The Kids Are Alright: 16 YA Recommendations for National Reading Awareness Day
Young adult literature is in the middle of a boom infusing it with fresh life, and nothing proves it like the upcoming New York Teen Author Festival, with a large crop of exciting authors coming to the city to discuss a broad range of topics over a week. In honor of National Reading Awareness Day, March 9, we are highlighting a few fantastic young adult novels to celebrate. Don’t forget — we’re hosting a kickoff party on the 13th with host David Levithan to get things started!
- Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty
The first book in a trilogy, Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle trilogy is about a young woman sent from British India to a boarding school in England, where she finds herself in the middle of a group of young women — who gradually discover the dark past of their school and the magical power they can wield. These captivating books about a woman coming into her own will make you glad the series is finished so you can read the next one right away.
2. Malinda Lo, Adaptation
Malinda Lo is known for her adaptations of fairytales (Ash and Huntress) but her sci-fi duology is every bit as awesome. An alien invasion story compared to X-Files, with layers of government conspiracy in a thrilling package, Adaptation is a fast paced and thrilling ride from start to finish.
3. Jesse Andrews, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Not exactly unknown (and recently adapted into a movie) but in case you missed it…Me and Earl and the Dying Girl tells the story of Greg Gaines, just attempting to get through high school while keeping his head down, and his unlikely friendship with Earl and his unexpected (and somewhat reluctant) relationship with Rachel, a girl dying of cancer. The witty, self-deprecating voice of the narrator is the real draw of this often irreverent book.
4. David Levithan & John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Two teens with the same name collide in a random encounter — and wind up with their lives intertwined. These two big-name authors collaborate to create a story with a distinct voice for each protagonist, both well-crafted and sympathetic who come to life on the page.
5. Marissa Meyer, Cinder
This steampunk retelling of Cinderella (beginning a series that also includes versions of Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White) is a startlingly original take on the old story. Set in a China of the future, Linh Cinder is a cyborg and therefore a second class citizen. When the heartthrob Prince Kai comes to her with a damaged robot and asks her to repair it in secret, Cinder finds herself stumbling into the midst of a conflict much larger than she is.
6. Adam Silvera, More Happy Than Not
This gritty and emotionally charged novel set in the near-future Bronx is about Aaron Soto, struggling to find his balance again after his father’s suicide. While his girlfriend is away, Aaron starts to find himself falling for Thomas in spite of his friends’ disapproval. As the summer heats up, Aaron starts considering drastic measures to deal with his newfound feelings. Silvera grapples powerfully with poverty and sexuality in the inner city in this highly acclaimed debut novel.
7. Jenny Han, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Lara Jean Song writes love letters — and never sends them. She pours her heart and soul into the letters, stored in a hatbox, not meant for the eyes of any of the five boys they’re addressed to. One day, though, the letters end up mailed out, and Lara’s love life gets very complicated. This lighthearted romance doesn’t just stick to the boys, though — also important is Lara’s relationship with both her older and younger sisters.
8. Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers
Jazz is the son of an infamous serial killer. While his father has been in prison for years, though, there are still bodies appearing in his small town home. Trying to prove that he’s not his father’s son, Jazz joins the police investigation while struggling with his father’s deadly legacy. The first in a series, Barry Lyga’s mystery-thriller dives deep into a dark world, both internal and external.
9. Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go
Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy stands out among the crop of dystopian novels. Todd Hewitt, the only boy in a town of men, all the women killed off by a plague, where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts, realizes just before he becomes a man that his community is hiding a terrible secret. He flees with his dog — only to encounter a girl, the first person in the world whose thoughts Todd can’t hear.
10. Len Vlahos, The Scar Boys
Severely burned in a car accident when he was eight, Harbinger Jones finds solace from a lonely, isolated existence and the torment of bullies in punk rock music and his friendship with Johnny. Set in the 1980s, this is a classic coming-of-age story of punk and finding your way in a difficult world.
11. Rainbow Rowell, Carry On
The author of Eleanor and Park and Fangirl takes readers to magic school in this book about Simon Snow, the Chosen One who doesn’t feel he can ever get it right, and Baz, his nemesis. Magic, love, ghosts and monsters populate this Harry Potter turned inside out story about teenagers trying to cope with stress, loss, and being who they are.
12. Naomi Novik, Uprooted
This fairy-tale like novel of a young woman who finds herself snatched from her home by the mysterious sorcerer known only as the Dragon — but the real threat is the malignant forest only inches from her town’s borders, and always threatening to advance. This beautifully written book, with a narrator who gradually comes to recognize her own strength, is an exceptional feat of storytelling.
13. Tim Federle, Better Nate Than Ever
Nate Foster has been dreaming his whole life about starring in a Broadway show. Stuck in Pennsylvania, he recruits his best friend to help him escape to New York for an open casting call — the chance to make his dreams come true. This modern, bright, and insightful story skews a little younger than the other books on this list, but is just as much of a delight to read, including the charming hero who is just starting to question his own sexuality.
14. Goldy Moldavsky, Kill the Boy Band
A satirical look at the modern culture surrounding boy bands, and a group of four friends who find themselves in a little too deep. Kidnapping one of the band members in too deep. Full of twists and turns, this darkly funny novel from a new voice in young adult fiction reminds us all that we can get a little obsessive about celebrity.
15. Courtney Summers, All the Rage
This emotional punch of a novel makes for intense but incredibly compelling reading. Romy has been a social exile since she accused golden boy Kellan, the sheriff’s son, of trying to rape her at a party. Finding refuge in her job at a diner outside of town, where no one knows who she is, Romy is keeping the world at a distance. When a former friend goes missing, however, Romy finds herself forced to deal with a past she’s trying to leave — but which won’t leave her. This book sucks you in from the first page, making the reader inhabit Romy’s frequently dark world and compelling you forward all the way to the end.
16. Luanne Rice, The Secret Language of Sisters
Tilly and Roo are sisters with an exceptional bond. So when Tilly ends up in the hospital, presumably in a coma, after texting Roo while driving, Roo is left to deal with her overwhelming guilt, conflicting feelings for Tilly’s boyfriend, and getting to the bottom of her sister’s mysterious condition. With alternate first-person narration, this is an emotional and heartfelt novel about the bonds and challenges of sisterhood.
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