Author: Kelly Jensen

Hey YA fans!

This Week’s “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein, from Disney-Hyperion Books.

Before Verity . . . there was Julie.

In this prequel to the bestselling Elizabeth Wein novel, Code Name Verity, fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she’d imagined won’t be exactly what she anticipated.  Her memory of that day returns to her in pieces, and when a body is discovered, her new friends are caught in the crosshairs of long-held biases about Travellers. Julie must get to the bottom of the mystery in order to keep them from being framed for the crime.

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During a vacation last week, I mainlined all 13 episodes of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix. I’m still grappling with some thoughts about the show, and while it’s been many years since I read the book, I don’t know that I remember disliking all of the characters as much as I did. I knew Hannah was manipulative going in, but I’d forgotten how annoying Clay was, too. Many have written thoughtful pieces about how it’s a problematic cliche that Hannah serves as a boy’s tool of growth, but that wasn’t what bothered me most about the show. It’s a simple, very very simple, thing that annoyed me.

I haven’t pulled my words together coherently on it, but as soon as I do, I suspect this might be the right space to share them. I preface the newsletter with this because I’d love to hear what reactions you’ve had to the adaptation or see what pieces you’ve read analyzing it that you’ve found interesting. I’m not worried about agreeing or disagreeing with the takes. I want to see what’s being sad because I don’t think I’ve seen so much mainstream attention for a YA adaptation in a long time (maybe The Hunger Games was the last big one with the sort of exposure I’m seeing). Hit reply with your thoughts and links and next week, I’ll come back with both what I want to say bothered me and what some of the biggest YA fans have been thinking about it.

Let’s take the space today, though, and look back at the variety of great Book Riot posts about YA that have hit in the last few weeks. I know how easily it is for me to miss the pieces sometimes, and I read the site for work.

 

• A quick update about Taherah Mafi’s return to the “Shatter Me” series.

• Girls in YA fiction who create graffiti/street art.

• An interview with SE Hinton on the 50th anniversary of her classic YA title The Outsiders and the growth of YA lit as a category of work.

• One Rioter on searching for Taiwan in YA lit.

• Wherein YA characters are performing in a Shakespeare play.

• 5 #OwnVoices stories about the Asian immigrant experience.

• YA love stories set at comic cons. Sweet.

• A look at some solid YA books that explore grief and mourning.

• How about some YA books with dandelions on the cover?

• Treat yourself to some Harry Potter/cocktail pairings if you’re of age. Make ‘em virgin style if you’re not.

• An interview with the ever-lovely Laini Taylor on her new book Strange The Dreamer, YA lit, and more.

• A love for YA books that showcase strong sibling relationships.

• IndiYA: YA/crossover titles from India. Global reading is excellent reading.

• And here’s a round-up of over 175 YA books hitting shelves between April and the end of June.

 

The pieces below aren’t from Book Riot, but they hit my radar in the last couple of weeks and seemed worth sharing:

 

• Hannah Gomez elucidates the difference between YA literature and middle grade literature, and this is the kind of thing to have handy for all of those people who continue to conflate and/or confuse the two.

• Hannah also shared a great piece about #OwnVoices at School Library Journal with six titles that are excellent examples of what those stories are.

• A regular reminder that you can snag two free audiobooks per week — a YA title and a classic read — all summer long.

• Why The Outsiders still matters 50 years later.

• A nice list of Latinx YA novels.

 

See you next week, and don’t forget to hit reply with your thoughts and/or interesting reads on the 13 Reasons Why adaptation. If you do share your own opinion, I won’t use your real name if I chose to include it in the next newsletter, so feel free to be totally honest.

 

-Kelly Jensen @veronikellymars

Hello again, YA fans!

 

What’s Up in YA? is sponsored by The Takedown by Connie Wang from Freeform.

Who would you rely on if your tech turned against you? Kyla Cheng—president of her community club, a debate team champ, dating the yummy Mackenzie Rodriguez and the most popular student at her Brooklyn high school—gets taken down a peg when a fake video goes viral.

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A couple of weeks ago, we tackled the topic of debut novels — those books which helped launch the careers of some of your favorite writers. Along with talking about a handful of titles, I asked if you’d hit reply and share some of your favorites.

And, of course, you did.

This week, let’s take a look at the titles you named as some of your favorite debut YA books. This isn’t a complete list of every title sent, nor does it account for how many of these were repeat picks among responses (yay!). I went for as wide a swath of titles as possible, so you’ll see a little of everything ranging from classic YA titles to much newer titles by authors who are just at the beginning of a wildly successful career.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—”Cupid Day”—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.

 

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

 

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page.

But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies from her allies.

Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna’s first adventure begins – one that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams and the magical destiny that will make her a legend in her land.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .

After. Nothing is ever the same.

 

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

In the months after his father’s suicide, it’s been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again–but he’s still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he’s slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron’s crew notices, and they’re not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can’t deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can’t stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute’s revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.

Why does happiness have to be so hard?

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (psst: if you head over to Book Riot today, you’ll see an interview with Hinton!)

According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for “social”) has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he’s always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers–until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy’s skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

Throughout time, the forces of good and evil have battled continuously, maintaining the balance. Whenever evil forces grow too powerful, a champion of good is called to drive them back. Now, with evil’s power rising and a champion yet to be found, three siblings find themselves at the center of a mystical war.

Jane, Simon, and Barney Drew have discovered an ancient text that reads of a legendary grail lost centuries ago. The grail is an object of great power, buried with a vital secret. As the Drews race against the forces of evil, they must piece together the text’s clues to find the grail — and keep its secret safe until a new champion rises.

 

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there’s nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can’t wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up “wed or dead,” Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she’d gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan’s army, with a fugitive who’s wanted for treason. And she’d never have predicted she’d fall in love with him… or that he’d help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace.

The only antidote to all this venom is his friendship with fellow outcasts Travis and Lydia. But as they are starting their senior year, Dill feels the coils of his future tightening around him. Dill’s only escapes are his music and his secret feelings for Lydia, neither of which he is brave enough to share. Graduation feels more like an ending to Dill than a beginning. But even before then, he must cope with another ending- one that will rock his life to the core.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

 

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life – and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

Ireland 1984.

After Shell’s mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. Her only release from the harshness of everyday life comes from her budding spiritual friendship with a naive young priest, and most importantly, her developing relationship with childhood friend, Declan, who is charming, eloquent, and persuasive. But when Declan suddenly leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in America, Shell finds herself pregnant and the center of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again.

This is a story of love and loss, religious belief and spirituality—it will move the hearts of any who read it.

 

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

NEW YORK CITY AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.

A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future where anything is possible—if you want it enough.

WELCOME TO MANHATTAN, 2118.

A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. Everyone there wants something…and everyone has something to lose.

LEDA COLE’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.

ERIS DODD-RADSON’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.

RYLIN MYERS’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will this new life cost Rylin her old one?

WATT BAKRADI is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy for an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.

And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is AVERY FULLER, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.

Amid breathtaking advancement and high-tech luxury, five teenagers struggle to find their place at the top of the world. But when you’re this high up, there’s nowhere to go but down….

