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Girls Can Be Anything: Guest Post from Megan McCafferty for #HereWeAre

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About The Girls 2017 Logo

 

Today’s guest post for “About The Girls”/#HereWeAre is from one of my long-time favorite authors, from wayyy back into my own teen hood: Megan McCafferty!

 

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Megan McCafferty has written about adolescence for two decades. The author of of ten novels, she’s best known for the Jessica Darling series. She’s currently adapting SLOPPY FIRSTS into a stage play that will debut in spring 2018.

 

 

 

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I was a 10-year-old Junior Girl Scout in 1983. It was my second year with the organization and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stick around for a third. At my young age I was already wary of any group that required conformity, especially the form of an actual uniform. And I hated knocking on strangers’ doors to sell Thin Mints and Samoas. What was the point of sticking with Scouts when my sash would always have more blank space than badges?

foreverI liked our Troop Leader though. Mrs. Henderson was the divorced-and-remarried mom of Kim Hartmann, my only friend with a different last name from her parents. I liked Mrs. Henderson mostly because she bought Kim a copy of FOREVER… and let her daughter read it even after she discovered it was all about sexy sexy sex.

Still, I was pretty determined to de-enlist from the Scouts when Mrs. Henderson made an exciting announcement at our weekly meeting.

“Troop 10 is participating in a show! On stage! In front of an audience!”

I loved being in shows! On stage! In front of an audience!

The theme of the show was “Singing and Dancing Through the Decades” and each Troop was randomly assigned a specific time period to celebrate in skit, song and dance. I wasn’t much of a dancer, but I was one hell of a singer/actress double threat. No 10-year-old Annie wannabe could out-vibrato me.  For a blissful ten seconds, I imagined myself at center stage… I was the 30s in a red dress and curly wig singing “Tomorrow.” I was the 40s in a swingy skirt and army cap harmonizing all three Andrews sisters’ parts in “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” I was the 1950s in a Pink Ladies jacket, belting Rizzo’s tour de force “There Are Worse Things I Can Do.” Nevermind that my historical references were mostly anachronistic and all from movie musicals. For the first time since I put on my Junior green beret, I was excited to be a Scout.

This excitement lasted for about five seconds, when Mrs. Henderson informed us that Troop 10 would present the E.R.A. era.

The what what?

“The Equal Rights Amendment era.”

I had no idea what this was. And if I didn’t know, none of us did.

Mrs. Henderson devoted the rest of the meeting trying to convince us of the great entertainment value to be mined from second-wave feminism of the early 1970s. And the more we heard about inequality, Congress and constitutional amendments, the less enthusiastic we all were. Mrs. Henderson, however, remained optimistic.

“One of you will be the first female President of the United States!”

“In the show?” I asked.

I knew a juicy part when I heard it.

“In the show! And in real life!”

Mrs. Henderson lost me again.

GIRLS CAN BE ANYTHING by Norma KleinA few years earlier, my beloved first grade teacher Mrs. Mohr had introduced me to the book GIRLS CAN BE ANYTHING by Norma Klein.* In it, six-year-old kindergartner Marina pushes back against her boysplaining best friend Adam. He says she can’t be a doctor (she can be a nurse!) or a pilot (she can be a stewardess!) or President of the United States (she can be his wife!). Marina isn’t having any of this sexist nonsense. If other countries elected Golda Maier and Margaret Thatcher, why couldn’t the United States elect Marina? I loved the book but was disappointed by the realization that it was probably already too late for Marina and for me. I did the math: I’d turn 35 years old just in time for the 2008 election. Surely the first female President would be elected before then.

Mrs. Henderson needed me on her side. If I didn’t muster any enthusiasm for the ERA era, no girl in the Troop would.

“Why are we making big deal about girls being able to do all the same stuff as boys?” I asked her. “This E.R.A. stuff should have been settled a million years ago already.”

“You’re right, but it’s not.” Mrs. Henderson said. “And until it is? We keep making a big deal.”

Mrs. Henderson’s vision was simple, maybe even inspired by Klein’s book. All girls in Troop 10 would dress up as just a few of the many jobs women could do as well as men. We had a doctor and a pilot, as well as a construction worker, a teacher, a scientist and a mother. We held a special vote to determine who would be Troop 10’s First Female President of the United States.

I won the election in a landslide.

On show day, I dressed in a wool blazer and pleated skirt. The outfit was itchy and uncomfortable but commanded respect. I wore it that one time and never again. I marched in circles holding a poster saying “VOTE FOR MEGAN FOR PRESIDENT AND VOTE FOR ERA.” It wasn’t as glamorous as the razzle-dazzle song-and-dance numbers in my head, but I was proud to be chosen by my peers to represent the most powerful person in the world. I couldn’t help but wonder about the girl out there somewhere who would eventually grow up to be the real first female President of the United States.

I still wonder about that girl.

And until we know who she is, I guess we all need to keep making a big deal.

 

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*Norma Klein deserves her own post. She wrote groundbreaking YA books throughout the 70s and 80s featuring fiercely feminist teenage girls who had lots and lots of sex with–and sometimes without–consequences. She died at 50 in 1989, a premature end that perhaps explains why she isn’t worshipped on the same scale as her kick-ass contemporary, The Goddess Judy Blume. All of Klein’s books are out of print.

Defining The “Strong Girl” in YA: A Guest Post from Anna Breslaw

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About The Girls 2017 Logo

Today launches a week-long series that began as an exploration of girls and reading, asking the question “what About The Girls?” This year’s take on the series goes a little bit in a different direction. There’s still a good deal of talk about girls and reading, but the topic focuses more on feminism, opening up discussion to bigger topics and those all along the gender spectrum.

The first piece in the series comes from Anna Breslaw.

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Hi! I’m a New York-based freelance writer and author. Previously, I was a staff writer at Cosmo and a sex & relationships editor at Cosmopolitan.com. I’ve also been a contributing writer for Jezebel and Glamour.com.

My debut YA novel, Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here, is out now from Razorbill/Penguin.

 

 

 

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When I was 14, I felt self-conscious every time I read the description of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield that opened every single Sweet Valley High book: “A perfect size six, with long blonde hair and blue eyes.” The year I graduated from high school, Twilight showed marginal progress by normalizing an Everygirl protagonist. Unfortunately, she was also a passive, helpless victim, caught in an abusive relationship that was framed as romantic.

