Author: Kelly Jensen

Hey YA Readers!

It’s the weekend, and what better time to pick up some of those great YA books you’ve been meaning to read? Here’s a quick round-up of a handful of affordable YA ebooks you might want to snag while the prices are right. (You’ve got gift cards burning a hole in your pocket anyway, don’t you?).

Prices are current as of Friday, January 11.

Tiffany D. Jackson’s outstanding thriller Allegedly is $2.

• If you’ve been itching to try a YA book in translation, what about this book-themed fantasy The Book Jumper? $3.
• Robin McKinley’s classic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty, is the very specific price of $1.20.
• The classic queer coming-of-age book Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden is $2.
• Elizabeth May’s The Falconer, the first in a trilogy, is the exciting price of sixty cents.
• Want a thriller? Caleb Roehrig’s Last Seen Leaving might fit the bill and it’s a whopping $3.

Vegas + gambling + teen girl infamy + an amazing book cover = Lamar Giles’s Overturned. $2.

• Here’s your chance to see what all of the fuss is about. Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses, the first in a series, is a whole $2.
• Pick up the entire The Testing trilogy by Joelle Charbonneau for $3. You read that correctly.
• Snag Laini Taylor’s lush, lyrical fantasy The Daughter of Smoke and Bone for $3.
• Queen of contemporary Emory Lord’s The Names They Gave Us is $3.
• You can pick up William Ritter’s Jackaby for $2.
• For $3.50, you can grab one of my favorite reads, Noteworthy by Riley Redgate.

____________________

See you on Monday!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

Hey YA readers! Let’s look at something royal coming in the new year.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The NOVL.

After the shocking revelations and betrayals in The Cruel Prince, Jude continues to navigate the Faerie world as a mortal. Unable to trust her family and dangerously drawn to the cruel prince of Elfhame, Cardan, Jude will do anything to hold on to the power she’s fought for.

---

It’s coincidence that today’s sponsor is Holly Black’s royally-titled YA series.

One of my weaknesses when it comes to writing about YA is that I don’t read a significant amount of fantasy. But I know many of you, as well as those of you who work with young readers, are huge fantasy fans.

As I was brainstorming newsletter topics, I realized that highlighting an array of YA fantasy books featuring aspects of royalty in the title would be fun. And thus, a royally-themed fantasy collection of new YA books.

Kings, queens, princes, courts, and more. Get your royal fantasy on in 2019 with this selection of titles. Note that because I’ve put so many limitations on this list (titles with royalty + fantasy books), this is far whiter than I’d like it to be. Next year, we’ll see royally-titled fantasy reads from Marie Lu, Zoraida Cordova, and more.

Descriptions are from Goodreads since my writing about them not having read them wouldn’t be especially helpful.

The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter (June 25, no cover yet!)

Welcome to the Forest of Good and Evil. A dream come true, and a living nightmare.

Evil isn’t born, it’s made. One thought and action at a time. Take a good look at what you’ve made.

Far, far away, in the realm of Enchantia, creatures of legend still exist, magic is the norm and fairy tales are real. Except, fairy tales aren’t based on myths and legends of the past—they are prophecies of the future.

Raised in the mortal realm, Everly Morrow has no idea she’s a real life fairy tale princess—until she manifests an ability to commune with mirrors.

Look. See… What will one peek hurt?

Soon, a horrifying truth is revealed. She is fated to be Snow White’s greatest enemy, the Evil Queen.

With powers beyond her imagination or control—and determined to change Fate itself—Everly returns to the land of her birth. There, she meets Roth Charmaine, the supposed Prince Charming. Their attraction is undeniable, but their relationship is doomed.

As bits and pieces of the prophecy unfold, Everly faces one betrayal after another, and giving in to her dark side proves more tempting every day. Can she resist, or will she become the queen—and villain—she was born to be?

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte (February 26)

Get in quick, get out quicker.

These are the words Keralie Corrington lives by as the preeminent dipper in the Concord, the central area uniting the four quadrants of Quadara. She steals under the guidance of her mentor Mackiel, who runs a black market selling their bounty to buyers desperate for what they can’t get in their own quarter. For in the nation of Quadara, each quarter is strictly divided from the other. Four queens rule together, one from each region:

Toria: the intellectual quarter that values education and ambition
Ludia: the pleasure quarter that values celebration, passion, and entertainment
Archia: the agricultural quarter that values simplicity and nature
Eonia: the futurist quarter that values technology, stoicism and harmonious community

When Keralie intercepts a comm disk coming from the House of Concord, what seems like a standard job goes horribly wrong. Upon watching the comm disks, Keralie sees all four queens murdered in four brutal ways. Hoping that discovering the intended recipient will reveal the culprit – information that is bound to be valuable bartering material with the palace – Keralie teams up with Varin Bollt, the Eonist messenger she stole from, to complete Varin’s original job and see where it takes them.

The Girl King by Mimi Yu (January 8)

All hail the Girl King. 

Sisters Lu and Min have always understood their places as princesses of the Empire. Lu knows she is destined to become the dynasty’s first female ruler, while Min is resigned to a life in her shadow. Then their father declares their male cousin Set the heir instead—a betrayal that sends the sisters down two very different paths.

Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu goes on the run. She needs an ally—and an army—if she is to succeed. Her quest leads her to Nokhai, the last surviving wolf shapeshifter. Nok wants to keep his identity secret, but finds himself forced into an uneasy alliance with the girl whose family killed everyone he ever loved…

Alone in the volatile court, Min’s hidden power awakens—a forbidden, deadly magic that could secure Set’s reign…or allow Min to claim the throne herself. But there can only be one Emperor, and the sisters’ greatest enemy could turn out to be each other.

King of Fools by Amanda Foody (April 30)

On the quest to find her missing mother, prim and proper Enne Salta became reluctant allies with Levi Glaisyer, the city’s most famous con man. Saving his life in the Shadow Game forced Enne to assume the identity of Seance, a mysterious underworld figure. Now, with the Chancellor of the Republic dead and bounties on both their heads, she and Levi must play a dangerous game of crime and politics…with the very fate of New Reynes at stake.

Thirsting for his freedom and the chance to build an empire, Levi enters an unlikely partnership with Vianca Augustine’s estranged son. Meanwhile, Enne remains trapped by the mafia donna’s binding oath, playing the roles of both darling lady and cunning street lord, unsure which side of herself reflects the truth.

As Enne and Levi walk a path of unimaginable wealth and opportunity, new relationships and deadly secrets could quickly lead them into ruin. And when unforeseen players enter the game, they must each make an impossible choice: To sacrifice everything they’ve earned in order to survive…

Or die as legends.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo (January 29)

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan (September 10)

In the mythical desert kingdom of Achra, an old law forces sixteen-year-old Princess Kateri to fight in the arena against twelve suitors to prove her right to rule. For Kateri, losing is not an option because in order to fulfil her promise to her late mother, she must win to keep her crown and lead her people. The situation outside the palace is uneasy. The harsh desert is unforgiving, water is scarce, and Kateri’s people are thirsty. To make matters worse, the gang of thieving Desert Boys, the same group that killed Kateri’s mother and her new baby, frequently raids the city wells and steals water, forcing the king to ration what little water is left. The punishment for stealing water is the choice between two doors. Behind one door lies freedom and behind the other is a tiger.

The people of Achra are growing restless and distrustful of the monarchy, and when Kateri’s final opponent is announced, she knows she cannot win. In her desperation, Kateri turns to the desert and the one person she never thought she’d side with. Her future now, too, is behind two doors—only she’s not sure which holds the key to keeping her kingdom and which will release the tiger.

____________________

Thanks for hanging out & we’ll see you next week with a round-up of recent YA news.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

Hey YA readers! I’m thrilled to bring you this guest piece today from a debut author.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by the Class of 2k19 books: 20 authors, 20 MG and YA novels debuting in 2019.

The Class of 2k19 books’ stellar spring YA recommendations:

IMMORAL CODE: “Fast-paced, audacious, and laugh-out-loud funny.” – Caleb Roehrig

THE QUIET YOU CARRY: “Her message: Quiet no more.” – Nikki Grimes

JUST FOR CLICKS: “Breezy and fresh meditation on privacy and relationships.” – Kirkus

THE FEVER KING: “A plague as scary as Stephen King.” – Sarah Rees Brennan

MATCH ME IF YOU CAN: “Enchanting and fun.” – Rebecca Phillips

WHEN THE TRUTH UNRAVELS: “For every teen girl trying her best, fearing she isn’t enough.”- Rachel Solomon

IF YOU’RE OUT THERE: “Funny, engrossing, and one-of-a-kind.” – Becky Albertalli

---

I love a good fish out of water book, and Ben Philippe’s debut novel The Field Guide To The North American Teenager checked all of my boxes. This humorous book follows Norris, a black French Canadian teenager who is forced to move to Austin, Texas, for his mother’s job. Norris feels out of place in many ways, but uses this experience to document what he sees about the “typical” American high schooler.

Norris is an unlikable character, fully flawed, and at times, he’s downright off-putting and a bully. Yet…he’s utterly sympathetic, too. It’s hard not to see why he chooses the role of observer, rather than participant, when he’s already in his position as an outsider.

I’m thrilled to have Ben Philippe here today to talk a bit about Field Guide, his main character Norris, and what it means to write an #OwnVoices story.

Ben Philippe is a New York-based writer and screenwriter. He has a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and an MFA in Fiction and Screenwriting from the Michener Center for Writers in Austin, Texas. He teaches screenwriting at Barnard. This is his debut novel. You can visit him at benphilippe.com or on Twitter @gohomeben.

____________________

When I was 15, my uncle drove me to my very first “real world” summer job interview. After wishing me good luck in the parking lot of the imposing two-floor grocery store, he looked me up and down, taking in my Sears tie, Sears cornflower-blue dress shirt, and Sears braided belt — and handed me a pair of glasses from inside his jacket pocket. My 20/20 vision didn’t matter; they were fake glasses. “A black guy interviews better with glasses,” he explained. it was an avuncular moment for him — bestowing wisdom he had learned the hard way to a kid that vaguely looked like him, now making his way into the world.

I wore the glasses and got the low-stakes job, spending the summer cropping images of various foods for the family grocery’s bi-weekly store flyer. During that summer, I learned to navigate the minute differences between being a black guy with glasses and being a black guy with glasses quickly tucked into his back pocket. The transformation would happen instantly. I was goddamn Sailor Moon, frankly. Little old ladies looking around the store and needing assistance? Glasses. The immigrant stock room guys, complaining about their treatment and smaller-than-they-ought-to-be paychecks?

Most of this was in my head, mind you — I’m aware I don’t look particularly different with glasses. But, little by little, I learned the intricacies of deepening/heightening my voice, smile, and enunciation. If nothing else, these performances affected my confidence when I went to hand my mockups to my employer – a woman who disliked the fact that her own son was now getting into hip-hop “music” and liked to pantomime the quotation marks when consulting me about whether or not she ought to ban it from her house.

Code-switching is fiction, and I spent that summer training myself to become a fiction writer without even realizing it. You weave your ethnicity in when it’s convenient and keep it at a distance when it’s too much of an X-factor. Haitian flavors and meals are painted in vivid technicolor. You unleash black rice and soup joumou recipes on dates and when hosting dinner parties, performing your ethnicity. No glasses; this is the real you.

But the image of your mother wailing in the living room learning she lost half her former colleagues in an earthquake that downgraded the country from “third world” to “shithole” in the minds of many? Well, that part you just sidestep. “I’m Canadian,” you say when people ask about that event. “We got to Montreal when I was five: I barely remember that country.”

