Category: What’s Up in YA

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by What the Dead Want by Norah Olson.

16 -year-old Gretchen’s passion for photography came from her mother Mona before she disappeared years ago. When Gretchen’s great aunt Esther calls unexpectedly to tell her that she has inherited a mansion on her mother’s side of the family in upstate New York, Gretchen understands nothing except that her aunt needs her help. But what she finds there is beyond her imagination. It’s full of secrets and ghosts of the past. The mystery of Mona’s disappearance and the evil that happened there during the Civil War are inextricably intertwined, and it’s up to Gretchen to figure out how…before even more lives are lost.

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I’ve been putting off writing about diversity for “What’s Up in YA?” for a while now. Not that it’s not an important topic but rather, I want to find a way to talk about it that’s different, that’s urgent, that explores more than what we already know about how it’s vital. Being white, it’s not my place to be an authority on the topic; yet, it is my place to lift voices, to talk about why we need to be inclusive, and to talk about the books that aren’t getting the sort of support and praise and spotlighting that deserve it.

This week, in light of continued violence toward the black community, I couldn’t put off the topic any longer. There’s no need to be perfect and polished. It’s far more important to continue a dialog, as well as continue talking about the need for diverse books and more, the need to read, discuss, and champion books that invite a range of stories into our lives. Be them stories that are mirrors or windows, inclusive reads are what develop our senses of empathy, of understanding, and more, beg us to keep talking. And we need to keep talking.

But instead of doing the talking myself, I’ve invited a guest this week to talk with me. And instead of talking about the importance of diversity — we all know that it’s important — we’re digging into why exploring the diversity within diverse narratives matters, where and how we use our powers to share these stories with readers, and the ways in which we can seek out and find those inclusive YA stories that go beyond “easy reaches.”

Welcome Brandy Colbert, acclaimed author of Pointe and the forthcoming Little & Lion (Little, Brown, 2017). Pointe was named a 2014 best book by Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed, Book Riot, the Chicago Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library, and Colbert was recognized as a debut author to watch by Publishers Weekly. She also has a short story in the recently published Summer Days and Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins and (full disclosure, I guess?), she has an essay about black girl friendship in my forthcoming anthology of feminist essays, Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World (Algonquin Young Readers, February 28, 2017).

 

First, before we dig into talking about other books, can you give a quick description of Pointe and perhaps tease a tiny bit of what we could expect from Little & Lion?

Happy to! Pointe is the story of seventeen-year-old Theo, a black ballet dancer who’s aspiring to become a professional ballerina. Her best friend and neighbor, who disappeared from their Chicago suburb when they were thirteen years old, returns at the start of the book, and although he’s temporarily mute, Theo soon learns that she had something to do with his abduction.

Little & Lion is the story of sixteen-year-old Suzette, who was sent away to boarding school the autumn after her stepbrother had a mental break. When she returns home to Los Angeles for the summer, she’s struggling with her new romantic/sexual feelings for girls and whether or not to keep the biggest secret her brother has ever told her. It’s a story about blended families, loyalty, mental health, and sexuality, and features a main character that is black American and converted to Judaism at a young age.

 

One of the reasons I asked you to have this conversation with me is because your book is about a black ballerina, but it’s a story set in suburban Chicago, rather than in an urban area. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how culturally, “urban” can be shorthand for “black.” And it’s hard not to think about how, when we talk about great books by and about black people for young readers, the titles that immediately come to mind are *also* stories that are urban. But we know that the black experience is so much more than an urban one. Why do you think it’s so easy to consider one experience *the* experience?

 

This reminds me a lot of the brilliant Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s speech “The Danger of a Single Story.” I think a lot of people interpret her message as recognizing the need to read inclusive stories, those that present narratives from the perspective of marginalized groups—which is absolutely true. But another part to that is we need diversity within diversity.

I think so many consider one experience the experience because they haven’t had any others to turn to in real life. Or, even if seeking out stories different from their own, they might find it easier to skim the surface and read only those books or stories they’ve been told are the best.

To me, changing this starts with the gatekeepers—editors, sales and marketing departments, librarians, and book bloggers—whose opinions all trickle down to readers. If those groups are championing and then promoting only a certain type of book from a group, those are the books that are going to get more marketing dollars and in turn gain a larger readership.

This isn’t to say these stories aren’t important or great on their own—so many of them are. But it’s dangerous to promote only one type of experience within a marginalized group as the one that needs to be represented. I’m black, and I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to point out that black people aren’t a monolith. I don’t think you’d know that by the types of children’s books with black main characters that are most often touted as must-reads.

 

This leads me into my next question, which is this: we know we need diverse books. And we need diverse books because that’s reality, not because it’s a marketing tool nor a cash grab (both of those things having been claims leveraged against the movement, against publishing, against authors — you name it — and we know those things aren’t reality). The more openly discussed this topic is, the more we’re willing to talk about the books that are out there, as well as the books which are coming. But we also need to ensure when we talk about diverse books, we’re talking about diversity within those books, too; we need to see black girls who are ballerinas and we need to see Latino boys who live in rural America. We need to see disabled teenagers who save the world and we need to see black boys who are geeks and dressing up to take part in Renaissance Faires. We don’t want to ignore how important books that explore lives that we think of when we think of certain groups, but we also don’t want to ignore those stories about lives that differ from popular cultural perceptions. How can we balance those things? In what ways can we ensure when we talk about diverse books, we’re also exploring the diversity within those stories?

 

Again, to me, this goes back to the gatekeepers of the children’s book industry, who are primarily white women of a certain class. I think they need to ask themselves why they’re most often promoting books featuring black kids and teens who live in urban areas and/or are dealing with crime, gangs, etc. Or, in the case of historical novels, why those given the most attention tend to deal with black people who are enslaved or working to overcome the effects of slavery as the focus of the novel. Is it because these stories are the ones they’ve seen portrayed most often over the years and so it’s ingrained in them that these are the ones worth telling? Is it because these stories spark the most empathy in them? Sometimes I wonder if it’s because they don’t have many black friends, acquaintances, or colleagues in their own lives, and so it may be harder for them to imagine a black person as the hero of a story that’s not built around overcoming oppression.

(I’m specifically speaking to books featuring black characters because that’s the community I belong to; the need for diversity within diversity most certainly applies to other marginalized groups.)

And again, we need these stories. But we need more than these stories not only on the shelves, but given equal attention when it comes to promotion and booktalking. We need to see and celebrate more carefree black kids living their lives on the page. I’d especially like to see more stories about black kids who live in suburban or rural areas. Because while these kids’ stories are not necessarily about being black, trust that they are still very much living the life of a black person.

I grew up in a town in Southwest Missouri that was about 3 percent black when I was a kid and is still predominantly white today. My family was middle-class and I feel lucky that I had an excellent, fulfilling childhood. I excelled academically, was heavily involved in school activities, and spent my free time with the popular crowd. But this doesn’t mean I didn’t experience racism, both covertly and overtly, for the 22 years I lived in that town. I can quickly run down a handful of examples without having to think hard about them, including my car being vandalized with a racial slur; families of the same class as mine assuming that because we were black, my family was unable to afford a nice meal out; and people forcing their kids out of the public pool when I dared to get in. I remember these instances clearly and they are still painful, decades later.

But those racist acts and microaggressions weren’t the whole of my life. So when I write about black characters living in primarily white neighborhoods or suburbs, I include those moments as part of the story but not the intent of the narrative. Since I was a young kid, there’s always a white person quick to point out how “not black” I am, though I have brown skin, kinky hair, and examples like the above that clearly prove that’s untrue. Not to mention that I’m quite proud to be black, so I find that statement insulting, as if being black is something I wouldn’t want to be in the first place. But to them, being black is one experience: living in urban areas, living in poverty, speaking a certain way that some people have deemed unacceptable. It’s lazy and offensive on their part, yes, but is it any wonder they think this way when the only images they’re given of black people fit a single story?

