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Hello, YA Readers!

This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. 

Hawthorn Creely doesn’t fit in, and that was before she inserted herself into a missing persons investigation. She doesn’t mean to interfere, but Lizzie Lovett’s disappearance is the most fascinating mystery their town has ever had—which means the time for speculation is now.

So Hawthorn comes up with a theory way too absurd to take seriously…at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie’s life? It might just be the push Hawthorn needs to find her own place in the world.

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Let’s get caught up on some of the latest in YA news and talk from around the web, link-fest style.

• Two big roles in the adaptation of Gretchen McNeil’s Ten have been cast. Check ’em out.

• Speaking of horror and YA, Stephanie Perkins revealed the title of her fall novel. I know Perkins is a huge horror fan, so this should be good. What a departure from her other series!

• There’s been a lead cast for the adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.

• And speaking of adaptations, we’re going to get one for Nicola Yoon’s latest, The Sun is Also a Star. This should be excellent.

• Admittedly, I don’t understand this article’s title at all. But the piece itself, on the growth of the Japanese “Light Novel” in America, is fascinating. I remember seeing these periodically pop up when I used to order manga for the libraries I worked at and being confused by them (I was lucky enough to have teens who could explain and help me pick out the manga they wanted!).

• For those who love knowing what was popular, here’s Publishers Weekly’s roundup of the most popular middle grade and young adult reviews from 2016.

• Annoying slideshow format aside, here’s a list of most-anticipated YA books of 2017 from Pop Crush. I love looking at these sorts of lists and comparing them to lists that are written by librarians, by those with a foot in the publishing world, and by those who are themselves writers. What I found worth noting in this one is how many of the titles were by authors of color — and how many of those titles are likely going to be big this year.

• Speaking of most-anticipated lists, here’s one from Paste Magazine. Some crossover, but not entirely.

• Are you familiar with The Cybils? If you’re not, it’s an awesome annual book award which recognizes various categories of children’s lit with an eye to not only literary merit, but also to appeal to the target audience, as judged by children’s lit bloggers. This year’s short lists were just announced. Check out them out (& how great is it that there are so many titles that differ from other “best of” lists?).

And that’s a wrap. It’s been a quiet few weeks with the holidays and end-of-year fun, so it’s likely we’ll begin seeing more and more YA news popping up as the month progresses.

We’ll be back next week with a look at what adaptations are in the works for 2017 so you can plan your time — reading and viewing! — accordingly.