Author: Kelly Jensen

Hello YA Readers! Let’s talk about YOUR favorite books this year!

We’re giving away a stack of our 20 favorite books of the year. Click here to enter, or just click the image below.

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I’m excited to share what you, the readers of “What’s Up in YA?” have deemed your favorite reads of the year. I’ve combed through the responses and pulled together not a top ten, but instead, a top twelve. Why twelve? Because a number of titles had an equal number of votes, and I’d rather just include them all for the sake of a nice list than to sacrifice them for a shorter one.

Results are alphabetical, and I’ve elected not to include summaries for sake of space. You can click the links to find ‘em.

 

“What’s Up in YA?” Readers Best YA Books for 2017

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Far From The Tree by Robin Benway

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

The Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

The Takedown by Corrie Wang

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

 

The other survey question was about the titles you wish more people would read. Like last year, a number of the responses were repeat titles of your favorite titles — I’m going to rework that question next year since, obviously, we hope more people read our favorite books. I took the above titles out of the results for the next question and pulled together 10 of the titles which had more than a single vote (and none of these had more than four votes). Again, results are alphabetical and you can click through for descriptions.

 

“What’s up in YA?” Reader Shoutout Titles

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by Yee Fung Cheng

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

Thick As Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner (“and the whole series” says one reader)

 

if I may, a trio of more titles worth giving a boost to here as we round out the year in YA reading. At least one of these had been mentioned in the survey:

 

A Short History of The Girl Next Door by Jared Reck — this one made me cry some buckets of tears while also making me cheer. It’s about a boy who discovers how much he loves his neighbor, who he’s grown up with, when she begins dating someone who isn’t him. The story is about love and friendship, but it’s also about growing up and letting go of other people. There’s a nice look at toxic masculinity, and the book features younger teen characters, which is rarer and rarer. Bonus: a short read!

 

Calling My Name by Liara Tamani — if you’re looking for a story about a young black girl’s coming of age in Houston, Texas, and growing up in a religious family, this will be your winner. Lyrical writing and told through vignettes, this will likely resonate with a lot of readers. A quieter book, but not one to be overlooked.

 

 

Like Water by Rebecca Podos — What happens to the kids who don’t flee their small town once graduation happens? This is a book about Vanny, who stays behind in her small New Mexico town to help run her family’s restaurant and help her dad who struggles with a debilitating illness. This one digs into sexuality a lot and in fresh, exciting ways.

 

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Thanks for hanging out today and all year long, YA lovers. We’ll see you again in the new year.

 

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

Hey YA Readers: Time to catch up on the latest and the greatest stuff in the world of young adult literature.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson from Wednesday Books.

Jennifer E. Smith meets The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy in this deliciously nerdy sequel to The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You, inspired this time by The Importance of Being Earnest.

Elliot Gabaroche is packing up her determination, her favorite Octavia Butler novels, and her Jordans, and going to summer camp. Specifically, a cutthroat academic competition for a full scholarship to Rayevich College, the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program. It’s going to be an epic summer.

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Let’s dig into some of the most interesting and noteworthy YA news from the last few weeks. Don’t forget — if you haven’t shared your favorite YA title from 2017, fill out the survey ASAP.

Onto the news!

• Did you know there are not one, but two, YA adaptations being shown at Sundance? I didn’t know Walter Dean Myers’s Monster was happening, either.
• Riveted Lit is doing a “25 days of December” countdown of YA literature, offering up a free YA book each day through the 25th.
• Here are this year’s Morris award short listed titles. These are some of the best debut YA novels of the year — and I agree. Nice to see four out of five being authors of color.
• No surprise here: John Green’s Turtles All The Way Down has some movie news. 
• The first full-length trailer for Love, Simon is out. 
• Mortal Instruments author Cassie Clare is writing a new fantasy series. It’s not a YA series, but might be of interest to YA readers.
• There will be a YA Padme Amadala novel, Star Wars fans!
• The Wrath and The Dawn is getting the big screen treatment.
• I’ve seen the cover of Devils Unto Dust floating around. But since it’s been optioned for film, maybe that’s a sign to find out more about it.
• I’m not one to care too much about cover reveals, but I saw this one for MariNaomi’s first YA novel and had to share both the cover and description. MariNaomi has done a number of comics, so I’m eager for her foray into YA (“foray into YA” would be an awesome title for something).
• Why did a Katy, Texas, school pull The Hate U Give off shelves and skip the normal challenge process? I have some theories.
• Landscape With Invisible Hand by MT Anderson has been optioned for film.
• Gayle Forman has a new YA novel hitting shelves next spring.
• Robin Benway’s Far From The Tree won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. If you haven’t read it, y’all, get on it.
• This piece focuses on the adaptation of middle grade novel Wonder, but the beginning is about the film career of Stephen Chbosky. You may know him as author of The Perks of Being A Wallflower, but he’s made a ton of movies you likely know, too.