I hated that I didn’t have other people my age to talk to about race-related issues. Though I’ve always had great groups of friends, I grew up feeling incredibly isolated because I was so often the only one. There were five black kids total in my high school graduating class of almost 300 students, and I didn’t start to meet other people who grew up like me until I was in my mid-twenties. I would have been ecstatic to have even one book that portrayed an experience like mine when I was a tween or teen, especially. I would have loved to know that someone else understood what it felt like to grow up as a black kid in an extremely white town in the Midwest.

 

I’ve always been fascinated by the desire to go for “easy reach” titles. I’ve written about this before on my own blog, and more specifically, how when people ask for book recommendations, they’re given titles that are popular, that sit on bestseller lists, and that have money behind them to get them out there. There is nothing wrong with these books at all, but the reach is easy. In a lot of ways, it seems like this happens with diverse books, as well. There’s nothing wrong with going for award winning diverse titles nor those with great marketing behind them (we love Jason Reynolds and Nicola Yoon, to name two, for a reason — great appeal, great writing, stories that serve as both windows and mirrors for a wide readership), but why do you think it is some books that are just as powerful don’t see the same sort of reader recommendation/passion behind them?

 

Regarding the lack of diversity within diversity, I do think things are getting better, if one book at a time. Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything is a lovely romance featuring a biracial girl who is half black and half Japanese, and was one of the biggest books of 2015. I’d like to see this type of attention expanded more, though. I want to see stories promoted with carefree black kids, with black kids who mess up, with black kids who live in rural areas and suburbs and don’t know how to dance or are terrible at basketball or have lived various types of sheltered lives.

As for easy reach titles, this has always confounded me. When I was a kid, after I’d read all of an author’s popular books, I’d immediately scoop up their lesser-known titles. One of my favorite parts about getting the Scholastic catalog was finding authors I’d never heard of and ordering their books based on the summary alone. That could also be why I found myself bored in most literature classes, even through college, knowing the teachers would not (and probably could not, in some cases) stray from the reading lists they’d been including in their syllabi for decades.

I’m a writer but still an avid reader. While the “big books” are always on my radar and I often read them if they sound interesting, I find myself looking through backlists or picking up the books that didn’t get as much attention. When I talk to my friends who are big readers but not involved in the publishing industry, I’m always a little frustrated when they only read or mention the books that have received the biggest marketing pushes. I urge them to open themselves up to books that aren’t easy reaches. I’m always so happy when I end up loving a book I found on my own, even if I know it should have received a bigger push from the book community.

 

What compels you to pick up a book? What sorts of things draw you into a story?

 

With fiction, I’m really drawn to dark, gritty, character-driven books. I primarily read contemporary realistic novels with some magic realism thrown in. I like stories about family. I like books that play with structure, and stories that show characters struggling through difficult situations. I love when a writer can combine all of these things and pepper in a little humor or romance, as well. Some of my recent favorites are:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Loving Day by Mat Johnson

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

All The Rage by Courtney Summers

Everything Leads To You by Nina LaCour

 

What are some of your favorite inclusive YA titles that have hit shelves in the last few years?

I’ve really loved:

My Seneca Village by Marilyn Nelson, a slim but powerful book of poetry that imagines the lives of residents in a 19th-century community of black Americans and immigrants in Manhattan

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, a gorgeous novel about the relationship between two Mexican-American teen boys

Dirty Wings by Sarah McCarry, a beautifully written road trip novel about two very different girls

Since You Asked by Maurene Goo, which is one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time, and one of the few I’ve ever found that’s focused on a Korean-American teen

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson, an excellent novel about a boy who has a strange and compelling connection to a spaceship full of aliens

 

Far From You by Tess Sharpe, a lovely and heartbreaking book featuring a bisexual main character and thrilling plotline

 

What are some of the inclusive YA titles you have on your to-be-read list?

So many! I’m dreadfully behind on my to-be-read list, but some books I own and am very much looking forward to reading are:

 

See No Color by Shannon Gibney

This Side of Home by Renée Watson

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Untwine by Edwidge Danticat

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

Fake ID by Lamar Giles

X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon

Saving Montgomery Sole by Mariko Tamaki

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan

 

I’m also looking forward to picking up Peas and Carrots by Tanita S. Davis, Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash, The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore, Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee, and The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork.

As for books that aren’t yet released, I’m quite eager to read: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera, I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo, Dear Martin by Nic Stone, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson, American Street by Ibi Zoboi, and Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson, to name a few!

 

If you had to make a “must reads” list of inclusive titles, and maybe we can be really specific and say books by black authors or about black characters, what would they be? Why?

 

Kendra by Coe Booth

Charm & Strange and Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

My Life as a Rhombus by Varian Johnson

The Gaither Sisters series by Rita Williams Garcia (One Crazy Summer, P.S. Be Eleven, and Gone Crazy in Alabama)

Monster by Walter Dean Myers (I really enjoyed the graphic novel version that was published in 2015 and adapted by Guy A. Sims with gorgeous art by Dawud Anyabwile)

I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few titles, but to me, these books present authentic, varied portrayals of black American life and/or are written by storytellers I greatly admire.

 

“What’s up in YA?” readers include passionate YA fans, as well as gatekeepers like librarians, teachers, and others who work with teenagers. Tell us: how can we be better about talking inclusive YA? What sorts of ways can we share the stories that don’t always get the sort of coverage or discussion that others do?

 

I’m lucky that my first novel, Pointe, gained a much larger readership because of word-of-mouth recommendations. I cannot stress enough how much word of mouth can help a book—if you like or love a book, tell everyone you think might be interested. Tell people who may not be initially interested but could use a break from what they normally read. Share your love on as many social media outlets as you can. Leave reviews in every possible place online, even for titles that have already been out for a while—years, even! Preorder inclusive titles that you’re interested in to show publishers there’s a demand for books that don’t already have a huge marketing push. Request inclusive titles at your local library if they’re not already on the shelves.

For people who organize book festival/conference panels, I’d urge them to look beyond the easy reaches and the authors they automatically go to when thinking of diversity. Look for people who write similar work, or are of the same background but write completely different books. Don’t keep asking the same people to be on panels—do the work of seeking out a variety of voices that need to be heard.

 

Finally, what sort of books do you think are missing from shelves right now? What stories aren’t out there yet — or haven’t been talked about much — that would fill much-needed holes on shelves? Personally, I’ve wanted nothing more than a take on the film “Save the Last Dance,” but from the perspective of Derek, the black boy.

 

Ooh, I’d like to see that, too! (But honestly, I’d like to see it even more from the perspective of his sister, Chenille, played in the film by the ever-flawless Kerry Washington.)

I’m actually not great at wish lists! If I don’t see it, I typically attempt to write it myself. I guess that overall I’d like to see more books with black kids who are allowed to mess up just as much as white kids without their mistakes defining them. I’ve been sensing lately that it’s a pretty heavy recurring theme in my own work and I’d be happy to see more of it on the shelves.

 

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Thank you so very much to Brandy for talking about such a huge, meaty topic. I hope you have found a book or two or ten to add to your to-be-read pile and, perhaps, found a nugget of wisdom to bring into your reading and in sharing your love of books.

“What’s Up in YA?” will be back in two weeks with a big round-up of recent YA news. In the meantime, enjoy your reading.

