Category: What’s Up in YA

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What's Up in YA

đź“š Teen Pregnancy and Abortion In 2019 YA Books

Hey YA Readers: Let’s talk teen pregnancy.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Epic Reads.

Robin of Locksley is dead and the people of Locksley town need a protector. The dreadful Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff’s right hand, wishes to step into Robin’s shoes as Lord of Locksley and Marian’s fiancé. Who is there to stop them? Marian never meant to tread in Robin’s footsteps—never intended to stand as a beacon of hope to those awaiting his triumphant return. But with a sweep of his green cloak and the flash of her sword, Marian makes the choice to become her own hero: Robin Hood.

Teen pregnancy is a reality. Although it is at the lowest ever-recorded rate, there are still 20 births for every thousand teens with uteruses between the ages of 15 and 19. When it comes to teen pregnancy and teen parents in the world of YA, it’s a theme that waxes and wanes. I’ve written more in-depth about the portrayal of abortion in YA in years past, as well as rounded up additional titles.

Given the relentless assaults on reproductive autonomy in recent years, it’s no surprise that teen pregnancy, teen parenthood, and more, teen abortion access are becoming major topics within YA fiction this year.

Find below a round-up of YA books out in 2019 that feature pregnancy, abortion, or reproductive rights. This is likely not comprehensive, but it gives a good overview of the titles that will be hitting shelves. Descriptions pulled from Goodreads since I haven’t yet read any of these!

Note: while there are a small number of books here by and/or about teens of color, the vast majority are by or about white teens. This is, as always, worth thinking about in terms of whose stories get told and which are stories safest to tell.

As Many Nows as I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl (August 20)

In one impulsive moment the summer before they leave for college, overachievers Scarlett and David plunge into an irresistible swirl of romance, particle physics, and questionable decisions. Told in non-linear, vivid first-person chapters, As Many Nows As I Can Get is the story of a grounded girl who’s pulled into a lightning-strike romance with an electric-charged boy, and the enormity of the aftermath. Cerebral, accessible, bold, and unconventionally romantic, this is a powerful debut about grief, guilt, and reconciling who you think you need to be with the person you’ve been all along.

Belly Up by Eva Darrows (April 30)

When 16 year old Serendipity Rodriguez attends a house party to celebrate the end of sophomore year, she has no intention of getting drunk and hooking up with a guy she’s just met, let alone getting pregnant. To make matters worse, she has no way of contacting the father and she and her mother are about to move to a new town and in with her grandmother.

It’s hard enough to start your junior year as the new kid in school, but at 5-months pregnant it’s even harder. So when Sara meets Leaf, who asks her out and doesn’t seem to care that she’s pregnant, she finds herself falling.

Juggling the realities of a pregnancy with school and a new relationship are hard enough, but when Jack, the father of her baby, turns back up, Sara’s life goes from complicated to a complete mess. With the help of her overbearing mother and grandmother, Sara will learn to navigate life’s challenges and be ready for anything, as she prepares for the birth of her baby.

The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me by Olivia Hinebaugh (Available now)

Seventeen-year-old Lacey Burke is the last person on the planet who should be doling out sex advice. For starters, she’s never even kissed anyone, and she hates breaking the rules. Up until now, she’s been a straight-A music geek that no one even notices. All she cares about is jamming out with her best friends, Theo and Evita.

But then everything changes.

When Lacey sees first-hand how much damage the abstinence-only sex-ed curriculum of her school can do, she decides to take a stand and starts doling out wisdom and contraception to anyone who seeks her out in the girls’ restroom. But things with Theo become complicated quickly, and Lacey is soon not just keeping everyone else’s secrets, but hers as well.

Girls Like Us by Randi Pink (October 29)

Set in the summer of 1972, this moving YA historical novel is narrated by teen girls from different backgrounds with one thing in common: Each girl is dealing with pregnancy.
Four teenage girls. Four different stories. What they all have in common is that they’re dealing with unplanned pregnancies.

In rural Georgia, Izella is wise beyond her years, but burdened with the responsibility of her older sister, Ola, who has found out she’s pregnant. Their young neighbor, Missippi, is also pregnant, but doesn’t fully understand the extent of her predicament. When her father sends her to Chicago to give birth, she meets the final narrator, Susan, who is white and the daughter of an anti-choice senator.

Randi Pink masterfully weaves four lives into a larger story – as timely as ever – about a woman’s right to choose her future.

Girls On The Verge by Sharon Biggs Waller (April 9)

Camille couldn’t be having a better summer. But on the very night she learns she got into a prestigious theater program, she also finds out she’s pregnant. She definitely can’t tell her parents. And her best friend, Bea, doesn’t agree with the decision Camille has made.

Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone . . . and the system is very much working against her. At her most vulnerable, Camille reaches out to Annabelle Ponsonby, a girl she only barely knows from the theater. Happily, Annabelle agrees to drive her wherever she needs to go. And in a last-minute change of heart, Bea decides to come with.

Girls on the Verge is an incredibly timely novel about a woman’s right to choose. Sharon Biggs Waller brings to life a narrative that has to continue to fight for its right to be told, and honored.

The How and The Why by Cynthia Hand (November 6)

Today Melly had us writing letters to our babies…

Cassandra McMurtrey has the best parents a girl could ask for. They’ve given Cass a life she wouldn’t trade for the world. She has everything she needs—except maybe the one thing she wants. Like, to know who she is. Where she came from. Questions her adoptive parents can’t answer, no matter how much they love her.

But eighteen years ago, someone wrote Cass a series of letters. And they may just hold the answers Cass has been searching for.

Alternating between Cass’s search for answers and letters from the pregnant teen who gave her up for adoption, this voice-driven narrative is the perfect read for fans of Nina LaCour and Jandy Nelson.

Rebel Girls by Elizabeth Keenan (September 10)

It’s 1992, and there’s a rumor spreading in Baton Rouge…

When it comes to being social, Athena Graves is far more comfortable creating a mixtape playlist than she is talking to cute boys—or anyone, for that matter. Plus her staunchly feminist views and love of punk rock aren’t exactly mainstream at St. Ann’s, her conservative Catholic high school.

Then a malicious rumor starts spreading through the halls…a rumor that her popular, pretty, pro-life sister had an abortion over the summer. A rumor that has the power to not only hurt Helen, but possibly see her expelled.

Despite their wildly contrasting views, Athena, Helen and their friends must find a way to convince the student body and the administration that it doesn’t matter what Helen did or didn’t do…even if their riot grrrl protests result in the expulsion of their entire rebel girl gang.

The Sound of Drowning by Katherine Fleet (April 9)

Meredith Hall has a secret. Every night she takes the ferry to meet Ben, her best friend and first love. Though their relationship must remain a secret, they’ve been given a second chance, and Mer’s determined to make it work. She lost Ben once before and discovered the awful reality: she doesn’t know how to be happy without him…

Until Wyatt washes ashore―a brash new guy with a Texas twang and a personality bigger than his home state. He makes her feel reckless, excited, and alive in ways that cut through her perpetual gloom. The deeper they delve into each other’s pasts, the more Wyatt’s charms become impossible to ignore.

But a storm is brewing in the Outer Banks. When it hits, Mer finds her heart tearing in half and her carefully constructed reality slipping back into the surf. As she discovers that even the most deeply buried secrets have a way of surfacing, she’ll have to learn that nothing is forever―especially second chances.

Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan (September 10)

Seventeen-year-old Veronica Clarke never thought she would wish she’d failed a test until she finds herself holding a thick piece of plastic in her hands and staring at two solid pink lines. Even the most consistent use of condoms won’t prevent pregnancy when your boyfriend secretly pokes holes in them to keep you from going out-of-state for college.

