Sponsored by Channel Kindness by Born This Way Foundation Reporters with Lady Gaga.
In Lady Gaga and Born This Way Foundation’s first book, you’ll find stories of inspiration and community from young storytellers. Within the pages of CHANNEL KINDNESS you’ll meet changemakers who found their inner strength, prevailed in the face of bullies, started their own social movements, and decided to break through the mental health stigma. These storytellers share how they felt, created safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, and embraced kindness with every fiber of their being by helping others without the expectation of anything in return.
Hey YA Readers!
You’re reading this from the future. Well, not really. But kind of. I’m on a two week break — no fancy vacation for me, unless you count the trips from my couch to the hammock fancy — and writing a few newsletters in advance, including this one.
YA book titles are something I always think about. They fascinate me, especially when it comes to trends. We’ve seen the single-word titles come and go. We’ve seen so many thorns and thrones over the last half decade, and there’s been so many things Of one thing And another. We’ve seen a surge in YA book titles featuring full names over the last few years. I could add so many more to this list I made!
But I wonder: what YA books have very long titles? Has anyone ever looked what what the longest YA book titles might be?
This highly unscientific exploration looks at long titles, which, as one researcher as pointed out, is a thing we’re seeing more often now in fiction. Let’s see how long we can go — note that I’m choosing not to include those titles which include a colon, since that can be too-easy a way to create length.
None of these YA book titles will come close to the lengthy title of Fiona Apple’s sophomore album “When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing ‘fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter, Cuz You’ll Know That You’re Right.”
For librarians and teachers doing physical or virtual displays, this would be a really neat one to play with.
I’ve stuck to YA books, meaning that some of the titles you might think of are not included because they’re not YA. If you know of other YA titles, sans colon, over 9 words long, I’d love to hear about ’em! Note, too, since this list looks at book title length, it is no where near as inclusive as it should be.
Long YA Book Titles
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb (15)
After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away by Joyce Carol Oates(13)
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (13)
On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God by Louise Rennison (12)
Me Being Me Is Exactly As insane As You Being You by Todd Hasak-Lowry (11)
As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynn Rae Perkins (10)
Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe by Sarah Mlynowski (10)
The Lost Marble Notebook of Forgotten Girl and Random Boy by Marie Jaskulka (10)
The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It by Lisa Shanahan (10)
All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor (9)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (9)
How to Pack for the End of the World by Michelle Falkoff (9)
The Last Confessions of Mara Dyer and Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin (9)
The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson(9)
Any surprises? What I found surprising in compiling this was some of the books I thought had long titles actually didn’t. Instead, the words each had numerous syllables, making them sound much longer than they actually are.
Thanks for hanging!
— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram and editor of Body Talk, (Don’t) Call Me Crazy, and Here We Are.