 

Cheap Reads!

Load up your ereader with some inexpensive and worthwhile YA.

CJ Redwine’s The Shadow Queen is only $2. Perfect for fantasy readers.

Speaking of fantasy readers, particularly those who like reimagined fairy tales, Robin McKinley’s Beauty is $2.

And those who’d like a contemporary love story, Emma Mills’s First & Then is $3.

 

Thanks for hanging out this week, and we’ll see you back here next Monday. We’ll reveal the top 2017 YA reads from “What’s Up in YA?” readers, as well as the titles they wish had seen more love this year (and we’ll shower that love!). Add your voice to the survey before Wednesday, December 13.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

Good Monday, YA Lovers: let’s mix things up a bit and talk about movies today!

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Renegades by Marissa Meyer.

Secret Identities.

Extraordinary Powers.

She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone . . . except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to the villains who have the power to end them both.

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Before diving into that, though, it’s time to announce the annual “What’s Up in YA?” reader favorites survey. Between now and December 13, drop your favorite 2017 YA book into this short survey. We’ll tally up the books brought up and share our reader favorites at the end of the month. The fine print is simple: the book has to have been originally published in 2017 and has to have been published for the YA reader. And because I love an underdog, in addition to sharing your favorite read of this year, let’s talk about the books we wish had seen more attention and deserve a little shout out. Click here to take part!

Have you been itching to do a little movie watching but are unsure what you should check out? Over the long holiday weekend, I took a few hours to catch up on some of the latest titles on the screen and found two which would make for excellent viewing for those who love YA.

Lady Bird, which currently has the highest positive review rating on Rotten Tomatoes ever, should be a must-see for those who love YA stories. The film, which isn’t about Lady Bird Johnson, but rather a 17-year-old teen girl who prefers to be called Lady Bird over her real name, is a coming-of-age that takes place over the course of a single year. Lady Bird hates living in Sacramento, and she hates being one of the poor kids. She and her best friend, both who attend a parochial school on scholarship, spend their days imagining what it must be like to be rich, and Lady Bird — unwilling to settle with a life in Sacramento after high school — dreams of heading to the East Coast and reinventing herself.

What sings in the movie, though, is the relationship Lady Bird has with her mother. Lady Bird, who is played by Saoirse Ronano, and Laurie Metcalf, who plays the mother, have it out time and time again with one another. As a viewer, we’re privy to both sides of the story: we know Lady Bird acts the way she does because she wants so much more for her life and feels confined and we know that her mother pushes back because she, too, wants so much more for her daughter and knows the sort of work it will take for her to reach those goals.

By turns funny and heartbreaking, Lady Bird is one of those movies that really shows the sorts of stories which can be told from a really simple concept. This one explores social class, it showcases family struggles, and though it’s not at the center of the story, race is explored through Lady Bird’s brother. There’s also powerful stuff here about ageism, particularly when it comes to Lady Bird’s dad losing his job and attempting to find a new career.

Another movie worth checking out, which perhaps hasn’t seen the same sort of publicity that Lady Bird has, is My Friend Dahmer. This is the adaptation of Derf Backderf’s graphic memoir of the same name. The book was named a 2013 Great Graphic Novel for Teens, as well as an Alex Award winner, which is given to books originally published for the adult market but with great appeal to YA readers.

Backderf’s story follows growing up with legendary serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. While the book focuses a bit more on the outsider perspective — it would, given that it’s about Backderf’s interactions with Dahmer — the film shifts slightly to give more time and attention to Dahmer. The focus is on Dahmer’s later years in high school, ending right before he pursues his first victim.

As viewers, we see a lot of the challenges Dahmer faced growing up, while also being shown the side of his story which isn’t sympathetic. Those who know the killer’s story know he was known for torturing animals, and the film doesn’t shy away from showing those things; that’s a warning for viewers, though much more is insinuated than given graphic representation.

My Friend Dahmer is an uncomfortable film, but that’s intentional. The look at Dahmer’s life in those late high school years is a look at the argument we’ll never have a resolution to: is it nature or nurture which causes a person to be who they are and do what they do?

Both Lady Bird and My Friend Dahmer are in theaters now. And if you haven’t read Backderf’s graphic memoir My Friend Dahmer, you should.

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For those who want to do a little YA-friendly movie watching from the comforts of home, here’s a quick round-up of the YA adaptations and those films with huge YA appeal which have come out this year. You should be able to snag ‘em wherever you prefer to buy or borrow movies.

• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Slattery
• Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
• The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

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Thanks for hanging out this week. We’ll see you again next Monday, and in the meantime, don’t forget to drop your favorite 2017 reads into the survey!

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

Hey YA Readers: Let’s catch up on some of the latest in book talk over on Book Riot.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi.