The Hunger Games, which exploded just three years after that, was basically the backlash to Bella. Katniss was active, independent, a warrior who didn’t rely on anyone but herself. It worked because it subverted gender roles and tropes on multiple levels: Katniss’s journey is motivated by love, but for her little sister rather than a crush. She dreads her girly makeover in the Capitol, but ultimately bonds with her stylist and is surprised by how powerful she feels in her “dress on fire.” Peeta, the male love interest, was a gentle, domestic caretaker—but none the less sexy for it.

But many less-thoughtful ripoffs (I will not name names, because I am #classy) rely on a lazy, underwritten version of Katniss. Go to Barnes & Noble right now, and you’ll find countless dystopian YA books led by a “strong female character.” She knows how to fight. She doesn’t wear dresses. The opposite sex isn’t really a priority. She doesn’t care if people like her. Did I mention she knows how to fight?

Ironically, these are all heteronormative alpha-male attributes. A “strong female character” these days is pretty much a dude with a braid—sometimes even a misogynist one, scoffing at all those Other Girls™ who care about fashion and boys. As empowering as this trend may seem on the surface, it actually perpetuates the idea that conventional feminine traits are synonymous with weakness.

While the lexicon of female characters in YA has expanded over the years, the insistence that one type of girl is a more “worthy” heroine than others—and a reliance on easy commercial tropes over three dimensional characters—has remained the same. Teenage girls today are a lot smarter and more aware of their place in society than I was at their age, but I still worry that there’s some 14-year-old bookworm out there who mistakes macho posturing for female strength. Maybe it makes her feel ashamed that she does like dresses, that her feelings are hurt easily, or that she’s insecure, or that she cares what boys think, or that her biggest battles are fought on the inside.

Now more than ever, that girl needs to know that navigating these anxieties and contradictions are the things that make her strong. Simply being female in the world makes her a dystopian heroine.

#1000BlackGirlBooks Donation Fund Drive Book List

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Black Girls

 

In Mid-January, a story about 11-year-old Marley Dias and her quest to collection 1000 books about black girls hit the internet. Or maybe the correct phrasing of that is that it hit the internet in a way where it picked up attention and got spread far and wide in the book community. Almost immediately, I knew I wanted to do what I could to help this fabulous girl collect the books she wanted to meet her goal.

Like last year, I thought putting it out there that I’d take up donations would work. But unlike the Some Girls Are drive, rather than collect books and send them to Marley, I opened up my Paypal account to accept donations, which I’d then funnel into sending her book after book after book.

Nearly $3000 came in from the drive, which is fabulous and powerful. I still have a couple hundred dollars left to spend, and it’s my idea to get in touch with the people behind this project and help fill in any additional holes.

One of the fun, frustrating, and challenging elements of this drive was selecting the books to send. I let anyone who donated choose a title or two (or ten, it didn’t matter!) to send, but I limited to one copy of each title. I did this knowing that some titles, like brown girl dreaming and Pointe would be requested again and again and be sent again and again. There’s nothing wrong with that in the least, especially for a library like the one Dias is working toward, but I wanted to offer a further range of titles, too. Thanks to the hard work of dedicated people like Zetta Elliott and Edi Campbell, I was able to really dig deep into the world of kid lit featuring black girls at the center of the story. In addition to utilizing their incredible resources, I tapped into the brains of Sarah Hannah Gomez, Justina Ireland, and Anne Ursu, who all provided a wealth of title ideas for sending.

Justina further pointed something out to me that I’ve been unable to stop thinking about. It only took $2500 to collect nearly every black girl book in children’s/middle grade/YA/crossover adult. These books have limited shelf lives, as numerous titles were tough to track down or required me going through third parties to collection. Do you know how sad it is to think that that amount of money is all it takes to buy nearly everything?

I’m thrilled we could do this, but it didn’t hit me how difficult finding black girl books truly was until I’d exhausted the obvious, exhausted the less obvious, and still have some money left over to find further titles.  I am eager to see how Marley completes this dream of hers, as well as what her library will look like, but I’m also saddened to see so clearly the very thing she was talking about (and that so many others have and continue talking about): these books are not out there, not obvious, and that needs to change. I also ran into seeing just how few graphic novels offer black girls at the center of the story.

As promised, here’s a round-up of nearly everything I purchased for #1000BlackGirlBooks. This list is so long and took a long time to compile, so forgive any errors or mistakes. I’m doing what I can to designate titles by category — picture books and early readers, middle grade, YA, adult, and graphic novel. I’ve starred titles within each of those categories that are non-fiction, and all links will take you to Amazon. I’m choosing to do it that way because I’m using Amazon as my way of gauging ages for some of the titles, and it’s where I made my purchases for Marley because of the ability to track purchases and ensure quick delivery.

I used my librarian brain when buying these, knowing these will be used in libraries. That means there are award winners here, as well as popular books, as well as pop culture leaning title. This is a mix of a little of everything, just as it should be.

Ready? Here we go.

 

Picture Books/Early Reader Titles

 

 

Middle Grade (some are higher level and some lower)

 

 

Young Adult

 

 

Adult (with crossover appeal)

 

 

Graphic Novels

 

 

Your Favorite Female-Driven Young Adult Novels

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Back in November, I asked readers to share what their favorite female-driven YA novels were. Because the response was tremendous (hundreds and hundreds!!) it took me a while to round them up into a useful post. But now it’s here!

These span all genres and formats, and they’re written by a wide array of voices and talents. Some are new books, and some of them are deep into backlist territory. Because of the huge number of responses, I know I missed some, and I’m aware there are books that are parts of a series — consider those representative of the entire series.

There were some great adult titles offered, but I didn’t include those in this round-up, for the sake of space and time. I wanted to keep this scope more narrow. There’s no rhyme or reason to the order these are in, either: what began as a good intention to put them in alphabetical order became surprisingly overwhelming with the number of titles.

All descriptions, as always, come from WorldCat. And I would absolutely welcome more of your favorite female-driven YA in the comments. I’m not looking at gender of author; this is strictly awesome YA books driven by a female narrator.

