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What's Up in YA

The Best YA Gifts to Give This Year

Hey YA Readers!

One of the most enjoyable trends I’ve seen this year is how creative YA readers are getting with their bookish goods and specifically, I’ve been lusting over so many of the YA books with painted and decorated edges being offered across Etsy.

In putting together this gift guide, I have really had to hold back from not doing an entire roundup of gorgeous decorated books. I included some, but I do encourage you to seek out some of your favorite titles and see what folks have made from them.

Included in this roundup are title-specific finds, as well as broader book lover goods. There’s a little of everything, ranging from stickers to tees, keychains to DIY cross stitch patterns and more. These make perfect gifts for YA lovers you know, and, of course, your own damn self (I’ve really come to appreciate as an adult that no one will throw you a parade, so you have to do it yourself–the humor of Parks and Rec’s “Treat Yo Self” hits a little different when you’re in your 30s, as you realize you have to do it because no one will do it for you).

Let’s begin with some of these luscious book edge paintings.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Image of the book Legendborn with red and blue painted edges.

This edition of Legendborn is beautiful and perfectly mimics the color palette of the cover. $37.

Image of the book The Dead and The Dark. The edges are sprayed pink and purple.

I especially love that this creepy book’s juxtaposition with the brightly colored edges. $26.

All These Bodies book with red pages and a silver knife.

Although this edition of All These Bodies is labeled “imperfect,” it looks pretty dang good to me. I love the blood red and the weapon on it. $17.

Image of a non-US edition of Six Crimson Cranes, with sprayed edges in a light color palette.

I began with swooning over this sprayed edge edition of Six Crimson Cranes and then read the description closer — you can have this creator make such art on any book. The examples in the reviews are just stunning. $27.

Image of the three books from the Aurora Rising series, each with a colorful galactic edge painting.

If you want to splurge, maybe the Aurora Rising trilogy with three different galaxy-inspired edges is where you do so. I’m in AWE of how gorgeous these are. $120.

Image of three enamel pins. Each is a sword with roses and a banner. The banner reads "enemies to lovers."

For fans of the enemies to lovers trope in fantasy, an awesome enamel pin. $15, with a trio of color choices.

Pile of stickers that read "main character energy" in light brown. The background colors on the sticker are green, maroon, black, and light brown.

Talk about a sticker with some real main character energy. $3.50.

Image of a yellow candle in front of four ya books.

Forever reminder that YA isn’t a genre but a category, but because this genre YA candle is so fun and smells of Rose Gelato, Grapefruit, Mint, Hibiscus, Palm, Raspberry Sangria, I’ll let it go. $8.50.

Image of a colorful lion sticker with the words "We can't defeat monsters we won't face." It's in front of the books Raybearer and Redemptor.

Every single thing about this Raybearer-inspired holographic sticker is perfection. Roar! $5.

Back of a black, long sleeved t-shirt which reads, in white ink, "no matter howe choose to live, we both die at the end."

Whether you’re a long-time Adam Silvera fan or new to the fold (big thanks to TikTok!), this tee inspired from They Both Die at The End will make for a great reading uniform. $30, S-2XL, with some color options.

Image of a rainbow of queer YA books on a cream bookmark with a rainbow tassel. It is on top of a stack of queer YA books arranged in a rainbow color scheme.

Read with pride and this LGBTQ+ book stack bookmark. I love the rainbow tassel on top. $6.50.

Firebird cross stitch pattern
Serpent cross stitch pattern

Grab one of these two cross stitch patterns for fans of the Grishaverse! They’re $3.50 each and instant downloads. Make it yourself to gift or give the pattern with some thread to a recipient for their own creation.

Image of a light blue bookmark with the quote "the problem with broken hearts isn't that they can kill you. it's that they don'." The quote is from Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon.

This bookmark with a quote from Instructions for Dancing is for all of the readers who just love feeling feelings. $3.

image of a peach colored keychain being held by a white hand in front of a light pink background. The keychain reads "read book books."

Short and sweet: a pretty read more books keychain. This will be weird to say but I cannot be alone in being able to taste the style of this keychain, right? $8.

Image of a white mug with a splash or purple. The white text inside the purple reads "YA reader."

I’ve shared this before but it’s worth sharing again. Get yourself or another YA book lover this YA reader mug. $19 and up.

Image of a white hand holding a sticker that reads "Edward as if you could outrun me Cullen."

Twilight is back, whether we like it or not, and this Edward Cullen sticker feels way too appropriate for this renaissance. $3.50.

I hope you found something for yourself or someone else here. We’re taking Thursday off for American Thanksgiving, so you’ll get the next edition of What’s Up in YA in your inbox on Saturday with deals and again on Monday with some great YA nonfiction talk.

Until then, happy reading!

— Kelly Jensen,  @heykellyjensen on Instagram.