Veronica needs an abortion, but the closest place she can legally get one is over nine hundred miles away—and Veronica doesn’t have a car. Too ashamed to ask her friends or family for help, Veronica turns to the one person she believes won’t judge her: Bailey Butler, Jefferson High’s own little black cloud of anger and snark—and Veronica’s ex-best friend. Once on the road, Veronica quickly remembers nothing with Bailey is ever simple and that means two days of stolen cars, shotguns, crazed ex-boyfriends, truck stop strippers with pro-life agendas, and a limo driver named Bob. But the pain and betrayal of their broken friendship can’t be outrun. When their fighting leads to a brutal moment of truth, Bailey abandons Veronica. Now Veronica must risk everything in order to repair the hurt she’s caused.

What Every Girl Should Know by J. Albert Mann (Available now)

Margaret was determined to get out. She didn’t want to clean the dirty dishes and soiled diapers that piled up day in and day out in her large family’s small home. She didn’t want to disappoint her ailing mother, who cared tirelessly for an ever-growing number of children despite her incessant cough. And Margaret certainly didn’t want to be labeled a girl of “promise,” destined to become either a teacher or a mother—which seemed to be a woman’s only options.

As a feisty and opinionated young woman, Margaret Higgins Sanger witnessed and experienced incredible hardships, which led to her groundbreaking work as an advocate for women’s rights and the founder of Planned Parenthood. This fiery novel of Margaret’s early life paints the portrait of a young woman with the passion and courage to change the world.

With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (May 7)

With her daughter to care for and her abuela to help support, high school senior Emoni Santiago has to make the tough decisions, and do what must be done. The one place she can let her responsibilities go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness. Still, she knows she doesn’t have enough time for her school’s new culinary arts class, doesn’t have the money for the class’s trip to Spain — and shouldn’t still be dreaming of someday working in a real kitchen. But even with all the rules she has for her life — and all the rules everyone expects her to play by — once Emoni starts cooking, her only real choice is to let her talent break free.

Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you again soon!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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What's Up in YA

🌟 Just Bursting With YA Adaptation News

Hey YA Readers: It’s news o’clock.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Flatiron Books.

Welcome to Finale, the final book in Stephanie Garber’s #1 New York Times bestselling Caraval series! It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist. Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend. After uncovering a secret, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change him. Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun.

Happy Monday! Let’s launch this new week with some YA news. There is a whole lot of awesome adaptation news to highlight.

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Read These Books

Are you looking to read something different in the YA world? I just blew through Hanna Alkaf’s debut The Weight of Our Sky. The story, set in May 1969 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, follows the political uprising and surrounding riots that occurred in the country through the eyes of Melati, a teen girl who, in addition to dealing with the events going on around her, also struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder. That OCD is especially well-rendered and offered up in context to how Muslims in that time and place perceived mental illness — as an evil djinn one had. It’s an absorbing read and one I think is worth highlighting so more readers pick it up. It came out in February, so grab it now.

Although not a YA book, I’m going to give a little space to recommend that readers who love YA and who are passionate about teenagers pick up David Cullen’s Parkland. Cullen, best known for his incredible look at the realities of the Columbine shootings nearly 20 years ago, takes a different approach in his latest book, in part because he’s tired of being seen as the one writing about all of these tragedies. Parkland instead follows the teenagers behind the March for Our Lives movement, offering incredible insight into the work they’ve done, the time and energy they’ve poured into it, and the lessons and changes they’ve learned and made along the way. It’s a book that leaves you feeling hopeful, rather than defeated, and one that opens up a lot of information that hasn’t been shared by mainstream media. I was particularly impressed to hear how hard the teens worked to educate themselves on gun violence in Chicago, from Chicago teens, and worked to make their own group more inclusive and representative of their generation.

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Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you again later this week!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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What's Up in YA

♀️ YA Nonfiction About Rad Women Through History

Hey YA Readers! Let’s highlight some books about rad women and nonbinary folx through history.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Flatiron Books, publishers of Tin Heart by Shivaun Plozza.

Bestselling author of All the Bright Places Jennifer Niven calls emerging talent Shivaun Plozza’s charming and romantic second novel “from cover to cover swoon-worthy, moving, deep, and funny”!

