Hey YA fans!
This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Defy The Stars by Claudia Gray.
She’s a soldier.
He’s a machine.
Enemies in an interstellar war, they are forced to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true.
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Let’s take today and catch up with the world of YA news. Find packed in here some of the recent film announcements, book lists, and more happening in the world of young adult lit.
Before settling in though, I wanted to mention that we launched our rad new Book Riot Insiders program last week. Insiders gives you exclusive content and access to rad book-related news, features, and more. (& for those who go Epic, you’ll get access to an exclusive monthly YA-related book chat session with me via the Insiders forum!). Check it out!
Onward with news!
- The New York Times highlights recent YA books that explore Black Lives Matter. Nice to see books like The Hate U Give getting such high profile coverage.
- This list at Bustle of 11 YA books you likely haven’t read is not only terribly white but so weird I had to share it here. Most of these are either award-winning books (!) or they’re books that have been adapted. I’m not sure this is where I’d start with “books you likely haven’t read in YA.”
- Cara Delevigne apparently wrote a YA novel. With another author. No word on whether it’ll get a US publication.
- And I’ll say this is an ambitious undertaking to rank the top YA novels of all time, especially when maybe fewer than half of these titles are actually YA titles. Also, super white.
- I do quite like looking at book lists like this one: contemporary Canadian YA books that Anne Shirley would love.
- Film rights for Labyrinth Lost have been acquired. Good.
- There will be a Buffy YA series coming, written by Kiersten White.
- Jennifer Aniston + Dumplin’…now to ensure we see a fat girl — like a real-world fat girl and not a Hollywood-sized fat girl — as the main character.
- The cover for the sequel to Shadowshaper is everything you could want in a YA book cover.
- Did you know that the movie Mean Girls is being adapted into a YA novel? It makes sense, and more, that Micol Ostow is the author makes me pretty optimistic.
- More casting news for the adaptation of The Darkest Minds.
- The YA novel Zac & Mia is going to become a scripted series. This announcement is a little confusing to parse, but I believe this will be a streaming-based adaptation.
- More casting news relating to the adaptation of Daniel Waters’s Break My Heart 1000 Times.
- A look at the books — across all age categories — being released this year by former Printz honorees and winners. I love this.
- Willow Smith wrote a YA book…and also wants to produce Rebel in the Sands. This is one heck of an announcement.
- In the mood for a YA novel in verse? I rounded up a pile of recent and forthcoming titles at STACKED.
- A major movie and YA book announcement/deal — it’s a West African fantasy.
- While this list isn’t 100% YA, it’s a nice list of books that lift up immigrant voices.
- And, to round out this list of YA links of interest, a look at YA books for activists-in-training. It’s not all YA books, but I’m letting that slide because it’s a solid list.
Thanks for hanging again this week. We’ll be back in your inbox next Monday with even more great YA talk.
currently reading Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Lemon