Thanks for rocking out with us!

Hello, YA lovers!

This week’s “What’s Up in YA?” newsletter is sponsored by Dream Jumper. 

Ben’s dreams are all nightmares . . . And his nightmares are real!  He can also jump into other people’s dreams. So when his friends start falling victim to an evil dream-monster that prevents them from waking, Ben knows he has to help them. With help from a talking rabbit-companion who has a mysterious past, Ben might just be able to defeat the monster and save his friends . . . if he can figure out how to harness the power within him against his enemies.

Read a free preview at scholastic.com/dreamjumper.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve talked some big stuff, haven’t we? We’ve covered YA adaptations at the box office, gender and feminism in YA, sexual assault through YA fiction, and in the last newsletter, we got to see a wonderful collection of YA Pride displays. And on Book Riot proper, we’ve seen pieces on “bad kids,” on queer YA that isn’t tragic, and YA author Benjamin Alire Saenz wrote a piece about the power of books and community that requires a tissue or ten to get through.

 

But this week . . .

In honor of America’s 4th of July and Canada Day long weekends, let’s take a break from the heavy work of talking YA.

How about a giveaway? This will be open to subscribers only (meaning if you pass along this link, those who enter will also need to sign up for the newsletter) and it’s open world-wide. I’ve curated a collection of brand new YA titles, along with some backlist titles that are worth your reading time. I’m also throwing in a few advanced reader copies for titles I know YA readers will be eager to pick up ASAP.

Here’s what you can win:

(Ignore that my wonderful chalk art reads “Giveawa” and not “Giveaway” — it’s art).

A closeup of the three small piles so you can see the titles:

Both of those piles are finished, pristine, beautiful hardcover books.

And here are the four ARCs I’ve got to give, too:

Tempted? Great! All you need to do is fill out the form. Click here to be taken directly to it. I’ll pick a winner and email them on or around July 12.

We’ll be back to regular YA news programming in two weeks. In the mean time, enjoy a little break and kick back with a great YA novel or two. Perhaps in a future newsletter, I’ll be asking you to share your favorite reads from 2016. . . get thinking!

This Week’s “What’s Up in YA?” newsletter is sponsored by A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry: 

Some say she grants wishes. Some say her touch kills. One boy is drawn into her enchanted world.

Seventeen-year-old Lucas lives in Puerto Rico, where he’s grown up hearing stories about the cursed girl, Isabel. When letters from Isabel begin appearing in his room the same day his new girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers—and finds himself lured into her strange and magicalworld. But the more entangled Lucas becomes, the less certain he is of escaping with his own life. Nova Ren Suma, bestselling author of The Walls Around Us, calls A Fierce and Subtle Poison “a breathtaking story in which myths come to frightening life and buried wishes may actually come true.”

In light of June being Pride month, and more, because there’s a whole lot to think about in the wake of the horrific tragedy at Pulse in Orlando, I wanted to take the opportunity to do something a little bit different for this week’s YA newsletter. Rather than share my own commentary or do a massive round-up of links, I thought some power would come through instead allowing others to share their support for and of the LGBTQ+ community.

I asked librarians, booksellers, educators, and anyone else who has seen or built a book display for Pride month to share an image or two with me. The response was unbelievable. From huge, elaborate displays to acknowledgements in smaller, tighter spaces, seeing how people support the LGBTQ YA community leaves me a little brighter, fuller, and more whole. In a world where there is so much darkness and hurt, it’s powerful to see these tiny acts. It might not feel like a book display does a whole lot, but if the response to this newsletter alone is any indication, small display after small display after small display through hundreds and thousands of libraries and bookstores amounts to something much bigger.

The LGBTQ+ community is shown on our shelves. Is seen in our displays. And is cared about.

Below are all of the displays I’ve received via email. I’ve included commentary from those who have sent in the images, too. These displays get books moving, as well as encourage readers who might not be part of the LGBTQ+ community to take an interest, to learn, and to develop a healthy sense of empathy for the people who live right alongside them.

If you are in the position of being able to develop book displays or book lists or share YA books with young readers, I encourage you to consider revisiting these books, sharing them how you can, and displaying them not just in June (or October for LGBTQ month), but year round. Incorporate them into your book recommendations, into your regular reading rotations, and be willing to talk, to share, and to advocate on behalf of the stories and the young people who sometimes can’t find the way to do it for themselves. It’s through these books they can better develop the language. . . and their sense of belonging.

 

Amy Diegelman’s display at Vineyard Haven Public Library, Vineyard Haven, MA. 

 

Nicole Harris found this display in the Chesterfield County Virginia North Courthouse branch over the weekend: “I was so happy to see it there along side the YA new releases since teens flock to see what new books are available.”

 

 

My name is Emily and I’m an editor with a small publishing company here in Halifax on the east coast of Canada. I wanted to share this display from Halifax Central Library. I don’t believe they’re all YA books, but it’s so pretty. 🙂 (The sign at the top says “Happy Pride Month!”)

From Lauren Gibaldi: I work at the Alafaya Library (part of the Orange County Library System) and this is the display I made for our YA section. Like I said, most books have been checked out (yay!!!), so I’ve had to replenish daily. I’ve had it up since June 1st and we haven’t had one complaint.  Fun fact: None of the Above went first. Second most popular were f/f books.

 

From Deby Fry: This is ours for the Gum Spring Library in South Riding, VA. We’re a part of the Loudoun County Public Library system in Virginia. The day I put it out, I heard a group of girls gathered around a table talking about some of the books they’d already read and loved, and they picked up a few to take home!

 

From Michelle Ross: Here’s a pic of a YA display at the Main Branch of Kanawha County Public Library in Charleston, WV. This pic was taken only a few minutes after I put the display up and someone had already grabbed two books.

I also have free, LGBTQIA+ bookmark printables available to download from my blog here.

From Renata Sancken: I have a Pride display on our digital carousel (that shows on the catalog computers throughout the library). You can view the whole carousel right here. 

Both displays above are from Richland Library in Columbia, South Carolina, and the titles were selected by Miciah Bennett and Thomas Maluck.

Danielle Mohlman sent this snap she grabbed of the window display in her local indie, Secret Garden Books in Seattle, Washington.

From Jessica Spotswood: This is the Pride display I made for our teen section – the Southwest Neighborhood Library of the DC Public Library. She writes: “I’m not sure if teens in this neighborhood would feel safe checking them out. But it feels important to me that we have the display and they see us celebrating Pride.” 

From Nicole Brinkley: We have two displays at Oblong Books — one at our Millerton store (top) and our Rhinebeck store (bottom).

From Robin Johnsen: Here is the display from the Dyer-Schererville Branch of Lake County Public Library (Indiana). This is just the YA books side. The other side of the table has adult books and kids books.

From Rebecca Speas: Our Pride display at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA. It’s not a strictly YA display, since we tried to put up an array of genres, but we did include CARRY ON by Rainbow Rowell, WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD by Christopher Barzak, GEORGE by Alex Gino, and LIES WE TELL OURSELVES by Robin Talley (one of our favorite local authors!)

This display was created by myself and fellow OMP staffer Amanda Quain, and we have already sold a copy of Lies We Tell Ourselves as a gift since it’s been displayed.

From Paige McGeorge at Lethbridge Public Library in Alberta, Canada: I’ve included some pics of our physical book displays, plus a shot of our featured Overdrive ebook collection. They’ve both proved very popular, which is so great to see.

Erikka set up this display at the library where she works.

From Caitlin Kenney: I work at the North Tonawanda Public Library in North Tonawanda, New York, and told my co-worker, Kelly, about your newsletter and she liked the idea, so I took a picture of her Pride display she made for the teen department. She’s had to fill it a few times already, which is great! 

Via Ruth Compton: Arlington County’s Central Library in Virginia. Display created by Alex Zealand.

From Becky Canovan: This is the display in the library at the University of Dubuque. She writes, “It was a conscious choice to keep this display small so it fit in our highest traffic area of the summer, next to our printers. We also have the digital sign as part of the rotation on our screen in our entryway.”

From Rosie Bromberg: This is the current teen room display at the Poulsbo Library, part of Kitsap Regional Libraries, in Poulsbo, Washington. Of course, the books didn’t stay in rainbow order for long.

 

 

 

 

From Vee: I got a chance to make a Pride Display at Addendum Books, so I thought I’d send it your way (top image). I had a SUPER fun time making it. I have the books roughly sorted by genre. 🙂 I haven’t had a shift since I made it, so I don’t know what’s been popular, but every time I pass by the store on the bus the display gets a lot of glances.

I also got to make a resource sheet for the library I work at (Highland Park in Saint Paul)!

Display at the Alameda Free Library in Alameda, California and made by the Teen Librarian, Hallie Fields. She writes, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and Honor Girl were immediately checked out before I could even photograph the display.”

From Sarah Prineas: Attached is a picture of a display that I put together in the kids section at Prairie Lights, an independent bookstore in Iowa City, Iowa.  It includes a list of recommended books from a local teen reader, Luke Reynolds. 

And here’s Luke Reynolds’s recommendation list:

Recommended GLBT Young Adult Books from Luke Reynolds (West High School class of ’18)

• Ask Me How I Got Here by Christine Heppermann (bisexual protagonist, free verse).
• Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters (lesbian protagonist with relationship).
• The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yeh (gay love interest and an adorable book to boot).
• Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate (transexual and asexual/aromantic characters).
• True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan (gay protagonist with gay romance, SO GOOD).
• Willful Machines by Tim Floreen (gay protagonist with gay romance, science fiction).
• The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater (gay romance and protagonist).
• Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky (gay side characters, hilarious dark comedy).
• Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway (gay side character, hilarious contemporary).
• More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (gay protagonist, LOVE LOVE LOVE).
• The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens (gay character who has passed away, thoughtful and quiet contemporary).
• Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa (gay protagonists including one with gay parents, really nice debut with realistic portrayal of depression and LGBT issues)
• Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas (gay side character, hilarious contemporary, plus prom!).
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (gay protagonist, unabashedly fun heist novel that had me on the edge of my seat)
• Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (gay protagonist with romance, very cute and fun contemporary but serious at points).  *2016 Lambda Award Finalist
• Tricks by Ellen Hopkins (gay protagonist, free verse novel about teenage prostitution that’s haunting and graphic but important).
• George by Alex Gino (transgender protagonist; important and written in a very childlike but heartwarming way). *2016 Lambda Award Winner
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (gay romance).
• Tilt by Ellen Hopkins (gay protagonist with romance, free verse novel that’s as heavy as a thunderstorm and can sometimes be painful).
• Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (gay protagonist with gay romance, very cute and short).
• I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (gay protagonist with gay romance, this book is literally my everything)
• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (transgender and lesbian characters, absolutely hilarious black comedy that brought tears and a smile to my face, GIRL POWER!)
• Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (gay relationship/undertones, fun graphic novel).
• Drama by Raina Telgemeier (gay side character, she was literally my life at age 10).
• Summer Days and Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins (short story collection by a bunch of different authors, one gay romance story in there by Tim Federle).
• Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters

From Molly Wetta: Here are the displays from Lawrence (KS) Public Library. The first one is in the teen zone, the second one is by the welcome desk when you first walk into the building. The YA one has had books fly off of it – I restocked it before taking the picture.

From Robin Brenner at Brookline Public Library in Massachusetts: I put up this display on June 1st, especially to highlight the great variety of newer teen titles that have come out over the past year (although, happily, many of them were already out.)  Since I took these pictures, I added a good number of our nonfiction titles as well, and almost half of them are already gone.  It’s prominently displayed right outside our Teen Room, near our main elevator, and I’ve been gratified to see so many people checking out the display and grabbing titles.

From Emily Charpentier: The following blog post includes the Pinterest board version of Uxbridge High School’s in-library Pride display and a photo of the in-library display

A member of the GSA asked me to put up a display for Pride Month, though unfortunately, all books are due back for the summer tomorrow, so there isn’t much checking out going on. Definitely promised another student that I wouldn’t take down the Pinterest board so she’d still be able to see the list of books on the display later when she could check some out, though. 

From Katelyn Attanasio: Here is the one I put together at Cascades Library in Potomac Falls, VA. It’s located at the front of our teen center and has been fairly popular. The books with gay male characters have been the most popular, but all of the books have been going over well. We also haven’t had any complaints about it this year!

From Angie Manfredi at Los Alamos County Library System, Los Alamos, New Mexico.

From Becky Greer at South Shore Regional Library.

Included on my display are the following books:

Adrian and the Tree of Secrets by Hubert

Alex as Well by Alyssa Brugman

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (in Spanish) by John Green & David Levithan

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Letters to Our Children: Lesbian and Gay Adults Speak to the New Generation Edited by Larry Dane Brimner

What We Hide by Marthe Jocelyn

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

What We Left Behind by Robin Talley

Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian

Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash

On The Count of Three by Maureen Johnson

GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens by Kelly Huegel

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth

Not Otherwise Specified by  Hannah Moskowitz

There is also a list of the Rainbow Books with their YA selections: http://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/archives/1207

I also put out LGBTQIA bookmarks, with a short list of books in those genres. We are down to 1 book mark, and I have already had to replace a few books like Carry On by Rainbow Rowell and I am J by Cris Beam.

From Chelsea Outlaw, a youth services associate at a library in Kansas.

From Jess Gafkowitz: I’m the new YA librarian at the Sheepshead Bay branch for the Brooklyn Public Library. Attached are two photos of my tiny YA Pride display.

From Tina Dalton: I’m sending you a photo of the YA pride display for the Cuba Circulating Library in Cuba, NY.

From Ilana Soorenko: This Pride display is in the Teen Room at our library, the Queens Library at Flushing.  The display was a joint effort between myself and my coworker Christian Arffmann (he actually did the display board, and the choice of books was shared between us).  So far, I’ve mostly noticed that the comics (The New Avengers, Zodiac Starforce, Catwoman, X-men) and manga (Princess Jellyfish, Strawberry Panic, His Favorite) have been the items most checked out or returned to the display, but that’s not surprising considering how heavily browsed those collections are in general.

From Kathleen Breitenbach at Hamilton Township Public Library.

From Brandi Fong: Our Pride display at the Peace Dale Library in South Kingstown, RI.

From Andi, children’s bookseller at Foyles Grand Central Birmingham: The top is a display for Pride month, and below is the small year-round section the bookstore keeps of YA LGBTQ+ titles.

From Anna Haase Krueger: Pride display at the Ramsey County Public Library in Minnesota (more adult than YA, but I’m including it anyway!).

From Katie McLain: We have two up at our library: a Pride-specific display & a rainbow colored “I can’t remember the title but the cover was…” display.  I set up the Pride display, and my Reference coworker, Priscilla Resendiz, set up the rainbow colored display. These are from the Waukegan Public Library in Waukegan, IL.

From Maria Padian: Pride at Curtis Library in Brunswick, Maine!

Finally, I want to end with the display and related commentary that perhaps will be the one that requires your tissues, if you’re not already there…

And that is how you do it.