Over the last few years, there has been a wave of collective biographies highlighting women who’ve done awesome things throughout history. Whereas these books used to be very white, they’ve become more inclusive, both in terms of racial and religious diversity, as well as in including those all along the gender and sexuality spectrum (and those who choose not to identify on a spectrum at all).

The point of collective biographies isn’t to tell the whole story. Rather, it’s to encourage further exploration of the amazing people who have done — or are currently doing! — groundbreaking things. Browse a few collective biographies and it becomes clear whose histories have been told and whose histories have been buried. I know whenever I pick up one of these books, I find myself itching to dive into some long, juicy biographies.

Here are a few of the standouts within this sub-genre of nonfiction worth picking up and sharing not only for Women’s History Month, but all year long.

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked The World by Pénélope Bagieu

This collection of ladies through history is not only a book in translation. It’s also a comic. Learn about brilliant women like Naziq al-Abid, Nellie Bly (my favorite!), Josephine Baker, and more. Not only is this one fascinating because of the women included, but the art is spectacular.

History Vs. Women: The Defiant Lives That They Don’t Want You To Know by Anita Sarkeesian and Ebony Adams

“From Mongolian princesses to Chinese pirates, Native American ballerinas to Egyptian scientists, Japanese novelists to British Prime Ministers, History vs Womenwill reframe the history that you thought you knew” — that’s from the description on Goodreads and frankly, I couldn’t do any better. Well-known feminist Sarkeesian teams up with academic Adams to offer up stories of amazing women throughout history that haven’t had their stories shared. This book, like the others, has lovely illustrations that make these women’s stories come even more alive.

Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History by Blair Imani

The focus of this collective biography is not only on the changemakers of the past, but it explores those who are making the world a better place today. It celebrates not only cis women, but people who identify as genderqueer, nonbinary, gender nonconforming, trans, and more. Imani is herself a young Muslim activist, so her keen eye and insight into those who are changing the world makes this particular title especially powerful.

Rad Girls Can: Stories of Bold, Brave, and Brilliant Young Women by Kate Schatz and illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl

You might be familiar with Schatz’s work with her previous two collective biographies, which covered rad women of American history and rad women of history throughout the world. This book, which came out last year, is similar but it focuses on young women who are making — or have made — a difference. There are the usual suspects like Malala and Jazz Jennings, but there are plenty of young people included who are lesser known but whose stories deserve attention.

Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played To Win by Rachel Ignotofsky

A couple of years ago, Rachel stopped by this newsletter to talk about her first book, Women in Science. This is her followup, highlighting 50 awesome women athletes throughout history. Her biographies are not only short and sweet, but they’re well-designed and visual treasures. There are infographics, statistics, and the book highlights not just a wide range of women. It also highlights a wide range of sports.

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Thanks for hanging out & we’ll see you again next week for even more talk of badass ladies, feminism, and the latest in YA news!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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What's Up in YA

🔥 Fiery Upcoming Feminist YA For Your TBR

Hey YA Readers: Let’s talk upcoming feminist books for your TBR!

“What’s Up In YA?” is sponsored by Fierce Reads and What We Buried by Kate A. Boorman.

“Do you ever just want to be believed?” Siblings Liv and Jory Brewer have grown up resenting each other. The only thing they have in common is contempt for their parents. When their parents mysteriously vanish, Jory and Liv are forced to work together. What starts as a simple overnight road trip soon takes a turn for the dangerous and surreal. And as the duo speeds through the deserts of Nevada, brother and sister will unearth deep family secrets that force them to relive their pasts as they try to retain a grip on the present.

Sorry to keep this a little shorter and less chatty than normal, but with some personal life things going on, I’m pooling all of my energy to pull together a useful newsletter. Essentially, that means I’m apologizing for the Goodreads blurbs below — these books sound amazing.

I’ve pulled five titles hitting shelves this fall you’ll want on your radar for their feminist themes. I’ve included a little bit of everything and a whole lot of stuff I’m so eager to get my hands on ASAP.

