When I was nine years old, my first poem was ‘published’ in my elementary school’s annual creative writing booklet. It was such a thrill to see my poem in print and to know lots of people would be reading it. I was hooked on writing, but it would be many, many years before I was published again. While I know it’s never too late to publish a book, I regret how long I waited. Young writers, don’t be afraid to go for it and don’t ever feel you’re not old enough for your words to matter. Readers need your unique, fresh vision.
I love that this book was born out of the need for a story that no one else was writing. When authors are willing to step off the mainstream road and write what’s really in their hearts, everyone wins. There’s a saying I love: “Write the book you want to read.”
When fifteen-year-old Beth Reekles went searching for a teen romance story to read, she was frustrated by not finding one about regular, everyday teenagers. Everyone was publishing supernatural stories filled with vampires, werewolves, and angels. So, she wrote this book and shared it on Wattpad.
The timing was right, and it pulled in 19 million readers, including me! Beth was offered a multi-book publishing contract, and it went on to become a Netflix series.
** Read the book behind the smash-hit Netflix film, starring Joey King! **
Meet Elle Evans: pretty, popular - and never been kissed.
Meet Noah Flynn: badass, volatile - and a total player.
When Elle decides to run a kissing booth for the school carnival, she never imagines she'll sit in it - or that her first ever kiss would be with bad boy Noah.
From that moment, her life is turned upside down - but is this a romance destined for happiness or heartbreak?
If you love Holly Bourne and John Green, then you will adore The Kissing Booth!
I love adventures with a plot that has a lasting impact on the protagonist. I like seeing growth and altered viewpoints as characters cope with overwhelming challenges. Fourteen-year-old Aria Edwards is a perfect candidate for change as she busts out of convent life to attend the Keeper Academy, which is all she’s ever dreamed of.
I sympathized as she learned that life isn’t always what she wants it to be, and I cheered her on as she slowly and painfully changed into a girl who earned my respect. I’m sure writing this debut novel was a life-changing experience for its teenage author, too.
Fourteen-year-old Aria Edwards finds life at the convent, in a word, lacking. The days are long, the prayers are longer, and excitement is nonexistent. But after her authoritarian mother finally gives in, Aria gleefully leaves the convent for Saint Garin’s Academy, where she can realize her lifelong dream of becoming a Keeper. It sounds almost too good to be true, but before long Aria discovers life as a Keeper is not as noble as she once thought. Surrounded on all sides by evil creatures, powerful enemies and a dark conspiracy that could shake the Kingdom of Tedros to its core,…
Shay Tanner has three rules when it comes to her acting career. Ex-musician Dustin Shaw threatens each of them just by breathing. Not only is he brooding, reclusive, and undeniably attractive, but he’s her best friend’s roommate. Now Shay’s roommate while she’s in town filming for the role of a…
I love that this book was the result of a dare! In 1816, eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley and three friends held a contest to see who could write the scariest story. Mary’s story—like her monster—has since taken on a life of its own and today permeates all forms of storytelling.
I find it amusing that my favorite version of the monster is the one Mel Brooks gave us in Young Frankenstein. I wonder what Mary Shelley would think if she knew how much her acceptance of a dare would change storytelling forever.
I like to revisit the original story from time to time to savor the gothic drama and flowery writing. If I’m reading it on a dark and stormy night, all the better.
One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'
'That rare story to pass from literature into myth' The New York Times
Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley on Lake Geneva. The story of Victor Frankenstein who, obsessed with creating life itself, plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, but whose botched creature sets out to destroy his maker, would become the world's most famous work of horror fiction, and remains a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity. Based on the third…
I enjoy a new twist on an old story. Nineteen-year-old author Chloe Gong twisted Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet so tightly that it bled out an intense new version set in 1920s Shanghai. The sweet, tragic innocence of Shakespeare’s young lovers is chucked out the window in favor of two former sweethearts teaming up long after their days of young love are over.
I enjoy Gong’s writing style; her words practically jump off the page straight into my eyeballs. Gangsters? Blood feuds? Monsters? Yes, please!
A fast-paced literary thriller with a strong sci-fi element and loaded with existential questions. Beyond the entertainment value, this book takes a hard look at the perilous world of publishing, which is on a crash course to meet the nascent, no-holds-barred world of AI. Could these worlds co-exist, or will…
It’s such a thrill to discover a premise I’ve never heard of before. The concept of two souls existing in one body caught my attention. When I read on the back cover that this wasn’t just a fluke happening to one person but that everyone in this alternate reality started life with two souls, I knew I had to find out how that worked and how society would handle it. Never underestimate the power of a good back-cover blurb!
Kat Zhang put in the hard work and had all the details worked out. I was impressed. So was HarperCollins, who offered the nineteen-year-old a contract for the “Hybrid Chronicles” trilogy.
HOW I LIVE NOW meets HIS DARK MATERIALS in this stunningly written and intensely moving debut, the first book in the Hybrid trilogy.
Imagine that you have two minds, sharing one body. You and your other self are closer than twins, better than friends. You have known each other forever.
Then imagine that people like you are hated and feared. That the government want to hunt you down and tear out your second soul, separating you from the person you love most in the world.
After Constance runs away to join the circus, she learns that there are no easy escapes from life’s problems. As she takes action to improve her situation, she becomes increasingly more determined to make a better life for herself. If she manages to make her dreams come true, she’ll probably become a published writer while still in her teens.
If you’re also a young writer, I hope you find encouragement in Constance’s adventures.
A fast-paced literary thriller with a strong sci-fi element and loaded with existential questions. Beyond the entertainment value, this book takes a hard look at the perilous world of publishing, which is on a crash course to meet the nascent, no-holds-barred world of AI. Could these worlds co-exist, or will…
A hundred years in the future, in a world where technologically enhanced bodies are valued above organic ones, Complete Life Management (CLM) is selling perfection in the form of the latest and greatest bionic model, the Apogee. As an elite runner and inadvertent spokesperson for the humanism movement, NYPD Detective…