In other words, Strong Female Characters. Girls’ Stories.

 

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The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley: Aerin, with the guidance of the wizard Luthe and the help of the Blue Sword, wins the birthright due her as the daughter of the Damarian king and a witchwoman of the mysterious, demon-haunted North.

17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma: Seventeen-year-old Lauren has visions of girls her own age who are gone without a trace, but while she tries to understand why they are speaking to her and whether she is next, Lauren has a brush with death and a shocking truth emerges, changing everything.

A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller: In 1909 London, as the world of debutante balls and high society obligations closes in around her, seventeen-year-old Victoria must figure out just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dream of becoming an artist.

A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L;Engle: During the summer her grandfather is dying of leukemia and death seems all around, 15-year-old Vicky finds comfort with the pod of dolphins with which she has been doing research.

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray: When eighteen-year-old Marguerite Caine’s father is killed, she must leap into different dimensions and versions of herself to catch her father’s killer and avenge his murder.

 

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Enclave by Ann Aguirre: In a post-apocalyptic future, fifteen-year-old Deuce, a loyal Huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the Freaks outside her enclave, but when she is partnered with the mysterious outsider, Fade, she begins to see that the strict ways of the elders may be wrong–and dangerous.

Better Than Running at Night by Hillary Frank: A freshman art student from Manhattan spends her first year away from home in New England.

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian: Three teenaged girls living on Jar Island band together to enact revenge on the people that have hurt them

Chantress Alchemy by Amy Butler Greenfield: Lucy, , a chantress who works magic by singing, is called to court to find a lost instrument of Alchemy. But her magic isn’t working properly.

Copper Sun by Sharon Draper: Two fifteen-year-old girls–one a slave and the other an indentured servant–escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.

Deerskin by Robin McKinley: A princess trapped in a terrifying nightmare. A king beloved by his people–and feared by his own daughter.

 

 

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Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour: While working as a film production designer in Los Angeles, Emi finds a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend which leads Emi to Ava who is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon: My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla. But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black — black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his haircompletely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn: After being expelled from a fancy boarding school, Cyd Charisse’s problems with her mother escalate after Cyd falls in love with a sensitive surfer and is subsequently sent from San Francisco to New York City to spend time with her biological father.

Heist Society by Ally Carter: A group of teenagers uses their combined talents to re-steal several priceless paintings and save fifteen-year-old Kat Bishop’s father, himself an international art thief, from a vengeful collector.

Hit by Delilah Dawson: Near future thriller about a teen forced to become an indentured assassin who has only five days to complete her hit list–with the added complication of her sole ally’s brother being the final assignment.

I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios: Skylar Evans, seventeen, yearns to escape Creek View by attending art school, but after her mother’s job loss puts her dream at risk, a rekindled friendship with Josh, who joined the Marines to get away then lost a leg in Afghanistan, and her job at the Paradise motel lead her to appreciate her home town.

 

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Kissing Ted Callahan (And Other Guys) by Amy Spalding: Sixteen-year-olds Riley and Reid make a pact to pursue their respective crushes and document the experiences in a shared notebook they call “The Passenger Manifest.”

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: Inan alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Mosquitoland by David Arnold: When she learns that her mother is sick in Ohio, Mim confronts her demons on a thousand-mile odyssey from Mississippi that redefines her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: Seventeen-year-old Cassie, who has a natural ability to read people, joins an elite group of criminal profilers at the FBI in order to help solve cold cases.

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen: Rerra, a sensitive, artistic high school senior born with a facial port-wine stain, struggles with issues of inner and outer beauty with the help of her Goth classmate Jacob.

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz: Auditioning for a New York City performing arts high school could help Etta escape from her Nebraska all-girl school, where she is not gay enough for her former friends, not sick enough for her eating disorders group, and not thin enough for ballet, but it may also mean real friendships.

 

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Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill: In a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, women are bred in schools, trained in the arts of pleasing men until they are ready for the outside world. At graduation, the most highly rated girls become “companions,” permitted to live with their husbands and breed sons until they are no longer useful. For the girls left behind, the future — as a concubine or a teacher — is grim. Best friends Freida and Isabel are sure they’ll be chosen as companions — they are among the most highly rated girls in their year. But as the intensity of final year takes hold, Isabel does the unthinkable and starts to put on weight. And then, into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride. Freida must fight for her future — even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by AS King: When her best friend, whom she secretly loves, betrays her and then dies under mysterious circumstances, high school senior Vera Dietz struggles with secrets that could help clear his name.

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta: Sixteen-year-old Francesca could use her outspoken mother’s help with the problems of being one of a handful of girls at a parochial school that has just turned co-ed, but her mother has suddenly become severely depressed.

Sister Mischief by Laura Goode: Esme Rockett, also known as MC Ferocious, rocks her suburban Minnesota Christian high school with more than the hip-hop music she makes with best friends Marcy (DJ SheStorm) and Tess (The ConTessa) when she develops feelings for her co-MC, Rowie (MC Rohini).

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch: Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. The Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape–and who have been searching for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild their kingdom ever since. Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee. Training to be a warrior–and desperately in love with her best friend, Winter’s future king–she would do anything to help Winter rise to power again. So when scouts discover the location of half of the ancient locket that can restore their magic, Meira decides to go after it herself–only to find herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics … and to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent: When Kaylee Cavanaugh finds herself with an ability to know when people near her are about to die, she turns to hot senior Nash for help, and together they investigate when several of their classmates die for no apparent reason.

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Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli: In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.

Starglass by Phoebe North: For all of her sixteen years, Terra has lived on a city within a spaceship that left Earth five hundred years ago seeking refuge, but as they finally approach the chosen planet, she is drawn into a secret rebellion that could change the fate of her people.

Such A Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess: Haunted by flashbacks, fifteen-year-old Meredith learns that three years in prison has not changed the abusive father who molested her.

The Archived by Victoria Schwab: When an otherworldly library called the Archive is compromised from within, sixteen-year-old Mackenzie Bishop must prevent violent, ghost-like Histories from escaping into our world.

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson: The friendship of three high school girls and their relationships with their friends and families are tested when two of them fall in love with each other.