Slay by Brittany Morris (Sept 24)

Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give in this dynamite debut novel that follows a fierce teen game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther–inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for black gamers

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the “downfall of the black man.”

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.”

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically black in a world intimidated by blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?

Rebel Girls by Elizabeth Keenan (Sept 10)

It’s 1992, and there’s a rumor spreading in Baton Rouge…

When it comes to being social, Athena Graves is far more comfortable creating a mixtape playlist than she is talking to cute boys—or anyone, for that matter. Plus her staunchly feminist views and love of punk rock aren’t exactly mainstream at St. Ann’s, her conservative Catholic high school.

Then a malicious rumor starts spreading through the halls…a rumor that her popular, pretty, pro-life sister had an abortion over the summer. A rumor that has the power to not only hurt Helen, but possibly see her expelled.

Despite their wildly contrasting views, Athena, Helen and their friends must find a way to convince the student body and the administration that it doesn’t matter what Helen did or didn’t do…even if their riot grrrl protests result in the expulsion of their entire rebel girl gang.

There’s a real interesting microtrend this year of YA about abortions worth digging into in a future edition of the newsletter. (In the literary world, this might be considered foreshadowing!).

 

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai (September 3)

In the final days of the Việt Nam War, Hằng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms—and Hằng is left behind in the war-torn country.

Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn’t know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.

Hằng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh. But when she realizes he doesn’t remember her, their family, or Việt Nam, her heart is crushed. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hằng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap.

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett (Sept 17)

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

Girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for their chance to grab one of the girls in order to make their fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee (August 18)

By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender.

While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light.

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Thanks for hanging out & we’ll see you later this week!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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What's Up in YA

🏀 Score Some Cheap YA Ebooks

Hey YA Readers!

Let’s March right into some excellent YA ebook deals and load ’em up for some reading Madness. (That’s how this works, right?). Prices as of Friday morning.

I haven’t yet read The Wicker King by K. Ancrum but it sounds weird and great and has some excellent reviews. Snag it for $3.

  • Want a YA memoir? Pick up How Dare The Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana and Abigail Pesta for $2.
  • The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth can be yours for $2 and makes for great reading before you watch the adaptation.
  • Have you ever read a YA western? You should try Erin Bowman’s Vengeance Road for $3 and change that.
  • If you’d like to read a book about basketball that does better at sports talk than I do in this newsletter, Geoff Herbach’s Hooper is $2.
  • Geekerella by Ashley Poston is $2 and looks adorkable.

For women’s history month, pick up any of these amazing biographies by Catherine Reef: Queen Victoria, Florence Nightingale, and/or Mary Shelley.

 

[Insert a REALLY cheesy line here about how no matter what books you choose, you’ll sink every shot you take by reading].

🏀🏀🏀

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We’ll see you again on Monday!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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What's Up in YA

đź–¤ A YA-Based Disney Villains Series Is Coming Soon!

There’s so much news to catch up on, YA fans!

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Wednesday Books.

An all new paranormal fantasy series from #1 bestselling authors P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast ignites a world of earth-shattering action and romance where a group of teens question their supernatural abilities. Nothing is what it seems as nature’s power takes control. The wind can change everything and everyone.

The world of YA is never dull, is it? Let’s run down the happenings in this little corner of the book world.

Watch This…

This is usually the part of a newsletter where I share my recent book mail, but my current book mail is in a state of chaos. Part of the reason it’s in chaos is because I’ve been spending my reading time marathoning a show on Hulu that I want to highlight.

I’m positive I had Anna’s tank top in 2000. The braces, too.

If you’ve got Hulu (or a password for someone else’s), you’ve got to check out Pen15. Set in 2000, the series follows two middle school girls — one white, one half Japanese-American — as they navigate the awkwardness of growing up. It definitely hits on the nostalgia factor, but what made this stand out was that it takes on some big, heavy issues of being a middle schooler in a way that doesn’t shy away from reality. There is an episode about first menstruation, as well as an episode about the first time Maya discovers masturbation (and ultimately finds comfort from Anna about it being normal). The ups and downs of friendship, of fitting in, of living with parents who are going through a divorce, and growing up as a girl of color are all approached with humor and heart in equal measure.