Glasses.

When writing took over for me in college — and a takeover is very much what we’re talking about here; I was briefly an Econ major before my first writing workshop — I didn’t quite know whether or not to wear my performative glasses when writing. “Be truthful,” my first Fiction teacher said. “That’s all there is to it. Get at something true.”

Sci-fi or contemporary, alternative history or memoir, Zee Craft of writing prizes authenticity above all else. And in many ways, both the bespectacled and the bare-faced versions of myself were authentic. The code-switching was simply in the internal mapping out that took place before each new encounter. The slight shame at the option you were picking not to display. And writing was no different.

The concept of #ownvoices was an intimidating hashtag floating above my hand when I started to write The Field Guide to the North American Teenager, to be completely honest. It was a set of expectations and identities I had spent years alternating between as convenient. Something to be decoded along the map of ‘race’ and the expectations therein.

Which Ben was the world asking for: the bare-faced or the bespectacled? Which Ben would the world like more? Should I weave in my politics or keep them out? Should I fictionalize a ghetto for protagonist Norris Kaplan to navigate, even though I myself had been raised in aggressively middle-class French Canadian suburbs? He would certainly not be the first YA black protagonist, but there was a tradition there. Should he play football? Should he breakdance?

I loved teenage characters; always have. To me, it’s a joyfully intense stage of life in which you start navigating the world in the first person, pointed forward by hormones, false bravado, obsessions, and insecurities. But could I afford to write a teen as snarky and unlikeable as all my favorite teen protagonists? Would they be treated differently from Holden Caulfield, Ignatius J. Reilly, or Piggy from Lord of the Flies? Shouldn’t my teen be aspirational? Those are the ones we remember, after all. Those who suffer and leave the world to reflect on their sufferings afterward. Should my black teen die at the end?

…When it’s all said and done, it’s a heck of a thing how easily your own voice fits once you allow yourself slip into it, free of those real-world concerns for 350 pages.

I’ve played coy about whether or not I’m Norris Kaplan. My story was very specifically Haitian, Canadian, and American, and so is Norris Kaplan’s–but they are wholly different tales. Norris’ brazenness is something I never had, for one. He is a protagonist that compulsively speaks his mind, constantly pushing at the world and preemptively labeling it under the presumption that everyone else will inevitably label him first. As foreign, as black, as lame (the greatest high school offensive).

But at the end of the day, Norris Kaplan never once carried fake glasses and wouldn’t bother wearing them. And that’s why I love that snarky little sh*t-stirrer so very much and am grateful for the freedom of writing a protagonist that is unbothered by all the questions I spent my teen years looping in my head.

____________________

Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you again on Thursday!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

 

Hey YA readers! Let’s kick off a new reading year.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Similars by Rebecca Hanover.

This fall, six new students are joining the junior class at the elite Darkwood Academy. But they aren’t your regular over-achieving teens. They’re clones. And they’re joining the class alongside their originals. The Similars are all anyone can talk about: Who are these clones? What are the odds that all of them would be Darkwood students? And who is the madman who broke the law against cloning to create them? Emmaline Chance couldn’t care less. Her best friend, Oliver, died over the summer and it’s all she can do to get through each day without him. Then she comes face-to-heartbreaking-face with Levi—Oliver’s exact DNA replica and one of the Similars.

---

Open up your TBR, be it digital or analog, and get ready to add some exciting new books to it. I’ve invited a number of beloved YA authors to share their picks for the books they’re most excited to read in the new year.

Oh, and the second book on this list? It was recommended by not one, but two authors.

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee (August)

Stacey Lee disarms the cliche of the “strong female protagonist” in such a way that we still get the strong-minded feminism and pretty period dresses in her historical fiction, but powerfully rooted and grounded in intersectional diversity. And the beautiful cover on this just blew. me. away.

— Tanita S Davis, author of Peas and Carrots

A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause (August)

This books sounds like The Selection meets Project Runway and as a former costume designer, I can’t wait to read all about the jaw dropping dresses! Kraus’ world— a reimagined Europe— sounds lush and intriguing.

— Erin A. Craig, author of House of Salt and Sorrows

Autumn is a literary force! Stylish, elegant, sleek and dark, her prose is indelible. I had the pleasure of working with her and I can’t wait for the world to meet her debut novel!

— Micol Ostow, author of Riverdale: The Day Before

Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers (February)

More medieval French assassin nuns? Yes, please! Robin LaFevers’ His Fair Assassin series (starting with GRAVE MERCY) is one of my favorites. She writes amazing, feminist historical fantasy: well-paced, impeccably researched, and swooningly romantic.

— Jessica Spotswood, author of The Last Summer of the Garret Girls

 

The Meaning of Birds by Jaye Robin Brown (April)

Ever since I saw that gorgeous cover, I’ve been eager to read Jaye Robin Brown’s next book. I loved Georgia Peaches & Other Forbidden Fruit, so I can’t wait to get my hands on this one. It also looks like it’s going to give me a lot of feelings, so my tears and I are eager to dig in.

— Amy Spalding, author of The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles)

 

Slay by Brittney Morris (No date or cover yet, but you can add it on Goodreads)

Pitched as READY PLAYER ONE meets THE HATE U GIVE, SLAY not only features a whip smart black girl gamer who has created an epic virtual world that initialky exists outside the white gaze, it uses that world and its effects on reality to highlight racial imbalances of power and what people of color can do to protect their safe spaces. I read it early and I can’t WAIT for everyone else to get their hands on it.

— Nic Stone, author of Odd One Out

 

Something Like Gravity by Amber Smith (June)

Amber writes with such beauty and such a big heart, and I can’t wait to read this love story featuring a transgender character. I’ve had the privilege of hearing her read a couple snippets and they were incredible.