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley: Harry, bored with her sheltered life in the remote orange-growing colony of Daria, discovers magic in herself when she is kidnapped by a native king with mysterious powers.

 

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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black: When seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up following a party in the aftermath of a violent vampire attack, she travels to Coldtown, a quarantined Massachusetts city full of vampires, with her ex-boyfriend and a mysterious vampire boy in tow.

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich: Told through journal entries, a psychotherapist’s notes, court records, and more, relates the tale of Carly, a teen who was institutionalized after her parents’ death but released to Elmbrige High School, where she is believed to have a second personality or soul named Kaitlyn, and/or be possessed by a demon.

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler: Feeling like she does not fit in with the other members of her family, who are all thin, brilliant, and good-looking, fifteen-year-old Virginia tries to deal with her self-image, her first physical relationship, and her disillusionment with some of the people closest to her.

The F-It List by Julie Halpern: When Becca does something nearly unforgivable at Alex’s dad’s funeral, Alex cuts ties with her and focuses on her grieving family. Time passes, and Alex learns Becca has cancer. It also turns out Becca has a bucket list, one she doesn’t know she’ll be able to finish now. That’s where Alex comes in, along with a mysterious and guarded boy who just may help Alex check a few items off her own bucket list.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson: A fearful sixteen-year-old princess discovers her heroic destiny after being married off to the king of a neighboring country in turmoil and pursued by enemies seething with dark magic.

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan: Kami Glass is in love with someone she’s never met–a boy she’s talked to in her head since she was born. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she has learned ways to turn that to her advantage. Her life seems to be in order, until disturbing events begin to occur. There has been screaming in the woods and the manor overlooking the town has lit up for the first time in 10 years. The Lynburn family, who ruled the town a generation ago and who all left without warning, have returned. Now Kami can see that the town she has known and loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets–and a murderer. The key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy she thought was imaginary is real, and definitely and deliciously dangerous. 

 

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The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney: When Alex, a junior at an elite preparatory school, realizes that she may have been the victim of date rape, she confides in her roommates and sister who convince her to seek help from a secret society, the Mockingbirds.

The President’s Daughter by Ellen Emerson White: Sixteen-year-old Meghan Powers’ happy life in Massachusetts changes drastically when her mother, one of the most prestigious senators in the country, becomes the front-runner in the race for United States President.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes: A handless teen escapes from a cult, only to find herself in juvenile detention and suspected of knowing who murdered her cult leader.

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen: The summer following her father’s death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.

Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix: In 1927, at the urging of twenty-one-year-old Harriet, Mrs. Livingston reluctantly recalls her experiences at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, including miserable working conditions that led to a strike, then the fire that took the lives of her two best friends, when Harriet, the boss’s daughter, was only five years old. Includes historical notes.

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver: Two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident, a missing nine-year-old girl, and the shocking connection between them.

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Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden: Liza puts aside her feelings for Annie after the disaster at school, but eventually she allows love to triumph over the ignorance of people.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume: Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, a twelve-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver: After she dies in a car crash, teenaged Samantha relives the day of her death over and over again until, on the seventh day, she finally discovers a way to save herself.

Chime by Franny Billingsley: In the early twentieth century in Swampsea, seventeen-year-old Briony, who can see the spirits that haunt the marshes around their town, feels responsible for her twin sister’s horrible injury until a young man enters their lives and exposes secrets that even Briony does not know about.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: Seventeen-year-old Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters–the chimaerae who form the only family she has ever known.

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero: Sixteen-year-old Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy’s pregnancy, friend Sebastian’s coming out, her father’s meth habit, her own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

 

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I Was a Teenage Fairy by Francesca Lia Block: A feisty, sexy fairy helps a young girl heal traumas of her past.

Ms, Marvel by Wilson and Alphona: Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City — until she’s suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! When Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them, as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to bear? Kamala has no idea, either. But she’s comin’ for you, New York!

My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr: A thoughtful approach to the many confusing signals that accompany awakening sexuality.

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins: Northern Nevada teenagers Cara, Kendra, Sean, and Andre, tell in their own voices of their very different paths toward perfection and how their goals change when tragedy strikes.

Rival by Sara Bennett-Wealer: Two high school rivals compete in a prestigious singing competition while reflecting on the events that turned them from close friends to enemies the year before.

Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer: Three sophomore best friends use their brains–and their wits–to find happiness in high school.

 

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Stitching Snow by RC Lewis: Auturistic retelling of Snow White in which seventeen-year-old Essie, a master at repairing robots and drones on the frozen mining planet Thanda, is pulled into a war by handsome and mysterious Dane after his shuttle crash-lands near her home.

The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor: Eleven-year-old, motherless Alice decides she needs a gorgeous role model who does everything right; and when placed in homely Mrs. Plotkins’s class she is greatly disappointed until she discovers it is what people are inside that counts.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth: In the early 1990s, when gay teenager Cameron Post rebels against her conservative Montana ranch town and her family decides she needs to change her ways, she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center.

The Rose Society by Marie Lu: Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her. But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness?

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma: Orianna and Violet are ballet dancers and best friends, but when the ballerinas who have been harassing Violet are murdered, Orianna is accused of the crime and sent to a juvenile detention center where she meets Amber and they experience supernatural events linking the girls together.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh: In this reimagining of The Arabian Nights, Shahrzad plans to avenge the death of her dearest friend by volunteering to marry the murderous boy-king of Khorasan but discovers not all is as it seems within the palace.

 

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Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead: Two years after a horrible incident made them run away, vampire princess Lissa and her guardian-in-training Rose are found and returned to St. Vladimir’s Academy, where one focuses on mastering magic, the other on physical training, while both try to avoid the perils of gossip, cliques, gruesome pranks, and sinister plots.

The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman: In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray: After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world.

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis: Boston, 1890. Grace Mae knows madness. She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum. When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

Abarat by Clive Barker: Candy Quackenbush of Chickentown, Minnesota, one day finds herself on the edge of a foreign world that is populated by strange creatures, and her life is forever changed.

All the Rage by Courtney Summers: After being assaulted by the sheriff’s son, Kellan Turner, Romy Grey was branded a liar and bullied by former friends, finding refuge only in the diner where she works outside of town, but when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing and news of him assulting another girl gets out, Romy must decide whether to speak out again or risk having more girls hurt.

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Ana of California by Andi Teran: A modern take on the classic coming-of-age novel, inspired by Anne of Green Gables In the grand tradition of Anne of Green Gables, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and The Three Weissmanns of Westport, Andi Teran’s captivating debut novel offers a contemporary twist on a beloved classic. Fifteen-year-old orphan Ana Cortez has just blown her last chance with a foster family. It’s a group home next-unless she agrees to leave East Los Angeles for a farm trainee program in Northern California. When she first arrives, Ana can’t tell a tomato plant from a blackberry bush, and Emmett Garber is skeptical that this slight city girl can be any help on his farm. His sister Abbie, however, thinks Ana might be just what they need. Ana comes to love Garber Farm, and even Emmett has to admit that her hard work is an asset. But when she inadvertently stirs up trouble in town, Ana is afraid she might have ruined her last chance at finding a place to belong. 

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater who is just starting to return her affection. So she’s less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French and feeling like an outcast, Anna meets some interesting new people and begins to be charmed by Paris, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend, even if she might want more. Unfortunately he’s taken — and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she’s been waiting for?

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery: Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.

Ash by Malinda Lo: In this variation on the Cinderella story, Ash grows up believing in the fairy realm that the king and his philosophers have sought to suppress, until one day she must choose between a handsome fairy cursed to love her and the King’s Huntress whom she loves.

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway: While trying to score a date with her cute co-worker at the Scooper Dooper, sixteen-year-old Audrey gains unwanted fame and celebrity status when her ex-boyfriend, a rock musician, records a breakup song about her that soars to the top of the Billboard charts.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray: When a plane crash strands thirteen teen beauty contestants on a mysterious island, they struggle to survive, to get along with one another, to combat the island’s other diabolical occupants, and to learn their dance numbers in case they are rescued in time for the competition.

 

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Cinder by Marissa Meyer: As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman: Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers: High school senior Parker Fadley has quit the cheerleading squad, broken up with her popular boyfriend, and is in danger of not graduating with her class, but she refuses to tell anyone what has precipitated this sudden change in her attitude and behavior, insisting that she only wants to be left alone.

Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede: Bored with traditional palace life, a princess goes off to live with a group of dragons and soon becomes involved with fighting against some disreputable wizards who want to steal away the dragons’ kingdom.

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy: Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin'” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked… until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant — along with several other unlikely candidates — to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City — and maybe herself most of all.

 

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Far From You by Tess Sharpe: Sophie Winters nearly died, twice. The first time, she’s fourteen, and escapes a near-fatal car accident with scars, a bum leg, and an addiction to Oxy that’ll take years to kick. The second time, she’s seventeen, and it’s no accident. Sophie and her best friend Mina are confronted by a masked man in the woods. Sophie survives, but Mina is not so lucky. When the cops deem Mina’s murder a drug deal gone wrong, casting partial blame on Sophie, no one will believe the truth: Sophie has been clean for months, and it was Mina who led her into the woods that night for a meeting shrouded in mystery. After a forced stint in rehab, Sophie returns home to a chilly new reality. Mina’s brother won’t speak to her, her parents fear she’ll relapse, old friends have become enemies, and Sophie has to learn how to live without her other half. To make matters worse, no one is looking in the right places and Sophie must search for Mina’s murderer on her own. But with every step, Sophie comes closer to revealing all: about herself, about Mina and about the secret they shared.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry: Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols: Forced to spend spring break in a Birmingham, Alabama, suburb riding along with an attractive rookie police officer on the night shift, rebellious seventeen-year-old Meg finds herself falling unexpectedly in love.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore: In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest: Best friends Libby Deaton and May Harper invented Princess X when they were in fifth grade, but when the car Libby is in goes off a bridge, she is presumed dead, and the story came to an end–except now, three years later, Princess X is suddenly everywhere, with a whole underground culture focused on a webcomic, and May believes her friend must be alive.

I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter: As a sophomore at a secret spy school and the daughter of a former CIA operative, Cammie is sheltered from “normal teenage life” until she meets a local boy while on a class surveillance mission.

 

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If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (May): Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret. She’s determined not to get too close to anyone. But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him in. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself–including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won’t be able to see past it. Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It’s that she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life–and her new love?

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma: Two years after sixteen-year-old Chloe discovered classmate London’s dead body floating in a Hudson Valley reservoir, she returns home to be with her devoted older sister Ruby, a town favorite, and finds that London is alive and well, and that Ruby may somehow have brought her back to life and persuaded everyone that nothing is amiss.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta: Abandoned by her drug-addicted mother at the age of eleven, high school student Taylor Markham struggles with her identity and family history at a boarding school in Australia.

Just One Day by Gayle Forman: Sparks fly when American good girl Allyson encounters laid-back Dutch actor Willem, so she follows him on a whirlwind trip to Paris, upending her life in just one day and prompting a year of self-discovery and the search for true love.

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent: When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger’s Menagerie, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah in her black swan burlesque costume “performs” in town after town. Despite the breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival and despite the kindness of the cryptic handler Gallagher, she and her fellow menagerie of mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies struggle for their freedom.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson: Rory, of Bénouville, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual investigation.

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Nothing But the Truth…and a Few White Lies by Justina Chen: Fifteen-year-old Patty Ho, half Taiwanese and half white, feels she never fits in, but when her overly-strict mother ships her off to math camp at Stanford, instead being miserable, Patty starts to become comfortable with her true self.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit. Marjane’s child’s-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a stunning reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, through laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas: Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire — for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past. She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight. She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen: On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon–from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic–to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Rebecca’s War by Ann Finlayson: Left in charge of her brother and sister in occupied Philadelphia in 1777, fourteen-year-old Rebecca’s life is complicated further when two British soldiers are billeted in her house.

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen: Peyton, Sydney’s charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion’s share of their parents’ attention and — lately — concern. When Peyton’s increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she theonly one concerned about the victim of the accident? Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.