Debut author Tochi Onyebuchi delivers an unforgettable fantasy adventure that explores the meaning of justice and guilt. Packed with dark magic and thrilling action, Beasts Made of Night is a gritty fantasy perfect for fans of Paolo Bacigalupi and Nnedi Okorafor. In the city of Kos, corrupt mages magically call forth sin from sinners in the form of sin-beasts—lethal creatures spawned from feelings of guilt. Taj is a talented aki, young sin-eaters indentured to slay sin-beasts. When Taj is called to eat a member of the royal family’s sin, he’s thrust into a dark conspiracy to destroy Kos.

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As you’re picking yourself back up after the holiday nosh fest (or not!), why not build yourself an epic to-be-read list, courtesy of some recent YA book talk?

You’re welcome!

• We’re going to go ahead and start with the trailer for A Wrinkle in Time. I know it’s more middle grade than YA, but it’s worth a share.
• 5 YA fiction and nonfiction pairings. As a nonfiction fan, I LOVE posts like this.
• YA books featuring coffee covers.
• For the readers who can’t get enough Hallmark Christmas movies and want to read YA books with the same kind of vibe.
• How about some YA poetry collections?
• Why the “male savior” narrative in YA has got to go.
• Want to read like John Green? Here are 99 books he’s recommended. It’s nice to see he’s taken the memo about the importance of inclusivity to heart over the last few years.
• LOL with these funny YA books.
• Excellent Asian Canadian and Asian American YA reads.
• The power of angry girls in YA lit.
• Can you correctly identify each of these lines as either a line from a YA novel or a lyric from a late 90s/early 00s radio hit?
• 15 books that teens are recommending right now. Teen reading habits are some of my favorite!
• Sweet YA covers featuring teens of color hitting shelves in 2018.
• A look behind the scenes at how a YA book cover is made. Check out the story of The Wicker King.
• 15 YA adaptations of best selling adult nonfiction. I’ve found so many young reader adaptations to be really great lately, so I’m adding a ton of these to my own to-read.

 

Book Deal O’Clock…

Why not fill up your ereader with some cheap YA books? Here are a few worth looking into:

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthirst is $2, and I’ve read so many rave reviews of this one that I’m going to need to pick it up.

Megan Miranda’s Hysteria is $2. Thriller fans, it’s for you.

Kristen Simmons’s Article 5 (as well as the rest of the trilogy!) are $3 each.

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Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you back here next week!

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

Hey YA Readers! Time to bulk up your TBR for the upcoming holiday season.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi from Penguin.

Our story begins on a frosty night . . .

Laylee can barely remember the happier times before her beloved mother died. Before her father, driven by grief, lost his wits (and his way) and she was left as the sole remaining mordeshoor in the village of Whichwood, destined to spend her days scrubbing the skins and souls of the dead in preparation for the afterlife.

But soon, a pair of familiar strangers appear, and Laylee’s world is turned upside down as she rediscovers color, magic, and the healing power of friendship.

Lush and enchanting, critically-acclaimed author Tahereh Mafi weaves together an all-new magical adventure in this dark, Persian fantasy, a companion to the New York Times bestselling Furthermore.

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As this newsletter hits inboxes, many will be frantically preparing for big Thanksgiving meals and many more will be hoping to hide away with a good book to survive those meals. And for non-US readers, well, of course there’s no wrong time to keep bulking up the TBR.

Every year it seems that the books which release in November and December get short shrift when it comes to hitting people’s radars. The “Best Of” lists release around this time, and people are busy making their lists of titles to look forward to in the new year.

But let’s take this week to highlight six books hitting shelves these last two months of 2017 which you may not have heard about but should (I didn’t include books like The Speaker or Renegades or Rosemarked or Retribution Rails below, but…I guess I just included them here!).

Descriptions come from Goodreads. I’ve included pub dates next to the titles not quite available yet.

 

The Closest I’ve Come by Fred Aceves

Marcos Rivas wants to find love.

He’s sure as hell not getting it at home, where his mom’s racist boyfriend beats him up. Or from his boys, who aren’t exactly the “hug it out” type. Marcos yearns for love, a working cell phone, and maybe a pair of sneakers that aren’t falling apart. But more than anything, Marcos wants to get out of Maesta, his hood—which seems impossible.

When Marcos is placed in a new after-school program for troubled teens with potential, he meets Zach, a theater geek whose life seems great on the surface, and Amy, a punk girl who doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. These new friendships inspire Marcos to open up to his Maesta crew, too, and along the way, Marcos starts to think more about his future and what he has to fight for. Marcos ultimately learns that bravery isn’t about acting tough and being macho; it’s about being true to yourself.

Devil in Ohio by Daria Polatin

When fifteen-year-old Jules Mathis comes home from school to find a strange girl, her mother explains that Mae is one of her patients at the hospital and will be staying with their family for a few days. But shortly after, Mae is wearing Jules’ clothes, sleeping in her bedroom, edging her out of her position on the school paper, and kissing Jules’s crush. Then things get weird.

Jules walks in on a half-dressed Mae, she’s startled to see a pentagram carved into her back. Soon white roses start turning up on the front porch, a rabid dog bites one of Jules’ sisters, and Jules’ parents, who never fight, start arguing behind closed doors.

Jules pieces clues together and discovers that Mae may be a survivor of the strange cult that has taken over a nearby town. And they will stop at nothing to get Mae back.

 

Here, There, Everywhere by Julia Durango and Tyler Terrones (December 19)

Zeus would rather be anywhere than here—Buffalo Falls—the tiny town his family moved to at the end of the school year. Having left all his friends back in Chicago and with nothing to look forward to except helping out at his mother’s café and biking around town with his weird little brother, Zeus is pretty sure this is destined to be the worst summer of his life.

But then he meets Rose—funny, beautiful, smart, and an incredible musician.

Zeus can hardly believe that someone like her exists, let alone seems interested in being with him. However, while Zeus is counting down the minutes until he can see her next, Rose is counting down the days until she finds out whether she will be able to leave their small town to pursue her dreams. As the afternoons spent going on local adventures pass into nights discussing their deepest hopes, Zeus knows that he doesn’t have long to convince Rose that what they have is more than a summer fling…if only he’s brave enough to seize the chance.

Shadow Girl by Liana Liu (December 19)

The house on Arrow Island is full of mystery.

Yet when Mei arrives, she can’t help feeling relieved. She’s happy to spend the summer in an actual mansion tutoring a rich man’s daughter if it means a break from her normal life—her needy mother, her delinquent brother, their tiny apartment in the city. And Ella Morison seems like an easy charge, sweet and well behaved.

What Mei doesn’t know is that something is very wrong in the Morison household.

Though she tries to focus on her duties, Mei becomes increasingly distracted by the family’s problems and her own complicated feelings for Ella’s brother, Henry. But most disturbing of all are the unexplained noises she hears at night—the howling and thumping and cries.

Mei is a sensible girl. She isn’t superstitious; she doesn’t believe in ghosts. Yet she can’t shake her fear that there is danger lurking in the shadows of this beautiful house, a darkness that could destroy the family inside and out… and Mei along with them.

Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles edited by Natalie C. Parker (December 19)

In this collection, edited by Natalie C. Parker, some of your favorite YA authors tackle the much-debated trope of the love triangle, and the result is sixteen fresh, diverse, and romantic stories you don’t want to miss.

A teen girl who offers kissing lessons. Zombies in the Civil War South. The girl next door, the boy who loves her, and the girl who loves them both. Vampires at a boarding school. Three teens fighting monsters in an abandoned video rental store. Literally the last three people on the planet.

What do all these stories have in common?

The love triangle.

You may think you know the love triangle, but you’ve never seen love triangles like these.

Victoria: Portrait of a Queen by Catherine Reef

Victoria woke one morning at the age of eighteen to discover that her uncle had died and she was now queen. She went on to rule for sixty-three years, with an influence so far-reaching that the decades of her reign now bear her name—the Victorian period. Victoria is filled with the exciting comings and goings of royal life: intrigue and innuendo, scheming advisors, and assassination attempts, not to mention plenty of passion and discord. Includes bibliography, notes, British royal family tree, index.

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Splurge on Cheap YA Reads…

Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice is a mere $2.

Ever The Hunted by Erin Summerill — which has a sequel out in early December — is $2.

Haven’t yet read Terry Pratchett’s standalone YA title Nation? $2 will solve that.

 

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Thanks for hanging out again. We’ll see you next week with a big, delicious link round-up of all the recent YA talk.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

 

PS! Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win $500 at the bookstore of your choice. This is the last week to enter, and you don’t want to be sad you didn’t try. 

Hey YA Readers: It’s News O’Clock!

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew

Nazi England, 2014. Jessika Keller is a good girl — a champion ice skater, model student of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, and dutiful daughter of the Greater German Reich. Her best friend, Clementine, is not so submissive. Passionately different, Clem is outspoken, dangerous, and radical. And the regime has noticed. Jess cannot keep both her perfect life and her dearest friend, her first love. But which can she live without? Haunting, intricate, and unforgettable, The Big Lie unflinchingly interrogates perceptions of revolution, feminism, sexuality, and protest. Back matter includes historical notes from the author discussing her reasons for writing an “alt-history” story and the power of speculative fiction.

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Tons of interesting news to share this week from the world of YA.

