Here are 92 books that Elevation fans have personally recommended if you like
Elevation.
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I’ve been a science fiction fan for as long as I can remember. As someone who never quite felt like I fit in, these stories became a kind of refuge and revelation for me. They taught me that being on the outside looking in can be its own kind of superpower—the ability to see the world differently, to question it, and to imagine something better. I’m drawn to characters who are flawed, searching, and human, because they remind me that courage and belonging are choices we make, not gifts we’re given. That’s the heart of every story I love and the kind I try to write.
I’d read the reviews, so I was prepared for a great book. I wasn’t prepared to be thrown out of my comfort zone—but in the best possible way.
Mandel made me sit with what it really means to lose everything and still create something beautiful. It’s not about saving the world; it’s about creating a new dream and making it your home. I loved how it celebrates art, memory, and the strange persistence of humanity even when everything else is gone.
This book reminded me that hope is often raw, painful, and ultimately necessary.
'Best novel. The big one . . . stands above all the others' - George R.R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones
Now an HBO Max original TV series
The New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award Longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction National Book Awards Finalist PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist
What was lost in the collapse: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty.
One snowy night in Toronto famous actor Arthur Leander dies on stage whilst performing the role of a lifetime. That same evening a deadly virus touches down in…
Master the Art and Craft of Writing
by
Leon Conrad,
A comprehensive collection of engaging and effective exercises tailored for writers at all levels. Whether you're a beginner eager to find your voice, a seasoned writer exploring new genres, or a professional honing your craft, in this book, you'll discover invaluable techniques that will transform your writing journey.
I was always a bookworm, even reading the encyclopedia as a child. I was equally drawn to the sciences and literature and ended up getting a PhD in Chemistry. I visited Asia often for my chemistry work and gradually became interested in the philosophy and religion of Asian cultures. Today, I'm more likely to brag about what I’ve written or read about Chinese culture than I am to mention my technical patents.
I first read the Canticle forty years ago, and yet, when asked to recommend five books, this was the first one that came to mind. It threw me into an insane world, yet one that seemed only too possible.
My favorite character is Abraham, a tent-dwelling timeless man who lives through the several generations that the book follows. I am not a fan of dystopia, but this is an exception. Now that I’ve recommended it- I’m going to go read it again.
In the depths of the Utah desert, long after the Flame Deluge has scoured the earth clean, a monk of the Order of Saint Leibowitz has made a miraculous discovery: holy relics from the life of the great saint himself, including the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list, and the hallowed shrine of the Fallout Shelter.
In a terrifying age of darkness and decay, these artifacts could be the keys to mankind's salvation. But as the mystery at the core of this groundbreaking novel unfolds, it is the search itself—for meaning, for truth, for love—that offers hope for humanity's rebirth…
The roots of my debut novel Charlesgate Confidentialare in the time I spent in Boston, most notably the three years I lived in the Charlesgate building when it was an Emerson College dormitory. I always wanted to find a way to write about that time, but it wasn’t until I immersed myself in the world of Boston crime—not only the novels of Higgins, Lehane, and company but nonfiction works like Black Massand movies like The Departedand The Town—that I hit on the way to tell my story. I’ll always be excited for new Boston-based crime fiction, and I’m happy to share these recommendations with you.
After Robert B. Parker, Lehane is the most successful and skilled descendant of Eddie Coyle (a debt he acknowledges in his introduction to a reissue of the Higgins book). While you can’t go wrong with any of the entries in his Kenzie/Gennaro detective series (or his later historically-based trilogy), this stand-alone novel about three childhood friends brought back together by a crime one of them may have committed is his most powerful work, as well as the novel that first spurred my interest in trying my hand at Boston-based crime fiction.
This New York Times bestseller from Dennis Lehane is a gripping, unnerving psychological thriller about the effects of a savage killing on three former friends in a tightly knit, blue-collar Boston neighborhood.
When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened—something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever.
Twenty-five years later, Sean is a homicide detective. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave is trying to…
I’ve been a fan of horror stories since I was a child. It was never about the shock or the gore, but the sense of dread and unease such stories could build, and how they challenged society’s norms in a variety of ways. The driving force in a lot of horror is often the threat—or even the result—of some sort of loss, and that’s what I tend to explore in my own work. Whether it’s the loss of life, of love or loved ones, the loss of sanity, of reality, horror allows us to discover and/or face our fears while providing a means by which to manage them.