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Salvage by Alexandra Duncan: Ava, a teenage girl living aboard the male-dominated, conservative deep space merchant ship Parastrata, faces betrayal, banishment, and death. Taking her fate into her own hands, she flees to the Gyre, a floating continent of garbage and scrap in the Pacific Ocean. How will she build a future on an Earth ravaged by climate change?

All Our Pretty Songs by Sarah McCarry: In the Pacific Northwest, the bond between two best friends is challenged when a mysterious and gifted musician comes between them and awakens an ancient evil.

See No Color by Shannon Gibney: Alex has always identified herself as a baseball player, the daughter of a winning coach, but when she realizes that is not enough she begins to come to terms with her adoption and her race.

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older: When the murals painted on the walls of her Brooklyn neighborhood start to change and fade in front of her, Sierra Santiago realizes that something strange is going on. Then she discovers that her Puerto Rican family are shadowshapers, and she finds herself in a battle with an evil anthropologist for the lives of her family and friends.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi: Ostracized or incarcerated her whole life, seventeen-year-old Juliette is freed on the condition that she use her horrific abilities in support of The Reestablishment, a postapocalyptic dictatorship, but Adam, the only person ever to show her affection, offers hope of a better future.

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty: When her best friend moves away, sixteen-year-old Jessica is devastated and finds it difficult to deal with the girls at school, her obsessive parents, and her lack of a love life.

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Sorta Like A Rock Star by Matthew Quick: Although seventeen-year-old Amber Appleton is homeless, living in a school bus with her unfit mother, she is a relentless optimist who visits the elderly at a nursing home, teaches English to Korean Catholic women with the use of rhythm and blues music, and befriends a solitary Vietnam veteran and his dog, but eventually she experiences one burden more than she can bear and slips into a deep depression.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson: Atraumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda’s freshman year in high school.

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan: High school junior Leila’s Persian heritage already makes her different from her classmates at Armstead Academy, and if word got out that she liked girls life would be twice as hard, but when a new girl, Saskia, shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual, so she struggles to sort out her growing feelings by confiding in her old friends.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart: Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all-male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale: On her way to marry a prince she’s never met, Princess Anidori is betrayed by her guards and her lady-in-waiting and must become a goose girl to survive until she can reveal her true identity and reclaim the crown that is rightfully hers.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss’s skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister’s place.

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The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot: Fourteen-year-old Mia, who is trying to lead a normal life as a teenage girl in New York City, is shocked to learn that her father is the Prince of Genovia, a small European principality, and that she is a princess and the heir to the throne.

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart: A Seattle fifteen-year-old explains some of the reasons for her recent panic attacks, including breaking up with her boyfriend, losing all her girlfriends, tensions between her performance-artist mother and her father, and more.

The Selection by Kiara Cass: For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks. Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself — and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce: Alanna of Trebond dreams of being a knight while her father insists that she enter a convent. She trades places with her brother, who is to be trained as a knight and wants to become a sorceror instead. Her experiences along the path to knighthood involve many hard lessons as well as dangerous adventures.

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler: After a boating accident takes her beautiful singing and speaking voice from her, Elyse d’Abreau, the youngest of six sisters, leaves her home in Tobago to stay in an Oregon seaside town where Christian Kane, a notorious playboy, challenges her to express herself and to overcome her fear of the sea.

Tiffany Aching by Terry Pratchett: The Wee Free Men: Armed with only a frying pan and her common sense, young witch-to-be Tiffany Aching must defend her home against the monsters of Fairyland. Luckily she has some very unusual help: the local Nac Mac Feegle’aka the Wee Free Men’a clan of fierce, sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, six-inch-high blue men. Together they must face headless horsemen, ferocious grimhounds, terrifying dreams come true, and ultimately the sinister Queen of the Elves herself. . . . A Hat Full of Sky: Tiffany Aching is ready to begin her apprenticeship in magic. She expects spells and magic’not chores and ill-tempered nanny goats! Surely there must be more to witchcraft than this! What Tiffany doesn’t know is that an insidious, disembodied creature is pursuing her. In the end, it will take all of Tiffany’s inner strength to save herself … if it can be done at all. Wintersmith: When the Spirit of Winter takes a fancy to Tiffany Aching, he wants her to stay in his gleaming, frozen world. Forever. It will take the young witch’s skill and cunning, as well as help from the legendary Granny Weatherwax and the irrepressible Wee Free Men, to survive until Spring. Because if Tiffany doesn’t make it to Spring’Spring won’t come. I Shall Wear Midnight: As the witch of the Chalk, Tiffany Aching performs the distinctly unglamorous work of caring for the needy. But someone’or something’is inciting fear, generating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Tiffany must find the source of unrest and defeat the evil at its root. Aided by the tiny-but-tough Wee Free Men, Tiffany faces a dire challenge, for if she falls, the whole Chalk falls with her. 

 

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The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty: Three female students from Ashbury High write to three male students from rival Brookfield High as part of a pen pal program, leading to romance, humiliation, revenge plots, and war between the schools.

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen: Raised by a mother who has had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships until she meets Dexter, a rock band musician.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales: Nearly a year after a failed suicide attempt, sixteen-year-old Elise discovers that she has the passion, and the talent, to be a disc jockey.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas: After she has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, Crown Prince Dorian offers eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien her freedom on the condition that she act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume: Resettled in the “Bomb City” with her mother and brother, Davey Wexler recovers from the shock of her father’s death during a holdup of his 7-Eleven store in Atlantic City.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han: Lara Jean writes love letters to all the boys she has loved and then hides them in a hatbox until one day those letters are accidentally sent.

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The Devil You Know by Trish Doller: Exhausted and rebellious after three years of working for her father and mothering her brother, eighteen-year-old Arcadia “Cadie” Wells joins two cousins who are camping their way through Florida, soon learning that one is a murderer.

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee: In 1845, Sammy, a Chinese American girl, and Annamae, an African American slave girl, disguise themselves as boys and travel on the Oregon Trail to California from Missouri.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik: Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows–everyone knows–that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Vivian Apple At The End of the World by Katie Coyle: Sixteen-year-old Vivian Apple returns home after the alleged ‘Rapture’ to find her devout parents gone and two mysterious holes in the roof. Vivian never believed in the Rapture, or the uber powerful Church of America. Now that she has been left behind, Vivan’s quest for the truth begins.

