Happy end-of-May, YA fans!
This week’s “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson from Simon Pulse.
From the “author to watch” (Kirkus Reviews) of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes a novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether the world is worth saving.
Is it me or has it felt like May has been the never-ending month? Let’s take this US holiday for the opportunity to catch up on all of the YA happenings on Book Riot this last month.
- We’re putting a bird in the title of these YA books.
- While this round-up of non-traditional hero/heroines isn’t entirely YA, YA characters have some great representation here.
- YA Star Wars novelizations. Moderately related: did you know there’s a Runaways novelization coming?
- Priya sat down and talked with YA author Scott Westerfeld about his new comic The Spill Zone, as well as a bunch of other juicy topics.
- Did you see the cover reveal for Whitney Gardner’s sophomore novel, Chaotic Good? Because it’s [insert fire emoji].
- I love a good book list, and this look at YA books that explore gentrification is a *good* book list.
- Continuing with the theme of tough topics done well in YA, a few books that dig into sex trafficking.
- How could you not love a good rebel poet? Yash highlights a few of her favorite YA renegade poets.
- I do love YA sports novels, even for sports that aren’t necessarily my personal favorites. There’s something about the tension of athletics and adolescence that works really well for my reading tastes. Perhaps that’s why as soon as I finished A Season of Daring Greatly, about a girl who is the first draft pick to the major league for baseball, I needed to put together a list of books featuring girls who love playing baseball.
- And let’s end this month’s collection of links with a look at YA novels about first love.
Before signing off, let’s take a moment to dig into the past. A few links from Mays gone by at Book Riot with a YA focus.
- On sex, YA books, and hiding reading from my mom.
- Books you’ll ship . . . because they’re set on boats.
- On reading YA with a lisp and the power of representation.
- Ashlie talks about how she wishes she’d met these three fat YA heroines sooner.
- YA novels that owe their inspiration to Peter Pan.
- Looking for interracial queer YA romance? Gotcha covered.
- Have you read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and want more books kind of like it? Here’s a list of ‘em. Related: if you love this book, make sure Alexie’s memoir You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, out next month, is on your radar. It’s not YA but does talk a lot about Alexie’s youth and experiences that shaped True Diary.
- Some humor and light: three subgenres of YA that should exist.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked at the very end of a newsletter for readers to share their dream politician-author pairing (in honor of the Bill Clinton-James Patterson novel). There were a few responses, but these two were probably my favorites. The first needs no explanation; the second explanation only makes the pairing even stronger.
- Harvey Milk & Bill Konigsberg.
- President Theodore Roosevelt hook up with Leigh Bardugo: President Roosevelt likes adventure. His adventures in the Amazon and Africa are well known. According to his biographer, Theodore Roosevelt read countless number of books in one sitting.
Thanks for hanging this week, YA Rioters. We’ll see you again next Monday, when we’ll finally be able to sing the famed Carousel jingle.
— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars, currently reading & loving Aftercare Instructions by Bonnie Pipkin