— Amy Reed, author of The Boy and Girl Who Broke The World

 

Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni (February)

Sarah Enni’s debut, about the intersection of technology and art set in high school, promises to check all my geek-out boxes. Add in secrets and relationships at risk and I’m totally in. Enni hosts an insightful podcast about writing and writers, the First Draft Podcast. Between that and her love of YA, I’m hopeful her first book will be a pièce de résistance!

— Kayla Cagan, author of Art Boss

 

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi (June)

Because Safi set out to write the Rory + Paris book that every Gilmore Girls fan (not so) secretly wanted. I can’t wait to read this fun, intelligent lesbian enemies-to-lovers story!

— Sarah Enni, author of Tell Me Everything

 

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf (February)

Set during the 1969 race riots in Kuala Lampur, THE WEIGHT OF OUR SKY takes us to a place and time in history that most American readers are wholly unaware of. I love books that open doors into other cultures, nations, and histories. As Americans we are too often isolationist not merely in our personal and global politics but even in our choices of narratives that we gravitate towards. Hanna’s writing shines and her beautiful book is invitation to open our eyes and broaden our worldview.

— Samira Ahmed, author of Internment (March)

 

Unedited and Edited, both by Barry Lyga (They are 2 versions of the same book — no date or cover yet, but you can add Edited and Unedited on Goodreads)

I’ve known about this project for years, and I know its level of ambition, and nothing gets me more excited than someone really swinging for the fences.

— Daniel Kraus, author of The Shape of Water

 

We Set The Dark On Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia (February)

Mejia is one of the most exciting new young authors I’ve had the pleasure to read in short form. Her voice is bright, beautiful and sparking, her insight sharp with glittery clarity, and I cannot wait to see what she does with the full length of a novel to explore.

— Saundra Mitchell, editor/author of All Out

____________________

Thanks for hanging out & thanks to this wonderful group of authors who’ve shared some of their most-anticipated reads. We’ll see you again on Monday.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start The Conversation About Mental Health

 

Hey YA Readers: Let’s talk YA adaptations.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Book Riot’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 Giveaway.

We’re giving away ten of our favorite works of nonfiction of the year! Click here to enter.

---

This will be the last “What’s Up in YA?” newsletter until January 4. Since my plans over the next week and change is to read some great books, why not put that on your to-do, too?

Have you been reading Book Riot this week? If not, you’ll want to pop over there for the special week-long YA Adaptation Showdown event.

Seven YA fans from across the YA community have come together to talk about what it is that makes a YA adaptation great, discussing things like the changes between the original text and the movie, the acting, the overall mood of the films, and more.

Read about how the brackets were selected in the introduction post for the event, as well as read about the judges and their involvement in the YA World.

As this newsletter hits your inbox, a final verdict will hit on site. You can catch the entire archives of the YA Adaptation Showdown here, and prepare for the viewers’ choice pick that hits tomorrow (Friday, December 21). But to get you pumped about the big announcements — will the judges and viewers agree on the best? — here’s a peek at the first round bracket winners, linked to the wonderful essays and the thoughtful video to launch the event.

Francina Simone discusses the highlights and not-so-highlights between Twilight and Beautiful Creatures and makes a great case for why she chose Twilight. 

“I am here today to tell you of two stories: that of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and that of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I will look at the books that came first and then look at their subsequent movie adaptations. I will tell you which one I like best and which movie adaptation I think deserves to move to the next round as the outright clear winner of this round 1. 

(It is Persepolis, I am talking about Persepolis. But I am ahead of myself.)”

Ana Grilo from The Book Smugglers digs into the problems she saw with The Book Thief and why it is Persepolis is such a solid adaptation.

“So, if the scripts are solid, if the music and casting are fantastic, and if there are only very, very small things that are done better in one film than another, where do you draw the line? Is this just a matter of preference? Perhaps, but I do think that there’s a single thing that gives Fault the advantage in the end.”

YA author Mark Oshiro talks about all of the elements that make both Everything, Everything and The Fault in Our Stars strong contenders for best adaptation. . . and why he selected TFIOS.

“More importantly, To All the Boys and Love, Simon show happy endings for marginalized readers. And that’s maybe the most important aspect—they’re so hopeful, these movies. They’re romcoms in the truest sense of the word (although Simon does worry about coming out.) Where Lara’s biggest fear is her letters getting out, Simon’s is his identity being discovered. These are real-world, relatable problems, yes, but they’re also so quintessentially teenage, which is amazing. Too often contemporary stories about marginalized teens feel like they have to be about the struggles of having that particular marginalization. But these movies? They’re about falling in love. They’re an escape from a daily life that seems determined to punish people and teens like us every chance it gets.”

Author and YA blogger Nita Tyndall gets personal in their decision and why it is To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before moves on in the competition.

 

Don’t miss YA authors Dana L. Davis and Maurene Goo make their decisions in round two, followed by YA author Nina LaCour crowning the Best YA adaptation this week. Catch those pieces here! 

____________________

More Adaptation Talk

• Your ultimate guide to YA book to movie adaptations.
• The 2019 YA book to movie adaptations you’ll want to know about.
• Stream these under-the-radar YA adaptations.
• Loved Dumplin’? You’ll want to read these books.
• What to read after you’ve read and watched The Hate U Give. 

Cheap Reads!

Grab these books while they’re on sale and have yourself a merry reading season to wrap up 2018 and begin 2019. I’ve included a big range so you can pick and choose or, well, just treat yourself!

Prices are current as of Tuesday, December 18.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is a mere $2.

If you’re here for some witchy fun based on a beloved Halloween movie, you might like Hocus Pocus and The All-New Sequel. $2.

Want a creepy, twisty read? Nova Ren Suma’s The Walls Around Us is $2.

A #MeToo story set in college, Maria Padian’s Wrecked is a must-read. $2.

Jessica Spotswood’s fantastic anthology about girls through history, The Radical Element, is $3.