• Daniel José Older is writing a Star Wars book!
• I’ve not watched the Carmella web series, but I have seen so much about it on Tumblr that it’s been on my radar. If you don’t know anything about this lesbian vampire story, read this piece and then get excited there’s a YA book coming.
• How YA lit is leading the queer disabled media revolution. Yes!
• Someday, I swear, I am going to write a piece about all of the YA tie-in novels that came out in the 80s and 90s because there are some great ones. How about the Halloween franchise in YA form? It happened.
• I haven’t read The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis (a nonfiction giant!) but the animation based on the book just won a huge honor.
• “Lois Duncan’s Down a Dark Hall is an expertly executed parable of the terror of teenage girlhood, when adults simply don’t understand and refuse to listen and the most valuable thing about you is your unspoiled youth and your easily influenced mind.”
• The CILIP Carnegie Medal finalists have been nominated. I love seeing what gets a nice nod across the pond.
• Then here are some of the nominees for one of Ireland’s biggest young adult prizes.
• And let’s round award talk out with this year’s Governor General’s Literary Award titles from Canada.
• Did you see the teaser trailer for the adaptation of Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (now Love, Simon)?
• This is a small note in a larger piece but Diane Guerrero is writing a YA book! Her memoir was such a fabulous crossover read that this can only be good.
• How about some magical romance?
• Nutmeg is a comic described as the Breaking Bad YA comic you didn’t know you needed. Never heard of it, but I suspect it’ll be something up so many reader alleys!
• What do you think about the YA titles which made the list Goodreads put together of favorite horror reads? NGL: that there’s no Daniel Kraus is a surprise and disappointment.
• Survive The Night is getting an adaptation by…Pharrell and Tracy Oliver.
• Jenni Konner and Lena Dunham are teaming up to bring E. Lockhart’s recent Genuine Fraud to the big screen (I’ll be over here continuing to rally for an adaptation of Frankie Landau Banks).
• A fabulous profile of badass 12-year-old Marley Dias. Don’t know Dias and her killer work bringing awareness to black girl books? Fix that.
• And finally, bookmark this! Emily XR Pan and Nova Ren Suma are bringing a serial YA anthology to an internet screen near you. I’m so stoked for more YA short fiction and in a way that’s super accessible.

Y’all, did you see the amazing giveaway we have going on right now? If you’ve ever wanted to drop $500 at your favorite bookstore, then you need to enter.

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Cheap Reads…

Build up your YA collections with these inexpensive, but fabulous, reads.

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst is $2 and I’ve heard nothing but great things about this queer fantasy romance.

Heidi Heilig’s The Girl From Everywhere sails in at $2. Time travel!

And one of my all! time! favorite! YA! reads! is $3 this month. Pick up Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero.

 

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Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you back here next week for even more YA talk. Itching for more YA talk before then? Make sure you tune in to Hey YA, our biweekly YA podcast, hosted by me and Eric Smith.

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

 

Good Monday, YA Friends: It’s reading season!

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Last Chance by Gregg Hurwitz.

An alien threat has transformed everyone over the age of eighteen into ferocious, zombie-like beings, and Chance and Patrick are humanity’s only hope for salvation in Last Chance, the second book in Gregg Hurwitz’s thrilling The Rains Brothers series. Don’t miss the continuation of the tale Ridley Pearson called “all-too-creepy-and-believable…. Chilling!”

 

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Let’s kick off our foray into the month of November with a round-up of YA books in honor of Native American Heritage Month. This list includes both authors who identify as Native American, as well as books where the main character is Native. Titles in the first category don’t always include a Native main character. For books which fall in the second category, I’ve done what I can to ensure that the titles noted are among the strongest representations. For readers who are curious about and want to know more about Native American representation in youth literature, I recommend spending some time at Debbie Reese’s American Indians in Children’s Literature blog.

All descriptions below are from Goodreads.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Sherman is Spokane-Coeur d’Alene)

Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

 

After The Fall by Kate Hart (Kate is a member of the Chickasaw Nation)

Seventeen-year-old Raychel is sleeping with two boys: her overachieving best friend Matt…and his slacker brother, Andrew. Raychel sneaks into Matt’s bed after nightmares, but nothing ever happens. He doesn’t even seem to realize she’s a girl, except when he decides she needs rescuing. But Raychel doesn’t want to be his girl anyway. She just needs his support as she deals with the classmate who assaulted her, the constant threat of her family’s eviction, and the dream of college slipping quickly out of reach. Matt tries to help, but he doesn’t really get it… and he’d never understand why she’s fallen into a secret relationship with his brother. The friendships are a precarious balance, and when tragedy strikes, everything falls apart. Raychel has to decide which pieces she can pick up – and which ones are worth putting back together.

If you haven’t, check out my interview with Kate from earlier this year.

Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend by Erika T Wurth (Erika is Apache/Chicasaw/Cherokee)

Margaritte is a sharp-tongued, drug-dealing, sixteen-year-old Native American floundering in a Colorado town crippled by poverty, unemployment, and drug abuse. She hates the burnout, futureless kids surrounding her and dreams that she and her unreliable new boyfriend can move far beyond the bright lights of Denver that float on the horizon before the daily suffocation of teen pregnancy eats her alive.

