Category: What’s Up in YA

Content warning on this one for disordered eating, as this is a comic about Valerie Chu. Valerie grew up with a mom who obsessively monitored and commented on her eating, and as she grew up, Val developed bulimia. This gorgeously illustrated story follows Val as she navigates a horrific loss while simultaneously coming to understand the whys and hows of her obsession with thinness.

One of the threads in this book that tore me apart is where Val approaches her best friend, who is fat, and wonders why the fat girl got the attention of a boy. It’s heartbreaking because for anyone who has been fat, that sort of commentary is not only uncommon but one of the worst fears: people think you are unworthy because your body is not the thin ideal. But more than being heartbreaking for Val’s friend, it’s the big moment when Val realizes just how deep her mental illness is and knows she has to get help.

This is the first in a new series that will tick all the boxes of those who love history, Shakespeare, swords, fae, and Black girls at the heart of adventure stories.

Joan works as the person who makes and keeps up with the swords for Shakespeare’s acting company. As a member of the Orisha, she’s been given the gift of controlling metal. Her family, all Orisha, are also tasked with keeping an eye on London’s Fae population; usually there’s nothing to worry about, but there has been more and more Fae activity recently, including some attacks. So when Joan hurts a powerful member of the Fae, she finds herself in the middle of battle between the human world and the world of the Fae.

The pitch for this one says it is for readers of Holly Black and Justina Ireland and I agree. It sounds like the perfect adventure-meets-romance-meets-political-intrigue.

Out in paperback is this first in an urban fantasy series merging music, magic, and culture.

The island of San Madrigal sunk into the sea almost 16 years ago. Those who survived fled to New York, including Mateo Matisse. The survivors have been tight knit in their new home, especially those in Brooklyn, and they hold out hope to some day return home.

Mateo, though, doesn’t hold that same wish. The piano prodigy hopes to catch the attention of a local music legend who might help him build a career. Mateo gets that chance on the night of the Grand Fete, a celebration of the people who founded the island of San Madrigal.

Except the night where he anticipates a change in his fate, he experiences a wholly different change: he’s witnessed a murder tied to the evil behind the sinking of his former home island. Now, Mateo is pulled into a battle spanning generations but which might help him revive San Madrigal.

While Older’s book is part of the Rick Riordan imprint – Riordan of fame for his work revisiting and playing with Greek mythology – this new paperback release is related because it is itself a retelling of a Greek classic.

Beck and Vivian aren’t friends, not really, but they are friendly because of their mutual best friend Cassie. When Cassie’s murdered and the town moves on too quickly, Beck and Vivian seek vengeance…with the help of Cassie’s ghost AND a true crime podcast.

Greek myths are part of the story both in obvious ways — this is a twist on the Cassandra myth — but also in the ways Beck and Vivian bring attention to Cassie’s story via murals around town.

Fourteen-year-old Heera is about to be sold into the sex trade. Her father needed money and it’s been a common fate for girls in her community on the outskirts of the Red Light District in Bihar, India. At the final hour, though, her fate changes, thanks to a hostel owner who brings money to her family’s home. In exchange, Heera will begin learning the art of kung fu with other girls.

Heera will begin her next adventure and along the way learn how to use her body as a powerful tool for herself and hat she is not just a tool for others.

A mixed media YA book in verse? I am so here for this one and cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Raquel, who is 16, lives in a small Portugal town where she’s been kicked out of school. Why? She cussed out a school aid for being nosy about her father’s new marriage. Everyone knows everyone’s business, but it’s still not everyone’s business.

Then she meets Pardalita. Pardalita is an artist planning to move to Lisbon after graduation, but in the interim, she and Racquel get to know one another…and Racquel starts to catch some serious feelings.

This is told through prose, verse, and art, and it’s being described as This One Summer meets Very Far Away from Anywhere Else.

Sloane, who is 15, has the power to incinerate. She’s a scion, but despite her ability to take down enemies, she needs to keep it secret. The Lucis rule is not kind, and now, she’s been forced into the army.

But rather than take it sitting down, Sloane has another plan. She’s going to take down the empire from within.

This is a fiery, fierce adventure story featuring a younger teen protagonists.

A brilliant historical fantasy about twins Magnolia and Charlie, separated not long after their birth. Magnolia, light skinned, was raised white in Eureka, Georgia, and lives a life of class, wealth, and white privilege; Charlie was taken north to Harlem with her grandmother, her dark skin unmistakeable as anything other. When Nana, Charlie’s grandmother, is dying, she and Charlie return to Eureka for her death. It’s here when Charlie learns she has a twin sister, and Magnolia discovers that she can no longer see her shadow. Nana had warned about death leading to the thinning of the veil, but it’ll take the sisters finding one another and working together to lift the curse settled over both of them.

McWilliams knocks it out of the park with highlighting colorism, as well as the tensions and differences between Jim Crow racism in the south and racism as it played out in a place like New York City in 1953. Charlie and Magnolia are well-rounded with distinct voices, and their cultural upbringings really work to showcase what Black means both in the south at this time and in the north. Magnolia faces a choice in embracing her newly-learned Black heritage, as well as her newly-discovered twin sister, and it’s one that can’t — and doesn’t — come easily. While Charlie wrestles with not understanding why her sister can’t make the right decision, she herself struggles with what she’s seeing around her and why it is her feelings for Darius may be unable to be requited (thanks to the curse).

So there are actually two books focused on mental health hitting shelves this week for YA readers. The other one is Where To Start by Mental Health America and Gemma Correll and that work of nonfiction would pair so nicely with this anthology (and my own nonfiction anthology, (Don’t) Call Me Crazy!).

Carpenter and Callen have pulled together a wide array of YA writers, all of whom are sharing fictional stories of people living with mental health challenges. The stories cross genres and experiences, offering everything from a vampire with social anxiety to a teen girl coming to understand her challenges with PMDD. There’s hard stuff here, but there’s also plenty of hope for those who will relate to these experiences.

This book takes readers back into the world of Hearts Unbroken, though they can be read independently of one another.

Hughie is excited to be volunteering this Halloween season at Harvest House, a rural attraction for horror lovers. That is, he’s excited until he learns that an actor playing the role of a vengeful “Indian maiden” will be the star of the show. It’s a local legend to the Native community, and that, paired with a series of weird happenings around Harvest House, have Hughie wondering where or how he should speak up. Does he point out the problem of such a legend — one wrapped in problems — being used to sell an attraction? And how does he do that while also investigating the strange goings on?

This one is for readers who love horror and realism, with a cast of Native lead characters at its heart. I’m itching to read this one, as I loved Hearts Unbroken and bonus, for those who keep talking about a lack of YA with younger protagonists, here’s a reminder you’re sleeping on Cynthia Leitich Smith who does this masterfully.

Kids have been disappearing in the Bronx, and it seems like only the missing white kids are getting any attention. Raquel, who is 16, does, too. That is, until her crush disappears and her mom comes down with a mysterious illness.

Teaming up with Charlize, the cousin of her missing crush, Raquel soon learns that the missing are all tied to an urban legend called the Echo Game. The rules of the game are related to a dark part of New York City’s history and those who play find themselves trapped in the underground.

To save themselves and find those who have gone missing, Raquel and Charlize will need to try their hand at the Echo Game themselves.

If you like horror with social commentary, you’re going to love this one. It’s sapphic to boot!

Friendship breakups are the pits, and Spaldiing’s novel about the slow disintegration of the friendship between Jamie and Kat is one that will resonate with so many readers.

James’s narrative moves backwards from her leaving for college after the summer post-senior year, while Kat’s moves forward from the first month of senior year and as readers, we see all of the things that add up as they come, but we’re left moving forward in the story because we’re looking for that one thing. But there is no single thing. It’s a lot of things, on both sides.

Kat discovers she’s bisexual, while James’s parents are breaking up because her mom has found a new partner, and those are two big revelations in the story, connected because of how they define each of the girls to themselves and one another. Kat becomes close with her girlfriend, whiles James finds herself needing to spend more time better understanding herself and what it is she really wants in her life.

This book has humor, heart, and heartbreak, and it pairs so nicely with Ashley Woodfolk’s When You Were Everything.

Ander is a native to the Santos Vista neighborhood in Texas and works at their family’s taqueria. The familiar and comforting aspects of their life gives André pause as they prepare to leave for art school to become a muralist. To help with the transition to college, their family “fires” them to encourage them to work on their art. Then they meet Santiago, the new waiter at their family’s restaurant, and the slow burn romance that develops between the two teens has André questioning things they thought they knew. Especially the idea of what home is when ICE agents arrive.

I’m so excited for this one! In it, Cristina and Clement Trudeau, two 16-year-old twins, are descendants of a magical, powerful family in New Orleans. They used to be close, but now they find their family in shambles: the talented Cristina has given up her magic because of a tragedy, their father is dead, their mother is cursed, and Clement is trying to fill an emotional void with random hookups. But then they realize someone is after their family, and that it has something to do with a woman that was killed 30 years ago. If they can finally come together, they can save their family, and New Orleans from having another massacre.

Spring is blooming (ha) with tons of new YA releases, which Kelly has compiled into a wonderful list.

Tirzah and I actually discussed this one last year in a book club discussion episode of Hey YA. It follows Najwa, a Malaysian teen who returns to Scrabble competitions after her bestie Trina died at one. And the competition she makes her return at is the very same one where her friend died. Trina was the reigning Scrabble Queen before her untimely demise, and Najwa soon sees how other competitors are determined to take the crown. But then Trina’s Instagram starts posting things, like odd messages that point towards her death being intentional. As the truth comes out, Najwa tries her best to compete while still contending with the loss of her friend. I thought all the Scrabble aspects were cute (every chapter begins with a word, its definition, and the words it’d fetch in Scrabble), and I really appreciated how well it showed what it was like to be a Malaysian teen.

*Shady main character alert* I love when authors make the main character just a teensy bit questionable, and Vanja has to be one of the most shady protagonists I’ve come across lately. As the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, she owes a debt for their care and decides to pay it off by stealing her mistress, Princess Gisele’s, life. Mess. The actual Gisele is now irrelevant to the rest of the world, and Vanja uses her new cover to steal jewels from the nobles she comes across as a faux princess. More mess. But then she angers a god and is cursed (in a poetic way, obviously) and only has two weeks to get right before her life is forfeit. The messiest of mess.

Bribri American brothers Max and Jay have grown up in a house with an abusive father and they stick together to protect themselves and their mother. So when they discover a classmate in trouble, they react on instinct, enacting violence on the soccer star at their high school.

Now the boys are in trouble…and they know what they did does not truly represent who they are or their ambitions for the future. The way they’ll get to the truth of what happened and who they are is by revisiting that day and everything that led up to their decision to turn to violence.

This one is told in vignettes and verse and tells the story of Indigenous Costa Rican American brothers — voices we rarely get to hear in YA.

I’m bummed I did not get to this one yet but it’s on my spring break reading list. If you like Greek mythology, this is right in your wheelhouse.

Arachne has been outcast, except for her family and best friend Celandine. By learning how to weave, Arachne is able to find herself, her talents, and even her voice. When her family is tragically lost, and she and Celandine leave for the city of Colophon, wherein Arachne is challenged by Athena. Arachne refuses to give in to Athena, so the two of them will engage in a weaving contest that will alter both of their fates.

Bonus: it’s in verse.

Sisters Samira and Rima are living in a small town in Michigan with their mother. It’s a dilapidated trailer where they live and mother is in and out, struggling with a gambling problem. Dad has never been in the picture.

So it’s a surprise when Samira’s grandfather wills her a family fortune. She plans to take the Lebanese antiques to a pawn shop to help her and Rima before her mom can gamble away the money.

Unfortunately, one of the treasures is a coin cursed by a god. By disturbing the treasure, Sam and her sister are expelled to the Phoenician underworld. The sisters must learn how to outshine tricksters, outwit dangerous lands, and lean on one another in order to protect their lives and escape the dangerous terrain.

Although I have not watched The Last Of Us, I know enough about it to suspect this book will appeal to fans of that franchise.

Wren and her family live in a small town that’s always attracted tourists eager to indulge in quintessential Americana. Tourists love to see the wheat, the community, even Wren’s family’s farm. But that all ended five months ago when the blight of Quicksilver began.

Quicksilver consumes the crops. Then the livestock. Then…it comes for the neighbors. The poison is ready to come for Wren and she has to turn to someone she would rather not in order to save her town – and her life. Derek, her ex-boyfriend.

Together, they’ll have to answer for the lives and histories of their ancestors and the community of Hollow’s End in order to save everything they live from being completely taken by Quicksilver.