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May 2018’s Debut YA Novels

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It’s time for another round-up of debut YA novels of the month — here’s what we’ve got for May.

 

 

This round-up includes debut novels, where “debut” is in its purest definition. These are first-time books by first-time authors. I’m not including books by authors who are using or have used a pseudonym in the past or those who have written in other categories (adult, middle grade, etc.) in the past. Authors who have self-published are not included here either.

All descriptions are from Goodreads, unless otherwise noted; I’ve found Goodreads descriptions to offer better insight to what a book is about over WorldCat. If I’m missing any debuts that came out in May from traditional publishers — and I should clarify that indie/small presses are okay — let me know in the comments.

As always, not all noted titles included here are necessarily endorsements for those titles. List is arranged alphabetically by title, with pub dates beside them. Starred titles are the beginning of a new series.

 

May 2018 Debut YA Novels

 

The Accidental Bad Girl by Maxine Kaplan (5/15)

After getting caught hooking up with her best friend’s ex on the last day of junior year, Kendall starts senior year friendless and ostracized. She plans to keep her head down until she graduates. But after discovering her online identity has been hacked and she’s being framed for stealing from a dealer, Kendall is drawn into a tenuous partnership with the mastermind of a drug ring lurking in the shadows of her Brooklyn private school. If she wants to repair her tattered reputation and save her neck, she’ll have to decide who she really is—and own it. The longer she plays the role of “bad girl,” the more she becomes her new reputation. Friends and enemies, detectives and drug dealers—no one is who they appear to be. Least of all Kendall.

 

 

 

 

Anger Is A Gift by Mark Oshiro (5/22)

Six years ago, Moss Jefferies’ father was murdered by an Oakland police officer. Along with losing a parent, the media’s vilification of his father and lack of accountability has left Moss with near crippling panic attacks.

Now, in his sophomore year of high school, Moss and his fellow classmates find themselves increasingly treated like criminals by their own school. New rules. Random locker searches. Constant intimidation and Oakland Police Department stationed in their halls. Despite their youth, the students decide to organize and push back against the administration.

When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.

 

 

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne (5/1)

Seventeen-year-old Stella Ainsley wants just one thing: to go somewhere—anywhere—else. Her home is a floundering spaceship that offers few prospects, having been orbiting an ice-encased Earth for two hundred years. When a private ship hires her as a governess, Stella jumps at the chance. The captain of the Rochester, nineteen-year-old Hugo Fairfax, is notorious throughout the fleet for being a moody recluse and a drunk. But with Stella he’s kind.

But the Rochester harbors secrets: Stella is certain someone is trying to kill Hugo, and the more she discovers, the more questions she has about his role in a conspiracy threatening the fleet.

 

 

 

 

The Disappearance of Sloane Sullivan by Gia Cribbs (5/30)

No one wants me to tell you about the disappearance of Sloane Sullivan.

Not the lawyers or the cops. Not her friends or family. Not even the boy who loved her more than anyone. And most certainly not the United States Marshals Service. You know, the people who run the witness protection program or, as it’s officially called, the Witness Security Program? Yeah, the WITSEC folks definitely don’t want me talking to you.

But I don’t care. I have to tell someone.

If I don’t, you’ll never know how completely wrong things can go. How a single decision can change everything. How, when it really comes down to it, you can’t trust anyone. Not even yourself. You have to understand, so it won’t happen to you next. Because you never know when the person sitting next to you isn’t who they claim to be…and because there are worse things than disappearing.

 

Driving By Starlight by Anat Deracine (5/22)

Sixteen-year-olds Leena and Mishie are best friends. They delight in small rebellions against the Saudi cultural police—secret Western clothing, forbidden music, flirtations. But Leena wants college, independence—she wants a different life. Though her story is specific to her world (a world where it’s illegal for women to drive, where a ten-year-old boy is the natural choice as guardian of a fatherless woman), ultimately it’s a story about friendship, family, and freedom that transcends cultural differences.