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman: When her father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, eighteen-year-old Kate Thompson disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers–and justice.

Where The Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller: Abducted at age five, Callie, now seventeen, has spent her life on the run but when her mother is finally arrested and she is returned to her father in small-town Florida, Callie must find a way to leave her past behind, become part of a family again, and learn that love is more than just a possibility.

 

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Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman: Sixteen-year-old Min Green writes a letter to Ed Slaterton in which she breaks up with him, documenting their relationship and how items in the accompanying box, from bottle caps to a cookbook, foretell the end.

Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith: The discovery of a startling family secret leads seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd from a protected and naive life into a summer of mental illness, first love, and profound self-discovery

Black Girls Matter: A YA Reading List

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I have thought a lot recently about black girls.

Earlier this year, a piece on NPR highlighted how black girls are pushed out of schools at higher rates than their white counterparts. Discipline toward black girls is harsher and handed out in ways that aren’t equitable to white girls. We have seen this front and center, too, thanks to the horrific and heart-shattering video of a school police officer assaulting a black girl in school. We saw it front and center this summer as a police officer in McKinney, Texas, manhandled a black teen girl.

There’s no excuse at all for any of these situations. Black lives matter, and that mattering extends to those teen black girls who deserve to be listened to, acknowledged, boosted, and treated as human beings with immense potential, perspective, and possibility ahead of them.

Because they absolutely, positively do.

I’m not sure I can say much more except that when I start feeling powerless, creating a resource list feels like a small step toward not only acknowledging the issue, but it feels like something that could, I hope, get a book into the hands of a person who desperately needs it. In this case, I hope a teacher or librarian or reader finds one of these books featuring great black female leads and understands that their story — their life — matters hugely.

All descriptions are from WorldCat, and I’m absolutely eager to hear more titles. All are YA books featuring black girls front and center and they include fiction and some non-fiction. A couple of these titles also fall into that crossover category, so while they may technically be “adult” reads, they have great appeal to teens. Several of these authors have written more than one title featuring a black girl at the center, so it’s worth checking their other titles, too. Many of these are also on-going series titles. I’ve limited to one per author.

 

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brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson: Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson: When their owner dies at the start of the Revolution, Isabel and her younger sister are sold to Loyalists in New York, where Isabel is offered the chance to spy for the Patriots.

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose: Based on extensive interviews with Claudette Colvin and many others, Phillip Hoose presents the first in-depth account of an important yet largely unknown civil rights figure, skillfully weaving her dramatic story into the fabric of the historic Montgomery bus boycott and court case that would change the course of American history.

Disgruntled by Asali Solomon: Kenya Curtis is only eight years old, but she knows that she’s different, even if she can’t put her finger on how or why. It’s not because she’s Black–most of the other students in the fourth-grade class at her West Philadelphia elementary school are too. Maybe it’s because she celebrates Kwanzaa, or because she’s forbidden from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Maybe it’s because she calls her father–a housepainter-slash-philosopher–“Baba” instead of “Daddy,” or because her parents’ friends gather to pour out libations “from the Creator, for the Martyrs” and discuss “the community.” Kenya does know that it’s connected to what her Baba calls “the shame of being alive”–a shame that only grows deeper and more complex over the course of Asali Solomon’s long-awaited debut novel. Disgruntled, effortlessly funny and achingly poignant, follows Kenya from West Philadelphia to the suburbs, from public school to private, from childhood through adolescence, as she grows increasingly disgruntled by her inability to find any place or thing or person that feels like home. A coming-of-age tale, a portrait of Philadelphia in the late eighties and early nineties, an examination of the impossible double-binds of race, Disgruntled is a novel about the desire to rise above the limitations of the narratives we’re given and the painful struggle to craft fresh ones we can call our own

Don’t Fail Me Now by Una LaMarche: Interracial half-siblings come together for the first time and embark on a cross-country road trip to confront their absentee father before he dies.

Nothing But Drama by ReShonda Tate Billingsley: Four teenaged girls from different backgrounds find faith and friendship after joining Good Girlz, an afterschool church youth group.

 

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Endangered by Lamar Giles: When Lauren (Panda), a teen photoblogger, gets involved in a deadly game, she has to protect the classmates she despises.

Flygirl by Sherri L Smith: During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl “passes” for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough: Antony and Cleopatra. Helen of Troy and Paris. Romeo and Juliet. And now… Henry and Flora. For centuries Love and Death have chosen their players. They have set the rules, rolled the dice, and kept close, ready to influence, angling for supremacy. And Death has always won. Always. Could there ever be one time, one place, one pair whose love would truly tip the balance? Meet Flora Saudade, an African-American girlwho dreams of becoming the next Amelia Earhart by day and sings in the smoky jazz clubs of Seattle by night. Meet Henry Bishop, born a few blocks and a million worlds away, a white boy with his future assured — a wealthy adoptive family in the midst of the Great Depression, a college scholarship, and all the opportunities in the world seemingly available to him. The players have been chosen. The dice have been rolled. But when human beings make moves of their own, what happens next is anyone’s guess.

The Good Braider by Terry Farish: Told in spare free verse, the book follows Viola as she survives brutality in war-torn Sudan, makes a perilous journey, lives as a refugee in Egypt, and finally reaches Portland, Maine, where her quest for freedom and security is hampered by memories of past horrors and the traditions her mother and other Sudanese adults hold dear. With unforgettable images, the author’s voice sings out the story of her family’s journey, and tells the universal tale of a young immigrant’s struggle to build a life on the cusp of two cultures. Includes historical facts and a map of Sudan.

Heaven by Angela Johnson: At fourteen, Marley knows she has Momma’s hands and Pops’s love for ice cream, that her brother doesn’t get on her nerves too much, and that Uncle Jack is a big mystery. But Marley doesn’t know all she thinks she does, because she doesn’t know the truth. And when the truth comes down with the rain one stormy summer afternoon, it changes everything. It turns Momma and Pops into liars. It makes her brother a stranger and Uncle Jack an even bigger mystery. All of a sudden, Marley doesn’t know who she is anymore and can only turn to the family she no longer trusts to find out.

