As a person who has lived with chronic illness and disability for over a decade, I've often found it difficult to advocate for myself because I was afraid and because I just didn’t know that I had a right to speak up. Not just in medical settings but also with family and friends. So often, others with “authority” think they know what’s best for us, but in the end, we know our bodies best. I’ve learned to set boundaries, say no, and advocate for myself as a means of survival. These five books are wonderful examples of strong girls and young women using their voices to protect their bodily agency and build their body confidence.
Iveliz is angry and depressed, about a lot of things, including the death of her father. In an attempt to help Iveliz manage her anger and depression she sees a therapist and takes medication.
Iveliz knows taking her medications will help her, but what if the meds aren’t helping anymore? And what if seeing a therapist and talking about her problems isn’t what Iveliz wants to do? Why does no one want to listen to what she wants?
Iveliz struggles to say no and to advocate for herself and she pours all her thoughts and feelings into her journal, until she realizes that maybe using her voice is a better way to be heard. I loved the way Iveliz’s emotional journey and mental health are chronicled and treated with respect and care in this award-winning middle-grade novel in verse.
NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER • In this timely and moving novel in verse, a preteen girl navigates seventh grade while facing mental health challenges. A hopeful, poetic story about learning to advocate for the help and understanding you deserve.
"Powerful." —Lisa Fipps, Printz Honor-winning author of Starfish
How do you speak up when it feels like no one is listening?
The end of elementary school? Worst time of my life. And the start of middle school? I just wasn’t quite right. But this year? YO VOY A MI.
Seventh grade is going to be Iveliz’s year. She’s going to make…
Two facts about me as a reader: I like books that deal with difficult issues, and I like reading a lot of them. There’s something about watching teens, for whom everything feels new, deal with the toughest stuff imaginable and come out the other side. I love a protagonist who has been through the wringer. Some people call these stories dark or morbid. I prefer to think of them as hopeful. My own writing history is as diverse as my reading habits. I’ve published in poetry, romance, and criticism, but these days I’m all about YA, like the politically-charged thriller I’m querying or my queer New Orleans ghost story, The Women of Dauphine.
Thrillers! At a time when the world feels so perilous, what could be more satisfying than a high-stakes story that’s fully resolved by the last page? Only one that’s also a triumphant revenge fantasy.
Delilah is sick of feeling scared. When she retaliates against her tyrannical stepfather and he winds up dead, it would be the perfect crime–if not for a hidden camera planted by her creepy classmate. Logan believes he and Delilah are meant to be together, and he’s not above using blackmail to keep her around. Told in dual POV between Delilah and the eerily calm Logan, The Obsessionis fast-paced, riveting, and, if you’re new to the thriller world, an A+ introduction to the genre.
A fast-paced teen revenge-thriller from the author of Dial A for Aunties, The Obsession will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. Boy Meets Girl. Boy Stalks Girl. Girl Gets Revenge. Logan thinks he and Delilah are meant to be. Delilah doesn't know who Logan is. Logan believes no one knows Delilah like him. He makes sure of it by learning everything he can by watching her through a hidden camera. Some might call him a stalker. Logan prefers to be called "romantic". Delilah is keeping secrets though, deadly ones. There's so much more to…
In my previous role as a teacher, I often encountered teens who never, ever read outside of school – and hated having to read in school. Finding YA retellings of the classics became an indispensable tool for me in terms of not only linking the past with the present for the young adults in my classes, but also in terms of helping them see themselves in fiction, finding representation there, and discovering their own importance. It opened up whole worlds for all of us, and offered a pathway to a love of reading that I hope they will never forget!
I’m one of those rare English teachers who was never much of a fan of Austen, but Pride is such an incredibly powerful YA read that it had me looking back at the original with fresh eyes when I finished it. A contemporary, diverse retelling of Pride and Prejudice, it tackles issues of race, culture, heritage, and gentrification head-on, all set against the familiar backdrop of first love. Brilliantly showcasing the power and importance of not only the YA genre, but also the original novel which inspired it, I found Pride to be a massively thought-provoking and hugely important twist on the classic. (If I had my way, I’d make it required reading alongside its predecessor!)
In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic. A smart, funny, gorgeous retelling starring all characters of color.
Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her…
This recommendation list is a celebration of these authors’ creativity! Like every reader I love a good story, and this list highlights five books that not only weave entertainment within their respective genres—but also tell their stories in unique visual ways by being fearless with formatting. I love being into a story and seeing there’s a journal entry or letter coming up—it’s like an intimate view into the characters’ world and experiences, and I want to eat it up! If you’re interested in finding more authors who do this, Googling “epistolary novels” will help.
Everything, Everything is everything I want in a young adult book, plus it’s like a teenage scrapbook filled with emails, homework assignments, and diagrams.
The chapters are short, which keeps the pacing ridiculously fast and gripping. Also, fun fact, the illustrations throughout the story were created by her husband, David Yoon. I love a creative couple duo.
Everything, Everything is now a major motion picture starring Amanda Stenberg from The Hunger Games and Love Simon's Nick Robinson.
A #1 New York Times Bestseller!
'Loved this book!'- Zoella
Maddy is allergic to the world; stepping outside the sterile sanctuary of her home could kill her. But then Olly moves in next door. And just like that, Maddy realizes there's more to life than just being alive. You only get one chance at first love. And Maddy is ready to risk everything, everything to see where it leads.
'Powerful, lovely, heart-wrenching, and so absorbing I devoured it in one…
I spent most of my childhood hiding under the table reading science fiction and fantasy books to avoid having to communicate with the weird people claiming to be my family up in the world above. After a while, the local library turned me away saying they had no more books left on those shelves, so I started writing my own. I like a mix of urban themes like in Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give and dystopias like George Orwell’s 1984. That said, I love most futurist novels that have a love story at their centre, because despite everything I’m a romantic.
This book is family. And like family, the main character, Marti is both maddening (choose any from heartless, obnoxious, selfish, cruel, deluded, vain…) and yet somehow also loveable.
Marti makes no effort to have you the reader like her, in fact she goads you to hate her, to reject her, to join the rest of society in putting her out with the trash. Despite herself, she emerges from the trauma of her awful journey with a completely unexpected heroic status. That’s the central paradox of this book and the genius of Melvin Burgess: Forget the dystopian ultra-right wing takeover plot.
You will scratch your head at the end of the story and think, how did I end up loving Marti?
The Bloods are in control and they're desperate to turn Britain into the world they want to see: right, white, Christian supremist. Anyone who they call abnormal is a target. Amidst the chaos of civil war the country is on the move as small militia groups fight each other and a sea of refugees escapes the cities and the pursuing Bloods.
When her home is destroyed in a bombing raid, Marti must strike out on a mission of her own - to save her father and get his vital software into the right hands. But Marti is mixed race and…
It’s rare to find a thriller that balances high-octane stakes with such a profound, soul-searching exploration of Ojibwe identity. Angeline Boulley managed to make ethnobotany and traditional teachings feel as vital and gripping as the undercover investigation itself. As a reader, it "dug into my gut" with its raw honesty about grief and the impossible weight of community secrets. It’s a crime novel with a conscience and a powerful heart.
A PRINTZ MEDAL WINNER! A MORRIS AWARD WINNER! AN AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD YA HONOR BOOK!
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller
Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
“One of this year's most buzzed about young adult novels.” ―Good Morning America
A TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time Selection Amazon's Best YA Book of 2021 So Far (June 2021) A 2021 Kids' Indie Next List Selection An Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Books of…
Rom-coms have always been my favorite type of escapism. Give me all the witty banter, romantic tension, quirky characters, and – of course – the well-earned happily-ever-afters. Yes, humor is subjective, so there is a chance these YA books won’t have you roll-on-the-floor laughing like me, but I’m pretty sure they’ll inspire at least a chuckle from even the stoniest reader. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Speaking of meddlesome families, this book has another set-up.
This time we have Sharlot and George Clooney (no, not that George Clooney) whose parents decide to trick them into dating. There’s a little bit of catfishing, a few misunderstandings, and fake dating in Indonesia.
It’s a side-splitting rom-com told through Jesse Q. Sutanto’s signature brand of outlandish humor.
"A delightful, hilarious, captivating love letter to Indonesia, and coming of age in a large meddlesome family, and the thrill of finding your person where you least expect it!"--Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis
A laugh-out-loud YA rom-com about a girl who's whisked from LA to her mother's native Indonesia to get back to her roots and finds herself fake-dating the son of one of the wealthiest families there, from the bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties and The Obsession
After Sharlot Citra's mother catches her in a compromising position, she finds herself whisked…
Father-daughter relationships have always fascinated me. I wrote my first book to explore what it might be like for a girl to have a father with whom communication is, if not easy, possible. Although my own father was around when I was growing up, he was a distant figure. A mechanical engineer, he lost himself in ruminations on machines and mathematics and was made still more distant by his alcoholism. As a kid, I tried to glean from books what having a “regular” father might be like. I still haven’t figured it out, but I love seeing other authors capture the formative effects of this particular parental relationship.
This historical novel has been heralded as a fresh look at the era of the Little House books, and it does a wonderful job of looking at frontier life in Dakota Territory in 1880 from the perspective of Chinese-American Hanna. It’s also an examination of a daughter trying to navigate an often prickly relationship with her white father, made even more difficult after the death of Hanna’s Chinese-Korean mother. I love Hanna’s careful study of everyone around her—observances that are borne from a need to protect herself from racism, but which are also windows to empathy and understanding. Despite her father’s resistance to Hanna following her dream to become a dressmaker, Hanna prevails, using her knowledge of her father’s own nature to win him over.
Prairie Lotus is a powerful, touching, multilayered novel about a girl determined to fit in and realize her dreams: getting an education, becoming a dressmaker in her father’s shop, and making at least one friend.
Acclaimed, award-winning author Linda Sue Park has placed a young half-Asian girl, Hanna, in a small town in America’s heartland, in 1880. Hanna’s adjustment to her new surroundings, which primarily means negotiating the townspeople’s almost unanimous prejudice against Asians, is at the heart of the story.
Narrated by Hanna, the novel has poignant moments yet sparkles with humor, introducing a captivating heroine whose wry, observant…
I’m half-Filipino and half-Spanish. Growing up in the Philippines, I had to deal with many of the same emotions that the characters on this list go through. My identity made sense to me, but I found that I often had to explain it to other people, and I also found that outside my own house, people made their own opinions about whether I was more Filipino, more Spanish, or something else entirely. I’ve always been fascinated by how characters in fiction deal with this struggle, and I’ve always related more to characters who feel out of place.
The Keeper of Night’s protagonist Ren Scarborough is the epitome of a character trapped between two worlds. Half-British Reaper, half-Japanese Shinigami, Ren starts off the book living in London but never quite feels like she belongs there. When she travels to Japan for the first time, she finds out that Japan isn’t quite as she expected it and ends up getting tangled in the affairs of Yomi, the Japanese underworld. Although a bit on the darker side, this is a fantastic book for anyone interested in Japanese mythology, anyone who likes their fantasy a little on the dark side, and anyone who’s felt the frustration of never quite fitting in anywhere.
“Sharp and seductive…a fantasy with teeth.” —Julie C. Dao, author of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
A girl of two worlds, accepted by none… A half Reaper, half Shinigami soul collector seeks her destiny in this haunting and compulsively readable dark fantasy duology set in 1890s Japan.
Death is her destiny.
Half British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami, Ren Scarborough has been collecting souls in the London streets for centuries. Expected to obey the harsh hierarchy of the Reapers who despise her, Ren conceals her emotions and avoids her tormentors as best she can.
Ying Chang Compestine is the multi-talented author of 25 books including fiction, picture books, and cookbooks. Frequently sought after by the media, Ying has been featured on numerous national television programs, is regularly profiled in prestigious news media outlets, and has been named one of the "50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading" by The Author's Show. Her keen interest in cuisine has led her to weave food into all of her writing–including cookbooks, novels, and picture books for young readers. Ying grew up in Wuhan, China during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. She uses these experiences, as well as her passion for food, in all her writing.
The middle-grade novel, New from Here, really hits home for me. The main character, Knox, a resilient young boy protecting his friends during the COVID-19 pandemic, makes this book incredibly relatable to young readers.
The book combats racism and promotes togetherness, issues that I am passionate about in my own writing.
Don't miss the stunning no.1 New York Times bestseller. New country. New life. Whole new world . . .
When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox's mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings to California, where they think they will be safe from the virus.
But life in America isn't easy. At Knox's new school, the other kids think that because he is from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom's freaking out because she just got fired, and Dad doesn't know when he'll see them all again, because all flights…
