Hey YA Fans:
Let’s catch up on the latest in YA news around the web.
“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Inkmistress by Audrey Coulthurst from Epic Reads.
An action-packed fantasy, perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce and Kristin Cashore.
Asra is a demigod with a dangerous gift: the ability to dictate the future. But her peaceful life is upended when bandits threaten the village of Ina, the girl she loves, and the king does nothing to help.
Asra uses her magic to help, but her spell goes horribly wrong and the village is destroyed.
Unaware that Asra is at fault, Ina swears revenge on the king. To stop her, Asra must become a player in a lethal game of power involving assassins, gods, and the king himself.
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When you’re not reading a book, the next best thing is to read ABOUT books, right? In this collection of links, you can start planning your next movie marathoning sessions, given the amount of news about adaptations there is.
- First and foremost: a look at the diversity numbers from last year’s children’s books. There is a lot to chew over and sit with here.
- Here’s a look at the books which sold the most last year. Anything surprising here? I love looking at these lists (and only wish that we’d seen a book or two by those top-selling authors of color in the image selected).
- And speaking of women of color who sold a lot of books, this NPR interview with Angie Thomas about YA literature, being black in America, and more, is so worth your ears.
- The Sun is Also a Star has a potential lead actress for its adaptation.
- A Hunger Games screenwriter has been tapped to write the screenplay for the adaptation of S.T.A.G.S.
- Check this out: a really great piece about how the future of queer lit is safe in the world of YA literature….as seen in GQ.
- The previous article names the adaptation of Love, Simon as one of the things we have to look forward to from queer YA, and this review of the film is making me very hopeful.
- There’s a stand alone contemporary YA title coming from writing giant Tahereh Mafi this fall and it sounds fantastic.
- Speaking of authors with new books, who else is thrilled to see a new title coming from Sara Farizan?
- There’s a release date for the adaptation of Alexandra Bracken’s The Darkest Minds: August 3.
- The rights to This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp have been scooped by for potential adaptation.
- Laurie Halse Anderson + Wonder Woman = This is some damn exciting news!
- I’m so happy to see narrative nonfiction in YA seeing more time in the spotlight. Scholastic will be publishing more of it soon.
- Audiobook Sync is back! Every week, beginning late next month, you can scoop up two free audiobooks a week. This is especially great for the teen listeners you might know looking for a great new book.
- And finally, the weirdest, “are you joking?” story in recent memory: the former press secretary Hope Hicks may have looked familiar to YA readers because she was a cover model for The It Girl. No, really.
Quick Pick!
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily XR Pan
When Leigh’s mother commits suicide, Leigh’s life unravels. The unraveling only happens harder and stronger when she sees a bird that she knows is her mother. The story follows as Leigh leaves her home town to meet the grandparents she’s never known before to learn more about her family’s history and the person her mother was.
Pan’s debut is lush, absorbing, and perfect for readers who love the magical realism of authors like Nova Ren Suma or Laura Ruby. Leigh’s Taiwanese heritage plays a large role in the story, as do the challenges her mother and grandparents experienced in their young lives. More, this is a book about mental illness and grief that is refreshing, powerful, and much-needed.
Cheap Reads
It’s a wealth of great inexpensive reads this week. Check ’em out!
How Dare The Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana is a memoir and tells the story of Uwiringiyimana’s experience growing up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, surviving a massacre, and making it to America. $2.
Brittany Cavallaro’s A Study in Charlotte — the first in a series of mysteries about the teens related to the famous Holmes and Watson — is $2.
The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco is $2 and if you like horror, particularly J-Horror, you want to read this one.
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Thanks for hanging out this week and we’ll see you again soon!
Killing in C Sharp
Crimson Lake
The Case for Jamie
Memento Mori
The Lion’s Mouth
next to the books that I have read and loved. There are soooo many more on this list that I can’t wait to read!)
The Expanse
Suicide Club: A Novel About Living
Okay Fine Whatever: The Year I Went from Being Afraid of Everything to Only Being Afraid of Most Things