Hey YA Readers!
If you’ve been a YA reader for any amount of time, you’ve seen trends come and go in cover design, in genre, and in title structures.
For a while, the one word title was popular and now, that’s pretty rare to see. We’ve had a lot of thorns, thrones, and ashes over the last five or so years, and one of the trends I’ve enjoyed in titles, which is the full name. I prefer knowing, say, the book follows Lara Jean or Margot Sanchez, as opposed to “the girl”–another trend that got its claws in YA following the explosion in popularity for Gone Girl.
Another fun title trend in recent years I’ve been particularly keen on is the full sentence. These are titles that, as you might have guessed, make a complete sentence. They’re memorable for being different, and they stand out because it’s a little unusual to see.
Let’s take a look at a handful of recent YA book titles that form a complete sentence. If you’re in a library or classroom, these would make a really fun display (imagine a display of one word titles paired with a full sentence title). Note that these books include some genre, but the bulk are realistic. I’d love to see this title convention make its way into more fantasy and sci-fi, for sure.
Breathe and Count Back From Ten by Natalia Sylvester
Verónica, who is Peruvian-American, wants to become a professional mermaid. But there are a few hurdles to overcome on the way to that dream. First, her overly protective parents. The next is her painful hip dysplasia.
Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney
Quinn makes lists for everything, so when her journal of lists gets into the wrong hands and the person holding it hostage posts a list to Instagram with a threat to release more if she doesn’t face seven of her greatest fears, she acts. She doesn’t know who to trust, but she teams up with the person she knew had her journal last. Carter helps Quinn face those fears in a race against time. This is a romance so you know things get Complicated With Carter, too.
I Guess I Live Here Now by Claire Ahn (May 24)
Even though she’s always been curious about her Korean heritage, Melody was not prepared to be uprooted from her NYC home following a small school transgression. She and her mom are moving to Seoul to join her father and Melody doesn’t get the chance to say her goodbyes.
The good news is once she arrives in Seoul, it’s amazing. That is…until it isn’t. Now Melody has to figure out how to make the best of her situation, how to understand the challenges her family is dealing with, and what she wants from that relationship with a cute boy she’s met.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston (May 3)
This one is at the top of my TBR, as I’ve heard it called the queer take on Paper Towns.
Chloe has spent the past four years making the best of things at her Alabama Christian High School. Now she’s got her sights on valedictorian. The problem is her fierce rival Shara Wheeler. So when Shara kisses Chloe a month before graduation and vanishes, she leaves a trail of clues that Chloe is determined to follow. She wants to beat Shara, but it may be Shara has beaten her at a whole different game.
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
In 1989 Romania, despite communist regimes falling across the continent, freedom in Romania is still hard to come by. Cristian Florescu dreams of being a writer, but when the dictator’s secret police force him to become an informer, he decides that he’ll use this lot to instead work to undermine the authoritarian regime.
Spies, lies, and a host of little-known history come together in another knockout from Sepetys.
They’ll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman
Ellie and Stella are sisters who are one year apart but worlds apart in terms of personality. One thing they have in common, besides having a talent for cross country running, is they’re not eager about the new girl who has come to town.
But both girls begin to drift toward Mila, despite themselves. They want to be friendly but not too friendly…just enough to ensure they stay one step ahead of her when it comes to running.
But when Mila goes for a run and never comes back, everyone believes the sisters had something to do with her disappearance.
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you on Thursday for your YA book news and new releases for the week.
Until then, happy reading (& sorry if you now are fixated on book title sentences!).
— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.