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Joan of Arc, Rap Music, and Embarrassing Costumes: Microtrends in 2019 YA Books

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Microtrends: the little commonalities among two, three, sometimes a few more, books that don’t necessarily make a trend but that stand out for being an interesting coincidence in time. Pulling together microtrends in YA is one of my favorite things. Because I read so much catalog copy and read so many reviews — it is my literal job to stay on top of these things, and I can’t read everything — I see a lot of interesting things that make me go “huh,” even if they aren’t full-scale trends.

It’s about this time of the year when those microtrends become clearer. 2019 isn’t half-way over, but nearly every book hitting shelves this year has been included in a publisher’s catalog, and most of them have their covers available. I always love when I’m looking up one thing and happen upon something else entirely and realize it’s something I’ve seen recently in another book.

This isn’t a comprehensive look at trends nor at microtrends, and it’s entirely possible that I’m missing books in each of these categories that would fit. I’d love to hear about those missing titles and/or any microtrends you’ve noticed this year. I’m not including things like vampires, because I’ve already dug into how vampires are back in YA for 2019 and 2020 (especially 2020!).

Explanations of the microtrend are all mine, and descriptions from Goodreads.

Check out these little trends showing up in YA fiction in 2019. book lists | YA books | YA Lit | trends in YA

Girls in Denim Jackets

I’m not even a big fan of the 90s or its fashion, but this particular cover trend has got me feeling all kinds of excitement this year. I love it deeply.

 

The Babysitters Coven by Katie Williams (September 17)

Seventeen-year-old Esme Pearl has a babysitters club. She knows it’s kinda lame, but what else is she supposed to do? Get a job? Gross. Besides, Esme likes babysitting, and she’s good at it.

And lately Esme needs all the cash she can get, because it seems like destruction follows her wherever she goes. Let’s just say she owes some people a new tree.

Enter Cassandra Heaven. She’s Instagram-model hot, dresses like she found her clothes in a dumpster, and has a rebellious streak as gnarly as the cafeteria food. So why is Cassandra willing to do anything, even take on a potty-training two-year-old, to join Esme’s babysitters club?

The answer lies in a mysterious note Cassandra’s mother left her: “Find the babysitters. Love, Mom.”

Turns out, Esme and Cassandra have more in common than they think, and they’re about to discover what being a babysitter really means: a heroic lineage of superpowers, magic rituals, and saving the innocent from seriously terrifying evil. And all before the parents get home.

 

Rebel Girls by Elizabeth Keenan (September 10)

It’s 1992, and there’s a rumor spreading in Baton Rouge…

When it comes to being social, Athena Graves is far more comfortable creating a mixtape playlist than she is talking to cute boys—or anyone, for that matter. Plus her staunchly feminist views and love of punk rock aren’t exactly mainstream at St. Ann’s, her conservative Catholic high school.

Then a malicious rumor starts spreading through the halls…a rumor that her popular, pretty, pro-life sister had an abortion over the summer. A rumor that has the power to not only hurt Helen, but possibly see her expelled.

Despite their wildly contrasting views, Athena, Helen and their friends must find a way to convince the student body and the administration that it doesn’t matter what Helen did or didn’t do…even if their riot grrrl protests result in the expulsion of their entire rebel girl gang.

 

The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert (August 20)

Dove “Birdie” Randolph works hard to be the perfect daughter and follow the path her parents have laid out for her: She quit playing her beloved soccer, she keeps her nose buried in textbooks, and she’s on track to finish high school at the top of her class. But then Birdie falls hard for Booker, a sweet boy with a troubled past…whom she knows her parents will never approve of.

When her estranged aunt Carlene returns to Chicago and moves into the family’s apartment above their hair salon, Birdie notices the tension building at home. Carlene is sweet, friendly, and open-minded–she’s also spent decades in and out of treatment facilities for addiction. As Birdie becomes closer to both Booker and Carlene, she yearns to spread her wings. But when long-buried secrets rise to the surface, everything she’s known to be true is turned upside down.

 

 

Joan of Arc, Retold

There are two YA Joan of Arc stories this year. Both are historical fiction, and both are written in verse. I can’t entirely put my finger on why, since the 600th anniversary of her birth was in 2012. I’m not disliking it though, as she’s a fascinating person of history, and more, I love the fact both of these books get creative in format.

 

Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc by David Elliott (Available Now)

Told through medieval poetic forms and in the voices of the people and objects in Joan of Arc’s life, (including her family and even the trees, clothes, cows, and candles of her childhood). Along the way it explores issues such as gender, misogyny, and the peril of speaking truth to power. Before Joan of Arc became a saint, she was a girl inspired. It is that girl we come to know in Voices.

 

The Language of Fire: Joan of Arc Reimagined by Stephanie Hemphill (June 11)

This extraordinary verse novel from award-winning author Stephanie Hemphill dares to imagine how an ordinary girl became a great leader, and ultimately saved a nation.

Jehanne was an illiterate peasant, never quite at home among her siblings and peers. Until one day, she hears a voice call to her, telling her she is destined for important things. She begins to understand that she has been called by God, chosen for a higher purpose—to save France.

Through sheer determination and incredible courage, Jehanne becomes the unlikeliest of heroes. She runs away from home, dresses in men’s clothes, and convinces an army that she will lead France to victory.

As a girl in a man’s world, at a time when women truly had no power, Jehanne faced constant threats and violence from the men around her. Despite the impossible odds, Jehanne became a fearless warrior who has inspired generations.

 

The White Rose Resistance

I had no idea what the White Rose student resistance was until I read Russell Freedman’s wonderful We Will Not Be Silenced a few years back. For those who aren’t familiar, this is a group of students who, during World War II, formed an active resistance campaign to Hitler and the Nazi movement after having been raised as Hitler Youth. They risked imprisonment and execution, of course, but decided to spread the word to the Germans about why they needed to defy the government.

It’s really not entirely surprising we have two YA books that actively discuss the White Rose students this year. It’s an all-too-fitting comparison to the resistance we’re seeing in America today, especially from young people. One of the titles is very obviously about the White Rose resistance; the other one invokes the resistance throughout, as it’s held up as a vanguard for how to resist in the face of government power.

 

 

Internment by Samira Ahmed (Available Now)

Rebellions are built on hope.

Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp’s Director and his guards.

Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.

 

White Rose by Kip Wilson (Available Now)

A gorgeous and timely novel based on the incredible story of Sophie Scholl, a young German college student who challenged the Nazi regime during World War II as part of The White Rose, a non-violent resistance group.

Disillusioned by the propaganda of Nazi Germany, Sophie Scholl, her brother, and his fellow soldiers formed the White Rose, a group that wrote and distributed anonymous letters criticizing the Nazi regime and calling for action from their fellow German citizens. The following year, Sophie and her brother were arrested for treason and interrogated for information about their collaborators.

 

 

Teen Abortion Rights

If you get my biweekly newsletter “What’s Up in YA?” from Book Riot, you know I’ve highlighted this already. Abortion rights for teens are all the rage this year. I’m really pleased to see this, even if it means that the manuscript I’ve been toying with on this topic now feels like something maybe worth shelving (or it’s worth pursuing with more vigor). This particular microtrend doesn’t surprise me, given that abortion rights continue to be chipped away in the US, and given how little say teenagers have in the government, well, they’re especially hurt by this.

What I like about these abortion-themed books in YA this year, though, is that they’re from a range of time periods. We have contemporary titles, as well as more historical titles.

I’m not including YA pregnancy books here, though that’s also a nice trend going on. I’m especially appreciating how many of them include teens having and raising that baby (see Elizabeth Acevedo’s With The Fire on High and Eva Darrow’s Belly Up).

As Many Nows As I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl (August 20)

In one impulsive moment the summer before they leave for college, overachievers Scarlett and David plunge into an irresistible swirl of romance, particle physics, and questionable decisions. Told in non-linear, vivid first-person chapters, As Many Nows As I Can Get is the story of a grounded girl who’s pulled into a lightning-strike romance with an electric-charged boy, and the enormity of the aftermath. Cerebral, accessible, bold, and unconventionally romantic, this is a powerful debut about grief, guilt, and reconciling who you think you need to be with the person you’ve been all along.

 

Girls Like Us by Randi Pink (October 29)

Set in the summer of 1972, this moving YA historical novel is narrated by teen girls from different backgrounds with one thing in common: Each girl is dealing with pregnancy.
Four teenage girls. Four different stories. What they all have in common is that they’re dealing with unplanned pregnancies.

In rural Georgia, Izella is wise beyond her years, but burdened with the responsibility of her older sister, Ola, who has found out she’s pregnant. Their young neighbor, Missippi, is also pregnant, but doesn’t fully understand the extent of her predicament. When her father sends her to Chicago to give birth, she meets the final narrator, Susan, who is white and the daughter of an anti-choice senator.

Randi Pink masterfully weaves four lives into a larger story – as timely as ever – about a woman’s right to choose her future.

 

Girls On The Verse by Sharon Biggs Waller (Available Now)

A powerful, timely coming-of-age story about a young woman from Texas who goes on a road trip with two friends to get an abortion, from award-winning author Sharon Biggs Waller.

Camille couldn’t be having a better summer. But on the very night she learns she got into a prestigious theater program, she also finds out she’s pregnant. She definitely can’t tell her parents. And her best friend, Bea, doesn’t agree with the decision Camille has made.

Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone . . . and the system is very much working against her. At her most vulnerable, Camille reaches out to Annabelle Ponsonby, a girl she only barely knows from the theater. Happily, Annabelle agrees to drive her wherever she needs to go. And in a last-minute change of heart, Bea decides to come with.

Girls on the Verge is an incredibly timely novel about a woman’s right to choose. Sharon Biggs Waller brings to life a narrative that has to continue to fight for its right to be told, and honored.

 

The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me by Olivia Hinebaugh (Available Now)

Seventeen-year-old Lacey Burke is the last person on the planet who should be doling out sex advice. For starters, she’s never even kissed anyone, and she hates breaking the rules. Up until now, she’s been a straight-A music geek that no one even notices. All she cares about is jamming out with her best friends, Theo and Evita.

But then everything changes.

When Lacey sees first-hand how much damage the abstinence-only sex-ed curriculum of her school can do, she decides to take a stand and starts doling out wisdom and contraception to anyone who seeks her out in the girls’ restroom. But things with Theo become complicated quickly, and Lacey is soon not just keeping everyone else’s secrets, but hers as well.

 

Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan (September 10)

Seventeen-year-old Veronica Clarke never thought she would wish she’d failed a test until she finds herself holding a thick piece of plastic in her hands and staring at two solid pink lines. Even the most consistent use of condoms won’t prevent pregnancy when your boyfriend secretly pokes holes in them to keep you from going out-of-state for college.

Veronica needs an abortion, but the closest place she can legally get one is over nine hundred miles away—and Veronica doesn’t have a car. Too ashamed to ask her friends or family for help, Veronica turns to the one person she believes won’t judge her: Bailey Butler, Jefferson High’s own little black cloud of anger and snark—and Veronica’s ex-best friend. Once on the road, Veronica quickly remembers nothing with Bailey is ever simple and that means two days of stolen cars, shotguns, crazed ex-boyfriends, truck stop strippers with pro-life agendas, and a limo driver named Bob. But the pain and betrayal of their broken friendship can’t be outrun. When their fighting leads to a brutal moment of truth, Bailey abandons Veronica. Now Veronica must risk everything in order to repair the hurt she’s caused.

 

Costumed Teens

There’s something about a teen having to wear a giant costume for their job that is just a riot. I know of these two immediately, but I feel like I read about another one recently, too.

 

 

Chicken Girl by Heather Smith (Available Now)

Poppy used to be an optimist. But after a photo of her dressed as Rosie the Riveter is mocked online, she’s having trouble seeing the good in the world. As a result, Poppy trades her beloved vintage clothes for a feathered chicken costume and accepts a job as an anonymous sign waver outside a restaurant. There, Poppy meets six-year-old girl Miracle, who helps Poppy see beyond her own pain, opening her eyes to the people around her: Cam, her twin brother, who is adjusting to life as an openly gay teen; Buck, a charming photographer with a cute British accent and a not-so-cute mean-streak; and Lewis a teen caring for an ailing parent, while struggling to reach the final stages of his gender transition. As the summer unfolds, Poppy stops glorifying the past and starts focusing on the present. But just as she comes to terms with the fact that there is good and bad in everyone, she is tested by a deep betrayal.

Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan (April 30)

Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:

* She’s landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog.
* Her crush, the dreamy Diving Pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the Princess of the park. But Lou’s never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after.
* Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, who’s always been up for anything, suddenly isn’t when it comes to Lou’s quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou’s scheme to get close to Nick.
* And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland–ever–unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.

Jennifer Dugan’s sparkling debut coming-of-age queer romance stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator who find love–and themselves–in unexpected people and unforgettable places.

 

I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn (May 28)

Kimi Nakamura loves a good fashion statement. She’s obsessed with transforming everyday ephemera into Kimi Originals: bold outfits that make her and her friends feel brave, fabulous, and like the Ultimate versions of themselves. But her mother sees this as a distraction from working on her portfolio paintings for the prestigious fine art academy where she’s been accepted for college. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi’s estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life.

When she arrives in Japan, she loses herself in Kyoto’s outdoor markets, art installations, and cherry blossom festival–and meets Akira, a cute med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. What begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.

 

Teen Who Rap

We’ve seen this one discussed on social media and I’m hoping to give it a deeper dive in the near future. But, there are three books by three black authors who dig into teen rappers. I love this deeply, and I hope we continue to see teens who are musicians and more specifically, who feel deep connection to music that speaks to them and for their identities.

 

Let Me Hear A Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson (May 21)

Biggie Smalls was right. Things done changed. But that doesn’t mean that Quadir and Jarrell are okay letting their best friend Steph’s tracks lie forgotten in his bedroom after he’s killed—not when his beats could turn any Bed-Stuy corner into a celebration, not after years of having each other’s backs.

Enlisting the help of Steph’s younger sister, Jasmine, Quadir and Jarrell come up with a plan to promote Steph’s music under a new rap name: The Architect. Soon, everyone in Brooklyn is dancing to Steph’s voice. But then his mixtape catches the attention of a hotheaded music rep and—with just hours on the clock—the trio must race to prove Steph’s talent from beyond the grave.

Now, as the pressure—and danger—of keeping their secret grows, Quadir, Jarrell, and Jasmine are forced to confront the truth about what happened to Steph. Only each has something to hide. And with everything riding on Steph’s fame, together they need to decide what they stand for before they lose everything they’ve worked so hard to hold on to—including each other.

 

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas (Available Now)

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be; and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.

 

Spin by Lamar Giles (Available Now)

Sixteen-year-old Paris Secord’s (aka DJ ParSec) career–and life–has come to an untimely end, and the local music scene is reeling. No one is feeling the pain more than her shunned pre-fame best friend, Kya, and Paris’s chief groupie, Fuse. But suspicion trumps grief, and since each suspects the other of Paris’s murder, they’re locked in a high-stakes game of public accusations and sabotage.

Everyone in the ParSec Nation (DJ ParSec’s local media base)–including the killer–is content to watch it play out, until Kya and Fuse discover a secret: Paris was on the verge of major deal that would’ve catapulted her to superstar status on a national level, leaving her old life (and old friends) behind. With the new info comes new motives. New suspects. And a fandom that shows its deadly side. As Kya and Fuse come closer to the twisted truth, the killer’s no longer amused. But murdering Paris was simple enough, so getting rid of her nobody-friends shouldn’t be an issue…

 

Covered In Butterflies

I’ve saved this one for last because it’s such a throwback. When I began my career in libraries ten years ago, butterflies on YA book covers were such a thing. They sort of disappeared for a while, replaced with birds (which are still popular), but we’ve got a few covers bringing butterflies back this year. I love how different they are — one is sweet. One is definitely leaning toward creepy. And the third one is a riff on a design we’ve seen a few times (and one I keep getting confused with another 2019 book, Mariah MacCarthy’s Squad).

 

 

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai (September 3)

In the final days of the Việt Nam War, Hằng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms—and Hằng is left behind in the war-torn country.

Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn’t know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.

Hằng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh. But when she realizes he doesn’t remember her, their family, or Việt Nam, her heart is crushed. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hằng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap.

 

The Things She’s Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina (May 14)

Nothing’s been the same for Beth Teller since the day she died.

Her dad is drowning in grief. He’s also the only one who has been able to see and hear her since the accident. But now she’s got a mystery to solve, a mystery that will hopefully remind her detective father that he is still alive, that there is a life after Beth that is still worth living.

Who is Isobel Catching, and why is she able to see Beth, too? What is her connection to the crime Beth’s father has been sent to investigate–a gruesome fire at a home for troubled youth that left an unidentifiable body behind? What happened to the people who haven’t been seen since the fire?

As Beth and her father unravel the mystery, they find a shocking and heartbreaking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another…

 

The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren (June 25)

A novel about speaking out, standing up, and breaking free.

Miriam lives in New Jerusalem, a haven in the desert far away from the sins and depravity of the outside world. Within the gates of New Jerusalem, and under the eye of its founder and leader, Daniel, Miriam knows she is safe. Cared for. Even if she’s forced, as a girl, to quiet her tongue when she has thoughts she wants to share, Miriam knows that New Jerusalem is a far better life than any alternative. So when God calls for a Matrimony, she’s thrilled; she knows that Caleb, the boy she loves, will choose her to be his wife and they can finally start their life together.

But when the ceremony goes wrong and Miriam winds up with someone else, she can no longer keep quiet. For the first time, Miriam begins to question not only the rules that Daniel has set in place, but also what it is she believes in, and where she truly belongs.

Alongside unexpected allies, Miriam fights to learn–and challenge–the truth behind the only way of life she’s ever known, even if it means straying from the path of Righteousness.

 

I’ll have more fun microtrends in a future post — I’ve been collecting them this year!

 

Microtrends in YA: Mid-2018 Edition

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It’s been a bit since I’ve pulled together a post on microtrends in YA (you can read previous installments here, here, here, and here). Part of the reason is that there haven’t been a whole lot of these coincidences popping up on my radar. There haven’t been huge trends in the greater landscape of YA lit over the last year or so — thrillers being on the rise isn’t especially new, for example, given that it began in the wake of Gone Girl post-2013 — so sussing out even smaller “microtrends” has been tougher.

I’ve probably read more YA this year so far than I have in a long time, and it’s really interesting to see that lack of unique connections among titles. While this has been a stronger year for YA than the past couple, the books have been more different than alike; this is great for readers, though it also makes things like finding commonalities, which readers like, challenging.

That said, here’s what I have found so far this year in my own reading, both in full books and in reading a lot of book descriptions. I’d love to know if you’ve seen any microtrends in your own reading this year of this year’s books. These are not big things, but small details or situations which connect two or more books together which might otherwise not be pulled together. They’re also highly specific plot points or characteristics that haven’t popped up in abundance and stand out because of that.

Descriptions come from Goodreads.

 

Emergency Contacts

In college and through graduate school, I had a cell phone. But in college, I was so rural that it didn’t always work, and through grad school, I pretended I didn’t have text messaging so I didn’t have to deal with it (I’m still notoriously terrible with texting). That’s a story to say that this microtrend stuck out to me because it’s something that’s so today’s teen: setting a friend or love interest as your “emergency contact” in your cell phone. I’ve never seen this before in YA, and this year, I’ve seen it pop up twice — in Mary HK Choi’s so-named Emergency Contact and in Gayle Forman’s I Have Lost My Way. The emergency contact in both cases works as someone who is important enough to be reached in case of emergency, and someone who has a closeness to the main character, wherein that phone designation has a hefty weight and meaning.

I won’t be surprised if we see this pop up some more over the next few years. Teens today are not only generally tech savvy, but more, the choices and interactions they have in their digital lives have significance in a way that, say, mine never did. For readers who find the phenomenon of digital life and meaning one worth spending more time thinking about, I cannot recommend the “Why’d You Push That Button?” podcast from The Verge enough; in particular, I’d encourage listening to the episode of text message threads and unfriending (season 1 and 2 respectively).

Emergency Contact by Mary HK Choi

For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman

Around the time that Freya loses her voice while recording her debut album, Harun is making plans to run away from everyone he has ever loved, and Nathaniel is arriving in New York City with a backpack, a desperate plan, and nothing left to lose. When a fateful accident draws these three strangers together, their secrets start to unravel as they begin to understand that the way out of their own loss might just lie in help­ing the others out of theirs.

 

 

 

Girl Drummers

Teens who are into music and being in a band isn’t new. But what is new is seeing not one, but two, female drummers. These are girls who are not fronting their bands, not the singers in their bands, but rather, they’re girls who are in the back setting the beat. There’s something cool in thinking about that as a metaphor, and in the cases of both these books, we have strong, voicey female leads.

Also fun? Both of these book covers feature teens wearing sunglasses.

 

The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde

As a rock star drummer in the hit band The Brightsiders, Emmy King’s life should be perfect. But there’s nothing the paparazzi love more than watching a celebrity crash and burn. When a night of partying lands Emmy in hospital and her girlfriend in jail, she’s branded the latest tabloid train wreck.

Luckily, Emmy has her friends and bandmates, including the super-swoonworthy Alfie, to help her pick up the pieces of her life. She knows hooking up with a band member is exactly the kind of trouble she should be avoiding, and yet Emmy and Alfie Just. Keep. Kissing.

Will the inevitable fallout turn her into a clickbait scandal (again)? Or will she find the strength to stand on her own?

 

Leah On The Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

 

 

 

Girl vs. Nature

This could likely be a post in and of itself, but we can maybe refer to this as the Wild effect: the growth of YA books about girls going out into the woods or nature either as punishment, to deal with trauma in their lives, or as a means of finding themselves. These are survival stories and they’re a fresh take on the story; growing up, I recall sitting through read alouds of Hatchet more times than I can count. These books offer a different perspective, with four very different main characters in four very different settings. They’re also a refreshing departure from Lord of the Flies.

What is worth thinking about here though is the lack of inclusivity. I think there’s a lot to be said about how white girls can more easily find themselves in nature because they have the means to do so and while being female is in and of itself a liability, skin color and ability in these books don’t play the role they would for many others. Which is to say, I’d love to see some books doing this survival in nature theme with more diversity (and kudos to Lemon’s book, which addresses this very thing through the narrative).

I love these books and find myself wanting more.

 

I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall

After
Jess is alone. Her cabin has burned to the ground. She knows if she doesn’t act fast, the cold will kill her before she has time to worry about food. But she is still alive—for now.

Before
Jess hadn’t seen her survivalist, off-the-grid dad in over a decade. But after a car crash killed her mother and left her injured, she was forced to move to his cabin in the remote Canadian wilderness. Just as Jess was beginning to get to know him, a secret from his past paid them a visit, leaving her father dead and Jess stranded.

After
With only her father’s dog for company, Jess must forage and hunt for food, build shelter, and keep herself warm. Some days it feels like the wild is out to destroy her, but she’s stronger than she ever imagined.

Jess will survive. She has to. She knows who killed her father… and she wants revenge.

 

Notes From My Captivity by Kathy Parks

Adrienne Cahill cares about three things: getting into a great college; becoming a revered journalist like her idol, Sydney Declay; and making her late father proud of her.

So when Adrienne is offered the chance to write an article that will get her into her dream school and debunk her foolish stepfather’s belief that a legendary family of hermits is living in the Siberian wilderness, there’s no question that she’s going to fly across the world.

But the Russian terrain is even less forgiving than skeptical Adrienne, and when disaster strikes, none of their extensive preparations seem to matter. Now Adrienne’s being held captive by the family she was convinced didn’t exist, and her best hope for escape is to act like she cares about them, even if it means wooing the youngest son.