 

Feral Nights (series) by Cynthia Leitich-Smith (Cynthia is Muscogee Creek Nation)

When Yoshi, a sexy, free-spirited werecat, tracks his big sister, Ruby, to Austin, he discovers that she’s not only MIA; she’s also the key suspect in a murder investigation. Meanwhile, sarcastic werepossum Clyde and his human pal Aimee have set out to do a little detective work of their own, sworn to avenge the brutal killing of a friend.

When all three are snared in an underground kidnapping ring, they end up on a remote tropical island ruled by an unusual (even by shape-shifter standards) species. The island harbors a grim secret, and were-predator and were-prey must join forces in a fight to escape alive.

 

House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle (Tim is Choctaw)

“The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville.” Thus begins Rose Goode’s story of her growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Skullyville, a once-thriving Choctaw community, was destroyed by land-grabbers, culminating in the arson on New Year’s Eve, 1896, of New Hope Academy for Girls. Twenty Choctaw girls died, but Rose escaped. She is blessed by the presence of her grandmother Pokoni and her grandfather Amafo, both respected elders who understand the old ways. Soon after the fire, the white sheriff beats Amafo in front of the town’s people, humiliating him. Instead of asking the Choctaw community to avenge the beating, her grandfather decides to follow the path of forgiveness. And so unwinds this tale of mystery, Indian-style magical realism, and deep wisdom. It’s a world where backwoods spiritualism and Bible-thumping Christianity mix with bad guys; a one-legged woman shop-keeper, her oaf of a husband, herbal potions, and shape-shifting panthers rendering justice. Tim Tingle—a scholar of his nation’s language, culture, and spirituality—tells Rose’s story of good and evil with understanding and even laugh-out-loud Choctaw humor.

 

If I Ever Get Out Of Here by Eric Gansworth (Eric is a member of Onondaga Nation)

Lewis “Shoe” Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he’s not used to is white people being nice to him — people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family’s poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan’s side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis’s home — will he still be his friend?

 

Killer of Enemies (series) by Joseph Bruchac (Joseph is Abenaki)

Years ago, seventeen-year-old Apache hunter Lozen and her family lived in a world of haves and have-nots. There were the Ones — people so augmented with technology and genetic enhancements that they were barely human — and there was everyone else who served them. Then the Cloud came, and everything changed. Tech stopped working. The world plunged back into a new steam age. The Ones’ pets — genetically engineered monsters — turned on them and are now loose on the world.

Lozen was not one of the lucky ones pre-C, but fate has given her a unique set of survival skills and magical abilities. She hunts monsters for the Ones who survived the apocalyptic events of the Cloud, which ensures the safety of her kidnapped family. But with every monster she takes down, Lozen’s powers grow, and she connects those powers to an ancient legend of her people. It soon becomes clear to Lozen that she is not just a hired gun. As the legendary Killer of Enemies was in the ancient days of the Apache people, Lozen is meant to be a more than a hunter. Lozen is meant to be a hero.

 

Lightfinder by Aaron Paquette (Aaron is Cree)

Aisling is a young Cree woman who sets out into the wilderness with her Kokum (grandmother), Aunty and two young men she barely knows. They have to find and rescue her runaway younger brother, Eric. Along the way she learns that the legends of her people might be real and that she has a growing power of her own.

The story follows the paths of Aisling and Eric, siblings unwittingly thrust into a millennia old struggle for the future of life on earth. It deals with growing up, love and loss, and the choices life puts in our path. Love and confusion are in store, as are loss and pain. Things are not always what they seem and danger surrounds them at every turn.

Will Raven”s mysterious purposes prevail? With darkness closing in how will they find the light to guide them? Will Aisling find Eric in time?

 

My Name Is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson (Debby is not Native, but her husband is Inupiaq)

Luke knows his I’nupiaq name is full of sounds white people can’t say. He knows he’ll have to leave it behind when he and his brothers are sent to boarding school hundreds of miles from their Arctic village. At Sacred Heart School things are different. Instead of family, there are students — Eskimo, Indian, White — who line up on different sides of the cafeteria like there’s some kind of war going on. And instead of comforting words like tutu and maktak, there’s English. Speaking I’nupiaq — or any native language — is forbidden. And Father Mullen, whose fury is like a force of nature, is ready to slap down those who disobey. Luke struggles to survive at Sacred Heart. But he’s not the only one. There’s smart-aleck Amiq, a daring leader — if he doesn’t self destruct; Chickie, blond and freckled, a different kind of outsider; and small quiet Junior, noticing everything and writing it all down. Each has their own story to tell. But once their separate stories come together, things at Sacred Heart School — and in the wider world — will never be the same.

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Cheap Reads!

Snap up some great YA without dropping a ton of bones:

Skin by Donna Jo Napoli, who is one of those YA authors you’ve seen a million books by but haven’t picked up yet. Here you go. $1.

ME Kerr is another author you’ve seen books by but haven’t tried yet. Give If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? a spin for $1.