Despite the setting, it rings true to what it is to be a middle schooler navigating what it is to be who you are in a world that, well, doesn’t especially encourage that if it means standing out. It’s also hilarious and cringeworthy to see the realities of middle school — Anna just towers over the boys around her.

Anna and Maya are in their early 30s, but they do a pretty solid job of appearing to be in their early teens.

Grab yourself a snack, put down your book for a bit, and snuggle in with this little gem.

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Thanks for hanging out, y’all, and we’ll see you again next week to begin talking about feminism, badass girls, and Women’s History Month.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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What's Up in YA

đź”– Sweet YA Bookmarks To Hold Your Place

Hey YA Readers: Let’s check out some fun page-savers.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Disney Publishing Worldwide.

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents a brilliant sci-fi romp with Cuban influence that poses this question: What would you do if you had the power to reach through time and space and retrieve anything you want, including your mother, who is no longer living (in this universe, anyway)?

Sometimes, the inevitable happens: we have to stop reading our book and use something to mark where we left off. Enter some excellent bookmarks. And more specifically, YA-themed bookmarks.

Here are a few fun ones I’ve scoped out at Etsy.

 

Save your place with a lovely quote from Kendare Blake’s Three Dark Crowns. $3.15.

 

 

Love Gail Carriger’s “Finishing School” series? You’ll love this bookmark with a quote from Etiquette and Espionage. $2.50 and up.

 

 

This “Stay Peculiar” bookmark pays homage to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. $6.

 

 

How gorgeous are these Caraval-inspired bookmarks? $4 and up.

 

 

These magnetic bookmarks feature all of the Hogwarts Houses. $2.34 and up.

 

 

Grab a Children of Blood and Bone bookmark. $3.12.

 

 

This Six of Crows bookmark is gorgeous. $5.

 

 

Carry on with your love of Simon and Baz with this Carry On bookmark. $3.12.

 

 

These Lara Jean bookmarks are so unbearable adorable. $6.

 

 

For fans of Sarah J. Maas, here’s a gorgeous page holder for you. $2.75.

 

 

I’m drooling over these watercolor bookmarks featuring Dimple and Rishi. $4 and up.

 

 

Love Victoria Schwab? You’ll dig this bookmark honoring Our Dark Duet. $7.50.

 

 

This set of Jackaby character bookmarks is great. $2 and up.

 

 

And there’s always space for a little Hocus Pocus. $3.75.

 

 

Last, but not least, a bookmark for fans of Simon. $2.50.

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Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you later this week for all of the YA news worth knowing!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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What's Up in YA

“Never let a cruel jerk make himself the center of your story”: Author Tehlor Kay Mejia on Latinx YA, Queer Couples, and More

Hey YA Fans: I’ve got an awesome interview today with a debut author with a new book you’ll be adding to your TBR so fast you get finger burn.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by An Affair of Poisons by Addie Thorley.

She’s a deadly poisoner. He’s a bastard prince. They are sworn enemies, yet they form a tenuous pact to unite the commoners and former nobility against the Shadow Society. But can a rebellion built on mistrust ever hope to succeed? After Mirabelle helps to poison King Louis XIV, she is forced to see the Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: not heroes of the people, but murderers. Herself included. Josse is more kitchen boy than fils de France. But when the Shadow Society assassinates the King, he must become the prince he was never meant to be.

I have one semi-strict rule when it comes to my personal reading habits. I don’t like to read the first book in a series before the rest of the series is out. I have a hard time remembering details by the time book two or three rolls around, and more, I just want to devour them all at once if I’m loving the story. I’m okay not reading the series when it’s new and hot.

But I broke that rule accidentally with We Set The Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia. I didn’t realize it was a duology until I was half-way through this fierce, fiery feminist fantasy and now I sit, impatiently waiting for book two. I’m not sad I read it. I am just sad now I have to wait for the second book.

