Sci-fi and fantasy have their big, bad, powerful villains, but make no mistake—so does contemporary. In realistic YA fiction, no villain stands out like the bully, those classmates who make your life a living hell. Most of those books, of course, feature the victims: kids who get bullied for anything from going for the wrong […]
The movie Heathers was a cult hit before today’s teens were even born, but the combination of a mean girl clique, a hot new boyfriend, dark revenge fantasies, and even darker humor definitely resonate in today’s YA. Here are five of our favorites that combine anywhere from a couple to all of the above elements; […]
Marketing LGBTQA YA is a double-edged sword. Some of it is glaringly queer, and some of it is what I love to call Under the Gaydar, i.e., there’s no outward sign of it featuring LGBTQA characters via cover design, blurb, or specifically queer award wins (e.g., Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun winning a Stonewall Honor). […]
June means reading weather, summer vacation feels, and iced coffee rings on all your favorite paperbacks. Here are 25 new young adult books we’re stuffing into the pockets of our giant travel bags, from a gritty-perfect LA-set debut to a wonderfully weird take on the shortest reigning queen in England’s history to a thoughtful sci-fi-inflected […]