Begin a mystery series for $1 with Steven James’s Blur.

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Thanks for hanging out again this week, and we’ll see you again next Monday for a round-up of the latest happenings in the YA world. In the mean time, get your read on and if you haven’t yet, tune into the latest episode of Hey YA, where Eric and I talk about LGBTQ YA, new trends we’re seeing, and the hilarious AOL Instant Messenger names of favorite YA authors.

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

 

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.

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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

Hey YA Readers!

This week’s “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by TAPROOT and ROAR Comics.

A Haunting Love Story

Blue is having a hard time moving on. He’s in love with his best friend, Hamal. But Blue’s also dead. Luckily, Hamal can see ghosts, leaving Blue free to haunt him to his heart’s content. But something eerie is happening in town, leaving the local afterlife unsettled. When Blue realizes Hamal’s strange ability may put him in danger, Blue has to find a way to protect him, even if it means… leaving him.

An Original Graphic Novel from Roar Comics!

Written & Illustrated by: Keezy Young

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About a year ago, I wrote a post called “where’s the love for nonfiction for young readers?” and it’s a post I keep coming back to. I obviously have a bit of a personal interest in this because it’s the arena in YA where I’ve published but I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about it from the standpoint of knowing how much teens love nonfiction and how little time is dedicated to highlighting the books written for YA readers in nonfiction.

This year’s National Book Award finalists in Young People’s Literature lacked a single nonfiction title. Much of the buzz around Printz-worthy YA this year — one of the highest honors for YA books, as bestowed by librarians — has failed to name a single nonfiction title, either. Are we having a drought this year?

I don’t think we are.

So today, here’s a look at a few of this year’s excellent YA nonfiction. I’ve not read them all quite yet, but I am looking forward to many of the ones I haven’t yet picked up. Grab one or many of these titles next time you’re looking for a good read and spend a little time getting to know a whole new world of YA.

 

Alexander Hamilton, Revolutionary by Martha Brockenbrough

Discover the incredible true story behind the Tony Award-winning musical – Hamilton’s early years in the Caribbean; his involvement in the Revolutionary War; and his groundbreaking role in government, which still shapes American government today. Easy to follow, this gripping account of a founding father and American icon features illustrations, maps, timelines, infographics, and additional information ranging from Hamilton’s own writings to facts about fashion, music, etiquette and custom of the times, including best historical insults and the etiquette of duels.

 

Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and The Invention of Modern Journalism by Marc Aronson

Robert Capa and Gerda Taro were young Jewish refugees, idealistic and in love. As photographers, they set off to capture their generation’s most important struggle—the fight against Fascism. Among the first to depict modern warfare, Capa and Taro took powerful photographs of the Spanish Civil War that went straight from the devastation to news magazines. In so doing, they helped give birth to the idea of “bearing witness” through technology to bring home tragedies from across the world.

 

How Dare The Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child by Sandra Uwiringiyimana

This profoundly moving memoir is the remarkable and inspiring true story of Sandra Uwiringyimana, a girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who tells the tale of how she survived a massacre, immigrated to America, and overcame her trauma through art and activism.

 

Obsessed: My Life With OCD by Allison Britz

A brave teen recounts her debilitating struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder—and brings readers through every painful step as she finds her way to the other side—in this powerful and inspiring memoir.

 

 

Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed The World by Sarah Prager

World history has been made by countless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals—and you’ve never heard of many of them. Queer author and activist Sarah Prager delves deep into the lives of 23 people who fought, created, and loved on their own terms. From high-profile figures like Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt to the trailblazing gender-ambiguous Queen of Sweden and a bisexual blues singer who didn’t make it into your history books, these astonishing true stories uncover a rich queer heritage that encompasses every culture, in every era.

 

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

Jim Thorpe: super athlete, Olympic gold medalist, Native American.

Pop Warner: indomitable coach, football mastermind, Ivy League grad.

Before these men became legends, they met in 1907 at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, where they forged one of the winningest teams in the history of America’s favorite sport. Called “the team that invented football,” Carlisle’s innovative squad challenged the greatest, most elite teams—Harvard, Yale, Army—audaciously vowing to take their place among the nation’s football powers.

This is an astonishing underdog sports story—and more. It’s an unflinching look at the U.S. government’s violent persecution of Native Americans and the school that was designed to erase Indian cultures. It’s the story of a group of young men who came together at that school, the overwhelming obstacles they faced both on and off the field, and their absolute refusal to accept defeat.

Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman

The deep and enduring friendship between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh shaped both brothers’ lives. Confidant, champion, sympathizer, friend, Theo supported Vincent as he struggled to find his path in life. They shared everything, swapping stories of lovers and friends, successes and disappointments, dreams and ambitions. Meticulously researched, drawing on the 658 letters Vincent wrote to Theo during his lifetime, Deborah Heiligman weaves a tale of two lives intertwined and the love of the Van Gogh brothers.