I came to this one after watching and loving the television version and found the book even more fulfilling (although very different). It focuses on what happens when millions of people suddenly disappear from the world’s population and it looks not only at how people deal with this massive loss but also how they deal with the mystery of it, the not knowing why. People don’t only lose loved ones in this book but also their own sense of how the world should work, leaving them with a lot to deal with. I loved the characters, the tight focus on one community (and mostly one family within that community), and I loved how Perrotta made such a wild possibility seem entirely plausible.
With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers—now adapted into an HBO series—is a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.
What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished? Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down?
That's what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out.…
I'm a cartoonist with a transgender-biography and I write trans characters into my stories. Even though I value the growing awareness of transgender representation by all writers, those that were written by people with trans-experience carry special significance. I've written a graphic novel and many autobiographical, fictional, and documentary short stories. These works have centered on the themes sexual identity, gender roles, youth culture, family, social structures, and social history. With my work I aim to shed light on issues that are lesser known, with a strong social focus and the intention of using the storytelling medium and the comic format as a way of making the complex understandable.
Stone Fruit is such a pleasure to flip through and enjoy for its beautiful drawings and line work. In the story the main character works through reconciling their relationship with their partner and themselves and their identity. The bond that they have with their niece is about ways of connecting, facing reality, and the cathartic potential of our creative minds. As a queer parent I really connected with how the relationship between the characters is about what we gift each other between generations or among peers, transcending the traditional family structures.
Bron and Ray are a queer couple who enjoy their role as the fun weirdo aunties to Ray’s niece, six-year-old Nessie. Their playdates are little oases of wildness, joy, and ease in all three of their lives, which ping-pong between familial tensions and deep-seeded personal stumbling blocks. As their emotional intimacy erodes, Ray and Bron isolate from each other and attempt to repair their broken family ties ― Ray with her overworked, resentful single-mother sister and Bron with her religious teenage sister who doesn’t fully grasp the complexities of gender identity. Taking a leap of faith, each opens up and…
When I was growing up, I played everything my older brother, Joe, played. Including all the “boy” games. So they called me a “tomboy” and teased me. I wish my library had had books that showed how fun, play, games, pets, colors, kites... are not “for boys only” or “for girls only.” They would have made me feel better and, hopefully, opened the door to some interesting discussion of how imagination and creativity are gender neutral. These five picture books explore those established gender rules with humor and heart and great stories!
I love Neither, an adorable, earnest, little blue bird who is trying so hard to be a bunny in the Land of This and That, where all the bunnies are blue and all the birds are yellow.
I know exactly how Neither feels, and so will the children with whom you share this charming book.
This book is about celebrating and accepting differences, and don’t we need more of that!
In this touching story that celebrates the differences in all of us, a little creature that's not quite a bird and not quite a bunny--it's "neither"--searches for a place to fit in.
In the Land of This and That, there are only two kinds: blue bunnies and yellow birds. But one day a funny green egg hatches, and a little creature that's not quite a bird and not quite a bunny pops out. It's neither!
Neither tries hard to fit in, but its bird legs aren't good for jumping like the other bunnies, and its fluffy tail isn't good for…
The Valor of Valhalla series by Martin Kearns is a pulse-pounding dark urban fantasy trilogy that fuses the raw power of Norse mythology with the grit of modern warfare. Set in a world where ancient gods and mythical creatures clash with secret military organizations and rogue heroes, the series follows…
Growing up, I wasn't aware of many books or stories featuring characters outside the gender binary. There was George from The Famous Five (whom I loved), and later, there were the films The Silence of the Lambs and Boys Don’t Cry. Not exactly a heartening picture! Nowadays, there is a library’s worth of literature examining the interplay of gender and identity and featuring trans and non-binary characters. This is a list of five of my absolute favorite books by trans and non-binary writers that explore gender and identity–I hope that they speak to you in the way they did to me.
This is the only book on my list aimed primarily at younger readers, but there is much here for adult readers as well. Jamie follows a non-binary kid who realizes that they have to choose to attend either a boys’ or girls’ secondary school–and decides to try to change things instead.
I didn’t have a story like this when I was young, and I am so glad that young readers have it now. So many young people will see themselves in Jamie, but I also think that reading fiction like this will help children and adults who are not trans or non-binary to understand the people in their lives who are. Funny, sweet, and uplifting, Jamie has a special place in my heart.
1
author picked
Jamie
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
8,
9,
10, and
11.
What is this book about?
One of the Guardian's best children's and YA books of 2023
'FABULOUS, HOPEFUL, IMPORTANT' - Emma Carroll
'A sensitive, moving 9+ story about fighting for acceptance and change' - Guardian
'An inspirational story of a young person finding the strength and resilience to be exactly who they are' - The Scotsman
A beautiful and uplifting story from L.D. Lapinski, author of The Strangeworlds Travel Agency, about how to make your own place when the world doesn't think you fit anywhere. For fans of Me, My Dad and The End of The Rainbow.
Jamie Rambeau is a happy 11-year-old non-binary kid…
When I was a teenager, my mother sewed me a quilt, but when I moved to Wales and discovered Welsh antic quilts, my interest became a passion. These bold red and black flannel patchworks with intricate quilting seem contemporary but date back to the 19th century. I have been painting them and have learned a lot about their history and how they have provided income and artistic expression for women over the years. It’s a pleasure to see that this passion is shared by so many people worldwide, and I’m fascinated by all the stories these beautiful objects hold.
I love this children’s book about languages and how quilting can become a metaphor for our patchwork society, with differences and unity.
I particularly liked the Arabic words scattered here and there without an immediate translation (there is a glossary at the end), and it was fun to try to make sense of them by the context and empathize with the characters as they learn to live a bilingual life.
That night, Kanzi wraps herself in the beautiful Arabic quilt her teita (grandma) in Cairo gave her and writes a poem in Arabic about the quilt. Next day her teacher sees the poem and gets the entire class excited about creating a "quilt" (a paper collage) of student names in Arabic. In the end, Kanzi's most treasured reminder of her old home provides a pathway for acceptance in her new one.
This authentic story with beautiful illustrations includes a glossary of Arabic words and a presentation of Arabic letters with their phonetic English equivalents.
As the white parent of both a white child and a child of color, the discrepancies of representation and inclusivity in children’s literature is an important conversation in our home. Seeing themselves in books allows all children to dream big, feel seen, and know there is a place in this world for them. I hope both of my books, All Bears Need Love and Little Taco Truck do exactly that. I know the list of brilliant books I’ve suggested here are wonderful examples of inclusivity and diversity that young readers need.
All Are Welcome Here follows school children throughout their day to reveal and celebrate many cultures, backgrounds, nationalities, races, body types, clothes, food, etc. Everyone is represented in this beautiful book, allowing children to find themselves and their families among the pages. The repetition of “All are welcome here” throughout the story reinforces the simple and important Celebration of diversity and inclusivity.
A bright and uplifting celebration of cultural diversity and belonging, where all children are welcome in the classroom
'If your little one is a little nervous about fitting in and whether they'll belong at school, pick up All Are Welcome' Barnes & Noble
No matter how you start your day,
What you wear when you play,
Or if you come from far away,
All are welcome here.
Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcome. A school where children in patkas, hijabs, baseball caps and yarmulkes play side by side. A school where…
On the surface, Dawn Easton seems to have it all. Heiress to a fashion empire, and with a gorgeous younger boyfriend, there’s almost nothing she can’t have. Yet, despite her wealth and power, there’s one thing that’s remained out of reach her entire life—giving birth. As her 40th birthday inches…
I wholeheartedly believe that kindness is the single most powerful thing that we can teach our children. One of the best ways to instil kindness in children is by talking to them about it, and one of the most effective ways to start the conversation is through stories that highlight kindness. These stories don’t just get kids talking—they also help shape the values of the next generation.
This was such a blast to read with my kids! I loved how interactive it was and the creative rhyming used. It didn’t just keep their attention, but it also included a fun activity to do together afterward with stickers (included in the book), which made the experience even more fun for us to do together!
The illustrations are playful and unique, really bringing the story to life in a way that keeps everyone engaged. Even after five years of having it on our shelf, it’s still my go-to book for storytime.
Scribble, the book's main character, never thought he was different until he met his first drawing. Then, after being left out because he didn't look like everyone else, Scribble teaches the drawings how to accept each other for who they are. Which enables them to create amazing art.
This book not only has illustrations that any child can personally recognize but it also addresses inclusion without boundaries so that anyone can relate to it. Each book comes with 100 stickers so that children can create their very own Scribble. They will be able to…
