Eighteen-year-old artist June Costa is a citizen of Palmares Três, a vertically structured city in what was once Brazil, with the rich at the top, the poor at the bottom, and a vital tradition of music and dance. Its centenarian queen keeps a tight rein on the tech—electronic and pharmaceutical—that allows for intensive state security and bodily modification. Privileged but rebellious June and her best friend Gil live on Tier Eight, and when they get involved with Enki, a beautiful bottom-tier resident who will serve a year as the summer king before his ritual sacrifice, her political art gains attention, and things get dangerous. In her YA debut, Johnson (the Spirit Binders series) depicts a future that’s recognizably Brazilian and human—June may have nanohooks, holo screens, and light implants, but 400 years on, teens still resent their parents and find ways to subvert the technology their elders theoretically control. With its complicated history, founding myth, and political structure, Palmares Três is compelling, as is the triple bond between June, Enki, and Gil as they challenge their world’s injustices. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Mar.)
There was only one bad thing about the Veronica Roth #BNAuthorEvent, which took place at the Union Square location in Manhattan on Sunday, March 15—it ended. Roth, who is charming and likable, instantly made friends with the audience, sharing surprising facts about herself, interesting anecdotes about her writing, and things about Divergent you probably didn’t know. […]
There’s no such thing as a bad time for reading, there are just those days when you can’t figure out what, exactly, your Goldilocksy brain wants. No matter what kind of reading slump you’re dealing with, I’ve got recs that will bust through it like Kool-Aid Man breaking and entering his way into a kid’s birthday party. Because […]
This summer’s Openly YA tour, starring author David Levithan, Bill Konigsberg, Adam Silvera, and Will Walton, is chock full of amazing. So much so that it got us thinking about other inspired lineups we’d love to see! Too good to be true? Of course! But a girl can dream, can’t she?
This is part two in B&N’s two-part spotlight on six incredible LGBTQ+ authors currently writing YA. This post highlights Meredith Russo, Adam Silvera, and Sara Farizan. Find part one, featuring authors Fox Benwell, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Erica Cameron, here. Meredith Russo Meredith Russo’s debut novel, If I Was Your Girl, isn’t due out until May 3, but it’s already making waves in the […]
Book award season is upon us! Last week, under a new set of rules, the National Book Awards released four nominee longlists for the first time ever. This is fantastic news for book-lovers, as it gives us a chance to sample the work of double the authors. Without further ado, the talented authors who were recognized […]