Hey YA Readers!
I have a packed newsletter for you today. There are so many new releases I want to highlight, and I also want to show off some rad recent and forthcoming YA books that put visible disability front and center.
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
Let’s dive in.
Bookish Goods
Pink Library Card Memo Pad by FlyPaperProducts
Keep notes on the important things in your life, including the books you peep in the wild that you know you need to add to your library or bookstore lists. This pink library due date memo pad is perfect for just that. $8.
New Releases
It is a big YA new release week, both for hardcovers and for paperbacks. In the interest of showing off how wide a range of titles there are, I’ll highlight three below. I encourage you to dive into the full list over here.
Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo
This verse novel follows Samira, whose reputation proceeds her…and it’s not a reputation she wants, but it is one she’s trying to shake. Samira is determined to have a good summer, but when a rumor gets her grounded, she turns to poetry. In a poetry forum, she grows close with an older poet named Horace.
As Samira begins to find her own voice and footing in the slam poetry community, she’s worried that the biggest secret she’s been keeping could be the end of everything she’s worked for.
Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender
Ash was not admitted into the Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, which would allow him to be among the few legally permitted to study magic; he decides to study in secret by becoming a groundskeeper for the school. So when Ash is discovered by Ramsay Thorne, one of the chosen ones at the school, he’s convinced it is over and he’ll be finding himself in big trouble.
But Ramsay doesn’t turn Ash in. Instead, Ramsay decides to enlist Ash in an entirely different scheme: locating one of the most powerful sacred texts of alchemy.
Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories edited by Sandra Proudman
This anthology retells classic stories across different genres and gives them all a fresh Latinx spin. Some of the stories include taking Pride and Prejudice into space, star-crossed lovers finding love amid the planet’s ruins, and more. It has a blockbuster roster of contributors, including Olivia Abtahi, David Bowles, Zoraida Córdova, Saraciea J. Fennell, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland, Torrey Maldonado, Jasminne Mendez, Anna Meriano, Amparo Ortiz, Laura Pohl, Sandra Proudman, NoNieqa Ramos, Monica Sanz, Eric Smith, Ari Tison, and Alexandra Villasante
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Disability Visibility
Over the years, we have finally begun to see more visible disability representation on YA book covers. It is still far from perfect, but even since I wrote about how “inclusive” YA book covers were not including disabled representation well, it has improved a lot. I wanted to draw attention to a handful of YA books in 2023 and 2024 where disability representation is front and center. Of course, many disabilities are invisible and, thus, would not be obvious in some cover renderings for characters. But I think it is important to keep elevating the covers showing it off, too.
Note, though, this list is far more white than it should be. This is partially because this representation is still scarce, partially because this is a look at covers specifically, and partially because there is still a paucity of BIPOC disability representation in YA.
Brooms by Jasmine Walls, illus. by Teo DuVall
This one is pitched as The Fast and the Furious but with broomsticks, and it follows a group of 6 diverse teens who participate in a forbidden broom race, which allows them to embrace their magic as witches. It’s set in 1930s Mississippi, giving the story of magic and witchcraft a historical spin.
Joined at the Joints by Marissa Eller (July 2)
Ivy is chronically ill and has decided to spend the summer away from social activities since that triggers her anxiety. But her mom and her sister urge her to join a support group, and she does—reluctantly at first, then a little more willingly, once she meets an attendee named Grant. He is cute, he is sweet, and he truly understands her. They share the same juvenile rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis.
But as Ivy begins to feel sicker and grows tired of the work it takes to manage her illness, can she hope that even someone who understands the experience will stick around?
Out of Our League edited by Dahlia Adler and Jennifer Iocopelli
I talked about this one in the January 15 edition of this newsletter, so I won’t say much more because it’s straightforward—this is a rad collection of stories about girls in sports. Also rad? Some of those girls are disabled.
Stars in Their Eyes by Jessica Walton, illus. by Aśka
Maisie is attending her first fan convention, and she is stoked to meet one of the heroes of her favorite superhero show. That hero, like her, has a lower leg amputation.
But what Maisie does not anticipate is meeting a cute volunteer at the event named Ollie. As the day goes on, Maisie is unable to stop thinking about how much she is falling for Ollie and how that meeting might be the surprise she did not know she needed.
Take All of Us by Natalie Leif (June 4)
Poisoned water changed the landscape of Ian’s West Virginia town. Those who drank the water were turned into zombies, and Ian, who has dealt with chronic migraines and seizures, has relied on his best friend (maybe more than best friend) Eric to help kill the infected around them.
So when a mandate from the government requires everyone in town to evacuate, Ian is not only injured in the rush, he’s devastated to discover Eric has left him on his own.
Now Ian will team up with two others left behind to find out what happened to Eric.
That is, if Eric doesn’t kill them first.
Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield (July 23)
Phoebe is stuck in a time loop. It is August 6 every day, down to the same doctor appointments that do not help manage her IBS.
But then a car accident sends Jess into the same time loop. Jess, who happens to be Phoebe’s childhood crush. Jess, who convinces Phoebe to take advantage of their repeating days and take chances without consequences.
As Phoebe falls harder and harder for Jess, she begins to worry that the fun they’re having in the time loop will disappear if they ever get out of it.
Thanks, as always, for hanging out. We’ll see you on Thursday with your paperback releases and YA book news.
Until then, happy reading!
–Kelly Jensen