Mejia’s book is her debut, and it’s set in a near-future, but recognizable, world. I won’t say too much about it, but it’s about girls helping other girls, it features a queer romance, and it’s about privilege, borders, and the ways the Haves treat the Have Nots.

I asked Tehlor to talk a bit about her book, as well as some of the books and stories that have inspired her. I’m thrilled to share this conversation and to tell you to put this book on your radar right now.

Tell us about We Set The Dark On Fire. What’s the pitch and what inspired the story? For readers who want the fastest summary possible, can you also describe it in three words and three words only?

The pitch! A Latinx-based fantasy world on the brink of a class revolution. Two young women assigned to one sneering upper class man-child of a husband. Spies, forbidden romance, questionable loyalties, destructive secrets galore.

In three words?! How about…Secrets, kissing, patriarchysmashing. (It’s one word now)

 

While Dani is our main character and one torn between an array of loyalties, the secondary characters in this story are not only well-drawn, but they’re as — if not more! — compelling because we aren’t privy to their loyalties except through Dani’s eyes. Who is your favorite character in the story and why?

Thank you so much! Honestly I think Sota was probably my favorite character to write. I loved getting the chance to explore the fact that just because you’re on the right side of history doesn’t mean you can’t still have a lot to learn. And then he’s such a fun character, too. The enigma of him and this sort of mercurial, mischievous front he puts up — plus banter is my favorite thing to write, and he’s so charming he could literally banter with a rock.

 

Your story is a Latinx fantasy/fairy tale. Can you share some of the Latinx stories that inspired you as you were growing up and what stories inspired We Set The Dark On Fire? 

Honestly, sad as it is to say, this book was based more on the lack of Latinx stories I experienced growing up. I’m biracial, and a third generation Latina, so I was really in a place of feeling disconnected from the more traditional folktale type stories my culture had to offer, while still not feeling seen by the speculative stories I loved. That absence is definitely what eventually led to this story.

 

Though the bigger world building in the story focuses on how women become accessories for men — a Primera and a Seguna are offered to a man to serve as essentially guidance and as a beautiful play thing respectively — one of the big moments in the book is the budding romance between Primera Dani and Segunda Carmen. Can you talk a bit to that?

Yes! I knew from the beginning that I wanted Dani to have a transformative love story. I feel like love can affect us so profoundly, whether it’s locking us into remaining the people we are, or enticing us to become the people we’re meant to become. I think Dani’s overall course would be the same with or without Carmen — her growth and radically shifting empathy as a character is based on something deeply personal for her — but because of the repressed way she was raised and trained, I wanted to show the other ways it would change her to turn everything she knew and believed about femininity and womanhood on its head through this big, earth shattering romance with the last person she expected to connect with.

 

That, of course, begs the question: who have been some of your favorite queer couples in YA lit?

Oh there are so many! Top three off the cuff are:

-Sam and Miel from Anna-Marie McLemore’s WHEN THE MOON WAS OURS

-Ari and Dante from Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE

-Alex and Rishi from Zoraida Córdova’s LABYRINTH LOST

 

Your book is fiercely feminist for many reasons, but it’d be interesting to hear you explain why and how it’s a feminist read and what some of the best feminist YA titles you’ve read are.

Ahh, thank you again! Pretty sure “fiercely feminist” is my favorite thing anyone has ever said about the book. Personally, I hope people consider this a feminist book because it shows that agency is something you can acquire, even if you’re not born with it, and the world has truly conspired to make sure you don’t ever get it.

So many heroes and heroines in books already seem so powerful in their own ways, but in Dani I wanted to show that you can begin from a powerless place. You can be lost. You can be scared. You can have the wrong idea about the world. And that so many, many people start there. I wanted to show that the inner work of discovering who you are and where you stand and what tools are at your disposal comes first. Before you can organize or march or burn things down, before you can do anything visible, there’s the quiet, deeply personal work of finding out who you are and what part you have to play.

I deeply believe that every one of us has a skill or a voice or a passion that lends itself to the revolutionary work of doing what is right. Even when it seems impossible. I hope young women especially feel empowered by how seemingly unremarkable Dani starts out, and how much inner strength she’s able to muster just by finding out who she is and what she wants.

In terms of feminist books, I could go on all day, but I want to specifically shout out UNDEAD GIRL GANG by Lily Anderson, HOME AND AWAY by Candice Montgomery, as well as the upcoming WITH THE FIRE ON HIGH by Elizabeth Acevedo, and ALL OF US WITH WINGS by Michelle RuĂ­z Keil.

 

What do you hope readers take away from We Set The Dark On Fire?

It’s probably cliché, but I’m going to say hope? With a hint of responsibility. The feeling that even though things are terrible, what you believe matters. What you do matters. How you treat people matters.

Also, to never let a cruel jerk make himself the center of your story.

 

If you could go back in time and hand your 12-year-old self any book, what would it be and why?

GABI, A GIRL IN PIECES by Isabel Quintero. Probably a little old for most 12-year-olds but I think tiny Tehlor would have been consumed by it in the best way.

 

 

Big thank you to Tehlor for this fantastic interview. I don’t know about you, but MY TBR grew some here, too! 

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

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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What's Up in YA

đź“š All The YA Book Talk That’s Fit To Print

Hey YA Readers! Let’s catch up on all things YA book talk.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Penguin Teen.

Seventeen-year-old Keralie may seem harmless, but she’s, one of Quadara’s most skilled thieves and a liar. Varin, is an honest, upstanding citizen of Quadara’s most enlightened region, Eonia. They both find themselves entangled in a conspiracy that leaves all four of Quadara’s queens dead. The two decide to join forces to discover who has killed the queens and save their own lives. When their reluctant partnership blooms into a tenuous romance, they must overcome their own dark secrets in hopes of a future together. But first they have to stay alive and untangle the secrets behind the nation’s four dead queens.

February may be a short month, but does it feel like the longest month to anyone else? Let’s start to wrap up these year-long 28-days with a look back at some of the YA talk we’ve had on Book Riot.

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Recent Book Mail

Take a peek at the recent titles that have hit my inbox. Listed from top to bottom:

 

If You’re Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser

Chicken Girl by Heather Smith

This Book Is Not Yet Rated by Peter Bognanni

The Art of Breaking Things by Laura Sibson

Fly Girls by Keith O’Brien

The Art of Losing by Lizzy Mason

We Are The Perfect Girl by Ariel Kaplan

Immoral Code by Lillian Clark

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

Cold Day in the Sun by Sara Biren

No One Here Is Lonely by Sarah Everett

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez (paperback)

Girl Mogul: Dream It, Do It, Change The World by Tiffany Pham

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Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you later this week with a fabulous interview.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

Categories
What's Up in YA

🤩 Grab Some Cheap YA Ebooks

Happy weekend, YA fans!

Let’s highlight a handful of outstanding YA ebook deals. All are current as of Friday morning, February 22, and all are $5 or under.

Let’s call this the “fantasy YA books are deals” roundup. Makiia Lucier’s Isle of Blood and Stone is $2.

  • Want the start of a fairy tale inspired fantasy series? Soman Chainani’s The School of Good and Evil is $2.
  • Start a political thriller with Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s The Naturals for $2.
  • Spend $5 and get the first book in Robin LaFevers’s “His Fair Assassins” series, Grave Mercy.
  • For contemporary fans, Laurie Devore’s How To Break A Boy is $3.
  • Want something fun? Try Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm for $3.
  • Katie Cotugno’s first book How To Love is $2.

Going to keep sharing this book while it’s such a steal. Pick up Calling My Name by Liara Tamani. $2.

  • Don’t miss out on the $2 gem Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan.
  • I like unlikable female characters (whatever that means) and Frankie by Shivaun Plozza offers up a good one. $3.
  • And for readers itching for something really different in the YA world, try Sarah Nicole Lemon’s Done Dirt Cheap for $4.50.

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

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.