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Thanks for hanging out again this week. We’ll see you back in your inbox next Monday.

 

-Kelly Jensen

Currently reading In A Perfect World by Trish Doller

Hey YA fans!

This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Defy The Stars by Claudia Gray.

She’s a soldier.
He’s a machine.
Enemies in an interstellar war, they are forced to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true.

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Let’s take today and catch up with the world of YA news. Find packed in here some of the recent film announcements, book lists, and more happening in the world of young adult lit.

Before settling in though, I wanted to mention that we launched our rad new Book Riot Insiders program last week. Insiders gives you exclusive content and access to rad book-related news, features, and more. (& for those who go Epic, you’ll get access to an exclusive monthly YA-related book chat session with me via the Insiders forum!). Check it out!

Onward with news!

 

• The New York Times highlights recent YA books that explore Black Lives Matter. Nice to see books like The Hate U Give getting such high profile coverage.

 

• This list at Bustle of 11 YA books you likely haven’t read is not only terribly white but so weird I had to share it here. Most of these are either award-winning books (!) or they’re books that have been adapted. I’m not sure this is where I’d start with “books you likely haven’t read in YA.”

 

• Cara Delevigne apparently wrote a YA novel. With another author. No word on whether it’ll get a US publication.

 

• And I’ll say this is an ambitious undertaking to rank the top YA novels of all time, especially when maybe fewer than half of these titles are actually YA titles. Also, super white.

 

• I do quite like looking at book lists like this one: contemporary Canadian YA books that Anne Shirley would love.

 

• Film rights for Labyrinth Lost have been acquired. Good.

 

• There will be a Buffy YA series coming, written by Kiersten White.

 

• Jennifer Aniston + Dumplin’…now to ensure we see a fat girl — like a real-world fat girl and not a Hollywood-sized fat girl — as the main character.

 

• The cover for the sequel to Shadowshaper is everything you could want in a YA book cover.

 

• Did you know that the movie Mean Girls is being adapted into a YA novel? It makes sense, and more, that Micol Ostow is the author makes me pretty optimistic.

 

• More casting news for the adaptation of The Darkest Minds.

 

• The YA novel Zac & Mia is going to become a scripted series. This announcement is a little confusing to parse, but I believe this will be a streaming-based adaptation.

 

• More casting news relating to the adaptation of Daniel Waters’s Break My Heart 1000 Times.

 

• A look at the books — across all age categories — being released this year by former Printz honorees and winners. I love this.

 

• Willow Smith wrote a YA book…and also wants to produce Rebel in the Sands. This is one heck of an announcement.

 

• In the mood for a YA novel in verse? I rounded up a pile of recent and forthcoming titles at STACKED.

 

• A major movie and YA book announcement/deal — it’s a West African fantasy.

 

• While this list isn’t 100% YA, it’s a nice list of books that lift up immigrant voices.

 

• And, to round out this list of YA links of interest, a look at YA books for activists-in-training. It’s not all YA books, but I’m letting that slide because it’s a solid list.

 

Thanks for hanging again this week. We’ll be back in your inbox next Monday with even more great YA talk.

— Kelly Jensen

currently reading Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Lemon

Helllllooooooo YA Lovers!

This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Noble Servant by Melanie Dickerson.

New York Times bestselling author Melanie Dickerson returns with The Noble Servant, a retelling of the fairytale classic, The Goose Girl. In this medieval tale, Lady Magdalen is on her way to join the Duke of Wolfberg in marriage when her maidservant betrays her, takes her identity, and sends her down to the lowliest household position—tending the geese. But while out in the field, Magdalen encounters a mysterious shepherd who reveals that not all is as it seems in the castle, and it is up to them—the lowest of the low—to regain all that is lost.

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Rather than the news round-up I’d intended to write this week, I had a different idea spring into my mind. Which doesn’t mean there won’t be a news roundup; it just means that’ll come next week or the following week.

This week, we’re going to talk a little bit about debut novels. But not necessarily in the sense you might be familiar.

Debut novels are, in the purest sense of the description, an author’s very first book. It’s been a label that’s become a marketing tool and bastardized the meaning. I see more and more books being called an author’s “debut YA psychological thriller” and other such nonsense. And sure, it may be the author’s first time writing a debut YA psychological thriller, but it doesn’t mean that it’s their first time writing a book. They’re just expanding their writing chops. It’s a normal part of an authorial career; it’s not necessarily a selling point in the same way that highlighting an author’s very first book might be.

There was an interesting and fairly controversial post on Book Riot a few weeks back about having frontlist fatigue. Danika Ellis noted that she doesn’t want to preorder the books of authors she doesn’t know, in part because the race to the frontlist (& reading it to be “the first”) can be exhausting. I get that completely from the reader side because taking a chance on an unknown is not only a risk, but it’s also a financial hit ($20 for a YA book is not cheap, and even if you go the route of cheapest online retailer, it’s still a pretty penny you plunk down without knowing). But from the author side of things, I make note that preorders are pretty important; they show interest in a book or author and that helps said author’s career down the road, as those early sales are monumentally important.

In thinking about that piece — both sides of the discussion — I thought it might be worthwhile to do a round-up of some of the debut novels by authors who have new books hitting shelves soon. Some of these authors will be serving up only their second or third title, while others are staples in the YA world. I always find it interesting to see what book launched an author’s career and what their writing looks like in more recent books.

All descriptions are from Goodreads, and the authors below are those who will have new books out (or have already published books) in the first half of this year.

In addition to highlighting these books, I leave a request for you, fair readers. I’d love to know what your favorite debut YA novel is. It can be something brand new, or it could be something from years gone by (like, say, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson — it is mind-boggling to think that was her debut novel). If I get a good collection of responses, I’ll pull them into another round-up for newsletter readers.

 

Since You Asked by Maurene Goo

No, no one asked, but Holly Kim will tell you what she thinks anyway.

Fifteen-year-old Holly Kim is the copyeditor for her high school’s newspaper. When she accidentally submits an article that rips everyone to shreds, she gets her own column and rants her way through the school year. Can she survive homecoming, mean-girl cliques, jocks, secret admirers, Valentine’s Day, and other high school embarrassments, all while struggling to balance her family’s traditional Korean values?

 

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

For fifteen-year-old Haven, life is changing too quickly. She’s nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister—the always perfect Ashley—is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were. Then an old boyfriend of Ashley’s reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the future.

 

The Deathday Letter by Shaun David Hutchinson

The clock is ticking…

Ollie can’t be bothered to care about anything but girls until he gets his Deathday Letter and learns he’s going to die in twenty-four hours. Bummer.

Ollie does what he does best: nothing. Then his best friend convinces him to live a little, and go after Ronnie, the girl who recently trampled his about-to-expire heart. Ollie turns to carloads of pudding and over-the-top declarations, but even playing the death card doesn’t work. All he wants is to set things right with the girl of his dreams. It’s now or never.

 

Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood by Benjamin Alire Saenz (note: this isn’t his official debut, but because of how much his career has bloomed in the last few years, I thought it was worth pulling his debut YA novel into this list!)