____________________

I know I promised a giveaway in this newsletter, but I’m going to hold off until the next issue. Instead, pick up one of the books or two of the books or piles of the books you’ve seen in the displays above and dig into some great reading.

Keep rocking, YA folks. <3

YA fans!

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Rook.

History has a way of repeating itself. In the Sunken City that was once Paris, all who oppose the new revolution are being put to the blade. Except for those who disappear from their prison cells, a red-tipped rook feather left in their place. The mysterious Red Rook a savior of the innocent, and a criminal in the eyes of the government.

Meanwhile, across the sea in the Commonwealth, Sophia Bellamy’s arranged marriage to the wealthy René Hasard is the last chance to save her family from ruin. But when the search for the Red Rook comes straight to her doorstep, Sophia discovers that her fiancé is not all he seems. Which is only fair, because neither is she.

As the Red Rook grows bolder and the stakes grow ever higher, Sophia and René find themselves locked in a tantalizing game of cat and mouse.

Daring intrigue, delicious romance, and spine-tingling suspense fill the pages of this extraordinary tale from award-winning author Sharon Cameron.

As I’m sure you’re aware, we’re now 6 months deep into 2016. It’s not quite the halfway point yet, but it’s close enough that I feel comfortable pulling together a month-by-month of the biggest news in the YA world so far this year — as well as some of the things you may have missed that are worth a read. This won’t be comprehensive, of course, but it’s a means of catching up with some of the news you may want to remember, may want to forget, or may have missed the first time around.

At the end of each month, enjoy a special YA link to book lists or other great YAish stuff you should know about.

January

• 11-year-old Marley Dias talked about how she was unable to find black girls like her in the books she was reading, so she began the #1000BlackGirlBook campaign and it was a rousing success.

• Need a feminist pick-me-up? YA author Courtney Summers launched #ToTheGirls2016 in late January and it’s everything you’d want in a female-empowering hashtag.

• “I definitely would have appreciated more stories about enthusiastic and consensual sexuality—especially female-driven sexuality—when I was a teenager. In my later teen years, I was able to fill that need through online fanfic communities. (I read countless Pride and Prejudice fanfic stories where the characters had all the sex that Austen left off the page.) Now, you can browse the Amazon Recommendations list or the Barnes & Noble YA section and find sex and sexuality addressed honestly and compassionately from a multiplicity of viewpoints.” — a really great read on sex and contemporary YA novels.

• Obviously, I’m still thinking about YA big-screen adaptations and this piece about their evolution. The Fifth Wave hit theaters in January to very little fanfare.

• A round-up of the 2015 youth books and media which earned some shiny stickers from youth librarians.

 

Do you know about Rich in Color? This Tumblr collects and shares weekly lists of diverse YA reads hitting shelves. It’s a tremendous resource.

 

February

• Fans of Marissa Meyer’s series “The Lunar Chronicles” are in for a treat, as she’s writing graphic novels for the series.

• Then there was that time fantasy author Sherrilyn Kenyon sued Cassandra Clare. No word quite yet on what’s going on with this lawsuit.

• Black female writers on the books and writers that inspired them. So much good stuff here.

• Angela Thomas, a debut author, sold her book based on the #BlackLivesMatter movement and it’s going to be big.  

• The CCBC stats for diversity in children’s lit were released and . . . not enough has changed, to put it lightly.

• Book Riot’s own Jeff O’Neal wrote a fantastic piece about how we can stop worrying about the false claim that teenagers aren’t reading.

 

Writer Nita Tyndall has a fantastic resource of LGBTQIA books in YA that aren’t about coming out. This is such a great list.

 

March

• Simon & Schuster announced they’re starting a children’s imprint dedicated to Muslim stories.

• Nicole Brinkley, now a Book Riot contributor, wrote a lengthy, in-depth piece about sexism in YA with tons of additional resources included in it. Worthwhile reading.

• YA funny writer Louise Rennison died. I’m still sad about this — I remember spending a week after finishing a semester of graduate school lying on my futon and reading the Georgia Nicholson books, laughing myself silly.  

• Remember when we were getting a Nancy Drew television show with a woman of color as the lead? And then a couple months later, turns out, that Nancy Drew was “too female” to happen.

• Publishers Weekly broke down the children’s books that sold the most in 2015.

• “And that’s what’s so cool about Rey, Katniss, and Supergirl: It’s impossible to ignore them. They are female protagonists in properties that boys are encouraged—expected, even—to watch. For the first time young boys are being asked to empathize with female leads the way girls have long been expected to empathize with male ones. After all, I may have loved Hermione, but I spent 3,000 plus pages inside Harry’s head.” An interesting piece about why boys need to see female heroines as much (or more than? I disagree with that statement) as girls do.

 

One thing I get asked all the time is how I keep track of new books. Obviously, I put together huge round-ups three months in advance, but that doesn’t mean I always remember what’s out or what’s coming soon. My secret is YA Lit. Click here. Marvel at their calendars. This is a killer resource.

 

April

• We’re getting superhero YA novels from a group of super-popular YA authors.

• Sex and YA fiction is a topic of never-ending interest to me, and this piece at Bitch Magazine with Sarah McCarry — one of our Book Riot contributors and author in her own right — talks about why sex in YA is important.

• Also, there’s this NPR piece about the value YA lit has in helping teach teenagers about consent.

• This moving piece about coming out as a gay children’s author by C Alexander London, writer of the YA titles Proxy and Guardian made a lot of waves and for good reason.  

• Angel Cruz asks “Where are all of the Asian kids in contemporary YA romance?”

 

Get familiar with the We’re The People resource for this year. It’s a list of recommended reads for youth — including YA titles and adult cross-over titles — that are written by and/or feature people of color and/or Native Americans.

 

May

• If you’re ready for a good laugh, YA author Nova Ren Suma began the infamous #BeetGate on Twitter.

• YA author and Book Riot contributor Justina Ireland began #YAWithSoul as a way to add blackness into white YA titles. It’s amusing and also a great critique of the landscape of books.

• We’re getting a YA edition of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code which . . . teens who want to read that book would pick up the actual version rather than the one that’s being dumbed down for them. So that’s interesting.

• This is a little Insider Baseball but for those who are curious about what’s going on with small publisher Month9Books — and they’ve put out a few YA titles, including Cindy Pon’s Serpentine — this piece at YA Interrobang lays it all out really well.

• Strange diseases and more trends in recent and upcoming YA fiction, as discussed at Book Expo America.

 

I believe I’ve plugged the Sync Audiobook program in more than one newsletter but it is worth another shout out: legitimate free audiobooks all summer long, including popular YA books. You download and keep them. Forever. Really.

 

Roll up your sleeves and enjoy your well-stocked collection of link reading. We’ll be back in two weeks with a look at June news, as well as a discussion of (hopefully!) the breakdown of YA and diversity so far in 2016. Because, friends, it’s time to talk.

 

Hello, YA lovers!

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Genius by Leopoldo Gout, from Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan.

Get ready to run! Three teen geniuses from around the world compete in a game with the highest of stakes. Together, they seek to win the game and change the world, but it won’t be easy. . . “Genius is exciting, provocative, fresh, innovative, and smart, smart, smart.” —James Patterson

Let’s talk about book-to-film adaptations this week.

It seems like every week, I collect tons of links to the latest YA books that are being optioned for film. Optioned, for those who aren’t down on the language, means that interest has been expressed for making a film, but it’s not a guarantee. Until the film is on the big screen (or on DVD if it’s a straight-to-DVD deal), nothing in the film world is a guarantee. But, an option means that there’s money on the line and someone has the rights to make the film, which is in itself a pretty big thing.