Did you read Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson? This story about black girls who’ve gone missing — based on real events — is $2.

This book cover is just beautiful. The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner is $3.

Zoraida Cordova’s Labyrinth Lost is just under $4. This one is on my winter break TBR!

____________________

Shameless self-promotion time! I’m giving away copies of my two anthologies Here We Are and (Don’t) Call Me Crazy on Instagram. Click over and follow the simple directions to be entered, and yes, it’s worldwide!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and Twitter.

 

Hey YA Readers: Let’s talk about some of the great reads from 2018 that haven’t been on every “best of” list.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Flatiron Books and Legendary by Stephanie Garber.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and the time to repay the debt has come.

---

Some YA books are loud, while others are far more quiet. Quiet books, too often, get left off the scads of “best of” lists each year, but it doesn’t mean they’re not great or have the perfect reader. These are titles worthy of a little more attention and praise and would make for some excellent end-of-year reading.

I’ve tried to not include books I’ve highlighted in previous newsletters, but it’s likely there’s some overlap. My reading tastes tend toward realistic and contemporary, so this list reflects that. Descriptions are mine, since I’ve read each of them.

Always Forever Maybe by Anica Mrose Rissi

It’s refreshing to read a tightly-written YA novel that feels like Real Teen problems, and this is one of them. It’s a story about a girl named Betts (her nickname) and the quick and fast relationship she falls into with Aiden. Everything seems perfect at first, but then it becomes clear he’s manipulative and possessive; it’s emotional abuse that, eventually, does turn a bit physical.

At the heart of the story, though, is Betts’s relationship with her best friend Jo. What happens when a best friend sees a problem but you won’t listen?

American Road Trip by Patrick Flores-Scott

When Teo’s brother Manny comes home from a tour of duty, he’s not who he was before. Not a bit. But it’s their sister Xochitl who decides it’s time to deal with both Manny’s challenges — and T’s own struggles — by taking them from their rental by SeaTac down to Hatch, New Mexico, where they’ll spend the summer helping Manny find treatment for his PTSD with their uncle who himself struggles post-service.

It’s extremely rare to see a YA road trip book featuring a cast of characters of color. This is one of them and it does good job of looking at SO many aspects of a person’s experience. Race, ethnicity, class, and education all play in smoothly. It also digs into healthcare and the ways that, during the book’s timeframe (2008-2009), the VA wasn’t a place that made mental health care for returning vets a priority or even accessible at all.

So many teens will see themselves in this story.

We had Patrick on Hey YA to talk about the book and about road trip stories in YA earlier this year, too, if you want to learn more. 

Apple In The Middle by Dawn Quigley

A powerful story about a girl who has grown up without much investment in her Native heritage after the death of her mother after a car accident (Apple was born early, her life saved after the accident). She’s since lived in the Minneapolis suburbs with her wealthy white father and stepmother, without much contact with her family in the North Dakota Turtle Mountains, who are Ojibwe. But when her dad and stepmother decide to go on a long summer vacation, Apple gets the chance to spend the summer with her grandparents in North Dakota, along with her big extended family.

The book follows as she learns more about her own cultural heritage and comes to understand her mother better. It’s written with dialect and integrates Michif throughout where appropriate. Especially good for younger YA readers.

Cynthia Leitich Smith praised this book on an episode of Annotated this year and it’s so worth a listen. 

 

Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman

A lovely, powerful, and raw book about grief and loss. Rumi’s sister and best friend Lea dies in a car accident, and Rumi is sent to live with her aunt in Hawaii while her mother grieves alone. Rumi is angry — both because Lea is gone and because she believes her mother abandoned her. There is a lot of anger and resentment throughout, but none of it is unwarranted. Bowman is skillful in highlighting how anger can be easier than sadness and grief, and she does so in a manner that allows Rumi to be angry and unlikable while also being sympathetic to the reader.

Readers itching for more asexual representation in YA will find a lot to enjoy here. Rumi doesn’t make a declaration of her sexuality, but it’s in the investigation and questioning where there is much power.

Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump by Martha Brockenbrough

Perhaps it’s cheating to include a book I have only just begun, but I’m going to. This one came out early this month and because it’s a nonfiction YA title pubbing in a month that’s easy to miss new titles, it’s worth a shout. Brockenbrough’s book is a critical look at Trump, his legacy, and his presidency. It’s a big book, and as has been mentioned a few times on social media, the first book about a sitting president presented in a critical light for young readers. It’s really well designed with tons of citations (the resources list is massive!), timelines, images, and other information graphics to help highlight key parts of the text.

____________________

Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you again later this week! If you haven’t already, make sure you keep your eyes on Book Riot this week for our exciting week-long YA Adaptation Showdown event.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and Twitter

Hey YA Readers: Let’s celebrate some upcoming YA milestones.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Book Riot’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 Giveaway.

---

 

With 2019 drawing closer and closer, how about a look at a handful of YA book which will be celebrating some big milestones in the coming year? Here are seven books celebrating 10, 20, and 30 year anniversaries. Some of them will be getting sparkly commemorative editions, while others have had recent adaptations or upcoming adaptations to reignite interest. Still others are books that have made a big impact in the world of YA and deserve to be highlighted again.

Descriptions from Goodreads. I’ve read most, but not all, of the titles. Maybe 2019 is the year of catching up on YA classics.

10 Year Anniversaries

Ash by Malinda Lo

In the wake of her father’s death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash’s capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.

I open my eyes wide now.
I sit up as much as I can.
And I listen.

Stay, he says.

Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it’s the only one that matters.

If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.

There will likely be a 10th anniversary edition cover but it hasn’t been revealed yet! 

20 Year Anniversaries

Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

There are six things very wrong with my life:

1. I have one of those under-the-skin spots that will never come to a head but lurk in a red way for the next two years.

2. It is on my nose

3. I have a three-year-old sister who may have peed somewhere in my room.

4. In fourteen days the summer hols will be over and then it will be back to Stalag 14 and Oberfuhrer Frau Simpson and her bunch of sadistic teachers.

5. I am very ugly and need to go into an ugly home.

6. I went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive.

In this wildly funny journal of a year in the life of Georgia Nicolson, British author Louise Rennison has perfectly captured the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager. In the spirit of Bridget Jones’s Diary, this fresh, irreverent, and simply hilarious book will leave you laughing out loud. As Georgia would say, it’s “Fabbity fab fab!”

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. Monster.

Fade In: Interior Court. A guard sits at a desk behind Steve. Kathy O’Brien, Steve’s lawyer, is all business as she talks to Steve.

O’Brien
Let me make sure you understand what’s going on. Both you and this king character are on trial for felony murder. Felony Murder is as serious as it gets. . . . When you’re in court, you sit there and pay attetion. You let the jury know that you think the case is a serious as they do. . . .

Steve
You think we’re going to win ?

O’Brien (seriously)
It probably depends on what you mean by “win.”

Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for murder. A Harlem drugstore owner was shot and killed in his store, and the word is that Steve served as the lookout.

Guilty or innocent, Steve becomes a pawn in the hands of “the system,” cluttered with cynical authority figures and unscrupulous inmates, who will turn in anyone to shorten their own sentences. For the first time, Steve is forced to think about who he is as he faces prison, where he may spend all the tomorrows of his life.

As a way of coping with the horrific events that entangle him, Steve, an amateur filmmaker, decides to transcribe his trial into a script, just like in the movies. He writes it all down, scene by scene, the story of how his whole life was turned around in an instant. But despite his efforts, reality is blurred and his vision obscured until he can no longer tell who he is or what is the truth. This compelling novel is Walter Dean Myers’s writing at its best.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The first ten lies they tell you in high school.

“Speak up for yourself–we want to know what you have to say.”

From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication.

30 Year Anniversary

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

In 1989 Francesca Lia Block made a dazzling entrance into the literary scene with what would become one of the most talked-about books of the decade; Weetzie Bat. This poetic roller coaster swoop has a sleek new design to match its new sister and brother books, Goat Girls and Beautiful Boys. Rediscover the magic of Weetzie Bat, Ms. Block’s sophisticated, slinkster-cool love song to L.A., the book that shattered the standard, captivated readers of all generations, and made Francesca Lia Block one of the most heralded authors of the last decade.

This could be a book about cheap cheese and bean burritos, slinkster dogs, lanky lizards and rubber chickens …Or strawberry sundaes with marshmallow toppings, surfing, stage-diving and sleeping on the beach …It could even be a book about magic. But what it’s definitely about is Weetzie Bat, her best friend Dirk and their search across L.A. for the most dangerous angel of all …true love.

____________________

Thanks for hanging out & we’ll see you next week!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Twitter and Instagram

Hey YA Readers: Let’s catch up on the latest in YA haps.

Sponsored by Fierce Reads and Archenemies by Marissa Meyer.

They are the world’s best hope . . . but each other’s worst nightmare. In this second installment of the bestselling Renegades trilogy, Nova, Adrian, and the rest of their crew are faced with escalating crime in Gatlon City, while covert weapons and conflicting missions have Nova and Adrian questioning not only their beliefs about justice, but also the feelings they have for each other. The line between good and evil has been blurred, but what’s clear to them both is that too much power could mean the end of their city—and the world—as they know it.

---

‘Tis the season of a billion and two “best of” lists. They’re always a toss up for me personally, as a reader, writer, and lover on YA. I love discovering the new books on these lists and seeing love for the quieter titles, but I also get tired seeing some of the same ones show up again and again while other titles are forgotten. But looking at them does tell you something about the year in books and highlights what titles were big ones. Plus? A lot of the books on these lists make for great gift or recommendation ideas for the readers in your life who might be less tuned in to the world of YA.

Let’s look at a bit of YA news that’s trickled in as the year comes to a close, beginning with some of those “best of” lists!

• Amazon’s best of teen fiction hit last month, but it’s interesting to look at comparatively to more recent lists.
• Here are Time Magazine’s picks for best YA and children’s books.
• The New York Public Library selected their top picks.
• Bustle’s got their picks for 25 of the best YA books of 2018.
• Here are this year’s Goodreads Choice picks.
• Take a peek at Paste Magazine’s picks for best YA, which includes some lesser-buzzed titles alongside those bigger ones.
• Then enjoy some gorgeous YA book covers from 2018.
• A round-up of this year’s best Jewish children’s books, including YA titles.
• Dear Evan Hanson, a hit stage show and bestselling YA book, will be hitting the movie screen soon.
• You can own The Hate U Give on DVD or digital download next month.
• A “YA Bell Jar with a ghostly twist?” Sign me up for this book.
• Dolly Parton talks about the original songs she wrote for Dumplin’. 
• I’m curious what YA book this is!
• There is officially a sequel to To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before in the works at Netflix.
• Add some books featuring nonbinary characters to your reading life.
• What if Harry Potter characters lived in tiny homes?
• Rights for the YA novel The Territory have been nabbed for adaptation.
• Marvel’s Thanos has a YA story now.
• Something about MIT Press, the Curies, and a YA brand. I can’t make a whole lot of heads or tails with the announcement, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
• Tess Sharpe is writing a Captain Marvel YA book!

If you haven’t yet seen the news, YA author A.S. King lost her daughter last weekend. There’s a GoFundMe page set up to help her and her family with medical bills and living expenses. If you’re up for donating, more information is here.

 

Ebook Deals…

Grab these great YA reads while they’re on the cheap.

Read the first book in Libba Bray’s Diviners series for $2.

Nova Ren Suma’s fabulous and chilling The Walls Around Us is $2.

If you want a YA book set in college, Maria Padian’s  Wrecked is a must-read.

S. Jae-Jones’s Wintersong, the first in a fantasy duology, is $3.

 

Recent Book Mail…

Here’s a look at some of the recent YA reads that have hit my mailbox. Books are listed from top to bottom.

 

The Iliad by Gareth Hinds

The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie

The Pioneer by Bridget Tyler

Other Words for Smoke bySarah Maria Griffin

Heroine by Mindy McGinnis

If You’re Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser

Sherwood by Meagan Spooner

This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow

Your Own Worst Enemy by Gordon Jack

The Afterward by EK Johnston

The Girl With The Broken Heart by Lurlene McDaniel

A Place For The Wolves by Kosoko Jackson

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

Captured: An American Prisoner of War in North Vietnam by Alvin Townley

Last of Her Name by Jessica Khoury

Pretend She’s Here by Luanne Rice

 

____________________

Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you later this week!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Twitter and Instagram.

Hey YA Fans: Let’s check out some awesome 2019 YA to the TBR.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Book Riot’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 Giveaway.

We’re giving away ten of our favorite works of nonfiction of the year! Click here to enter.

---

As the calendar pages on 2018 become fewer and fewer, it seems appropriate to highlight a few more YA books hitting shelves next year to get excited by. Find below a range of titles from well-known, highly acclaimed writers, as well as debuts and emerging voices across a range of genres.

Descriptions come from Goodreads, since my TBR has had many of these added, too.

Awake In The World by Jason Gurley (February 12)

A boy, a girl, an impoverished oil town, and a star-crossed romance saved by the fight for survival.

As the sun sets off the coast of the small California town of Orilla del Cielo, you can see the silhouettes of the oil rigs. Their shadows look jarring against the serene backdrop, their sharpness a reminder of unfulfilled promises. To Zach, they are a reminder of loss—his father, an oil worker who drowned years before. With a poor family struggling to make ends meet, Zach’s future feels equally bleak. Until he meets Vanessa, an optimistic girl whose sights are literally set on the stars. Inspired by her idol, Carl Sagan, she plans to study astronomy at Cornell. But as oil prospectors in search of black gold know, the future is uncertain . . . and fortunes can always be flipped.

Forward Me Back To You by Mitali Perkins (April 2)

Katina King is the reigning teen jujitsu champion of Northern California, but she’s having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past.

Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in Kolkata, India and is reluctant to take on his future. Since he knows nothing about his past, how is he supposed to figure out what comes next?

Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places — a summer service trip to India to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds blossom between the travel-mates, Robin and Kat discover the healing superpowers of friendship.

At turns heart-wrenching, beautiful, and buoyant, Mitali Perkins’ new novel explores the ripple effects of violence — across borders and generations — and how small acts of heroism can break the cycle.

The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart by R. Zamora Linmark (August 13)

Readers of Adam Silvera (They Both Die at the End) and Elizabeth Acevedo (The Poet X) will pull out the tissues for this tender, quirky story of one seventeen-year-old boy’s journey through first love and first heartbreak, guided by his personal hero, Oscar Wilde.

Words have always been more than enough for Ken Z, but when he meets Ran at the mall food court, everything changes. Beautiful, mysterious Ran opens the door to a number of firsts for Ken: first kiss, first love. But as quickly as he enters Ken’s life, Ran disappears, and Ken Z is left wondering: Why love at all, if this is where it leads?

Letting it end there would be tragic. So, with the help of his best friends, the comfort of his haikus and lists, and even strange, surreal appearances by his hero, Oscar Wilde, Ken will find that love is worth more than the price of heartbreak.

Keep This To Yourself by Tom Ryan (May 7)

It’s been a year since the Catalog Killer terrorized the sleepy seaside town of Camera Cove, killing four people before disappearing without a trace. Like everyone else in town, eighteen-year-old Mac Bell is trying to put that horrible summer behind him—easier said than done since Mac’s best friend Connor was the murderer’s final victim. But when he finds a cryptic message from Connor, he’s drawn back into the search for the killer—who might not have been a random drifter after all. Now nobody—friends, neighbors, or even the sexy stranger with his own connection to the case—is beyond suspicion. Sensing that someone is following his every move, Mac struggles to come to terms with his true feelings towards Connor while scrambling to uncover the truth.

In The Key of Nira Ghani by Natasha Deen (April 9)

Nira Ghani has always dreamed of becoming a musician. Her Guyanese parents, however, have big plans for her to become a scientist or doctor. Nira’s grandmother and her best friend, Emily, are the only people who seem to truly understand her desire to establish an identity outside of the one imposed on Nira by her parents. When auditions for jazz band are announced, Nira realizes it’s now or never to convince her parents that she deserves a chance to pursue her passion.

As if fighting with her parents weren’t bad enough, Nira finds herself navigating a new friendship dynamic when her crush, Noah, and notorious mean-girl, McKenzie “Mac,” take a sudden interest in her and Emily, inserting themselves into the fold. So, too, does Nira’s much cooler (and very competitive) cousin Farah. Is she trying to wiggle her way into the new group to get closer to Noah? Is McKenzie trying to steal Emily’s attention away from her? As Farah and Noah grow closer and Emily begins to pull away, Nira’s trusted trumpet “George” remains her constant, offering her an escape from family and school drama.

But it isn’t until Nira takes a step back that she realizes she’s not the only one struggling to find her place in the world. As painful truths about her family are revealed, Nira learns to accept people for who they are and to open herself in ways she never thought possible.

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay (June 18)

A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder.

Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story.

Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth — and the part he played in it.

As gripping as it is lyrical, Patron Saints of Nothing is a page-turning portrayal of the struggle to reconcile faith, family, and immigrant identity.