 

 

 

 

 

The Harper Effect by Taryn Bashford (5/15)

Sixteen-year-old Harper was once a rising star on the tennis court–until her coach dropped her for being “mentally weak.” Without tennis, who is she? Her confidence at an all-time low, she secretly turns to her childhood friend, next-door neighbor Jacob–who also happens to be her sister’s very recent ex-boyfriend. If her sister finds out, it will mean a family war.

But when Harper is taken on by a new coach who wants her to train with Colt, a cold, defensive, brooding young tennis phenom, she hits the court all the harder, if only to prove Colt wrong. But as the two learn to become a team, Harper gets glimpses of the vulnerable boy beneath the surface, the boy who was deeply scarred by his family’s dark and scandalous past. The boy she could easily find herself falling for.

As she walks a fine line between Colt’s secrets, her forbidden love, and a game that demands nothing but the best, Harper must decide between her past and her future and between two boys who send her head spinning. Is the cost of winning the game worth losing everything?

 

Lies You Never Told Me by Jennifer Donaldson (5/30)

Gabe and Elyse have never met. But they both have something to hide.

Quiet, shy Elyse can’t believe it when she’s cast as the lead in her Portland high school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. Her best friend, Brynn, is usually the star, and Elyse isn’t sure she’s up to the task. But when someone at rehearsals starts to catch her eye–someone she knows she absolutely shouldn’t be with–she can’t help but be pulled into the spotlight.

Austin native Gabe is contemplating the unthinkable–breaking up with Sasha, his headstrong, popular girlfriend. She’s not going to let him slip through her fingers, though, and when rumors start to circulate around school, he knows she has the power to change his life forever.

Gabe and Elyse both make the mistake of falling for the wrong person, and falling hard. Told in parallel narratives, this twisty, shocking story shows how one bad choice can lead to a spiral of unforeseen consequences that not everyone will survive.

 

Love and Other Carnivorous Plants by Florence Gonsalves (5/15)

Freshman year at Harvard was the most anticlimactic year of Danny’s life. She’s failing pre-med and drifting apart from her best friend. One by one, Danny is losing all the underpinnings of her identity. When she finds herself attracted to an older, edgy girl who she met in rehab for an eating disorder, she finally feels like she might be finding a new sense of self. But when tragedy strikes, her self-destructive tendencies come back to haunt her as she struggles to discover who that self really is.

 

 

 

 

 

Mayfly by Jeff Sweat (5/8)

Jemma has spent her life scavenging tools and supplies for her tribe in the their small enclave outside what used to be a big city. Now she’s a teen, and old enough to become a Mama. Making babies is how her people survive—in Jemma’s world, life ends at age seventeen.

Survival has eclipsed love ever since the Parents died of a mysterious plague. But Jemma’s connection to a boy named Apple is stronger than her duty as a Mama. Forced to leave, Jemma and Apple are joined in exile by a mysterious boy who claims to know what is causing them to die. The world is crumbling around them, and their time is running out. Is this truly the End?

 

 

 

My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma (5/15)

Winnie Mehta was never really convinced that Raj was her soulmate, but their love was written in the stars. Literally, a pandit predicted Winnie would find the love of her life before her 18th birthday, and Raj meets all of the qualifications. Which is why Winnie is shocked to return from her summer at film camp to find her boyfriend of three years hooking up with Jenny Dickens. Worse, Raj is crowned chair of the student film festival, a spot Winnie was counting on for her film school applications. As a self-proclaimed Bollywood expert, Winnie knows this is not how her perfect ending is scripted.

Then there’s Dev, a fellow film geek, and one of the few people Winnie can count on to help her reclaim control of her story. Dev is smart charming, and challenges Winnie to look beyond her horoscope to find someone she’d pick for herself. But does falling for Dev mean giving up on her prophecy, and her chance to live happily ever after? To get her Bollywood-like life on track, Winnie will need a little bit of help from fate, family, and of course, a Bollywood movie star.

 

Out of Left Field by Kris Hui Lee (5/1)

Marnie has never had a hard time fitting in with the guys. It would take a lot more than their goofy antics to keep her from joining them at the neighborhood sandlot to do what she loves best: play ball.

An added perk of hanging out at the sandlot? Spending time with Cody Kinski, their high school’s star pitcher and Marnie’s best friend. Sure, he can be stubborn and annoying. He also knows how to make her laugh and respects her skills on the mound. And when he gets nailed in the arm by a bone-fracturing pitch, Marnie becomes the team’s best chance at making it to the playoffs. Except no one told the guys they’re supposed to be on her side.

With her own team against her, Marnie begins questioning her abilities. And when fate throws her a curveball, can she play without losing the game, Cody, and her belief in herself?

 

Out Of The Blue by Sophie Cameron (5/15)

Ten days after Jaya Mackenzie’s mum dies, angels start falling from the sky. Smashing down to earth at extraordinary speeds, wings bent, faces contorted, not a single one has survived.

Hysteria mounting with every Being that drops, Jaya’s father uproots the family to Edinburgh intent on catching one alive. But Jaya can’t stand this obsession and, struggling to make sense of her mother’s sudden death and her own role on that fateful day, she’s determined to stay out of it.

When her best friend disappears and her father’s mania spirals, things hit rock bottom and it’s at that moment something extraordinary happens: An angel lands right at Jaya’s feet, and it’s alive. Finally she is forced to acknowledge just how significant these celestial beings are.

Set against the backdrop of the frenzied Edinburgh festival, OUT OF THE BLUE tackles questions of grief and guilt and fear over who we really are. But it’s also about love and acceptance and finding your place in this world as angels drop out of another.

 

Ship It by Britta Lundin (5/1)

Claire is a sixteen-year-old fangirl obsessed with the show Demon Heart. Forest is an actor on Demon Heart who dreams of bigger roles. When the two meet at a local Comic-Con panel, it’s a dream come true for Claire. Until the Q&A, that is, when Forest laughs off Claire’s assertion that his character is gay. Claire is devastated. After all, every last word of her super-popular fanfic revolves around the romance between Forest’s character and his male frenemy. She can’t believe her hero turned out to be a closed-minded jerk. Forest is mostly confused that anyone would think his character is gay. Because he’s not. Definitely not.

Unfortunately for Demon Heart, when the video of the disastrous Q&A goes viral, the producers have a PR nightmare on their hands. In order to help bolster their image within the LGBTQ+ community-as well as with their fans-they hire Claire to join the cast for the rest of their publicity tour. What ensues is a series of colourful Comic-Con clashes between the fans and the show that lead Forest to question his assumptions about sexuality and help Claire come out of her shell. But how far will Claire go to make her ship canon? To what lengths will Forest go to stop her and protect his career? And will Claire ever get the guts to make a move on Tess, the very cute, extremely cool fanartist she keeps running into?

 

Tiffany Sly Lives Here by Dana L. Davis (5/1)

I’ve got seven days to come clean to my new dad. Seven days to tell the truth…

For sixteen-year-old Tiffany Sly, life hasn’t been safe or normal for a while. Losing her mom to cancer has her a little bit traumatized and now she has to leave her hometown of Chicago to live with the biological dad she’s never known.

Anthony Stone is a rich man with four other daughters—and rules for every second of the day. Tiffany tries to make the best of things, but she doesn’t fit into her new luxurious, but super-strict, home—or get along with her standoffish sister London. The only thing that makes her new life even remotely bearable is the strange boy across the street. Marcus McKinney has had his own experiences with death, and the unexpected friendship that blossoms between them is the only thing that makes her feel grounded.

But Tiffany has a secret. Another man claims he’s Tiffany’s real dad—and she only has seven days before he shows up to demand a paternity test and the truth comes out. With her life about to fall apart all over again, Tiffany finds herself discovering unexpected truths about her father, her mother and herself, and realizing that maybe family is in the bonds you make—and that life means sometimes taking risks.

 

When The Beat Drops by Anna Hecker (5/15)

Seventeen-year-old Mira has always danced to her own beat. A music prodigy in a family of athletes, she’d rather play trumpet than party—and with her audition to a prestigious jazz conservatory just around the corner (and her two best friends at music camp without her), she plans to spend the summer focused on jazz and nothing else.

She only goes to the warehouse party in a last-ditch effort to bond with her older sister. Instead, she falls in love with dance music, DJing…and Derek, a gorgeous promoter who thinks he can make her a star. Suddenly trumpet practice and old friendships are taking a backseat to packed dance floors, sun-soaked music festivals, outsized personalities, and endless beats.

But when a devastating tragedy plunges her golden summer into darkness, Mira discovers just how little she knows about her new boyfriend, her old friends, and even her own sister. Music is what brought them together…but will it also tear them apart?

 

Title Talk: Lists of Two (or Three)

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In 2005, Carolyn Mackler published The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, a critically acclaimed and popular book with a super clever title. This idea of titles featuring lists of two or three where the last item is an “other” that compares or comments upon the previous items in a funny way took off, and the publishing industry’s love of it doesn’t seem to have dimmed in the 10+ years since. (It’s possible that this sort of title was around long before Mackler’s book, but this is the first one I remember that was really popular and the oldest one I could find.) I think when Jen Petro-Roy was blogging with us, she even wrote a post about it, but due to our migration to WordPress and a less-than-stellar search function, I can’t seem to locate it. In any case, it’s high time for an update. Here are some of the more recent lists-of-two (or three) titles; I hope they give you a chuckle. Descriptions are from Goodreads.

It’s funny to note that love is the most popular topic riffed upon. Judging from the list below, love is a filter, a theory, a train wreck, a foreign word, a lie, an alien experience, imaginary, perishable, and carnivorous. Reading these titles should be enough to scare off any teen from falling in love for good.

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed (January 16, 2018)

American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending a college close to their suburban Chicago home, and being paired off with an older Muslim boy her mom deems “suitable.” And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City—and maybe (just maybe) pursuing a boy she’s known from afar since grade school, a boy who’s finally falling into her orbit at school. There’s also the real world, beyond Maya’s control. In the aftermath of a horrific crime perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her life is turned upside down. The community she’s known since birth becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and classmates alike are consumed with fear, bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately, Maya must find the strength within to determine where she truly belongs.

Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things by Betsey Aldridge and Carrie DuBois-Shaw (August 8, 2017)

Samantha Berger is pretty sure that other nice Jewish girls don’t have parents who force them to spend their weekends tromping through the wilds of Ohio in search of Bigfoot. Now, a reality TV show at least makes sense of some of it, holding out the promise of a cash prize big enough to pay for college. The show, however, also pits Samantha against a snotty prep school boy who puts down her beloved, eccentric family. That is, until chance strands Samantha and Devan alone in the wilderness, where she begins to learn that he has troubles of his own… and that there just might be something very real and very eerie out there waiting for both of them.

Love and Other Theories by Alexis Bass (December 30, 2014)

If you want more, you have to give less. That’s the secret to dating in high school. By giving as little as they expect to get in return, seventeen-year-old Aubrey Housing and her three best friends have made it to the second semester of their senior year heartbreak-free. And it’s all thanks to a few simple rules: don’t commit, don’t be needy, and don’t give away your heart. So when smoking-hot Nathan Diggs transfers to Lincoln High, it shouldn’t be a big deal. At least that’s what Aubrey tells herself. But Nathan’s new-boy charm, his kindness, and his disarming honesty throw Aubrey off her game and put her in danger of breaking the most important rule of all: Don’t fall in love.

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown (August 20, 2016)

Joanna Gordon has been out and proud for years, but when her popular radio evangelist father remarries and decides to move all three of them from Atlanta to the more conservative Rome, Georgia, he asks Jo to do the impossible: to lie low for the rest of her senior year. And Jo reluctantly agrees. Although it is (mostly) much easier for Jo to fit in as a straight girl, things get complicated when she meets Mary Carlson, the oh-so-tempting sister of her new friend at school. But Jo couldn’t possibly think of breaking her promise to her dad. Even if she’s starting to fall for the girl. Even if there’s a chance Mary Carlson might be interested in her, too. Right?

Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo (December 11, 2012)

From the moment 15-year-old Amelia begins work on the checkout at Woolworths she is sunk, gone, lost…head-over-heels in love with Chris. Chris is the funny, charming, man-about-Woolies, but he’s 21, and the 6-year difference in their ages may as well be 100. Chris and Amelia talk about everything from Second Wave Feminism to Great Expectations and Alien but will he ever look at her in the way she wants him to? And if he does, will it be everything she hopes?

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn (May 13, 2014)

Gemma had her summer all planned out, but it takes a sharp turn when she gets dumped and finds herself back in the Hamptons after a five-year absence. Being there puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friends (that is, before Gemma ruined her life). But people don’t hold grudges forever. Do they? Gemma intends on making amends, but a small case of mistaken identity causes the people she knew years ago—including Hallie and her dreamy brother, Josh—to believe she’s someone else. As though the summer wasn’t complicated enough already. Filled with summer sun, boys, and friendships gone sour, Katie Finn’s first novel in the Broken Hearts and Revenge series sizzles and delights. [The sequels also have similarly funny titles: Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold; and Hearts, Fingers, and Other Things to Cross]

Love & Other Carnivorous Plants by Florence Gonsalves (May 15, 2018)

Freshman year at Harvard was the most anticlimactic year of Danny’s life. She’s failing pre-med and drifting apart from her best friend. One by one, Danny is losing all the underpinnings of her identity. When she finds herself attracted to an older, edgy girl who she met in rehab for an eating disorder, she finally feels like she might be finding a new sense of self. But when tragedy strikes, her self-destructive tendencies come back to haunt her as she struggles to discover who that self really is.

Heartache and Other Natural Shocks by Glenda Leznoff (October 13, 2015)

When fifteen-year-old Julia Epstein and her Anglophone family flee Montreal in October 1970, she struggles to adjust to a new life in the suburban wasteland of North York, Toronto. Next door lives Carla Cabrielli, who works her “assets” and knows how to get what she wants. Julia and Carla get on a collision course, not only for the same role in the school production of Hamlet, but also for the leading man – sword-wielding bad boy and sex magnet, Ian Slater. Heartache and Other Natural Shocks explores teen rivalry. When events take a dangerous turn, both Julia and Carla become vulnerable to deception and betrayal. Full of unexpected twist and turns, Glenda Leznoff’s unique novel marks the debut of an important new voice in young-adult fiction.

Kale, My Ex, and Other Things to Toss in a Blender by Lisa Greenwald (May 20, 2017)

When Mia’s summer starts with an epic breakup, she s sure the rest of the vacation will be miserable. But her best friend, Justine, would never let that happen. Their plan has two parts. One: use their summer job driving a snow cone truck to keep tabs on Mia s ex in person. Two: create a fake persona to connect with Mia s ex online. Soon both plans have morphed into something so much bigger. Add some kale to a snow cone and they ve got the hottest smoothie in town . . . and more money than they could have imagined. And when Mia s ex starts falling for the online girl, there s a revenge plot just waiting to be born. A guy who dumps a girl because he thinks her thighs are too thick deserves to have his heart broken by a fake girlfriend, right? All’s fair in love and smoothies.

Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen (January 2, 2018)

Noah is a hopeless romantic. He’s heading back home for one last chance with his first love, whom he broke up with when he went off to college. Ammy doesn’t believe in true love—her parents being prime examples. She’s escaping from a mom who can’t take care of her to a dad who may not even want her. That is, until one winter night when Noah and Ammy find themselves in the same Amtrak car heading to Upstate New York. After a train-wreck first encounter between the two of them, the Amtrak train suddenly breaks down due to a snowstorm. Desperate to make it to their destinations, Noah and Ammy have no other option but to travel together. What starts off as a minor detour turns into the whirlwind journey of a lifetime, and over the course of the night they fall in love. But come morning their adventure takes an unexpected turn for the worst. Can one night can really change how they feel about love…and the course of their lives forever?

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan (May 1, 2014)

Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue — the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiancé up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn’t always like, and the best friend who hasn’t said a word — at least not in a language Josie understands.

Love Songs & Other Lies by Jessica Pennington (April 24, 2018)

Two years after rock-song-worthy heartbreak, Virginia Miller is looking forward to a fun, carefree summer. Her friends just landed a spot on a battling bands reality show, and Vee is joining them for her dream internship on tour. Three months with future rockstars seems like an epic summer plan. Until she learns she’ll also be sharing the bus with Cam. Her first love, and her first heartbreak. Now Vee has more than just cameras to dodge, and Cam’s determination to win her forgiveness is causing TMZ-worthy problems for both of them. With cameras rolling, she’ll have to decide if her favorite breakup anthem deserves a new ending. And if she’s brave enough to expose her own secrets to keep Cam’s under wraps.

Airports, Exes, and Other Things I’m Over by Shani Petroff (May 15, 2018)

A bad storm, two canceled flights, stuck in an airport with a hot stranger and the guy who broke her heart… what could go wrong? After Sari caught her boyfriend Zev cheating on her, their romantic Florida vacation was ruined. She can’t get back to NYC soon enough. Unfortunately, mother nature may have different plans. A huge storm is brewing in the Northeast, and flights all over the country are getting canceled—including Sari’s. She winds up stuck at the airport for hours. With Zev! When another stranded passenger (a hot NYU guy) suggests a connecting flight to Boston, Sari jumps at the chance. But when her mom freaks out about her traveling alone, she has no choice—she has to include Zev, and somehow survive being trapped with the guy who broke her heart!

The New Guy (and Other Senior Year Distractions) by Amy Spalding (April 5, 2016)

Filled with romance, rivalry, and passive-aggressive dog walking, Amy Spalding delivers a hilariously relatable story about how even the best-laid plans sometimes need to be rewritten. What’s the only thing that could derail overachiever Jules’s perfect senior year? Alex Powell–former member of boy-band sensation Chaos 4 All and newest transfer to Eagle Vista Academy. Alex seems cool enough when he starts spending time with Jules. In fact, he turns out to be quite the romantic (not to mention a killer kisser). And after getting over the initial shock that someone like Alex might actually like her, Jules accepts that having a boyfriend could be a nice addition to her packed schedule. That is, until Alex commits the ultimate betrayal, which threatens to ruin her high school career, and possibly her entire future.

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga (February 10, 2015)

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness. There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel’s convinced she’s found her solution: a teen boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman) who’s haunted by a family tragedy is looking for a partner. Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other’s broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. Except that Roman may not be so easy to convince.

Trusting You and Other Lies by Nicole Williams (June 20, 2017)

Phoenix can’t imagine anything worse than being shipped off to family summer camp. Her parents have been fighting for the past two years–do they seriously think being crammed in a cabin with Phoenix and her little brother, Harry, will make things better? On top of that, Phoenix is stuck training with Callum–the head counselor who is seriously cute but a complete know-it-all. His hot-cold attitude means he’s impossible to figure out–and even harder to rely on. But despite her better judgment, Phoenix is attracted to Callum. And he’s promising Phoenix a summer she’ll never forget. Can she trust him? Or is this just another lie?

Love and Other Alien Experiences by Kerry Winfrey (November 10, 2015)

Mallory hasn’t left the house in sixty-seven days–since the day her dad left. She attends her classes via webcam, rarely leaves her room (much to her brother’s chagrin), and spends most of her time watching The X-Files or chatting with the always obnoxious BeamMeUp on New Mexico’s premier alien message board. But when she’s shockingly nominated for homecoming queen, her life takes a surprising turn. She slowly begins to open up to the world outside. And maybe if she can get her popular jock neighbor Brad Kirkpatrick to be her homecoming date, her classmates will stop calling her a freak. In this heartwarming and humorous debut, Mallory discovers first love and the true meaning of home–just by taking one small step outside her house.

Homicidal Aliens and Other Disappointments by Brian Yansky (September 10, 2013)

Jesse has had the worst year of his life. First a race of homicidal (but very polite) aliens invaded Earth, killing pretty much everyone and enslaving the few people left behind, including Jesse; his best friend, Michael; his sort-of girlfriend, Lauren; and the girl of his dreams, Catlin. Now Jesse is revered as some sort of Chosen One all because he managed to kill one of the alien lords and escape — even though he’s not really sure how he did it. But it’s hard to argue with the multitude of new talents he is developing, including (somehow) killing aliens with his mind and grasping glimpses of alternate futures. With thousands of aliens already on Earth and thirty million more about to arrive, Jesse has to decide whether to embrace his maybe-destiny before the world is completely destroyed. No pressure. [This is the sequel to Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences.]

What I’m Reading Now

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Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow

I read a lot of short pieces online about various political and governmental topics, but I generally stay away from the full-length books. I’m actively trying to change that by seeking out books on interesting topics written by people I already know and trust. Maddow’s central thesis is that over the years, the American military has transformed from a small force engaged in war only when absolutely necessary into a bloated, inefficient machine with a muddled mission and ineffective tactics, a military that is now perpetually at war. That’s no denigration of the soldiers; rather, she takes issue with the power of the executive to send soldiers into war without calling it such, with the increased privatization of military action, with the military’s obsession with nuclear weapons and its myopic focus on counterterrorism, with the CIA’s de facto status as a branch of the military unsupervised in any meaningful way, with the public’s apathy toward the fact that we’re always at war somewhere, and more. She documents just how far we’ve strayed from Thomas Jefferson’s proclamation to “never keep an unnecessary soldier,” from the idea that war is to be avoided at all costs and if the nation must enter into it, it must deeply affect the general populace of the United States – so that it hurts us at home just as much as it hurts the soldiers fighting it. It’s well-argued, clearly-written, and mostly non-partisan. Maddow reads the audiobook version, which is of course the perfect choice.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

For almost a decade of my life, adult fantasy novels made up 90% of my reading diet. It’s been a long time since that was the case; now I read mostly YA science fiction and fantasy, adult romance, and adult mysteries and thrillers. But I haven’t forgotten my longtime love, and I’m hoping to rekindle our romance with this doorstopper of a novel that’s universally beloved by pretty much all my fantasy-loving friends. It’s got a traditional fantasy plotline – an oppressed people fights back against their evil overlords with the help of a magically gifted, inspiring revolutionary – with an interesting magic system and detailed, well-realized world-building. At 541 pages, I’m hoping I can finish it before it needs to be returned to the library.

When Light Left Us by Leah Thomas

This is a weird one (I’m hoping in a good way!). The three Vasquez siblings’ father left their family without an explanation, and soon after, a strange being named Luz joins them. Incorporeal Luz lives inside the kids for a brief time, experimenting with each of their most valued physical features in order to explore the world around it: Hank’s hands, Ana’s eyes, and Milo’s ears. In return, the siblings’ abilities with these particular features, already sharp (Hank plays basketball; Ana makes movies), are heightened. But Luz doesn’t stay long either, and when it leaves, it cripples the very things the kids valued most. Written a certain way, this premise might come across as silly, but Thomas’ writing is dense and dreamlike, layered with emotion, and so far, it’s working.

 

Guess The YA Book By Its Card Catalog Subject Headings

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It’s been a minute since I’ve done one of these posts, so let’s do it again. You can check out past entries here and here. The premise is simple, but the game is not as easy as it seems like it could be.

I’ll screen cap the subject headings for popular YA books, and you’ll see how well you can guess what those books are based entirely on the subject headings. These won’t be obscure books, though by the card catalog subject headings, you might think they are. Note that some of these I’ve limited to the first handful of subject headings. Answers are at the bottom of the post, and I’d love to hear in the comments how you did! Anything particularly tricky? Anything particularly easy?

 

Guess The YA Book By Its Card Catalog Subject Headings

 

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(This one had two very big giveaways as the first subjects, so I scrambled them).

 

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Answers below!

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1. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily XR Pan

2. Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

3. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

4. One Of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

6. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

7. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

8. Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson

9. Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor (the first two subject headings were “Teens’ Top Ten Nominee” and “Michael L. Printz Honor Books”).

10. The Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

 

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

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I don’t read a lot of verse novels, but I really should: they’re fast reads (despite a hefty page count for many), immediately give me a sense of the narrator’s voice, and offer a new way to tell sometimes old stories. In the case of Xiomara in The Poet X, hers is a story that has been told before in that it’s a story about coming of age, about finding your voice when others try to silence you. At the same time, it’s a story not told often enough – that of a young girl of color finding her way in this country.

Xiomara is the fifteen year old daughter of Dominican immigrants, a girl whose curves developed early and whose devout Catholic mother forces her to adhere to a strict code of behavior. This code of behavior has no room for dating and boys, but it also has no room for poetry, the only outlet Xiomara has for expressing herself. She tells her story in poems, a story that includes falling in like with a Trinidadian boy from her school, her struggles with and questions about the religious faith she was raised with, and her talent for both writing and performing her poetry. When Xiomara learns about a poetry club at school, she decides to join, letting her mother believe she is going to confirmation class instead. Even as Xiomara starts to blossom in this area of her life, as she’s drawn out by a trustworthy teacher, a dependable friend, and a kind boy who treats her as a person and not as a body, her home life closes in: these secrets Xiomara keeps cannot remain secret forever.

Acevedo’s writing is so good; it’s no surprise that she’s won awards for her poetry (written and performed). Xiomara tells her story in short poems of no more than 2-3 pages each. Often the title of the poem doubles as its first line; sometimes the titles refer to each other, creating a deliberate contrast, as when Xiomara shares the draft of an assignment in English class and then shares the final version on the next page. Sometimes the poems are in Spanish or Xiomara quotes her mother in Spanish, though a translation soon follows. Xiomara tells her story mostly in free verse, but she also sometimes experiments with haiku and unconventional spacing or line breaks. Each poem furthers the story while also giving us more of Xiomara’s voice, and the resultant package is one of beauty, depth, and intensity. This is a stellar example of the verse novel format.

Acevedo’s treatment of the harassment Xiomara receives simply for being a girl that exists in physical space – especially one with well-developed curves – is particularly well-done. She’s harassed by the men on the street as well as the boys in school. She’s had to learn to stand up for herself, to protect herself against these men and boys and their words and hands, because no one else will do it for her. Acevedo also excels at portraying the relationship between Xiomara and her twin brother, Xavier, who is gay but must hide it from his parents, who at best would disapprove and at worst would subject him to the same (or worse) punishment that Xiomara receives for her many perceived transgressions. Xiomara’s Harlem neighborhood comes alive in her poems, too: the characters and the place they reside live and breathe.

Xiomara’s authentic voice, which includes some slang in both vocabulary and structure as well as a few pop culture references (Nicki Minaj and Drake, for example), will resonate with today’s teens, many of whom will find a welcome mirror in her story. Acevedo’s dedication reads, “To Katherine Bolaños and my former students at Buck Lodge Middle School 2010-2012, and all the little sisters yearning to see themselves: this is for you.” At a panel at the Texas Library Association, Acevedo explained a bit about Katherine, a girl in the English class she taught who had no interest in reading – until Acevedo was able to give her books where she could see at least a little of herself and her life. As librarians, we know these kids, and we know that the non-reader is just the reader who hasn’t been given the right book. The Poet X will be that book for many girls who haven’t found theirs yet.