High School High by Shannon Freeman:  Brandi, Marissa, and Shane are excited to begin their freshman year at Port City High, but find their friendship tested by Shane’s drug addiction and Marissa’s relationship with Brandi’s ex.

 

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The Hot Girl by Dream Jordan: Kate, a fourteen-year-old Brooklyn girl and former gang member, risks losing her first good foster family when she adopts the risqué ways of her flirtatious new friend, Naleejah.

The Kayla Chronicles by Sherri Winston: At the urging of her pushy best friend, Kayla overcomes her reticence and tries out for the school dance team in order to expose their suspected discrimination, but when she unexpectedly makes the team–and even begins to enjoy performing–she finds her assumptions, and her sense of herself, challenged.

Kendra by Coe Booth: High schooler Kendra longs to live with her mother who, unprepared for motherhood at age fourteen, left Kendra in the care of her grandmother.

Love is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson: Emily Bird is an African American high school senior in Washington D.C., member of a privileged medical family, on the verge of college and the edge of the drug culture, and not really sure which way she will go–then one day she wakes up in the hospital with no memory of what happened.

Mare’s War by Tanita S Davis: Teens Octavia and Tali learn about strength, independence, and courage when they are forced to take a car trip with their grandmother, who tells about growing up Black in 1940s Alabama and serving in Europe during World War II as a member of the Women’s Army Corps.

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz: Auditioning for a New York City performing arts high school could help Etta escape from her Nebraska all-girl school, where she is not gay enough for her former friends, not sick enough for her eating disorders group, and not thin enough for ballet, but it may also mean real friendships.

 

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On The Come Up by Hannah Weyer: AnnMarie comes across a flyer advertising movie auditions in Manhattan. Four months before she’s due to give birth; she lands a lead role. For a time, AnnMarie soars, acting for the camera, flying to the Sundance Film Festival, seeing her face on-screen. But when the film fades from view and the realities of her life set in, AnnMarie’s grit and determination are the only tools left to keep her moving forward. Told with remarkable compassion and based on the real-life story of Anna Simpson.

Pinned by Sharon Flake: Adonis is smart, intellectually gifted and born without legs; Autumn is strong, a great wrestler, and barely able to read in ninth grade–but Autumn is attracted to Adonis and determined to make him a part of her life whatever he or her best friend thinks.

Pointe by Brandy Colbert: Four years after Theo’s best friend, Donovan, disappeared at age thirteen, he is found and brought home and Theo puts her health at risk as she decides whether to tell the truth about the abductor, knowing her revelation could end her life-long dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer.

Camo Girl by Kekla Magoon: Ella, a biracial girl with a patchy and uneven skin tone, and her friend Z, a boy who is very different, have been on the bottom of the social order at Caldera Junior High School in Las Vegas, but when the only other African-American student enters their sixth grade class, Ella longs to be friends with him and join the popular group, but does not want to leave Z all alone.

See No Color by Shannon Gibney: Alex has always identified herself as a baseball player, the daughter of a winning coach, but when she realizes that is not enough she begins to come to terms with her adoption and her race.

Copper Sun by Sharon Draper: Two fifteen-year-old girls–one a slave and the other an indentured servant–escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.

 

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So Not The Drama by Paula Chase: Mina’s plans to carry her middle school popularity over into high school do not work out just as she had imagined when her best friend Lizzie gets invited to a party with the social elite, and a class project on prejudice exposes the truth about school cliques.

Something Like Hope by Shawn Goodman: Shavonne, a fierce, desperate seventeen year-old in juvenile lockup, wants to turn her life around before her eighteenth birthday, but corrupt guards, out-of-control girls, and shadows from her past make her task seem impossible.

Sound by Alexandra Duncan: Ava’s adopted sister Miyole is finally living her dream as a research assistant on her very first space voyage. But when her ship saves a rover that has been viciously attacked by looters and kidnappers, Miyole–along with a rescued rover girl named Cassia–embarks on a mission to rescue Cassia’s abducted brother, and that changes the course of Miyole’s life forever

Step To This by Nikki Carter: Gia doesn’t have the hair or the clothes, but she’s got the moves and the attitude to make her sophomore year at Longfellow High unforgettable. But not everyone agrees, so Gia decides it’s time for a makeover. With her stylish new look, she scores a date with hottie football player, Romeo, snags a spot on the Hi-Steppers dance squad, and makes a ton of new friends.

Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince: The memoir of Michaela DePrince, who lived the first few years of her live in war-torn Sierra Leone until being adopted by an American family. Now seventeen, she is one of the premiere ballerinas in the United States.

Tankborn by Karen Sandler: Kayla and Mishalla, two genetically engineered non-human slaves (GENs), fall in love with higher-status boys, discover deep secrets about the creation of GENs, and find out what it means to be human.

 

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This Side of Home by Renée Watson: Twins Nikki and Maya Younger always agreed on most things, but as they head into their senior year they react differently to the gentrification of their Portland, Oregon, neighborhood and the new–white–family that moves in after their best friend and her mother are evicted.

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton: Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance — but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette’s desire to escape the shadow of her ballet star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever. When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.

Maya’s Choice by Earl Sewell: Maya’s summer is shaping up to be unforgettable– in both good and bad ways. First she’s sent to stay with her grandmother for a month. Living in the city, Maya is too far from her friend Keysha and her boyfriend, Misalo– and too near her rebellious cousin Viviana. When Maya finally comes home, her parents drop a bombshell– Viviana is moving in with them. Her cousin has barely unpacked before she’s creating chaos. Truth is, Maya kind of likes the way life is a whole lot less predictable with Viviana around. But her motives are up for debate– especially when it comes to Misalo. And as Maya’s little sister, Anna, grows more fascinated with her cool older cousin, Maya begins to see that following where Viviana leads has its price. And it could cost Maya her reputation, her relationship– and maybe even her future. 

 

When The Black Girl Sings by Bil Wright: Adopted by white parents and sent to an exclusive Connecticut girls’ school where she is the only black student, fourteen-year-old Lahni Schuler feels like an outcast, particularly when her parents separate, but after attending a local church where she hears gospel music for the first time, she finds her voice.