This piece from The Hollywood Reporter caught my attention, particularly the first couple of lines:

With the Hunger Games franchise wrapped up, foreign buyers are ravenous for new young adult adaptations that could potentially launch a franchise. A slew of projects have invaded the market in Cannes this year, offering fantasy and supernatural tales involving witches, ghosts and dystopian-set drama.

Where it almost feels like YA adaptations in the US are slowing down in terms of the box office returns, foreign companies are looking to find more potential places to build a franchise or two to make money. And more specifically, filmmakers are looking to tap into that young female audience (which is funny, given that CBS claimed the Nancy Drew television series was “too female” for their audiences). More from the Hollywood Reporter piece:

While the success of Twilight and The Hunger Games has made the YA genre a box-office force especially at drawing in the young female audience — there have been several films sold at markets that didn’t have the same happy ending […] ‘People who lost money on the YA pictures that came after Twilight were because they went crazy on the budgets,’ says Lisa Wilson, co-founder and partner of The Solution Entertainment Group.

So, what sorts of returns are YA box office titles seeing, anyway? With the help of Box Office Mojo, I compiled a handy little spreadsheet of YA books made into films and compiled their Lifetime Gross Earnings (LGE). LGE takes the money brought in by the films from their premiere to the present, which in this case, would be May 15, 2016. The LGE does not take into account what the film’s budget was, and in this data, LGE is for domestic earnings. This isn’t a comprehensive list of all YA book-to-film adaptations, and I’ve purposefully left out Harry Potter, since the first films are middle grade skewed, Ender’s Game, which was originally an adult novel with YA crossover appeal, and other titles that many call YA but that really are not.

These are films that came out between 1980 and today and it won’t surprise me if many of these adaptations are a surprise (in other words, you may not have known these were adapted from YA books). If you need these bigger, click and they should expand:

I don’t want to talk too much about what any of this means, if anything, but what I do think is worth observing are a few things:

 

• Female-led YA adaptations seem to make a lot of money.

• Female-written YA books seem to make adaptations that make a lot of money.

• The first film in a franchise seems to make less money than subsequent films, which makes some sense — once a film has done well, it raises the profile and encourages more people to get into the franchise.

• These films are so, so white.

 

Now let’s make this a little bit more interesting and see what, if anything, can be said about what sorts of earnings were made against the budget of these films. I’ve pulled the estimated budgets from Wikipedia, and in instances where a range was offered, I pulled the highest number. Not all of these films have budgets listed, but the biggies — the ones that Wilson is talking about in the THR article — do. Can’t read these? Here’s a read-only spreadsheet with the numbers. 

In terms of my observations above, about later films in a franchise having bigger earnings than the earlier titles, perhaps it has to do with bigger budgets and more marketing.

Likewise, perhaps those bigger and bigger budgets explain why some adaptations, like the third installment in the Divergent series or the recently-released (with little to no buzz) The Fifth Wave earned very little comparatively. Big budgets don’t always mean success.

There aren’t any real conclusions to be drawn with these numbers; rather, this is an interesting data-driven way to look at the whys and hows of the growth in YA adaptations on the big screen. Though they aren’t always a success, they do bring in the money . . . and female audiences. (Worth sharing here this piece from last year about why it is we hate on the things girls love, even though girls have money to spend and often set the trends).

It’s only fitting now to share some more adaptation news from the last couple of weeks:

• Salla Simukka’s “Snow White” trilogy, which is an in-translation series out of Norway, is headed for the big screen. I got my hands on the first in this trilogy and couldn’t seem to get the rest from my local library, but now I want to. It has a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo vibe to it, but it’s through the female POV. Fresh thriller-y stuff for the YA world, so hopefully this will make the books more widely available.

• The first trailer for the adaptation of Jeanne Ryan’s debut novel Nerve has landed. I didn’t know this book was getting a film adaptation, and I didn’t know it had Emma Roberts in it.

• Aime Kaufman and Meagan Spooner’s book These Broken Stars, which is the first in a science fiction series, is being looked at for television adaptation with Freeform (formerly ABC Family).

• I’m bummed to learn that Freeform’s adaptation of Recovery Road isn’t being picked up for a second season. It was a wonderfully diverse realistic show — I wonder if that’s why it didn’t do so hot?

 

• The Possibility of Fireflies is being eyed by Courtney Love, along with others, for adaptation. Never heard of the book? Me either. It published in 2006, and the story itself is set in the 1980s.

• Alexandra Monir’s The Final Six has a movie deal. Never heard of it? Well, you won’t be alone — the book isn’t finished and doesn’t even have a publishing deal yet. (If this is the point where you’re wondering when the craze will stop, you won’t be alone, either).

• There’s been a casting announcement for the adaptation of Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I’m here for this one.

• And finally in adaptation talk — at least for this newsletter edition! — the television rights to Dawn Kurtagich’s The Dead House have been acquired. It’s unclear whether this will be something possible to see in the US or if it’ll be just in the UK. Of course, it has to be filmed first. . .

 

To round out this edition of “This Week in YA,” here are some non-adaptation news and links worth reading or knowing about this week. I could probably talk in depth about most of them, and maybe I will in future newsletters:

• KIDDING, more adaptation news to launch this final section of news — but this is in the form of The Selection becoming a coloring book.

• Fran Wilde’s YA novel Updraft won a Nebula Award.

• This year’s Audio award winner in YA is Libba Bray’s The Lair of Dreams. You can check out a sample on the Audies website.

• Speaking of audiobooks, I know I’ve shared this before, but now that it’s going on, it’s time to share again: each week, all summer long, you can download two audiobooks per week for free through Sync. There are YA titles and classic titles and the selections are excellent. You can’t beat free.

• In the last YA newsletter, I wrote about cover designs. Sarvenaz Tash just wrote a behind-the-scenes post about the cover for her upcoming book, The Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love. Check it out (includes cover models, makeup, clothing, the Javitz Center, and more).

• Finally, a look at some of the trends — micro and macro — in YA literature, as seen and discussed at Book Expo America.

 

Thanks for tuning in to another edition of “What’s Up in YA?” Keep on being rad and keep on reading — and spoiler: I think it’ll be time to give away some books soon.

Welcome to May, YA lovers!

Let’s kick off the new month talking about one of the most fascinating elements of the YA world: book covers. Without question, book covers, especially in YA, are extremely important. They’re the first impression of a book, setting the story’s tone and feeling to readers who might not know anything about what the book is about. Sure, we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but let’s face the fact that we all do look at it and make a snap judgment. Either it’s appealing or it’s not. Having worked with teens, I know they do the same thing.

Covers sell the story, but they also serve as a really great tool for those who are trying to talk about books or recommend them to other readers. You kind of know when a book is going to be a romance or a science fiction read based on the design elements on a cover. And there’s no question that covers that do well and sell a book can and do set off trends.

How about a quick look back at some YA cover trends in recent memory?

 

Stephenie Meyer’s best selling series seemed to spark the big idea of cover trends in YA in a way that was more obvious than before the series hit. Dark backgrounds, a spot of color, and images that evoke drama became all the rage in books published during the years the series reigned supreme.

First: recovered classics.

Then there was the cover makeover for LJ Smith’s “The Vampire Diaries” series, in addition to new books in the series being written after a long hiatus:

And a couple of other YA series, among so many others with a similar cover scheme, that hit shelves during the height of Twilight’s success:

And

Of course, it’s impossible not to see the influence of the cover design in the series inspired by Twilight for adults:

Following this trend was the one where pretty white girls wore pretty dresses, often while looking sad (image snagged from this blogger who pulled these covers together from the top of her head alone).