 

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World came out earlier this year, too, wherein 44 voices ranging from artists to musicians to celebrities and more share their take on what feminism is.

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Cheap Reads!

Snap up Brigid Kemmerer’s Letters to the Lost for $1.99 if you’re a romance lover.

$1.99 gets you Shannon Hale’s classic Book of a Thousand Days, perfect for fans of fairy tale retellings.

And pick up the $1.99 edition of Soulprint by Megan Miranda if you are itching for a thriller.

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Also, did you know we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice? Now you do, and here’s where you can enter.

 

Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you next week!

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

Good Monday, YA Readers!

What’s Up in YA? is sponsored this week by Earth Hates Me: True Confessions from a Teenage Girl by Ruby Karp.

Earth Hates Me presents a look inside the mind of the modern teenager–from a modern teenager’s perspective. The Sixteen-year-old author addresses issues facing every highschooler, from grades to peer pressure to Snapchat stories, and their complicated effects on the teen psyche.

Ruby advises her peers on the importance of feminism (“not just the Spice Girls version”), dealing with jealousy and friend break-ups, family life, and much more. The book takes an in-depth look at the effect of social media on modern teens and the growing pressures of choosing the right college and career.

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I’ve been collecting a boatload of YA news over the last month, and there’s no time like the present to share it. Be prepared for a lot of adaptation news and updates (among other things, of course!).

• Here’s this year’s short list for the National Book Awards in Young People’s Literature. Read any of them? I’m about 3/4 of the way through Far From The Tree and y’all, it’s the real deal (as is Mexican Daughter — haven’t yet read the other titles but getting there!).
• Malinda Lo offers up her annual look at LGBTQ in YA. These numbers offer some optimism, but also remind us that no, cis boys aren’t missing in YA lit. They’re still the largest population of characters.
• A great piece about why teens should be reading about police brutality and racism (with a book list, natch).
• First glimpses from the set of The Hate U Give. Hi, ready for this now!
• Read Lockwood & Co? You might soon see it on the small screen.
• City of Saints and Thieves is ready for its big screen treatment. I haven’t read this one but it’s sitting near the top of my to-read.
• Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli are teaming up to write a YA book.
• On the most recent episode of Hey YA, Eric Smith and I talked about celebrity YA books. One of the things we mentioned was the lack of press for Cara Delevingne’s debut, Mirror Mirror. Here’s a nice pice about the book and about Delevingne’s experiences with depression and how that informed her book.
• I didn’t realize that the Beinecke had a big children’s archive collection, but now I’m glad I know, thanks to the fact they’re getting Judy Blume’s papers. (True story: I interviewed for an internship there in graduate school and it was the most intense and disastrous interview I’ve ever done).
• An excellent look at 12 women of color and why they write about mental health in their YA books.
• One Of Us Is Lying is getting the small screen treatment. Not surprised, since this one has “TV show” written all over it and has been a NYT bestseller for a while now.
• A spin-off of Pretty Little Liars is in the works, based on the spin-off YA series The Perfectionists.
• I did not know there were plans for either a Monster adaptation nor an Ophelia adaptation (by Walter Dean Myers and Lisa Klein respectively). Now I do.
• Freeform has ordered more episodes of Shadowhunters.
• Trailer and release date for the final film in the Maze Runner trilogy.
• I have never heard of the book Air, but it’ll be a movie. I am definitely curious since it’s social justice based.
• Dolly Parton is writing original songs for the adaptation of Julie Murphy’s Dumplin and tbh, this is the best news.
• Here’s another adaptation announcement I’m excited about. No link: I got this one straight from Reed herself — Amy Reed’s THE NOWHERE GIRLS, about three girls who come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them, to Management 360 (GAME OF THRONES, STEVE JOBS).
• BuzzFeed asks you to answer some random questions and gives you a YA recommendation. Mine wasn’t too bad.
• Here’s the trailer for Marvel’s upcoming The Runaways, a YA-aimed comic that’s definitely worth picking up if you haven’t.
• I’d be remiss in not at least linking out to The Worst Bestseller podcast, wherein I was a guest on the show discussing the legendary 23-hour New York Times Bestseller brought down by CSIYATwitter, Handbook for Mortals. Sorry and you’re welcome!

And finally, though this was a publishing-wide event, so many YA authors coordinated and participated that it is worth sharing. Look at how much money was raised for Puerto Rico relief efforts:

 

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Snap up some cheap YA reads…

Conveniently, all of these particular titles are the first in a series. So try ’em out while they’re inexpensive before making the full commitment.

Snag National Book Award short list author Robin Benway’s Also Known As for $2.

If you’re itching for some fantasy, Julie Kagawa’s The Iron King is a mere $2.

And Kimberly McCreight’s The Outliers — for the thriller fans — is also only $2.

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Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you back here next week!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars