The best young adult books set in midwestern cities

Veronica Roth’s dystopian novel takes place in a futuristic Chicago divided into five societal factions. While it is an alternate reality in Chicago, the Windy City is not a backdrop to Roth’s trilogy, but a living, vital part of the story. As Tris Prior navigates how she fits into the world, a new Chicago comes to life. The five factions meet at The Hub (Willis Tower), characters routinely hitch rides on the L, and scenes unfold at dystopic versions of Navy Pier, the Hancock Building, and The Bean. The Midwest’s biggest city is so infused throughout Divergent, that the high-action story couldn’t exist without it.

John Green’s hometown of Indianapolis is prominently center stage in his witty, heartbreaking, and inspiring novel about Hazel and Augustus, strangers who befriend each other at a support group for people battling cancer. The book weaves its way through Indianapolis making you feel like you’ve grown up there with its familiar descriptions of Holliday Park, Castleton Square Mall, and Monument Circle. All the while, Hazel—a snarky sixteen-year-old—comments that it's the 137th nicest city in America and jokes with Augustus that you’ll never see culture or “skinny adults” in the city. But what sixteen-year-old truly appreciates their hometown?

Percy is a New York City native, but his quest takes him on a road trip across the country to Los Angeles. I included it on my list because the bulk of his adventure happens at the places between New York and California, including a battle with the mother of monsters at the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, followed by a long plunge into the Mississippi River. The group of teen adventurers also spend time in Denver, where they meet the god Ares who starts them on a side-quest. While the book doesn’t take place in a single midwestern city, the midwestern landscape is alive and flourishing in Riordan’s first Percy Jackson novel.

The oldest book on my list, The Westing Game is a classic murder-mystery puzzle set just outside of the author’s hometown of Milwaukee. The story centers around the mysterious and eccentric Westing, who is found dead in his mansion. His will challenges sixteen locals to determine who caused his death to inherit his fortune. The contrast between the enticing Sunset Towers, where the characters stay, and the vacant and eerie Westing Estate next door provides a unique setting for this classic midwestern whodunnit.

Although Rotters begins in Chicago, after a bus kills Joey’s mother, he is sent to live with his estranged father in rural Iowa, who holds a very morbid secret. While the fictional Bloughton, Iowa is by far the smallest midwestern city on my list, the vivid images Kraus uses to describe the town, its residents, and the underground world of Joey’s father have convinced me this town exists. And I don’t want to go there. Rotters is a story that is tragic, macabre, and riveting all at once.