choice.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the $500 (!!!!!) gift card giveaway to a bookstore of your choice going on.
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Cheap Reads!
Cynthia Hand’s Unearthly, the first in the trilogy, is a mere $2.
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, a fairytale retelling by Jessica Day George, is also $2. If you love this one, her Princess of the Silver Woods is also only $2.
I know I’ve shared this, but it’s worth repeating: Emery Lord’s The Start Of Me and You is $2, and you can never go wrong with Lord’s work.
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Thanks for hanging out this week. We’ll see you again next week for even more YA talk.
–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars