Hey YA Readers!
Let’s get caught up with the latest news around the young adult literature world.
“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends
Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return. Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated—and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town’s lost daughter. Corey knows something is wrong. Lost is keeping secrets—chilling secrets. But piecing together the truth about what happened may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter.
- Jacqueline Woodson is the new US National Ambassador for Children’s Literature.
- There’s a trailer for David Levithan’s Every Day. And here’s the movie poster if that’s a thing you like seeing. I didn’t know this was being made into a film and I sure hope they fixed the way that the fat body is treated.
- Want some more Canadian YA in your life? Here’s an excellent round-up of English and French YA & children’s book awards from Canada.
- What do you think about the titles BuzzFeed picked as the best 2017 YA?
- Eric Smith and I talked about this piece on the latest episode of Hey YA, but it’s worth a share here, too: a look at why teens love dystopian YA novels.
- Katherine Langford will be in the adaptation of Spontaneous.
- Speaking of adaptations, here’s a round-up of what you can look forward to this year. A few YA titles are sprinkled in.
- I’m stupid excited to see Long Way Down potentially see the big screen. It may be my favorite Jason Reynolds YA title.
- This isn’t related to YA literature but it’s related to teen culture and so fascinating that I have to include it. A look inside “niche memes,” the secret clip art diaries teens as posting on Instagram.
- John Green sold the movie rights to Turtles All The Way Down. I really thought the book nailed OCD and anxiety and am curious how it’ll play out on the big screen.
- Mackenzi Lee, author of A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, is penning a Marvel series.
- The upcoming new release Devils Unto Dust has been optioned for a potential film. This is one of the books I hadn’t heard anything about but when it showed up in my mailbox, I kept it because it looks really interesting.
- And because there’s never enough adaptation news in these round-ups, MT Anderson’s Landscape with Invisible Hand has been optioned for the big screen.
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Cheap YA Reads…
If you’re itching to fill up your ereader with some good reads on the cheap, here are some ideas.
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale is a fairy tale fantasy and is current $2.
Kody Keplinger’s The DUFF is $3 and so worth more money than that. Read it, then watch the adaptation.
The Girl With The Red Balloon by Katherine Locke is a historical fiction read with a bit of fantasy and mystery to it and the first in a new series. $4.
Thanks for hanging out this week, and we’ll see you back here again in seven days. There’s an exciting interview coming with a brand new debut author about the book you’ll be itching to read and talk about (~get excited~).
–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars
Land of Shadows
A Map of the Dark
Beneath the Mountain
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
next to the books that I have read and loved. There are soooo many more on this list that I can’t wait to read!)
The Cruel Prince
A State of Freedom: A Novel
The Woman in the Window