 

The Other Side of Lost by Jessi Kirby

Mari Turner’s life is perfect. That is, at least to her thousands of followers who have helped her become an internet starlet. But when she breaks down and posts a video confessing she’s been living a lie—that she isn’t the happy, in-love, inspirational online personality she’s been trying so hard to portray—it goes viral and she receives major backlash. To get away from it all, she makes an impulsive decision: to hike the entire John Muir trail. Mari and her late cousin, Bri, were supposed to do it together, to celebrate their shared eighteenth birthday. But that was before Mari got so wrapped up in her online world that she shut anyone out who questioned its worth—like Bri.

With Bri’s boots and trail diary, a heart full of regret, and a group of strangers that she meets along the way, Mari tries to navigate the difficult terrain of the hike. But the true challenge lies within, as she searches for the way back to the girl she fears may be too lost to find: herself.

 

Valley Girls by Sarah Nicole Lemon

When 17-year-old Rilla is busted for partying 24 hours into arriving in Yosemite National Park to live with her park ranger sister, it’s a come-to-Jesus moment.

Determined to make up for her screw-up and create a stable new home for herself, Rilla charms her way into a tight-knit group of climbers. But Rilla can’t help but be seduced by experiences she couldn’t have imagined back home. She sets her sights on climbing El Capitan, one of the most challenging routes in Yosemite, and her summer becomes one harrowing and ecstatic experience after another: first climb, first fall two thousand feet in the air, first love. But becoming the person Rilla feels she was meant to be jeopardizes the reasons why she came to Yosemite—a bright new future and a second chance at sisterhood. When her family and her future are at odds, what will Rilla choose?

 

Legacy by Jessica Blank

Ever since her older brother Andy died, Alison’s life has been just as dark as her home in Tacoma, Washington.

Her mom is in perpetual mourning, her father ran out on them, and after hanging out with Andy’s hard-partying friends for a year, Alison’s reputation is trashed. She planned on taking the path of least resistance during her senior year–hanging out with her punk rocker boyfriend and trying not to flunk out of school–until a massive fight with her mother pushes her over the edge, and she runs away.

At first, joining a group of radical environmentalists who are occupying a Washington State forest is just about having a place to crash. But the ancient woods prove to be as vibrant and welcoming as they are vulnerable, and for the first time, Alison realizes that she might be more powerful than she thought. As tensions in the forest mount and confrontations with authorities get physical, Alison has to decide whether she’s willing to put her own life on the line to fight for what she believes in.

 

 

Teen Hackers

This isn’t a particularly new microtrend, but I’m including it for two reasons: first, I noticed it immediately upon hearing the description for Lange’s book (below) and because I know there’s a third one that I’m failing to recall the title of and am hoping someone can remember. Both books also have great covers and while one is the third and final installment in a series, these should have great appeal to many teen readers.

With the current news and political world, it’s not surprising to see hacking as a theme emerging n YA. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see this one popping up more and more. It’s a fresh and wide arena across all genres — it could easily be part of a YA romance as much as it’s a thing you’d expect in YA science fiction or realistic fiction.

 

Active Memory by Dan Wells

For all the mysteries teen hacker Marisa Carneseca has solved, there has been one that has always eluded her: the truth behind the car accident in which she lost her arm and a mob boss’ wife, Zenaida de Maldonado, lost her life. Even in a world where technology exists to connect everyone’s mind to one another, it would seem that some secrets can still remain hidden.

Those secrets rise violently to the surface, however, when Zenaida de Maldonado’s freshly severed hand shows up at the scene of a gangland shooting. If Zenaida is—or was—still alive, it means there’s even more about Marisa’s past that she doesn’t know. And when she and her friends start digging, they uncover a conspiracy that runs from the slums of Los Angeles to the very top of the world’s most powerful genetic engineering firm. If Mari wants the truth, she’s going to have to go through genetically enhanced agents, irritatingly attractive mob scions, and some bad relationships to get it.

 

The Chaos of Now by Erin Jade Lange

Eli Bennett is coasting through high school, spending most of his time writing code and hiding from the real world–until he receives a cryptic message, leading him to Seth and Mouse. They’re seeking a third member for a prestigious hacking competition, after their teammate and friend Jordan committed suicide last year. Intrigued by the challenge, Eli agrees.

But soon it becomes clear that Seth and Mouse are after more than winning a competition–they’re seeking revenge for the abuse that caused Jordan’s suicide. Eli is in way over his head, and he’s hiding a dangerous secret that could lead to even more trouble if he isn’t careful.

In a story about the shift of power from those who rule at school to those who rule online, the difference between bully and victim is blurred and Eli–whose coding skilled have taught him to make order out of chaos–will find the real world is much harder to control.

 

 

 

Rape Culture & Institutional Tradition

There’s been a growth in YA books digging into rape culture over the last few years, which has been much needed. As that body of fiction (and nonfiction!) has grown, we’ve seen these books get even more specific, and as is the case in these two books out this year, both look at how rape culture is able to grow and thrive in private, elite institutions which claim “tradition.” Both books aren’t quite as successful as they could be, though what stands out is that both shine a light on the ways that rape culture can seem innocuous because of how it’s built into an institution’s history and prestige.

Burkhardt’s book does something that Kiely’s doesn’t that is worth nothing — it not only addresses the ways rape culture impacts male-female relationships (which we see most frequently in these books because of the patriarchy and see in patriarchal institutions like private schools) but it also looks at the ways that girls can perpetuate this culture upon other girls when it comes to needing to meet certain beauty and body standards.

 

Honor Code by Kiersi Burkhart

Sam knows how lucky she is to be part of the elite Edwards Academy. As she dreams of getting into Harvard one day, she’s willing to do anything to fit in and excel at the private high school. Even if that means enduring hazing, signing up for a sport she hates, and attending the school dance with an upperclassman she barely knows.

But when she learns the high cost of entry, will Sam be willing to bury the worst night of her life in order to “keep the community sacred”? As the line between truth and justice blurs, Sam must find out for herself what honor really means.

 

Tradition by Brendan Kiely

Prestigious. Powerful. Privileged. This is Fullbrook Academy, an elite prep school where history looms in the leafy branches over its brick walkways. But some traditions upheld in its hallowed halls are profoundly dangerous.

Jules Devereux just wants to keep her head down, avoid distractions, and get into the right college, so she can leave Fullbrook and its old-boy social codes behind. She wants freedom, but ex-boyfriends and ex-best friends are determined to keep her in place.

Jamie Baxter feels like an imposter at Fullbrook, but the hockey scholarship that got him in has given him a chance to escape his past and fulfill the dreams of his parents and coaches, whose mantra rings in his ears: Don’t disappoint us.

When Jamie and Jules meet, they recognize in each other a similar instinct for survival, but at a school where girls in the student handbook are rated by their looks, athletes stack hockey pucks in dorm room windows like notches on a bedpost, and school-sponsored dances push first year girls out into the night with senior boys, the stakes for safe sex, real love, and true friendship couldn’t be higher.

As Jules and Jamie’s lives intertwine, and the pressures to play by the rules and remain silent about the school’s secrets intensify, they see Fullbrook for what it really is. That tradition, a word Fullbrook hides behind, can be ugly, even violent. Ultimately, Jules and Jamie are faced with the difficult question: can they stand together against classmates—and an institution—who believe they can do no wrong?

Microtrends In YA Lit: The Odd and Not-So-Odd Coincidences Popping Up

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There are trends, and then there are things that aren’t quite trends, but they’ve appeared in more than one place and stick out as being odd to show up that frequently. The things in that second category are what I like to call “microtrends.” They’re not full-blown trends, a la books with “Girl” in the title or mermaid reads from a few years back. Rather, they’re two or three or four books that have something in common with one another that isn’t itself entirely common.

Let’s take a look at a handful of recently-observed microtrends. Will any of these become bigger, full-blown trends? Have they been trends? Can you think of other recent examples of these microtrends (within the last year or so)?

Descriptions of books are all from Goodreads.

 

The Canterbury Tales

We can pretty quickly highlight the retellings and remixings of classics in YA lit. There are plenty of homages to Jane Eyre, to Shakespeare, and the Brontes, to name three. But how about this one: the retelling of Chaucer’s classic The Canterbury Tales?

I didn’t read The Canterbury Tales until my senior year of high school, and I believe only part of it was assigned reading. Instead of reading the entirety of the tales, we were put into small groups, assigned a character or group of characters, and then read and created presentations about their stories. I loved learning about the book that way, and it made me appreciate the format and creativity behind the tales. I haven’t read any of these spins on the tale, though I certainly plan on picking up at least one.

Worth noting that one of these titles is a Middle Grade read, too. Likely middle grade readers won’t know the inspiration, but that’s not going to be of any detriment to them enjoying the story.

 

Canterbury Tales Inspired

 

Sometimes We Tell The Truth by Kim Zarins

In this contemporary retelling of The Canterbury Tales, a group of teens on a bus ride to Washington, DC, each tell a story—some fantastical, some realistic, some downright scandalous—in pursuit of the ultimate prize: a perfect score.

Jeff boards the bus for the Civics class trip to Washington, DC, with a few things on his mind:
-Six hours trapped with his classmates sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
-He somehow ended up sitting next to his ex-best friend, who he hasn’t spoken to in years.
-He still feels guilty for the major part he played in pranking his teacher, and the trip’s chaperone, Mr. Bailey.
-And his best friend Cannon, never one to be trusted and banned from the trip, has something “big” planned for DC.

But Mr. Bailey has an idea to keep everyone in line: each person on the bus is going to have the chance to tell a story. It can be fact or fiction, realistic or fantastical, dark or funny or sad. It doesn’t matter. Each person gets a story, and whoever tells the best one will get an automatic A in the class.

But in the middle of all the storytelling, with secrets and confessions coming out, Jeff only has one thing on his mind—can he live up to the super successful story published in the school newspaper weeks ago that convinced everyone that he was someone smart, someone special, and someone with something to say.

 

The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz

1242. On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children. Their adventures take them on a chase through France: they are taken captive by knights, sit alongside a king, and save the land from a farting dragon. On the run to escape prejudice and persecution and save precious and holy texts from being burned, their quest drives them forward to a final showdown at Mont Saint-Michel, where all will come to question if these children can perform the miracles of saints.

Join William, an oblate on a mission from his monastery; Jacob, a Jewish boy who has fled his burning village; and Jeanne, a peasant girl who hides her prophetic visions. They are accompanied by Jeanne’s loyal greyhound, Gwenforte . . . recently brought back from the dead. Told in multiple voices, in a style reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales, our narrator collects their stories and the saga of these three unlikely allies begins to come together.

 

Feral Youth by Shaun David Hutchinson (September 5)

At Zeppelin Bend, an outdoor education program designed to teach troubled youth the value of hard work, cooperation, and compassion, ten teens are left alone in the wild. The teens are a diverse group who come from all walks of life, and they were all sent to Zeppelin Bend as a last chance to get them to turn their lives around. They’ve just spent nearly two weeks learning to survive in the wilderness, and now their instructors have dropped them off eighteen miles from camp with no food, no water, and only their packs, and they’ll have to struggle to overcome their vast differences if they hope to survive.

Inspired by The Canterbury Tales, Feral Youth features characters, each complex and damaged in their own ways, who are enticed to tell a story (or two) with the promise of a cash prize. The stories range from noir-inspired revenge tales to mythological stories of fierce heroines and angry gods. And while few of the stories are claimed to be based in truth, they ultimately reveal more about the teller than the truth ever could.

 

 

 

“How To Disappear” Title

These are going to get confused quite easily, seeing their titles are the same or so close to similar. I can only imagine a teen coming to the reference desk or a bookstore asking for “that YA book about how to disappear” and being handed three different recent titles.

I guess the more interesting thing to note here is that they’re books about girls disappearing in some capacity. There’s an outstanding short story in Roxane Gay’s Difficult Women that ends on the note that the best women are the dead ones, and I can’t help but wonder if this is just a step before that final death (and that’s what makes them compelling enough). I don’t mean that, of course, on the individual story level; I mean it on the collective level of a society that dislikes women.

Two of these books are from the same publisher.

how to disappear titles

 

How To Disappear by Ann Redisch Stampler

Nicolette Holland is the girl everyone likes. Up for adventure. Loyal to a fault. And she’s pretty sure she can get away with anything…until a young woman is brutally murdered in the woods near Nicolette’s house. Which is why she has to disappear.

Jack Manx has always been the stand-up guy with the killer last name. But straight A’s and athletic trophies can’t make people forget that his father was a hit man and his brother is doing time for armed assault. Just when Jack is about to graduate from his Las Vegas high school and head east for college, his brother pulls him into the family business with inescapable instructions: find this ruthless Nicolette Holland and get rid of her. Or else Jack and everyone he loves will pay the price.

As Nicolette and Jack race to outsmart each other, tensions—and attractions—run high. Told in alternating voices, this tightly plotted mystery and tense love story challenges our assumptions about right and wrong, guilt and innocence, truth and lies.

 

How Not To Disappear by Clare Furniss

Our memories are what make us who we are. Some are real. Some are made up. But they are the stories that tell us who we are. Without them we are nobody.

Hattie’s summer isn’t going as planned. Her two best friends have abandoned her: Reuben has run off to Europe to ‘find himself” and Kat is in Edinburgh with her new girlfriend. Meanwhile Hattie is stuck babysitting her twin siblings and dealing with endless drama around her mum’s wedding. Oh, and she’s also just discovered that she’s pregnant with Reuben’s baby.

Then Gloria, Hattie’s great-aunt who no one even knew existed, comes crashing into her life. Gloria’s fiercely independent, rather too fond of a gin sling and is in the early stages of dementia. Together the two of them set out on a road trip of self-discovery — Gloria to finally confront the secrets of her past before they are erased from her memory forever and Hattie to face the hard choices that will determine her future.

 

How To Disappear by Sharon Huss Roat (August 15)

Vicky Decker has perfected the art of hiding in plain sight, quietly navigating the halls of her high school undetected except by her best (and only) friend, Jenna. But when Jenna moves away, Vicky’s isolation becomes unbearable.

So she decides to invent a social life by Photoshopping herself into other people’s pictures, posting them on Instagram under the screen name Vicurious. Instantly, she begins to get followers, so she adds herself to more photos from all over the world with all types of people. And as Vicurious’s online followers multiply, Vicky realizes she can make a whole life for herself without ever leaving her bedroom. But the more followers she finds online, the clearer it becomes that there are a lot of people out there who feel like her— #alone and #ignored in real life.

To help them, and herself, Vicky must find the courage to face her fear of being “seen,” because only then can she stop living vicariously and truly bring the magic of Vicurious to life.

 

 

 

 

 

Geeks and Cons

Last year, I pulled together a short reading list that highlighted fandom and fanfiction as a trend in YA. This isn’t quieting down by any means; if anything, it’s becoming bigger and much more loud and proud. Geeks are finding their way, and not only are we seeing more geeks, we’re seeing more and more fan-centric conventions (aka “cons”) popping up. The con setting is such a great one because the framing device offers so much tension, so much opportunity for drama, and a workable timeframe for a well-plotted, emotionally-infused story.

And just because it makes sense, I’ve included fandom-themed reads here, too. A really interesting thing I noticed in poking around on Goodreads is that about 10 years ago, “Geek” in the title or description of a book was a pejorative; that’s not so much the case in these now.

 

Geeks and Cons, 1

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia (May 30)

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community, and has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea‘s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and Eliza begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile. But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.

With illustrations from Eliza’s webcomic, as well as screenshots from Eliza’s online forums and snippets of Wallace’s fanfiction.

 

Follow Me Back by AV Geiger (June 6; first in a series)

Tessa Hart’s world feels very small. Confined to her bedroom with agoraphobia, her one escape is the online fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn. When he tweets to his fans, it’s like his speaking directly to her…

Eric Thorn is frightened by his obsessive fans. They take their devotion way too far. It doesn’t help that his PR team keeps posting to encourage their fantasies.

When a fellow pop star is murdered at the hands of a fan, Eric knows he has to do something to shatter his online image fast—like take down one of his top Twitter followers. But Eric’s plan to troll @TessaHeartsEric unexpectedly evolves into an online relationship deeper than either could have imagined. And when the two arrange to meet IRL, what should have made for the world’s best episode of Catfish takes a deadly turn…

Told through tweets, direct messages, and police transcripts.

 

Geekerella by Ashley Poston (April 4)

Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise. But when she disappears at midnight, will he ever be able to find her again?

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture.

 

Geeks and Cons, 2

 

 

Grace and The Fever by Zan Romanoff (May 16)

In middle school, everyone was a Fever Dream fan. Now, a few weeks after her high school graduation, Grace Thomas sometimes feels like the only one who never moved on. She can’t imagine what she’d do without the community of online fans that share her obsession. Or what her IRL friends would say if they ever found out about it.
Then, one summer night, the unthinkable happens: Grace meets her idol, Jes. What starts out as an elusive glimpse of Fever Dream’s world turns into an unlikely romance, and leads her to confront dark, complex truths about herself and the realities of stardom.

 

Kat and Meg Conquer The World by Anna Priemaza (November 7; for some reason, it won’t let me load the cover, which you can see here)

Kat and Meg couldn’t be more different.

Kat’s anxiety makes it hard for her to talk to new people. The only place she feels safe is in front of her computer, playing her favorite video game.

Meg hates being alone, but her ADHD keeps pushing people away. Friends. Her boyfriend. Even the stepfather who raised her.

But when the two girls are thrown together for a year-long science project, they discover they do have one thing in common: their obsession with the online gaming star LumberLegs and his hilarious videos.

Meg’s pretty sure this is fate. Kat doesn’t know how to deal with someone who talks faster than she thinks. But if they can stick together and stay out of their heads, they might figure out how to help each other—and build the kind of friendship Kat never knew she wanted and Meg never believed she’d find.

 

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde (March 14)

When BFFs Charlie, Taylor and Jamie go to SupaCon, they know it’s going to be a blast. What they don’t expect is for it to change their lives forever.

Charlie likes to stand out. SupaCon is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star, Jason Ryan. When Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

While Charlie dodges questions about her personal life, Taylor starts asking questions about her own.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

 

Internet Famous by Danika Stone (June 6)

High school senior and internet sensation Madison Nakama seems to have it all: a happy family, good grades, and a massive online following for her pop-culture blog. But when her mother suddenly abandons the family, Madi finds herself struggling to keep up with all of her commitments.

Fandom to the rescue! As her online fans band together to help, an online/offline flirtation sparks with Laurent, a French exchange student. Their internet romance—played out in the comments section of her MadLibs blog—attracts the attention of an internet troll who threatens the separation of Madi’s real and online personas. With her carefully constructed life unraveling, Madi must uncover the hacker’s identity before he can do any more damage, or risk losing the people she loves the most… Laurent included.

 

 

Shoes on Covers

It’s been a few years since we’ve seen shoes taking up some real estate on YA book covers in a way that makes it clear those shoes have meaning in some way. In the cases of these books, that meaning comes in a black boot. Serious business.

 

Shoes On Covers

 

16 Ways to Break A Heart by Lauren Strasnick (July 25)

Natalie and Dan were electric from the moment they met. Witty banter and sizzling chemistry made falling in love easy—even inevitable. He was in awe of her subversive art and contagious zest for life; she was drawn to his good-guy charm and drive to succeed as a documentary filmmaker.

But that was before. Before hot tempers turned to blowout fights. Before a few little lies turned to broken trust. Before a hundred tiny slights broke them open and exposed the ugly truth of their relationship.

And now Natalie wants Dan to know just how much he broke her.

Over the course of one fateful day, Dan reads sixteen letters that Natalie has secretly, brilliantly hidden in places only he will find. And as he pieces together her version of their love story, he realizes that she has one final message for him. One that might just send his carefully constructed life tumbling down.

Unfolding through letters, texts, and chats, Lauren Strasnick’s smart, sexy, page-turning new novel is the ultimate he said/she said breakdown of a relationship gone wrong.

 

Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens (August 29)

The year I was seventeen, I had five best friends…and I was in love with all of them for different reasons.

Billie McCaffrey is always starting things. Like couches constructed of newspapers and two-by-fours. Like costumes made of aluminum cans and Starburst wrappers. Like trouble.

This year, however, trouble comes looking for her.

Her best friends, a group she calls the Hexagon, have always been schemers. They scheme for kicks and giggles. What happens when you microwave a sock? They scheme to change their small town of Otters Holt, Kentucky, for the better. Why not campaign to save the annual Harvest Festival we love so much? They scheme because they need to scheme. How can we get the most unlikely candidate elected to the town’s highest honor?

But when they start scheming about love, things go sideways.

In Otters Holt, love has been defined only one way—girl and boy fall in love, get married, and buy a Buick, and there’s sex in there somewhere. For Billie—a box-defying dynamo—it’s not that simple.

Can the Hexagon, her parents, and the town she calls home handle the real Billie McCaffrey?

 

In Some Other Life by Jessica Brody (August 29)

Kennedy Rhodes turns down an acceptance to an elite private school, instead choosing to stay at her high school and jump at the opportunity to date the boy of her dreams. Three years later, Kennedy walks in on that same boyfriend cheating with her best friend—and wishes she had made a different choice. But when Kennedy hits her head and wakes up in the version of her life where she chose to attend the private school, she finds that maybe it’s not as perfect of a world as she once thought.

 

 

Wedding Bells 

I remember a conversation a few years back — back when Erin McCahan’s I Now Pronounce You Someone Else came out — about how there aren’t many weddings or marriage stories in YA fiction. I’ve thought about that a lot, seeing that I have known many who’ve gotten married in their late teens or given it some serious thought (and I got married in my very early 20s). Whenever I see a book that has something to do with marriage in YA, it lands on my radar for this reason, and this year, it looks like we have a few. These don’t necessarily have to do with wedding bells ringing, but they do explore some aspect of wedding culture.

You might, of course, recall that Jenny Han, whose book is featured below, does explore this in her previous solo trilogy, too, if this is a topic that fascinates you.

 

Wedding Bells

 

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han (May 2)

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding.

But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy she loves—behind.

When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

 

Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm (Fall 2017)

A romantic comedy in which a Mississippi teen finds herself in front of the cameras as her beauty-queen big sister prepares for a reality-TV wedding to a Scottish aristocrat.

 

Once and For All by Sarah Dessen (June 6)

Louna, daughter of famed wedding planner Natalie Barrett, has seen every sort of wedding: on the beach, at historic mansions, in fancy hotels and clubs. Perhaps that’s why she’s cynical about happily-ever-after endings, especially since her own first love ended tragically. When Louna meets charming, happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose, she holds him at arm’s length. But Ambrose isn’t about to be discouraged, now that he’s met the one girl he really wants.

 

 

Color Split Covers

This one is a pretty self-explanatory cover trend. I know there are more than the ones below. Book covers that are split in half into two colors (I keep thinking that The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli fits this, but it doesn’t, since it’s the arrows on the cover which are in different colors and not the background color itself).

 

Color Split, 1 Color Split, 2

 

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

 

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (March 28)

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around— and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance to lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? and if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

 

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham (February 21)

Some bodies won’t stay buried.
Some stories need to be told.

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family’s property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past… and the present.

Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what’s right the night Tulsa burns.

Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham’s lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important question about the complex state of US race relations – both yesterday and today.

 

The Places Between Breaths by An Na (September 5)

Sixteen-year-old Grace is in a race against time—and in a race for her life—even if she doesn’t realize it yet…

She is smart, responsible, and contending with more than what most teens ever have to. Her mother struggled with schizophrenia for years until, one day, she simply disappeared—fleeing in fear that she was going to hurt herself or those she cared about. Ever since, Grace’s father has worked as a recruiter at one of the leading labs dedicated to studying the disease, trying to lure the world’s top scientists to the faculty to find a cure, hoping against hope it can happen in time to help his wife if she is ever found. But this makes him distant. Consumed.

Grace, in turn, does her part, interning at the lab in the gene sequencing department in hopes that one day they might make a breakthrough…and one day they do. Grace stumbles upon a string of code that could be the key. But something inside of Grace has started to unravel. Could her discovery just be a cruel side effect of the schizophrenia finally taking hold? Can she even tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t?

 

 

Immaculate Conception

If it’s two books, and it’s one from 2015 and one from 2017, I don’t know if it technically qualifies under my own made-up rules of what a microtrend is. Alas, there are two recentish books about the immaculate conception, and I couldn’t help highlighting them because what a topic. Again, the bigger picture of what books like this and books about dead girls and missing girls say about our culture’s beliefs and interest in teen girls.

 

Immaculate Conception

 

Immaculate by Katelyn Detweiler

Mina is seventeen. A virgin. And pregnant.

Mina is top of her class, girlfriend to the most ambitious guy in school, able to reason and study her way through anything. But when she suddenly finds herself pregnant—despite having never had sex—her orderly world collapses. Almost nobody believes Mina’s claims of virginity. Her father assumes that her boyfriend is responsible; her boyfriend believes she must have cheated on him. As news of Mina’s story spreads, there are those who brand her a liar. There are those who brand her a heretic. And there are those who believe that miracles are possible—and that Mina’s unborn child could be the greatest miracle of all.

 

The Inconceivable Life of Quinn by Marianna Baer (April 4)

Quinn Cutler is sixteen and the daughter of a high-profile Brooklyn politician. She’s also pregnant, a crisis made infinitely more shocking by the fact that she has no memory of ever having sex. Before Quinn can solve this deeply troubling mystery, her story becomes public. Rumors spread, jeopardizing her reputation, her relationship with a boyfriend she adores, and her father’s campaign for Congress. Religious fanatics gather at the Cutlers’ home, believing Quinn is a virgin, pregnant with the next messiah. Quinn’s desperate search for answers uncovers lies and family secrets—strange, possibly supernatural ones. Might she, in fact, be a virgin?

 

 

Fathers Own Stores

This would be one of those microtrends you only discover because you’ve read the books. In this case, both girls are the daughters of independent grocery stores. In both cases, the girls are closely linked to those stores, as well as their fathers, and both are set in the boroughs of New York City. These are excellent examples of highlighting class, too.

Another interesting connection between these two books: the main characters go to fancy high schools outside their own neighborhoods.

 

Fathers Own Stores

 

The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera (February 21)

THINGS/PEOPLE MARGOT HATES:

Mami, for destroying my social life
Papi, for allowing Junior to become a Neanderthal
Junior, for becoming a Neanderthal
This supermarket
Everyone else

After “borrowing” her father’s credit card to finance a more stylish wardrobe, Margot
Sanchez suddenly finds herself grounded. And by grounded, she means working as an indentured servant in her family’s struggling grocery store to pay off her debts.

With each order of deli meat she slices, Margot can feel her carefully cultivated prep school reputation slipping through her fingers, and she’s willing to do anything to get out of this punishment. Lie, cheat, and maybe even steal…

Margot’s invitation to the ultimate beach party is within reach and she has no intention of letting her family’s drama or Moises—the admittedly good looking but outspoken boy from the neighborhood—keep her from her goal.

 

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (February 28)

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl’s struggle for justice.

 

 

The F-Word Titles

Here’s a little known fact: my book was originally proposed with the title F* It Up: Feminism for the Real World. That dropped pretty quickly, and even when we began brainstorming new titles, I realized how frequently the little wink-nudge of the “F-Word” was being used for book titles.

It’s still a wink-nudge, but at least in YA, it’s not only being used for books about Feminism. There are a few other “F” words, too.

 

F-Word Titles

 

The F-Word by Kiley Roache (June 27)

For Cassandra Davis, the F-word is fraternity—specifically Delta Tau Chi, a house on probation and on the verge of being banned from campus. Accused of offensive, sexist behavior, they have one year to clean up their act. For the DTC brothers, the F-word is feminist—the type of person who writes articles in the school paper about why they should lose their home.

With one shot at a scholarship to attend the university of her dreams, Cassie pitches a research project: to pledge Delta Tau Chi and provide proof of their misogynistic behavior. They’re frat boys. She knows exactly what to expect once she gets there. Exposing them should be a piece of cake.

But the boys of Delta Tau Chi have their own agenda, and fellow pledge Jordan Louis is certainly more than the tank top wearing “bro” Cassie expected to find. With her heart and her future tangled in the web of her own making, Cassie is forced to realize that the F-word might not be as simple as she thought after all.

 

The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend (March 7)

A fresh, humorous, and timely YA novel about two teens conceived via in vitro fertilization who go in search for answers about their donor.

Milo has two great moms, but he’s never known what it’s like to have a dad. When Milo’s doctor suggests asking his biological father to undergo genetic testing to shed some light on Milo’s extreme allergies, he realizes this is a golden opportunity to find the man he’s always wondered about.

Hollis’s mom Leigh hasn’t been the same since her other mom, Pam, passed away seven years ago. But suddenly, Leigh seems happy—giddy, even—by the thought of reconnecting with Hollis’s half-brother Milo. Hollis and Milo were conceived using the same sperm donor. They met once, years ago, before Pam died.

Now Milo has reached out to Hollis to help him find their donor. Along the way, they locate three other donor siblings, and they discover the true meaning of the other F-word: family.

 

The Big F by Maggie Ann Martin (August 29)

Danielle effed up. Big time.

Danielle’s plans for the future were pretty easy to figure out… until she failed senior English and her single college application was denied. Suddenly she’s in hot water with very few options, because honestly who applies to a safety school when their mom is a semi-famous “college psychic”?!

Determined to get her life back on track, Danielle enrolls in her hometown community college with a plan: pass her English class and get back into Ohio State and her mother’s good graces. Romance isn’t on her radar… until she reconnects with her childhood crush and golden-boy-next-door, Luke.

Between family drama, first love and finding her own way, Danielle can’t help but feel a little overwhelmed. Thankfully she has her friendship with the snarky and frustratingly attractive Porter, her coworker at the campus bookstore, to push her to experience new things and help keep her afloat.

 

Feminism: Reinventing the F Word by Nadia Abushanab Higgins

While most people say they believe in equal rights, the word feminism—America’s new F-word—makes people uncomfortable. Explore the history of US feminism through pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, and Gloria Steinem. Meet modern leaders such as Rebecca Walker and Julie Zeilinger, who are striving to empower women at work, in government, at home—and in cultural and personal arenas. Learn from interviews with movement leaders, scholars, pop stars, and average women, what it means to be a feminist—or to reject it altogether. After reading this book, readers will be able to respond to “Am I a feminist?” with a confident, informed voice.

Microtrends in YA Fiction

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I’ve written a couple times about “microtrends” in YA fiction (here and here). What’s a microtrend? It’s an element that has popped up in more than one novel in recent memory that is strange enough to stand out but not a big enough component of multiple stories to be a proper trend. They’re interesting coincidences that stand out because they’re just odd enough to be memorable. 

Here’s a look at a few microtrends I’ve noticed recently. Some of them have made me scratch my head and others aren’t necessarily weird but interesting commonalities. I’m only looking at books published in 2014, and I’m positive I might miss additional titles that could fall into any of these mini trends, so if you can think of others published or publishing this year that fit, I’d love to know. All descriptions are from WorldCat unless otherwise noted.

Interestingly, some of these novels fit more than one microtrend. 

Stuck In An Elevator

Elevator romances seem to be popping up. It’s a trend I’m surprised hasn’t been seen more frequently. In each of these books, it’s a chance meeting in an elevator that allows a pair of characters to develop a relationship that may have otherwise never happened.

Elevated by Elana Johnson: The last person seventeen-year-old Eleanor Livingston wants to see on the elevator—let alone get stuck with—is her ex-boyfriend Travis, the guy she’s been avoiding for five months. Plagued with the belief that when she speaks the truth, bad things happen, Elly hasn’t told Trav anything. Not why she broke up with him and cut off all contact. Not what happened the day her father returned from his deployment to Afghanistan. And certainly not that she misses him and still thinks about him everyday. But with nowhere to hide and Travis so close it hurts, Elly’s worried she won’t be able to contain her secrets for long. She’s terrified of finally revealing the truth, because she can’t bear to watch a tragedy befall the boy she still loves. (Description via Goodreads). 

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith: Sparks fly when sixteen-year-old Lucy Patterson and seventeen-year-old Owen Buckley meet on an elevator rendered useless by a New York City blackout. Soon after, the two teenagers leave the city, but as they travel farther away from each other geographically, they stay connected emotionally, in this story set over the course of one year. 

Like No Other by Una LaMarche (July 24): Devorah is a consummate good girl who has never challenged the ways of her strict Hasidic upbringing. Jaxon is a fun-loving, book-smart nerd who has never been comfortable around girls (unless you count his four younger sisters). They’ve spent their entire lives in Brooklyn, on opposite sides of the same street. Their paths never crossed . . . until one day, they did. When a hurricane strikes the Northeast, the pair becomes stranded in an elevator together, where fate leaves them no choice but to make an otherwise risky connection. Though their relation is strictly forbidden, Devorah and Jax arrange secret meetings and risk everything to be together. But how far can they go? Just how much are they willing to give up? (Description via Goodreads). 

The Name Lucy

I think I’ve only ever known one person in my life named Lucy. But it appears Lucy is quite the name in YA this year. And it’s not like it’s only been this year, either — Sara Zarr’s The Lucy Variations, published in 2012, also featured a main character named Lucy. 

#Scandal by Sarah Ockler (June 17): When pictures of Lucy kissing her best friend’s boyfriend emerge on the world of social media, she becomes a social pariah after the scandal rocks the school.

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith: Sparks fly when sixteen-year-old Lucy Patterson and seventeen-year-old Owen Buckley meet on an elevator rendered useless by a New York City blackout. Soon after, the two teenagers leave the city, but as they travel farther away from each other geographically, they stay connected emotionally, in this story set over the course of one year. 

Love, Lucy by April Lindner (January 2015): While backpacking through Florence, Italy, during the summer before she heads off to college, 17-year-old Lucy Sommersworth finds herself falling in love with the culture, the architecture, the food…and Jesse Palladino, a handsome street musician. After a whirlwind romance, Lucy returns home, determined to move on from her “vacation flirtation.” But just because summer is over doesn’t mean Lucy and Jesse are over, too. Inspired by E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View. (Description via Goodreads). 

Chantress Alchemy by Amy Butler Greenfield (sequel to Chantress): 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. 

In A Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis (September 23): In a barren land, teenage Lucy is taken away from the community she has grown up in and searches the vast countryside for a new home. 

Sublime by Christina Lauren (October 14): Lucy and Colin discover they have a connection on the grounds of the private school they attend, but Lucy has a startling secret. 

How to Meet Boys by Catherine Clark: Best friends Lucy and Mikayla are ready for the best summer of their lives, but when Mikayla falls for a boy from Lucy’s past they realize their perfect summer might be over before it starts. 

Quarantine: The Burnoutsby Lex Thomas (third in the “Quarantine” series): In this final installment of the Quarantine trilogy, David and Will are alive, but on the outside of McKinley High, while Lucy is the last of the trinity left inside to deal with Hilary, who will exact revenge before taking over McKinley High

The Nickname Noodle/s


It’s been a slower reading year for me, but this one caught me because it’s been in two books I’ve read this year: a character who has been nicknamed Noodle or Noodles. 

When I Was The Greatest by Jason Reynolds: Ali lives in Bed-Stuy, a Brooklyn neighborhood known for guns and drugs, but he and his sister, Jazz, and their neighbors, Needles and Noodles, stay out of trouble until they go to the wrong party, where one gets badly hurt and another leaves with a target on his back.

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon (October 21): When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white. In the aftermath of Tariq’s death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up. By the day, new twists and turns further obscure the truth. Tariq’s friends, family, and community struggle to make sense of the tragedy, and of the hole left behind when a life is cut short. In their own words, they grapple for a way to say with certainty: This is how it went down. (Description via Goodreads). 

Audrey Hepburn


A pair of books are coming out this year that are inspired by or feature Audrey Hepburn. Maybe she’s this year’s Jane Austen? Both titles are fiction. 

Being Audrey Hepburn by Mitchell Kriegman (September 16): Lisbeth comes from a broken home in the land of tube tops, heavy eyeliner, frosted lip-gloss, juiceheads, hoop earrings and “the shore.” She has a circle of friends who have dedicated their teenage lives to relieve the world of all its alcohol one drink at a time. Obsessed with everything Audrey Hepburn, Lisbeth is transformed when she secretly tries on Audrey’s iconic Givenchy. She becomes who she wants to be by pretending to be somebody she’s not and living among the young and privileged Manhattan elite. Soon she’s faced with choices that she would never imagine making – between who she’s become and who she once was.

Oh Yeah, Audrey! by Tucker Shaw (October 14): Months after the death of her mother, sixteen-year-old Gemma Beasley and friends she met through her Tumblr page meet in New York City to celebrate the life and style of Audrey Hepburn and her famous character, Holly Go Lightly. 

Genies


The magical/mythical element of choice this year is the genie. I know very little about genies nor their historical and cultural contexts, so I can’t say much to what it might mean, if anything. I just know it’s an element of at least three books this year. 

Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios (October 14): Nalia, a gorgeous, fierce eighteen-year-old jinni, is pitted against two magnetic adversaries, both of whom want her–and need her–to make a their wishes come true. 

The Fire Artist by Daisy Whitney (October 14): As an elemental artist, Aria can create fire from her hands, stealing her power from lightning–which is dangerous and illegal in her world–but as her power begins to fade faster than she can steal it she must turn to a modern-day genie, a Granter, who offers one wish with an extremely high price.

The Fire Wish by Amber Lough (July 22): When a princess captures a jinn and makes a wish, she is transported to the fiery world of the jinn, while the jinn must take her place in the royal court of Baghdad. 

Estate Sales


I can say I never knew anyone as a teen who went to estate sales. I also lived in the suburbs where there were no such things as estates to go to sales at. Garage sales? Sure. Rummaging? Sure. But estate sales? Not so much. But this year at least two YA novels feature the estate sale. 

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

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. 

Perks of Being A Wallflower Comparisons

I’ll do another round up of “meets” pitches in a future post, but I mentioned to a friend recently that I think comparisons to Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being A Wallflower will be the next trend after the comparisons to TFIOS and Eleanor & Park. 

The comparisons or the note that the book would be ideal for fans of Perks come from Edelweiss descriptions. This is a small sampling of the titles I’ve seen with this comparison. I know there are others. 

The Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes (September 2): Outside, Anika Dragomir is all lip gloss and blond hair—the third most popular girl in school. Inside, she’s a freak: a mix of dark thoughts, diabolical plots, and, if local chatter is to be believed, vampire DNA (after all, her father is Romanian). But she keeps it under wraps to maintain her social position. One step out of line and Becky Vilhauer, first most popular girl in school, will make her life hell. So when former loner Logan McDonough shows up one September hotter, smarter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika knows she can’t get involved. It would be insane to throw away her social safety for a nerd. So what if that nerd is now a black-leather-jacket-wearing dreamboat, and his loner status is clearly the result of his troubled home life? Who cares if the right girl could help him with all that, maybe even save him from it? Who needs him when Jared Kline, the bad boy every girl dreams of, is asking her on dates? Who? (Description via Goodreads).  

Play Me Backwards by Adam Selzner (August 26): A promising and popular student in middle school, Leon Harris has become a committed “slacker” but with graduation approaching and his middle school girlfriend possibly returning to town, Leon’s best friend Stan, who claims to be Satan, helps him get back on the right track–for a price.

Twerp by Mark Goldblatt (which is, interestingly, a middle grade book, not young adult): In Queens, New York, in 1969, twelve-year-old Julian Twerski writes a journal for his English teacher in which he explores his friendships and how they are affected by girls, a new student who may be as fast as Julian, and especially an incident of bullying.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira: When Laurel starts writing letters to dead people for a school assignment, she begins to spill about her sister’s mysterious death, her mother’s departure from the family, her new friends, and her first love.

Are there other microtrends you’ve noticed this year worth noting?