Hey YA Readers!
I’m gearing up for some time off work next week. Of course, it mostly means not working and it’s not an actual vacation for me – it is for my kid – so my plans are very low key. We’ll hit some thrift stores, we’ll do some small outings, and we’ll both spend a lot of time reading, both together and on our own. My stack of library borrows is going to get smaller.
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Let’s jump in to this week’s YA talk.
Bookish Goods
Wishbone Book Club Member Pin/Magnet by IfAndOrButtons
1. A++++ shop name for a shop dedicated to buttons.
2. How many nostalgia buttons did I just push with this one? If you were growing up in a certain era or dig into oldies but goodies on YouTube, chances are you’re a Wishbone fan.
Wear your membership in the Wishbone Book Club with either a button or magnet. ~$3.
New Releases
The one nice thing about a quieter YA paperback release week is that you can take a small breather to catch up on things you’re working on or which have accumulated on your TBR.
Or you can use the time to add some more books TO that tower. No shame in any game you choose.
Grab the full list of YA paperbacks for this week over here, and remember you might need to toggle to the paperback edition on te links below to find those versions.
Vial of Tears by Cristin Bishara
Sisters Samira and Rima are living in a small town in Michigan with their mother. It’s a dilapidated trailer where they live and mother is in and out, struggling with a gambling problem. Dad has never been in the picture.
So it’s a surprise when Samira’s grandfather wills her a family fortune. She plans to take the Lebanese antiques to a pawn shop to help her and Rima before her mom can gamble away the money.
Unfortunately, one of the treasures is a coin cursed by a god. By disturbing the treasure, Sam and her sister are expelled to the Phoenician underworld. The sisters must learn how to outshine tricksters, outwit dangerous lands, and lean on one another in order to protect their lives and escape the dangerous terrain.
What We Harvest by Ann Fraistat
Although I have not watched The Last Of Us, I know enough about it to suspect this book will appeal to fans of that franchise.
Wren and her family live in a small town that’s always attracted tourists eager to indulge in quintessential Americana. Tourists love to see the wheat, the community, even Wren’s family’s farm. But that all ended five months ago when the blight of Quicksilver began.
Quicksilver consumes the crops. Then the livestock. Then…it comes for the neighbors. The poison is ready to come for Wren and she has to turn to someone she would rather not in order to save her town – and her life. Derek, her ex-boyfriend.
Together, they’ll have to answer for the lives and histories of their ancestors and the community of Hollow’s End in order to save everything they live from being completely taken by Quicksilver.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
YA Book News
Note: there’s a Publishers Weekly article floating around this week worth sharing but because it is behind a paywall, I’m unable to do so. The long and short is book sales are stable across all categories…except YA. YA sales are dropping. Here’s why: book bans, increase in book costs (I’m seeing $25 price points for hardcovers this year and have already discussed the $16 paperback price), decreased presence in retail stores, the fact the biggest TikTok titles are still the same few books over and over, and a ton of other reasons I could list here but you likely already know.
Here’s the news you can access:
- What a wonderful slate of children’s and young adult writers and experts heading up this year’s National Book Awards committee for Young People’s Literature.
- Check out all of the details of the potential adaptation of We Were Liars from Amazon Prime.
- Laurie Halse Anderson showed up at a school board meeting last week to push back against book bans.
- Could Six of Crows be the next Netflix development from Leigh Bardugo?
- A look at the film adaptation of The Outsiders, celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you on Saturday for your YA ebook deals.
Until then, happy reading!
— Kelly Jensen, currently reading It Won’t Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib