Welcome to Fall, YA Fans!
This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Look Past.
Look Past is a gripping murder mystery involving a transgender teen and a fundamentalist religious sect. Avery is a trans boy who was in love with his friend Mary, but was shunned by her conservative reverend father. Mary is murdered in a brutal way because of her love for Avery, and he could be next. With the entire town caught in the grip of fear, the killer remains at large. Avery is torn between finding the killer and saving himself—not just from the hands of a vicious murderer, but from everyone who thinks he should try to be “normal.”
In the next issue of “What’s Up in YA?,” we have a fun interview with an emerging YA powerhouse talking about Hispanic Heritage Month, magical realism, and a whole lot more. So for that, we’ll take it a little bit slower in this issue — let’s take a look at some of the big news from around the world of YA.
- I’d completely forgotten that Lauren Kate’s Fallen was being made into a film. The trailer has hit, and the article attached to it is interesting — there’s not a release date for the film, and there’s a push to get fans talking so that it will debut. Eventually.
- Did you know that Bernie Sanders is publishing a YA book? It’s a non-fic title being adapted from his next adult release.
- Tis the beginning of award season! You can check out the Kirkus Young Readers’ Literature short list here, then check out the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature here. Some crossovers there!
- “Be not afraid of discomfort. If you can’t put yourself in a situation where you are uncomfortable then you will never grow. You will never change. You’ll never learn. I think for me, the discomfort of drowning is what taught me to swim” — this quote from Jason Reynolds is one of the many great pieces of insight and advice authors for young readers offer up to those ready to leave home for the first time.
- Ann M. Martin talks about the enduring legacy of The Baby-Sitters Club, 30 years after its original publication. Of most interest to me reading this piece was learning Martin is queer!
- There is now a director attached to Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.
- Hulu ordered a pilot for the adaptation of Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass. Which of her series will hit screens first?
- Lizzie Skurnick books will no longer be acquiring new titles. This story is pretty interesting since it sounds like not all of the cooks in the kitchen were in agreement about the dish to be served. I’ve liked the Skurnick reissues that I’ve read quite a bit and hope we still see some more. If this bullet point made no sense to you, check out what it is.
- Remember Marley Dias of #1000BlackGirlBooks? She’s now created a mini-zine for Elle.com. This girl is rad.
From Book Riot…
- On a totally selfish note, I got to show off the cover to my own anthology, Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World, which hits shelves in February. I’m still in awe of the cover and that contributor list.
- A round-up of 100 must-read historical YA novels. Anything you’d add?
- A look at YA novels with shifting POVs.
- YA book covers that don’t whitewash. Some great covers here!
Thanks for hanging out with us another week, and we’ll be back with a fabulous author-reading-book discussion in two weeks. In the mean time, pick up a great YA book or two and have fun.