The Hollywood where Sammy Santos lives is not one of glitz and glitter, but a barrio at the edge of a small New Mexico town. In the summer before his senior year, Sammy falls in love with the beautiful, independent, and intensely vulnerable Juliana. Sammy’s chronicle of his senior year is both a love story and a litany of loss, the tale of his love not only for Juliana but for their friends, a generation from a barrio: tough, innocent, humorous, and determined to survive.

 

Blackbringer by Laini Taylor (note: she did a graphic novel with her husband previous to her first YA novel)

When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she’s devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himself, the creator of the world, she may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer?

 

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

When she is caught in the backseat of a car with her older brother’s best friend—Deanna Lambert’s teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of “school slut,” she longs to escape a life defined by her past. With subtle grace, complicated wisdom and striking emotion, Story of a Girl reminds us of our human capacity for resilience, epiphany and redemption.

 

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga

Fanboy has never had it good, but lately his sophomore year is turning out to be its own special hell. The bullies have made him their favorite target, his best (and only) friend seems headed for the dark side (sports and popularity), and his pregnant mother and the step-fascist are eagerly awaiting the birth of the alien life form known as Fanboy’s new little brother or sister.

Fanboy, though, has a secret: a graphic novel he’s been working on without telling anyone, a graphic novel that he is convinced will lead to publication, fame, and—most important of all—a way out of the crappy little town he lives in and all the people that make it hell for him.

When Fanboy meets Kyra, a.k.a. Goth Girl, he finds an outrageous, cynical girl who shares his love of comics as well as his hatred for jocks and bullies. Fanboy can’t resist someone who actually seems to understand him, and soon he finds himself willing to heed her advice—to ignore or crush anyone who stands in his way.

 

Shug by Jenny Han (middle grade with good young YA crossover and to editorialize, I’ll add it’s excellent on audio!)

SHUG

is clever and brave and true (on the inside, anyway). And she’s about to become your new best friend.

Annemarie Wilcox, or Shug as her family calls her, is beginning to think there’s nothing worse than being twelve. She’s too tall, too freckled, and way too flat-chested. Shug is sure that there’s not one good or amazing thing about her. And now she has to start junior high, where the friends she counts most dear aren’t acting so dear anymore — especially Mark, the boy she’s known her whole life through. Life is growing up all around her, and all Shug wants is for things to be like they used to be. How is a person supposed to prepare for what happens tomorrow when there’s just no figuring out today?

 

The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein

Medraut is the eldest son of Artos, high king of Britain; and, but for an accident of birth, would-be heir to the throne. Instead, his younger half-brother, Lleu, is chosen to be prince of Britain. Lleu is fragile, often ill, unskilled in weaponry and statesmanship, and childishly afraid of the dark. Even Lleu’s twin sister, Goewin, seems more suited to rule the kingdom.

Medraut cannot bear to be commanded and contradicted by this weakling brother who he feels has usurped his birthright and his father’s favor. Torn and bitter, haunted by jealousy, self-doubt, and thwarted ambition, he joins Morgause, the high king’s treacherous sister, in a plot to force Artos to forfeit his power and kingdom in exchange for Lleu’s life. But this plot soon proves to be much more – a battlefield on which Medraut is forced to decide, for good or evil, where his own allegiance truly lies..

 

Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full-time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.

Can she handle the taunts of “towel head,” the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school?

 

Girl by Blake Nelson

Welcome to the world of Portland teenager Andrea Marr, the bold, sexy, shy, often confused but always resilient heroine of Girl. Told in a voice that reads like the intimate diary of a young woman about to take life on full throttle, this wonderful debut novel chronicles Andrea’s jittery journey from suburban mall to Portland’s thriving underground rock scene – and back again, as she discovers sex, betrayal, and even love. A Catcher in the Rye for the “Grunge” generation, this instant classic will speak to anyone who has ever had to choose between the suffocation of conformity and the perils of rebellion.

 

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger-a boy who seems to fade like smoke-appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know-about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

 

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

No one wanted Ai Ling. And deep down she is relieved—despite the dishonor she has brought upon her family—to be unbetrothed and free, not some stranger’s subservient bride banished to the inner quarters.

But now, something is after her. Something terrifying—a force she cannot comprehend. And as pieces of the puzzle start to fit together, Ai Ling begins to understand that her journey to the Palace of Fragrant Dreams isn’t only a quest to find her beloved father but a venture with stakes larger than she could have imagined.

Bravery, intelligence, the will to fight and fight hard . . . she will need all of these things. Just as she will need the new and mysterious power growing within her. She will also need help.

It is Chen Yong who finds her partly submerged and barely breathing at the edge of a deep lake. There is something of unspeakable evil trying to drag her under. On a quest of his own, Chen Yong offers that help . . . and perhaps more.

 

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Thanks for hanging out again, and don’t forget — hit “reply” with your favorite debut YA novel.

– Kelly Jensen aka @veronikellymars

Good Monday, YA Readers!

This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Just Fly Away by Andrew McCarthy.

A debut novel about family secrets, first love, forgiveness, and finding one’s way in the world from award-winning writer, actor, and director Andrew McCarthy. When fifteen-year-old Lucy Willows discovers that her father has a child from a brief affair, she begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her life. Worse, Lucy’s father’s secret is now her own, one that isolates her from her friends, family—even her boyfriend, Simon. When Lucy runs away to Maine to visit her mysteriously estranged grandfather, she finally begins to get to the bottom of her family’s secrets and lies.

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First, a big thank you goes out to Karina Glaser for covering last week’s edition of the “What’s Up in YA?” newsletter with an array of excellent crossover middle grade novels that YA readers would love. I know my TBR got a little bit longer — I keep wanting to read more middle grade, and I’m so glad to have some great entry points.

You may or may not be aware that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a topic that’s near and dear to my heart. I try to approach it every year to not just highlight the YA books out there that explore the aspects of sexual assault and rape (and the cultures surrounding each) but to also go a little bit deeper, highlighting the real and true first-person experiences of these issues. Last year, I pulled together a rich reading list for this newsletter, but this year, I decided it was time to talk with a writer who recently released her debut novel that tackles sexual assault, among many other tough topics.

Kate Hart has been someone I’ve long admired in the YA world. Aside from being a novelist, she’s been part of the long-running blog YA Highway, and she’s take on numerous awesome side projects highlighting the achievements and accomplishments of women, including Badass Ladies You Should Know. Her first novel, After The Fall, hit shelves in January this year and it’s one I had the honor of reading during her revisited revision process (see below). It’s remained one in the forefront of my mind in the years since, and it’s one I hope is on the radar of YA readers because it packs a punch.

I’ve invited Kate to talk about her book, about some of her side projects, about how she’s teaching her sons about consent, and about the books she’s loved and those she’s looking forward to. I’m telling you now: grab your to-read list because it’s going to get longer.

Without further ado, here’s Kate Hart.

After studying Spanish and history at a small liberal arts school, Kate Hart taught young people their ABCs, wrote grants for grownups with disabilities, and now builds treehouses for people of all ages. Her debut YA novel, AFTER THE FALL, was published January 2017 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She also contributes to YA Highway, hosts the Badass Ladies You Should Know series, and sells jewelry, woodworking, and inappropriate embroidery at The Badasserie. A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, she lives with her family in Northwest Arkansas. 

(Ed note: bold are my questions, unbold are Kate’s answers.)

 

First: give us the pitch for AFTER THE FALL.

AFTER THE FALL is about Raychel, a low income girl in a college town, and the ripple effect that sexual assault has on her life. Her best friend Matt wants to help but keeps making things worse, and their friendship is put to the test when his mistaken beliefs about her life lead to a tragic accident.  

Tell us a little about when you began writing and your journey from aspiring to published YA author.

I wrote a lot of poetry in high school, but turned to history in college and didn’t start writing fiction until I was 29. My first novel was the ubiquitous Twilight knock off, and when I realized it wasn’t going to get me an agent, I made a list of things I actually wanted to write about. “Hiking,” “feminism,” and “the Ozarks” got me reminiscing about high school, and remembering a particularly embarrassing rock climbing trip, I wrote the first line of a new project: “It’s entirely possible Matt can see up my shorts.” It’s still the first line of AFTER THE FALL.

It was a long process to get published, though. I wrote that line in April of 2010, and by July the manuscript had seven agent offers. But it took another seven years for the book to hit shelves. The original version got a lot of revision suggestions but no offers; I went on to write a different book that didn’t sell, then came back to AFTER THE FALL in 2014 for a major rewrite. It got an offer that summer, but the publishing process was rough — my first agent left the business, and I ended up with three different editors, which consequently moved my release date back a year. Now that it’s finally published, I’ve been at a sort of loss, trying to figure out how to write any other book. 

  

You are a girl of projects, and one of the long-running ones that many YA readers may be familiar with is YA Highway. Can you talk a little bit about how YA Highway started, what it looks like now, and what your role has been throughout?

YA Highway started in May 2009, when five aspiring writers (Kirsten Hubbard, Kristin Halbrook, Kaitlin Ward, Michelle Schusterman, and Amanda Hannah) met on the Absolute Write boards and decided to blog about their publishing journeys. They eventually added 13 more members, including me in 2010, and my job was Field Trip Friday, a weekly roundup of writing tips, publishing news, and whatever funny things I’d seen that week. I wrote the feature for five years, and it really kept me going when the rest of my publishing career seemed impossible. I also redesigned the site a few times and created the Publishing Road Map resource. 

Being part of YA Highway taught me a lot about working with a group, managing expectations, and dealing with public perception. Watching other members’ publishing paths meant I had no false illusions going into my own career. The staff became some of my very best friends, and we met a lot of other people in the YA community and helped them connect with each other, which felt like worthwhile work (and it’s how you and I met!)

But we were all just volunteers — no one at YA Highway has ever gotten paid, and we’ve always footed the bill for all costs ourselves. For a long time it was worth it just to be a resource to the community, but as each contributor progressed in her career, there came a point when time management meant backing away from the site’s huge demands. It wound down from multiple posts per week to a few recurring features, and today it’s basically just an archive of resources with the occasional news announcement. For now we’re still signal boosting on social media, especially Twitter and Tumblr, but when Sarah Enni and I get too busy for those duties, the site will probably close officially. I’m sad to see it go and still have a lot of ideas for it that I’d love to explore, but sometimes you have to make hard choices, and for now that means letting YA Highway go.

In addition to blogging about YA and writing your own YA, you host a series of interviews with rad women called Badass Ladies You Should Know. Can you tell us a bit about what inspired this project and what have been some of your proudest interviews and moments from it?

As the conversations about diversity in YA started coming to the forefront, and the community was beginning to grapple with the idea of signal boosting vs talking over people, I made a mistake and tried to publicly defend a friend of color when she was perfectly capable of doing it herself. She was very understanding, but it made me realize that my hot takes on those topics are very rarely needed. But I did have a growing platform to share, as well as a desire to reach outside of YA, which even then felt like an echo chamber. Giving a spotlight to inspiring women seemed like a useful contribution that accomplished both in a positive manner.

Everyone I’ve profiled has of course been amazing in some way, but the first interview to make me cry was with Sharon Bishop-Baldwin and Mary Baldwin-Bishop, newspaper editors and plaintiffs in the case that brought marriage equality to Oklahoma. Their dedication to their cause, and to each other, is so inspiring and encouraging. I also loved the interview with Fayette Mong, a lawyer and old friend from high school, whose honesty about growing up Chinese in Arkansas and the challenges she faces on the job in Boston just blew me away. More recently, I loved sharing an interview Jen Baquial, the president of Sirens Motorcycle Club of NYT, which leads the pride parade and delivers donor breastmilk in its spare time, and an interview with literary agent Saba Sulaiman, who gave stellar advice on supporting other women.

This is your debut year. What has the experience been like for you as a newly-published author? Has being close to others who’ve been published via your own work in the YA world made it more or less intimidating?

I came into the debut experience feeling like an old crone. It’s a right of passage to freak out about things like Goodreads ratings, and here I was like “you should have seen the YA Mafia kerfuffle of 2011, you kids get off my lawn.” Avoiding those issues was a plus, but I’d already watched so many careers from behind the scenes that I felt very wizened and cynical about a lot of things that should have been exciting. 

But of course I didn’t and couldn’t know everything, and some things still took me off guard. I never really had an “omg it’s a book” moment where I burst into tears or it all became capital R Real, but seeing my cover comp for the first time and immediately loving was made more amazing because I knew how many authors get covers they don’t like. And the fact that so many published author friends came together to fundraise for RAINN on my release day was a humbling and moving experience for which I’ll always be grateful.

AFTER THE FALL is a story about survival. More specifically, it’s a story about surviving sexual assault. What made you want to write about it?

To be honest, I never intended to write about sexual assault. I was just exploring my teenage feelings of inadequacy and having tried to keep up with my guy friends, both academically and on the trail. But it soon became obvious that I couldn’t address those issues without also addressing my own assault in high school, and how that affected my self esteem, my desire to prove myself, and the ways I treated myself and those around me. So I gave that backstory to Raychel and then explored how it would affect or change the story I’d already sketched out. 

What draws you to telling stories like this one, especially from the perspective of a girl who is imperfect, who makes unpopular choices, and has tough consequences with which to wrestle?

Teenage girls are so demonized in our society. I didn’t realize how complicit I was in those judgments until I started reading YA and found myself reevaluating things I’d always believed about my own teenage years. I know this is where I’m supposed to say, “I write for those girls to see themselves on the page,” but the truth is that I just try to write honestly *about* those girls, not for them. I try to realistically portray what teenage girls deal with, and how ridiculous and unfair their communities’ expectations are. Teenage girls do need to see themselves in stories, so that they know they’re not alone, but others need to see these narratives just as much, so they can stop alienating those girls.

Since April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, care to share some of your must-read YA titles that take on the issue of sexual assault/rape/abuse and why those titles stand out to you?