We saw books with big faces on the covers — again, almost always white — around this same time, along with book covers where girls were dead or dying or drowning or floating.

And then John Green and Rainbow Rowell’s 2012 books changed the game.

No longer were book covers obviously geared toward teen readers; they were instead geared toward young adult readers who may — or perhaps may NOT be — teens themselves. Green’s book featured a blurb from Jodi Picoult, a well-known adult author with tremendous crossover appeal. Adults know her work, and many teens do, too. Her blurb on Green’s book signified a shift of shorts, but perhaps not more than the cover itself.

It’s simple: it’s a single iconic image and driven by the title. No faces, no people, no symbols or dead girls (on the cover, that is).

Rowell’s book, which earned a powerful and game-changing review from Green in the New York Times, took cover design in a bit of a different direction, too. This was an illustrated cover. Again, it was simple, with clean lines, and offered an iconic image that readers knew and identified immediately. It’s a cover that doesn’t scream teenagers at all, and in many ways, it’s a cover packed with nostalgia value. The book being set in the 80s probably influenced that to some extent.

And now, post-Green and Rowell, we see YA book covers looking more and more similar to those two in ways that aren’t necessarily obvious but do point to a growth in font-driven and originally-illustrated covers:

There are so many more that could be included here, but one look through these covers, as compared to the covers earlier, shows a marked difference, doesn’t it? Of course, there are still covers with stock images and with girls in dresses, but they are not the trend of choice anymore.

Why all of the cover talk, you ask? It’s because I read two fabulous pieces on recent cover designs in the last few weeks, and I couldn’t wait to share them. As outsiders, we can look at the cover designs and make a judgment or see the trends, but rarely do we get the opportunity to peek beneath the covers (heh) and learn about what went into making them. Eric Smith has been doing a series called “By The Cover” about cover designs at Book Riot, which, if you haven’t checked out, I highly recommend doing after you check out these two:

• Chad Wekerman talks about the design for Jesse Andrews’s sophomore novel, The Haters. This piece is fascinating, as it looks at the outtakes and what the goal of the cover was and how it was achieved. Even the rejected covers for this one are outstanding and “on trend,” so to speak. He wrote about the choices in design for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl a few years back, too, which is more than worth a read and then follow it up with this piece about how the paperback cover design was selected.  

• The designs of the covers Wekerman talks about fall into the sorts of cover design preferences seen during the height of font/illustration-driven looks, but how about a recent book with a cover that sort of feels like one you’d have seen a few years ago? CJ Redwine’s recently-released book The Shadow Queen has a very dark fairytale-esque look to it, with an apple dripping what looks like black blood. At first glance, I wasn’t expecting much from the design-side of the cover. I thought it was clever text placement on a great stock image. But it’s not. Those letters were carved into actual apples. Check out the behind-the-scenes on this one. That is commitment.

• Though it’s not a behind-the-scenes of a cover design, per se, I had to share the cover reveal for Nicola Yoon’s forthcoming The Sun is Also a Star. It’s a title-driven cover made out of colorful yarn that’s reminiscent of books like Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You The Sun (huh, “Sun” is in both of those). Immediately upon seeing Yoon’s book cover, I was reminded of adult author Aimee Bender’s The Color Master, which utilized a similar technique on the cover. And that reminder may be because it’s the same cover designer for both. Kind of neat!

 

I could probably write ten more pages just on cover design thoughts alone, but there’s been some other worthwhile news in the YA world over the last couple of weeks, including a huge round of adaptation announcements:

 

• IW Gregorio’s debut novel None of the Above, about an intersex teen girl, is under development as a Lifetime film. From the same announcement, Sea Change by Aimee Friedman is being adapted as well.

• Stephenie Meyer (hey, there she is again!) is set to adapt Kendare Blake’s popular Anna Dressed in Blood. There’s been a cast announcement, too. It might be worth noting that as exciting as it is to see a book like this being adapted, it is disappointing to see such a white cast. Cas is never outright described as white, but looks like he will be in the film.

• Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14 now has a director attached to the film adaptation.  

• Asking for It by Louise O’Neill is being adapted for the small screen. It’s unclear whether this will be available outside the UK, but I know I’d love to see a female-driven story about rape culture on TV, so I hope we see it on this side of the pond.

 

And finally, some other pieces worth a read and a think:

 

• Maybe we need to take what Maggie Stiefvater says about YA being a ‘bullshit label’* more seriously after seeing the slate of Locus Award finalists in YA. Aside from the obvious lack of females recognized, there’s the added kick of not all of those books even being considered YA titles.

 

* I disagree wholeheartedly with this, as someone who has worked with teenagers and YA books extensively in libraries and whose career is about this burgeoning field of literature. Is it a marketing label? Sure. But it’s also a real thing, with real aspects to it that differentiate it from adult books and middle grade books. The YA arm of the American Library Association has been talking seriously about the bullshit YA category since 1996, which would be roughly when Steifvater was in middle school or high school. Not to mention all of those books in the 1980s and 1970s and 1960s and 1950s. Or authors like Judy Blume or Robert Cormier or Maureen Daly (who wrote Seventeenth Summer, which many consider the “first” YA book, in 1942) or Paul Zindel.

 

• Are you a writer? Do you know writers? Looking for someone with a specific background or experience to read your work and give you feedback on how you’ve represented it? This sensitivity readers database looks like it will be invaluable.

 

• “I love writing for teenage girls. I think they are so smart and creative. But both teenage girls and the things they like so often get denigrated in our culture. You know, boy bands and girl fashion. There’s not a lot of respect for teenage girls, but they are so resilient. I think it’s awesome to center them in stories and show how powerful and interesting they are and that time of life is.” — this is a fantastic short interview with author Jessica Spotswood.

 

Thanks for reading “What’s Up in YA?” The next edition will hit your inboxes in two weeks. In the meantime, pick up a YA book or six, spend some time checking out the covers (you will never unsee these things now!), and then enjoy the read.

 

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Future Shock.

Good April, YA fans!

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks in the YA bookternet. Maybe part of it has to do with this being a huge release season — we’re seeing tons of books hitting shelves each Tuesday (and sometimes Thursday) and will through the end of May — and it may have to do with some big industry-related trade shows happening now. There’s surprisingly little news to talk about, so this week’s newsletter will take a bit of a different approach, with a quick round-up of links at the end.

As you may or may not know, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This is a topic that’s covered really well in the YA internet, and it’s a topic that not only generates worthwhile discussion in April, but it lingers throughout the year.

Here’s the out for anyone who needs it — and feel zero shame taking it: sexual assault and rape are the topic at hand for the bulk of this newsletter. If you want to skip to the round-up of other news, hop down to the *** below.

It’s been really difficult to grasp the importance of the topic of sexual assault lately, especially following the not guilty verdict of the Jian Ghomeshi case, wherein the victims of assault were called liars by the judge for not coming forward soon enough and not recalling specific details of the trauma they incurred. Of course, that is one case of hundreds each year, and it’s one case that highlights precisely why victims choose not to speak up or out. It’d be easy to name many more without even thinking too hard about it.

I’d like to take the opportunity with this newsletter to talk about and highlight some of the incredible young adult books that explore issues relating to sexual assault and rape culture. The only way that we’re able to make change as a culture is to talk about it, as well as make real effort in understanding the short- and long- term effects of such violence against victims. The bulk of these books are available now, though forthcoming titles have been noted with publication dates. All descriptions are from Goodreads and titles are listed alphabetically. This is a very white, straight list — which is worth an entire newsletter in and of itself — and the bulk of the books on this list involve female victims (though not all). Note that this is not comprehensive. Likewise, I highly recommend checking out this recent NPR piece about the value YA lit has in teaching teens about consent and sex.

All The Rage by Courtney Summers: The sheriff’s son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything—friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy’s only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn’t speak up. Nobody believed her the first time—and they certainly won’t now — but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear.

Asking for It by Louise O’Neill: Emma O’Donovan is eighteen, beautiful, and fearless. It’s the beginning of summer in a quiet Irish town and tonight she and her friends have dressed to impress. Everyone is at the big party, but all eyes are on Emma.

The next morning Emma’s parents discover her in a heap on the doorstop of their home, unconscious. She is disheveled, bleeding, and disoriented, looking as if she had been dumped there in a hurry. She remembers nothing from the party.

That day several devastating photos from the party are posted online and go viral, eventually launching a criminal investigation and sending the community into tumult. The media descends, neighbors chose sides, and people from all over the world want to talk about her story. Everyone has something to say about Emma, whose life has been changed forever by an unthinkable and all-too-common act of sexual violence, but all she wants is to disappear.

Exit, Pursued By A Bear by E. K. Johnston: Hermione Winters has been a flyer. She’s been captain of her cheerleading team. The envied girlfriend and the undisputed queen of her school. Now it’s her last year and those days and those labels are fading fast. In a few months she’ll be a different person. She thinks she’s ready for whatever comes next.

But then someone puts something in her drink at a party, and in an instant she finds herself wearing new labels, ones she never imagined:

Victim. Survivor. That raped girl.

Even though this was never the future she imagined, one essential thing remains unchanged: Hermione can still call herself Polly Olivier’s best friend, and that may be the truest label of all.

Every Last Promise by Kristin Halbrook: Kayla saw something at the party that she wasn’t supposed to. But she hasn’t told anyone. No one knows the real story about what happened that night—about why Kayla was driving the car that ran into a ditch after the party, about what she saw in the hours leading up to the accident, and about the promise she made to her friend Bean before she left for the summer.

Now Kayla’s coming home for her senior year. If Kayla keeps quiet, she might be able to get her old life back. If she tells the truth, she risks losing everything—and everyone—she ever cared about.

Faking Normal by Courtney C Stevens: Alexi Littrell hasn’t told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in “the Kool-Aid Kid,” who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

The Gospel of Winter by Brendan Kiely: As sixteen-year-old Aidan Donovan’s fractured family disintegrates around him, he searches for solace in a few bumps of Adderall, his father’s wet bar, and the attentions of his local priest, Father Greg—the only adult who actually listens to him.

When Christmas hits, Aidan’s world collapses in a crisis of trust when he recognizes the darkness of Father Greg’s affections. He turns to a crew of new friends to help make sense of his life: Josie, the girl he just might love; Sophie, who’s a little wild; and Mark, the charismatic swim team captain whose own secret agonies converge with Aidan’s.

Inexcusable by Chris Lynch: Keir Sarafian knows many things about himself. He is a talented football player, a loyal friend, a devoted son and brother. Most of all, he is a good guy.

And yet the love of his life thinks otherwise. Gigi says Keir has done something awful. Something unforgivable.

Keir doesn’t understand. He loves Gigi. He would never do anything to hurt her. So Keir carefully recounts the events leading up to that one fateful night, in order to uncover the truth. Clearly, there has been a mistake.

But what has happened is, indeed, something inexcusable.

Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen: The football field is a battlefield.

There’s an extraordinary price for victory at Oregrove High. It is paid on – and off – the football field. And it claims its victims without mercy – including the most innocent bystanders.

When a violent, steroid-infused, ever-escalating prank war has devastating consequences, an unlikely friendship between a talented but emotionally damaged fullback and a promising gymnast might hold the key to a school’s salvation.

Told in alternating voices and with unapologetic truth, Leverage illuminates the fierce loyalty, flawed justice, and hard-won optimism of two young athletes.

Some Boys by Patty Blount: When Grace meets Ian she’s afraid. Afraid he’ll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses the town golden boy of rape, everyone turns against Grace. They call her a slut and a liar. But…Ian doesn’t. He’s funny and kind with secrets of his own.

But how do you trust the best friend of the boy who raped you? How do you believe in love?

 

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson: Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won’t talk to her, and people she doesn’t even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that’s not safe. Because there’s something she’s trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country, written by a lovely author who promotes white-guilt in her free time.

The Way I Used To Be by Amber Smith: Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes.

What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.

Told in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year.

What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler: Kate Weston can piece together most of the bash at John Doone’s house: shots with Stacey Stallard, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early—the feeling that maybe he’s becoming more than just the guy she’s known since they were kids.

But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills’s shoulder appears online the next morning, Kate suspects she doesn’t have all the details. When Stacey levels charges against four of Kate’s classmates, the whole town erupts into controversy. Facts that can’t be ignored begin to surface, and every answer Kate finds leads back to the same question: Where was Ben when a terrible crime was committed?

Wrecked by Maria Padian (October 4 — get this on your radar!): Everyone has heard a different version of what happened that night at MacCallum College. Haley was already in bed when her roommate, Jenny, arrived home shell-shocked from the wild Conundrum House party. Richard heard his housemate Jordan brag about the cute freshman he hooked up with. When Jenny formally accuses Jordan of rape, Haley and Richard find themselves pushed onto opposite sides of the school’s investigation. But conflicting interests fueling conflicting versions of the story may make bringing the truth to light nearly impossible–especially when reputations, relationships, and whole futures are riding on the verdict.

* I had the chance to read an early copy of this one, and it’s such a powerful look at rape culture, campus culture, and it allows space for growth, change, and learning — told from a male and female POV, it’s a nice look at the wide-ranging impact of a sexual assault.

I would be remiss in not highlighting this interview I had the privilege to do with Laurie Halse Anderson in 2014, where we talked about rape culture and YA books, on the 15th anniversary of her ground-breaking classic Speak.

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The round-up of forthcoming YA titles in the second quarter of 2016 should hit Book Riot in the next week or so, which should explain why there are fewer stories to share in this newsletter (so many books are hitting shelves! Everyone is busy reading!). But here’s a look at some of the highlights:

• Superhero fans will be delighted to learn that DC and Random House have partnered to release 4 YA novels featuring classic superhero characters — Batman, Catwoman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. On tap to write them? Leigh Bardugo, Matt de la Pena, Marie Lu, and Sarah J Maas. This looks fabulous.
• Let It Snow, the interconnected series of short stories by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle, landed a director for the film adaptation. It’s one step closer to reality. Of course, Variety called it John Green’s book, but good on John Green for clarifying that he has two co-writers on the book …both female. The film is slated for a 2017 release.
• Do you agree or disagree with this list of most disappointing YA film adaptations? I’ll be honest: I haven’t seen any of these.
• By the time this newsletter hits your inbox, the demonstration will have happened, but how heartening and heart-breaking is this story about teenagers occupying the Carnegie library in London to reverse cuts to services?

And let’s wrap up with a few pieces from the Book Riot archive:

• Dig into some YA books featuring …geeks!
• A handy flowchart to YA books that are light on sex and violence, so they’re safe “green light” bets for any type of reader (some people might call them “clean reads,” but that’s a highly problematic label — books aren’t dirty or clean, but rather, they have different reader appeal).

• This piece from 3 years ago (!!) about why YA lit matters to all readers is worth ending on, since it succinctly captures why the books named in this newsletter are important.

As always, thanks for rocking out with us at Book Riot, and keep YA-love in your heart. Thanks for your comments, your questions, and your feedback — see you again in two weeks!