Professor Renoir’s Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights by Randall Platt (July 23)

In this vivid, entertaining, and authentic historical novel set in the world of a traveling carnival in 1896, two fourteen-year-old girls—one a giant and the other a dwarf—start out as enemies but soon come to depend on one another to escape the clutches of an evil carnie owner who wants to kill and stuff their beloved animals. For fans of The One and Only Ivan and Water for Elephants.

The year is 1896, and Fern “Babe” Killingsworth is fourteen years old, six-foot-nine inches, and weighs 342 lbs. When her father sells her for a hundred dollars to Professor Phillipe Renoir, Babe has nothing to lose. She’s hoping she’ll find something worthwhile working alongside the other “freaks” in Professor Renoir’s Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights.

When Babe meets Carlotta, the tiny performer seems like nothing more than a spoiled diva. “I’m a dwarf, not a midget!” says the diminutive dancer—but soon the two are partners in crime, eventually disgusted by the conditions and treatment they experience in carnie life, and especially afraid of Renoir’s threats to kill and stuff their beloved animal companions, an elephant, a chimp, and a bear. When the two girls get good news in a letter, they run away from Renoir and find themselves in a much better situation at the home of Carlotta’s aunt—but will it be the last stop for Babe?

The Spaces Between Us by Stacia Tolman (July 23 — no link yet!)

Two outcast best friends are desperate to survive senior year and break away from their rural factory town in this unforgettable YA debut.

Serena Velasco and her best friend Melody Grimshaw are dying to get out of their shrinking factory town. Until now, they’ve been coasting, eluding the bleakness of home and the banality of high school. In a rebellious turn, Serena begins to fixate on communism, hoping to get a rise out of her blue-collar factory town. Her Western Civ teacher catches on and gives her an independent study of class and upward mobility—what creates the spaces between us. Meanwhile, Grimshaw sets goals of her own: to make it onto the cheerleading squad, find a job, and dismantle her family’s hopeless reputation. But sometimes the biggest obstacles are the ones you don’t see coming; Grimshaw’s quest for success becomes a fight for survival, and Serena’s independent study gets a little too real. With the future of their friendship and their lives on the line, the stakes have never been so high.

____________________

Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you again next week. In the mean time, get some good reading in your life.

— Kelly Jensen, @veornikellymars on Twitter and Instagram

Time to prepare your TBR, YA fans!

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Once A King and HMH Teen.

Aodren: A lonely, young king, searching for a way to dismantle his father’s dark legacy.

Lirra: A girl with the power to control the wind, torn between duty and following her dreams.

For twenty years, Channelers—women with a magical ability—have been persecuted in Malam by those without magic. Now King Aodren wants to end the bloody divide and unite his kingdom. But decades of hatred can’t be overcome by issuing decrees, and rumors of a deadly Channeler-made substance are only fueling people’s fears. Lirra has every reason to distrust Aodren. Yet when he asks for help to discover the truth behind the rumors, she can’t say no. With Lirra by his side, Aodren sees a way forward for his people. But can he rewrite the mistakes of the past before his enemies destroy the world he’s working so hard to rebuild?

---

We’ve talked about so much great YA over on Book Riot in the last month. Let’s catch up with the lists and thoughts from on site this week, followed by a look at some of the awesome new books coming soon that you’ll want to get excited about.

• 2019 YA books featuring queer girls to plop on your TBR.
• The ultimate list of best Harry Potter t-shirts.
• Know a middle grade reader itching to try some YA? This list will help.
• Why To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is the bookish holiday movie we need.
• Some great contemporary YA books that deserve the sort of adaptation that TATBILB got.
• Can’t get enough of the Song Covey sisters? These YA books would be great next reads.
• And then, of course, we’ve got you covered for what else to read that’s been written by Jenny Han.
• Poetic YA books to read if you love The Poet X. 
• Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark is coming back!
• Getting teens lost in a good book with Pages & Co.
• Read your way into the work of Judy Blume.
• Winter YA books you’ll want to read.
• Did you see the Dumplin’ trailer? It’s time to get some Dolly stuck in your head.
• Teen writers! A whole selection of YA books featuring young wordsmiths.
• Have you read these November YA releases yet?
• Vampires are making a comeback in a big way in the world of YA. Take a bite — err, look.
• Where to begin reading the work of Jacqueline Woodson.
• Have you seen the news about the upcoming YA Adaptation Showdown at Book Riot? Check out the details and vote for your favorite YA adaptation.

 

Have you tuned into Hey YA, the all-YA book podcast hosted by Eric Smith and myself? If not, hop over and give a listen. Our latest episode is a guide to great YA books for gifting this season (or, you know, for reading yourself).

 

Recent Book Mail

Here’s a huge stack of recent YA books that have hit my door step. There are finished, currently-available books in here (including the gorgeous movie-packaged edition of Dumplin’) as well as a ton of upcoming 2019 reads. Listed from top to bottom. Also, it’s not you — the image is slightly crooked so I could get all of the books in one shot and without all of the other stuff that was piled on my table #realtalk.

 

Song of the Abyss by Mikila Lucier

Impossible Music by Sean Williams

Every Moment After by Joseph Moldover

Dissenter On The Bench by Victoria Ortiz

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

In Another Life by CC Hunter

Never Evers by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison

Dumplin‘ by Julie Murphy

Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski

Bright Burning Stars by AK Small

Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst

Starworld by Audrey Coulthurst and Paula Garner

If I’m Being Honest by Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley

Happy Messy Scary Love by Leah Konen

The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters

Bookish Boyfriends: The Boy Next Door by Tiffany Schmidt

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

In The Key of Nira Ghani by Natasha Deen

Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith

 

Also received in the mail, but not pictured (yet!) was Laurie Halse Anderson’s SHOUT, out in March. Not pictured because I’m just about done with it and my tear stains are still a little too fresh for photographing.

____________________

Thanks for hanging out & we’ll see you on Thursday with another preview of some awesome 2019 YA you’ll be excited about.

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Twitter and Instagram