While I was writing AFTER THE FALL, I tried to avoid books with similar topics, but Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, Sara Zarr’s Story of a Girl, and Courtney Summers’s Cracked Up To Be made me realize early on that these topics could be tackled in YA. Later, Courtney’s All the Rage made me pace around my house for half an hour after I finished it. I also thought Stephanie Kuehn’s Charm and Strange was a very nuanced take on abuse; Brandy Colbert’s Pointe fearlessly tackled some tough topics, and I liked how Where The Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller gave sexual agency back to the main character. 

Going a little further, and perhaps a bit more personal, you have two young sons. What sorts of books and discussions do you plan on having with them about sexual assault, rape, and consent when they’re ready for them?

We’ve been talking about basic concepts of consent since they were born. “Keep your hands to yourself” is an important lesson from… well, not day one, but at least the day you realize you’re the one controlling your hands. Simple things like “that girl asked you not to hug her so don’t” are a chance to lay the groundwork. Certain family members have tried the “boys will be boys” excuse for misbehavior, and we’ve made clear that, as the Tumblr post says, boys will be held accountable for their actions like everyone else.

My kids are now 9 and 11, and we’re very honest with them. As high profile trials hit the news, and celebrities and politicians and entire sports teams are exposed as abusers, we may not go into details but we definitely make sure they understand what happened and why it’s wrong. At the moment they self-censor and don’t want to read anything sex-related, but they’re allowed to read anything they want and I’ll certainly be putting important titles like the ones above on their shelves. 

What kinds of books were you reading as a teenager? What book or books available now do you wish you could hand your younger self?

Much to my mother’s horror, my grandma handed me Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel when I was in fourth grade, and I was obsessed with that series for years — I was the weird kid banging gravel together in the backyard, pretending to flint knap like Ayla. As an actual teen, I also loved Stephen King’s The Stand, Anne Rice’s The Feast of All Saints, Watchers by Dean Koontz, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, and A Gift Upon The Shore by M. K. Wren (which I picked up at Walmart based solely on the Jean Auel blurb). Later in high school I was also really affected by Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which made its way into AFTER THE FALL.

I think younger me would have benefited from the rape culture books listed above, but I would also feed my teenage love for salty ladies written in lyrical language. I would have adored Laini Taylor’s Lips Touch Three Times, the Metamorphoses series by Sarah McCarry, Nova Ren Suma’s The Walls Around Us, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things, Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour, The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob, The Fever by Megan Abbott, or White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi. Poetry-wise, I’d love to hand teenage-me Poisoned Apples by Christine Heppermann, Spiral Bound by Dessa, or When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz. (Luckily I have four nieces that I can inundate with books instead.)

Who is your ideal reader? Who would you want to bump into in public reading your book or reading one of your Badass Ladies interviews?

I’m still new enough to this part of the game that meeting anyone who was affected by the book is a treat. While I’m writing, however, my ideal reader is always my best friend Catherine, who started critiquing my poetry when we were twelve and still beta reads for me twenty-something years later.

As for Badass Ladies, I would love to bump into an editor who wants to make it a book project. Unfortunately I do not often wander the streets of New York but hope springs eternal…

Let’s wrap this up by looking ahead! What books are you most looking forward to reading soon?

I’ve found reading really challenging for the last few months because it’s felt like work, but the further I get from release day, the more it sounds appealing again. I’m very much looking forward to Maurene Goo’s I Believe In a Thing Called Love, Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer, Somaiya Daud’s Mirage, Lilliam Rivera’s The Education of Margot Sanchez, Sarah Nicole Lemon’s Done Dirt Cheap, Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert, American Street by Ibi Zoboi, Zan Romanoff’s Grace and the Fever, and You Don’t Know Me But I Know You by Rebecca Barrow. 

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A big thank you to Kate Hart for stopping by to talk.

Stay reading, YA fans, and we’ll see you again next Monday with a look at some of the latest YA news.

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars

Happy Monday, YA Readers!

 

Let’s take this week’s newsletter as an opportunity to explore what we’ve been talking about YA over on Book Riot’s website over the last month or so. There’s something for every one here, so enjoy!

 

• A look at fiction and nonfiction YA highlighting girls involved in the Labor Movement.

• The young adult books that one reader wish she could have had as a young adult. Are there any titles you feel similarly about? (Yes, you can totally hit ‘reply’ to this email and answer that — perhaps they’ll be rounded up in a later newsletter!).

• One reader on unabiding love for Garth Nix’s Sabriel series.

• Seven YA books set across the 7 continents with rad female lead characters. Yes, even Antarctica.

• 40 paperback YA titles hitting shelves this spring. Bulk up that TBR with more portable and affordable reads.

• Nostalgia time! YA books from back in the day featuring heroines who kick some literal butt.

• YA girls, fiction and real, who love and excel at STEM (that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math for the non-acronym savvy!).

• A look at 100 (plus a couple more) YA books that are excellent reads for feminists and young feminists-in-training.

• While you’re waiting for Whitney Gardner’s You’re Welcome, Universe to hit shelves (though I know I’ve seen it in some places already!), some excellent YA books about art, life, and love.

• 15 YA books that are great fits for Black Sabbath’s hits. We Book Riot hard, y’all.

• YA books that explore money, class, and power (seriously, though, these books are not only outstanding but tackle some big stuff I haven’t seen much before!).

• Which of these YA novels about nerds are worth your bucks and which are worth a checkout at the library? The verdicts are in.

• Excellent YA LGBTQ #OwnVoices science fiction and fantasy reads. Wheee!!!

 

That’s a wrap this week! I’ll be handing over control of the YA Newsletter next week to middle grade queen Karina Glaser, as I’ll be traveling. I’m eager to see what she talks about and hope you are, too!

Until later, keep fighting the good fight and reading great YA books.

-Kelly Jensen

@veronikellymars

Good Monday, YA Readers!

This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. 

Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift of necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. Great power, however, comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.

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It seems like a good week to catch up on the latest makes and takes in the YA world with a big ‘ole link round-up.

 

• This post is a few months old but always relevant: a look at children’s books (with plenty of YA!) featuring badass girls.

 

• AudioSync is coming back again, which means you can score free (legal) audiobooks each week, beginning April 27. This year’s YA and classics picks look excellent.

 

• A piece from Australian online media about intersex individuals and the YA world.

 

• One of Book Riot’s contributors, Ardo Omer, has an excellent article on Teen Vogue about Salaam Reads, an imprint at Simon & Schuster dedicated to publishing books from and about Muslim voices for children.

 

• Speaking of Muslim voices, this interview with SK Ali about #MuslimShelfSpace, #OwnVoices, and YA books is a must-read.

 

• Check out the first trailer for Netflix’s adaptation of 13 Reasons Why.

 

• Jennifer Garner is hopping on board the adaptation of Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.

 

• A really fabulous interview with Ry Russo Young, the director behind the adaptation of Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall. This talks about the teen experience, YA as seen in film, and more.

 

• We might get to see Kendare Blake’s Three Dark Crowns hit the big screen.

 

• There’s been some casting news as it relates to the adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn’s Runaways.

 

• This is an old piece but one I stumbled upon when I went down a Google rabbit hole. One of my recent favorite hobbies is wandering antique and thrift stores and looking through their book selections. I happened across a book at a local shop not too long ago about Leonardo DiCaprio, from back when he was a teen idol. I ended up curious what happened to the author of that book and what else she may have written….which led to this piece from 1998 about teen idols being forever idolized in mass market paperbacks. You’re welcome!

 

Have yourselves a great week and pick up a good book or two. We’ll see you back here next Monday!

Hello, YA Fans!

This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Unbound Worlds and Cage Match.

Cage Match is back! Unbound Worlds is pitting science fiction characters against fantasy characters in a battle-to-the-death tournament, and you can win a collection of all 32 books featured in the competition. Enter now for your chance to win this library of sci-fi and fantasy titles!

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This week, in honor of March being Women’s History Month, I wanted to talk with an author/illustrator who started her book career last year with a title that highlights remarkable achievements of women through history.

Rachel Ignotofsky’s Women in Science is a collective biography featuring women from all eras of history and the work they did. Laid out in an appealing, graphic-heavy style, the book distills the scientific progress women of all backgrounds achieved.

Aside from what the book does in the inside,Ignotofsky’s work presents an opportunity to talk not only about nonfiction, but also a chance to talk about what categorizing books as “YA” does or does not mean. Women in Science is the kind of book that is perfect for YA readers, as much as it’s perfectly suitable for middle grade readers, as well as adult readers.

Without further ado, get to know Ignotofsky, her work, the work of rad lady scientists, and what she’s working on next (spoiler alert: we need this, too!).

 

Tell us a bit about your background and why you wrote and illustrated Women in Science.

I am an illustrator with a passion for science and history. Women in Science is my first book and I could not be more excited to share it with the world. I graduated from Tyler School of Art in 2011. When you go to school for Graphic Design you learn how to organize images text to make information instantly impactful. I wanted to use my skill set to make topics I think are interesting and important easy and fun to learn about.

I have a lot of friends in education and I was thinking a lot about why science and engineering is still considered such a “boys club”. There is still such a massive gender gap in STEM fields even though girls test just as well as boys do in math and science. I wanted to do what I could to encourage girls to follow their passions. I truly believe that one of the best ways to fight against this kind of bias is by introducing young adults to strong female role models. There are so many female scientists who have changed our world with their discoveries, but many have landed in obscurity. So I decided to use my own skill set –illustration and design to help celebrate women and their accomplishments. illustration is a powerful tool when it comes to telling stories, and I wanted this book to not only be educational but also feel fun. My hope for my book is to help make these women household names and inspire a whole generation of girls!

 

Can you give us a peek into your creative process? What’s a day in the life like?

All of my projects, whether it is a book or a poster starts with the research. It is the information that determines how I lay out a page. For this book I read some great books like Headstrong by Rachel Swaby and  Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne. I also used documentaries, obituaries, the Nobel Prize website and interviews with the women I found online. I write around one or two stories a day and then it is time to draw.

I want to make the information as accessible as possible so I first figure out what I am saying visually versus what is actually written in words and how to weave the information into the illustration. Once it is all planned out, it is time to have fun. I usually listen to fun audio books or trashy TV while drawing each spread.

How did you choose which women to include in your book?

I wanted there to be a story for everyone. I wanted a diverse group of scientist in all different fields. Astronomers, paleontologists, marine biologist, computer programmers, volcanologist, and mathematicians are only a few of the types of scientists and fields of study in this book. I also wanted a breath of history and women who came from different cultural backgrounds and economic classes. This way you don’t just learn about science you also learn history. This book is also about suffrage the civil rights movement, world war two and the space race. The women in this book used their unique perspective to change the world.

 

What women were most fascinating and/or surprising to you to write and illustrate?

It’s wasn’t really a surprise, but it was the fact that although the women in the book had very different backgrounds and challenges passion for their work was very similar. No matter what stood in their way, sexism, Jim Crow laws, segregation, persecution during the holocaust, being unpaid or fired due to their gender — it did not matter. Each challenge was met with this unyielding love of science. They would work in their childhood bedroom, a dusty attic or in a small shack, with no respect. I did not matter as long as it got them closer to their discovery. You read their stories and you think that is a pioneer, that is someone who changes the world.

Do you consider yourself a Young Adult writer? How do you categorize your work and why?

I went into writing the book for everyone – from adults to seven year olds. I wanted there to be something to learn for everyone. I am excited that my book is so accessible to young adults. High school and Middle School are a powerful time in a person’s life. They are trying out new things, trying to figure out who they are and their place in the world. If my book helps them discover their passion in life and introduces them to their career path, that is all I could hope for!

Who is your dream reader? The one that, if you were to stumble upon them on a bus or subway reading your book, you’d melt?

 My dream reader is a young girl who is being introduced to these stories for the first time and they gain a new role model. If my book inspires someone to go into science, or want to change the world that would be the dream. But if I saw one of the women in my book reading my book, like Maryam Mirzakhani, Mae Jemison or Sylvia Earle — that would be the ultimate.

Let’s dig into your own reading life a bit now. What writers and what illustrators are some of your influences? What are some of your favorite young adult books now? What were some of your favorite books as a teenager? 

What inspires and informs my work is science and history. It is my passion to take dense information and organize it in a way that is beautiful and fun to read. I want my art work to have a positive impact on the world, empowering young people to follow their dreams and to learn more about the world around them.  I truly believe that illustration is one of the most powerful tool there are when it comes to learning and storytelling.  As a kid I struggled a lot with reading, you can begin to feel insecure about your abilities to be “a smart kid”. But books and television shows like Magic School Bus, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Amelia’s Notebook, and the Classics Illustrated comics series were filled with whimsy and illustration. They made me feel like I could approach any topic without fear and inspired a lifelong love of learning in me.

Scientific Literacy and understanding history could not be more important. We need to grab the attention of children and adults to learn more about the world around them so that they have the tools to make informed decisions.  But sometimes dense information like learning about particle physics or Hyperbolic geometry can feel scary. I hope my books can introduce people to complicated topics and ideas so they experience the joy of learning and gleefully want to bust down the doors to learn more. 

The graphic novels I’ll stay up all night reading are very different then the work I make and is my escape. A lot of my favorite books and authors I loved as a teenager are still inspiring me today. Graphic novels like Sandman (Neil Gaimen), Maus (Art Spiegelman), Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi) really had an impact on me growing up.  My recent favorites would be Black Hole by Charles Burns, Ghost World by Daniel Clowes (I am about to read his book Patience that came out last year)

 

In honor of Women’s History Month, tell us about some of your lady-identifying heroines, fiction or real? Is there a woman from history you’d love to see a book written about?

Lise Meitner, Sylvia Earle, Katherine Johnson, and Mae Jemison are just a few women from my book who have completely inspired me.  Please read their stories, watch their documentaries and listen to their interviews and just be humbled by their genius.

Shirley Chisholm is someone I think needs to have a movie made about her. She is the first African American Woman elected to congress and her story is amazing. Go out and read about her autobiography Unbought and Unbossed.

  

What’s next for you? Can you tease us with what it is that’s lighting you up about this project?

I have a bunch of new projects being released this year that I am super jazzed about. First off, March 7, a guided journal I made called I Love Science will be in stores. It is filled with a bunch of resource pages like html coding vocab, geometry equations, which I think is good for everyone to have handy. But it also has prompts to inspire exploration and critical thinking about our universe and empowering quotes from female scientist throughout history.

The other big project I have been working on that is coming out this July is Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win. The most basic stereotypes that women have to fight is that our bodies are inherently weaker than men. For many, strength is associated, independence and an ability to lead, So how can we fight this stereotype? Well, with stories of women throughout history who have perused their passions in sports– who have broken records, climbed the tallest mountains in the world and have bench pressed over 300lb. Women in Sports is filled with stories of women who could not be stopped from earning their victories.

Welcome back, YA Fans!

This week’s “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Gilded Cage, Book One in the Dark Gifts series.

The world belongs to the Equals—aristocrats with magical gifts—and all commoners must serve them for ten years.

But behind the gates of England’s grandest estate lies a power that could break the world.

Our heroes are a brother and sister who are brought to serve Britain’s most powerful family. It’s upstairs-downstairs drama; beautiful and wicked aristocrats romancing rebellious commoners; and an epic of politics, passion, and revolution.

Not all are free. Not all are equal. Not all will be saved. 

Let’s try something a little different with this week’s newsletter. Rather than a round-up of links to YA news — there hasn’t been much since last week — and rather than a book list or discussion, I thought it might be interesting to take a dive into YA/Book Riot history. Since Book Riot has been going for over five years, we’ve amassed a lot of writing, and it’s fascinating to peek back each year and see not only what we were talking about here, but what the bigger, broader YA world was talking about or interested in at the time.

It’s interesting to see when YA coverage on Book Riot became a big part of what we do. In the early years, it was here and there. But as the YA world itself grew, so did our coverage and interest in books for young adults. I’ve gone through our archives and pulled out a collection of interesting, provocative, and otherwise amusing pieces that highlight YA lit…and some kid lit more broadly. For each year, I’ve pulled 3-5 posts that were among the most popular that month; this means in some cases, those posts might not have been published that particular month, but they had some good interest that month (I believe that was only the case a couple of times — most of the high interest centered around posts written February of that particular year).

2012

 

You may think I am joking, but Dahl has plenty of useful lessons for kids. For instance, he taught me early on that families are unhinged carnivals that dance alongside our lives – places where magical and terrible things can happen within the same heartbeat. There is more where that came from.

I am not sure how deeply engrained Dahl’s books are in the average childhood beyond the UK – the paltry showing in the US-based Parent & Child poll suggests they are not – so for your delectation, here are a few life lessons gleaned from Dahl’s books.

From A Roald Dahl Survival Guide for Kids

 

Those Degrassi Talks books were pretty amazing things. They were partnered with a television series with the same title (which I think I only ever saw in health classes) where the cast of Degrassi would talk about serious issues involving teenagers. They were important books not just because they could stand in for difficult conversations parents didn’t want to have with their kids, but more importantly they predicted the questions before I even knew what my questions were. I remember so clearly the copy of Degrassi Talks: Sex because it was comically, hilariously dog-eared and spine-cracked, but according to the card in the pocket it had never been checked out once. These books existed in the library to be surreptitiously consulted (and occasionally giggled over) as needed.

From Wheels, Degrassi, and Why Tough YA Books and Libraries Are So Important

 

Sometimes, when faced with difficult real life situations, I find myself wondering how my favourite young adult heroines would feel and act in a similar context. I mean, the fact is that lots of them don’t really have to deal with these sorts of problems very often, which got my brain a-clickin’. How would our heroines deal with banal, everyday things like an annoying coworker or a website that won’t align properly or a car alarm going off? Or, in the flowcharts that follow, how would they cope with having to pay the rent?

From What Would *Insert YA Heroine Here* Do?

2013

 

In the latest round of Riot Recommendation, we asked you to shout out the YA series (or series you read as a young adult) that had real staying power, the ones you still think about and re-read today. There were a TON of responses from all over the genre board. Here’s a collection of all your recommendations from Facebook, Twitter, and the comments.

From Young Adult Series You Still Think About Today: A Reading List

 

 

From New Posters for Catching Fire

 

I understand that Stephen Chbosky (author of the novel, writer/director of the film) needed to reinvent Charlie as a more active character in adapting the story for film, because we can’t have ninety minutes of straight voiceover where we’re trapped behind Charlie’s eyeballs. We need to see a character in film making bold choices for himself, otherwise we are on the floor of the movie theater sleeping on top of spilled soda and popcorn. Still, I wanted a slower build and more of an arc from wallflower to almost-normal kid rocking the dance floor. Whatever, I’ll go re-read the book. This will be my answer every time I have a problem with this film.

From Thoughts on “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” Adaptation

 

2014

 

The uncomfortable truth is this: At Bella’s age, I was a lot like her. A whole lot. The things about her that weren’t like me, I realize now, I envied when I read the series. That lightens my load a little bit, but putting it out there after the things I’ve said about Bella feels raw: Now the folks who have heard me say those things will know that, mostly, I was berating the traits I found annoying in myself at fifteen, sixteen, even twenty. Even thirty, sometimes.

It’s amazing how much capacity we have for change when we face the truth, though, and that can hurt when the truth about you is that you would have envied Bella Swan.

From An Apology to Bella Swan

 

I was working in a fairly well-known children’s bookstore in New York last summer, one that is especially known for its employee recommendations and vast knowledge of books. One afternoon, a well-heeled Upper West Side mom asked me for book suggestions for her 10-year old daughter. I immediately thought of Judy Blume, and at my suggestion of one of her titles, the mother looked at me with disdain, saying, “Don’t you think that’s a bit…dated?” I almost fainted on the spot. Blasphemy! Here are some classic children’s/YA books that will never carry that dreaded description.

From 10 Classic Children’s and YA Books That Will Never Be Dated

 

It’s black history month, and rather than offer up a straightforward book list of young adult titles that highlight aspects of black history in the United States, I wanted to do something different — and something that would be much more visually arresting.

I pooled together as many YA books that were historical fiction (meaning no magical/fantastical elements) and featured black main characters or stories. The pickings were so meager, I also looked at middle grade novels which could appeal to young adult readers. But even with those titles included, I hope that this time line is not only illuminating in terms of what is out there, but I hope it’s even more illuminated about what books are not out there.

From Black History in YA Fiction: A Time Line

 

3. You make eye contact with a handsome stranger on the train. If he gets off at your stop, he is totes your future boyfriend. Duh.

From 20 Signs You’re Reading Too Much YA

 

2015

 

2. A story about four female best friends growing up in the early 1970s, a la Now & Then

Now & Then is maybe my favorite movie. I watched it all the time growing up, and it’s still one I love to pop in. The opportunities to explore some of the themes and the time period it’s set in feel endless.

This is the story of four women who are reflecting back on the summer of 1970, when they were young teens in a small Indiana town. The girls go through many huge things in one summer, which makes it ripe for a YA novel since those life-changing summers are part and parcel of the teen experience. More, this time period of change in social culture feels like it has so much opportunity to dive in.

From YA Novels (Based On Movies) That Should Exist

 

Kody Keplinger wrote The DUFF (recently made into a movie starring Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell – it’s amazing and you should see it!) and her other YA books with a musical muse. She rearranges the songs to fit a specific emotion or scene in her books, and her playlists are posted on her website here.

From YA Novels With Soundtracks

 

Theory: there is something about YA and the letter K. Call it koincidence or konspiracy (I know, I know. I’ll show myself out), but even beyond the obvious example of Katniss Everdeen, some of the coolest, most interesting heroines in YA sci-fi/fantasy seem to have K names. In case you don’t already know them, allow me to introduce Kami, Karou, and Katsa: each awesome, each with her own YA universe.

From Awesome YA Heroines Whose Names Start With “K”

 

2016

 

It’s hard to put a number down for what average sales for a book are, since a lot of factors come into play: whether the book is by a new author, one who is seasoned, whether it’s of current interest, where it’s placed in the bookstores, and so forth. I’ve read average sales ranging from 500 copies to 10,000.

So what do best selling books look like? Imagine a book selling tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of copies.

Thanks to the magic of Wikipedia, there’s a nice breakdown of books throughout time and their recorded/reported sales numbers. This accounts for books across all countries, ages, and genres. Being my interest is in young adult novels, I thought it’d be interesting to break out the numbers for those books.

From The Best Selling YA Books of All Time

 

So what makes a book a good crossover? For me, it’s having a certain voice, a focus on a young main character, or themes and plot elements that are relatable across a broad spectrum of readers. For an adult book to have YA crossover, that can mean the stories are focused on teenagers or feature teenagers at the core and the writing is mature, thoughtful, and characters aren’t focused on achieving certain adult markers (marriage, children, and so forth). That doesn’t mean they aren’t doing adult things like leaving home or going to college or becoming involved in a serious relationship; it just means the way those things are included in the story feels like something YA readers would relate to or “get” in some capacity.

From 3 On A YA Theme: Adult Novels for YA Fans and Vice Versa

 

That MORE includes the Amelia Bloomer List, which is an annual list that honors “youth books with strong feminist themes” for ages birth to eighteen. The Amelia Bloomer Project started in 2002, and is—as you have probably already guessed—named for women’s rights advocate Amelia Bloomer.

This year’s list includes lots of books that I’ve already read and loved—volumes 1 and 2 of Lumberjanes (Friendship to the MAX!), Interstellar Cinderella (space mechanic!), Infandous (fairy tales and mythology and art and sex and mother-daughter relationships!), Kissing in America (love letter to female friendship in road trip form!), All the Rage (this decade’s Speak!), We Should All Be Feminists (so tiny! so necessary!), Audacity (fictional biography of social justice pioneer! in verse form!)—but as with any booklist, the titles that interest me even more are the ones I haven’t read yet.

 

From Inspiring Young Feminists: The Amelia Bloomer List

 

Here at Book Riot we’ve had a lot of questions come in about this very topic, especially among kids ages twelve to thirteen. Here is a list of recommended books with high interest plots (special thanks to Ms. Pryor and Ms. Millman, librarians extraordinaire, for their help in compiling this list!), plus some more tips for keeping your reluctant readers turning those pages throughout the summer.

From The Ultimate Guide To Books for Reluctant Readers Ages 12 to 13

 

____________________

And may you be so inspired to pick up and read or revisit a book published from years gone by in the next week or two!

We’ll see you next Monday with a really fun, inspiring interview to kick off Women’s History Month.

Good Monday, YA Readers!

This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak.

Until May 1987, fourteen-year-old Billy Marvin of Wetbridge, New Jersey, is a decidedly happy nerd.

Afternoons are spent with his buddies, watching copious amounts of television, gorging on Pop-Tarts, and programming video games on his Commodore 64. Then Playboy publishes photos of Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White, Billy meets expert programmer Mary Zelinsky, and everything changes.

A love letter to the 1980s, to the dawn of the computer age, and to adolescence, The Impossible Fortress will make you laugh, cry, and remember in exquisite detail what it feels like to love something—or someone—for the very first time.

____________________

Let’s take a moment or two to catch up with the latest happenings around ye old YA land. There is a lot of adaptation news, for sure.

• The first trailer for the Everything, Everything adaptation with Amandla Stenberg is out and it looks great.

• Speaking of trailers, Netflix just released one for 13 Reasons Why and shared the date the show will hit streaming screens.

• Philip Pullman is writing more books in his “Dark Materials” series.

• The comic Lumberjanes is getting written as a book by Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer, Saving Montgomery Sole, and more). Awesome.

• Start your Fall TBR with this handy list of titles coming out.

 

• Yaqui Delgado Wants To Kick Your Ass coming to Hulu with Gina Rodriguez attached to the project.

• Have you heard of the Dead Girls Detective Agency? I haven’t, but I suspect I will since it’s being adapted, too. It looks like it might be one of those multi-platform projects. Huh.

• YA series that ended in 2016, which means you can pick them up now and enjoy the entire story in one big gulp.

• A look at the rise of sensitivity readers for YA books. What does that mean? What do they do? How do they help make books as good as those books can be?

• The Carnegie long list — a UK honor — is out, and there are plenty of familiar YA titles among them. Though let’s take a moment to point out that the long lists are all white. Umm…

• Speaking of awards, the CYBILS winners were announced last week. Check out the winners in the YA categories. I was a first-round judge for the middle grade and YA non-fiction category and think both of the winners are outstanding picks.

• There’s a new Maggie Stiefvater novel coming.

• Wrapping my head around this is tough. Iggy Azalea optioned the adaptation of Temple Mathews’ forthcoming Bad Girl Gone.

• Also, here’s an announcement for an adaptation of a YA book called Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet which…heard of it? I haven’t!

• An excellent interview with YA author Isabel Quintero (Gabi, A Girl In Pieces) on how writing is her activism.

 

A round-up of what we’ve been talking about when it comes to YA on Book Riot:

• LGBTQ+ scifi and fantasy from #OwnVoices writers.

• A look at well-developed older and elderly adults in YA fiction.

• 10 excellent, under-the-radar YA fantasy reads.

• A digital version of “blind date with a book” with YA reads. Try it!

• 3 YA books about struggles that have plausible, positive endings.

• Three recent posts on mental-health related YA: on starting to talk, agoraphobia and other mental illnesses that are well-rendered, and YA about bipolar disorder.

• And finally, a guide to get you started reading the work of award-winning author Sarah Dessen. My only note on this pathway would be that I think Dreamland is an essential Dessen read and shows how powerfully she can take on hard, heavy issues like relationship violence.

 

Thanks for hanging out! We’ll see you again next week. In the meantime, hope you’re reading something excellent.