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Self-Published YA in the Public Library

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Wrangling self-published books for teens can seem like a daunting task for a public librarian (meaning: me). There are a lot of very popular self-published YA novels, mostly series or continuations of traditionally-published series, that get a lot of teen readership but never make it to review journals or even vendor websites. Learning what these are is a challenging first step; making a decision to purchase without the usual backups (publisher/author reputation, professional reviews, reading it yourself) is another challenge. Very many of these straddle the YA/NA line (we do not put New Adult in our teen collection), and that’s yet another facet to tackle. Luckily, there are a number of teens in my community who are more than happy to request the books they want, whether they do it through our online form or via another staff member.

Below are the titles and series I have gotten the most requests for and seem to be the most popular. They circulate really well; it’s clear teens are telling their friends about them. In fact, that’s often what they write on the request form: “recommended by a friend.” What self-published YA titles do well in your library, and how generous are you when you buy something that’s more or less an unknown quantity?

 

Arcana Rising, The Dark Calling, and From the Grave by Kresley Cole

The Emperor unleashes hell and annihilates an army, jeopardizing the future of mankind–but Circe strikes back. The epic clash between them devastates the Arcana world and nearly kills Evie, separating her from her allies. With Aric missing and no sign that Jack and Selena escaped Richter’s reach, Evie turns more and more to the darkness lurking inside her. Two Arcana emerge as game changers: one who could be her salvation, the other her worst nightmare. To take on Richter, Evie must reunite with Death and mend their broken bond. But as she learns more about her role in the future–and her chilling past–will she become a monster like the Emperor? Or can Evie and her allies rise up from Richter’s ashes, stronger than ever before?

These three books are self-published continuations of Cole’s traditionally-published Arcana Chronicles.

 

Spy Girl by Jillian Dodd

An eighteen-year-old covert agent is pulled out of training before graduation by Black X, a espionage group so secret even the President of the United States doesn’t know it exists.

For her first mission, she must go undercover as the long-lost daughter of a recently deceased billionaire, infiltrate high society, and protect the Prince of Montrovia from assassination. But Prince Lorenzo is known as the Playboy Prince for a reason and his sensuality and charisma add a whole other level of complication to her mission.

She knows that her every move is being watched, but what she doesn’t know is that the Prince is just a chess piece in a bigger game that will have world-wide ramifications. And that Blackwood Academy, the place she has called home for the past six years has secrets of its own.

This is a 7-book self-published series.

 

The Gender Game by Bella Forrest

A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates’s world by gender. Women rule the East. Men rule the West. Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet’s life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes. To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit. Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive. But abiding by rules has never been Violet’s strong suit. When she’s thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom … including forbidden love.

This is a 7-book self-published series.

 

The Apple Throne by Tessa Gratton

There is only one person in the whole world who remembers the famous prophet Astrid Glyn: the berserker Soren Bearstar.

Ever since Astrid agreed to give up her life, her name, and even her prophetic dreams to become Idun the Young, the almost-goddess who protects the apples of immortality in a secret mountain orchard, she’s been forgotten by everyone. Everyone except Soren.

For the last two years he’s faithfully visited her every three months. Then one day he doesn’t come. Though forbidden to leave the orchard, Astrid defies the gods by escaping with a bastard son of Thor to find Soren. But ancient creatures are moving in the mountains beneath the country. They are desperate to leave the shadows and Astrid’s quest might be the key they need.

Not-quite-a-goddess, but no longer only a girl, Astrid must choose a path that will save herself and the people she loves without unraveling the ancient magic that holds the entire nine worlds together. Welcome to the final chapter of the United States of Asgard.

This is the final book in the United States of Asgard trilogy whose first two books were traditionally published. Gratton has since re-released the first two as self-published titles as well.

 

Intensity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

It’s a demon-eat-demon world for Nick Gautier. Just when he thinks he’s finally gotten a handle on how not to take over the world and destroy it, Death returns with an all-star cast that is determined to end the Malachai reign and lineage forever. Worse? Death and War have found the one, true enemy Nick can’t find, and even if he did, it’s one he could never bring himself to banish or kill.

Now framed for murders he hasn’t committed, and surrounded by new friends who might be turncoats, Nick is learning fast how his father went down in flames.

The heat in New Orleans is rising fast, and Nick’s threat-level has gone into a whole new level of intensity. He’s learning fast that when War and Death decide to battle, they don’t take prisoners. The don’t negotiate. And they’re both immune to his biting sarcasm and Cajun charm. To win this, he will have to embrace a new set of powers, but one wrong step, and he will belong to the side of Darkness, forever.

This book is a self-published continuation of Kenyon’s Chronicles of Nick.

 

Air Awakens by Elisa Kova

A library apprentice, a sorcerer prince, and an unbreakable magic bond…

The Solaris Empire is one conquest away from uniting the continent, and the rare elemental magic sleeping in seventeen-year-old library apprentice Vhalla Yarl could shift the tides of war.

Vhalla has always been taught to fear the Tower of Sorcerers, a mysterious magic society, and has been happy in her quiet world of books. But after she unknowingly saves the life of one of the most powerful sorcerers of them all—the Crown Prince Aldrik—she finds herself enticed into his world. Now she must decide her future: Embrace her sorcery and leave the life she’s known, or eradicate her magic and remain as she’s always been. And with powerful forces lurking in the shadows, Vhalla’s indecision could cost her more than she ever imagined.

This is a 5-book self-published series.

 

Tainted Accords by Kelly St. Clare

I know many things. What I am capable of, what I will change, what I will become. But there is one thing I will never know… The veil I’ve worn from birth carries with it a terrible loneliness; a suppression I cannot imagine being free of. My mother will always hate me. Her court will always shun me. When the peace delegation arrives from the savage world of Glacium, my life is shoved wildly out of control by the handsome Prince Kedrick who, for unfathomable reasons, shows me kindness.

Sometimes it takes the world bringing you to your knees to find that spark you thought forever lost. Sometimes it takes death to show you how to live.

This is a 4-book self-published series.

 

Cashmere by Temple West

Relieved that her nightmares have ended, Caitlin is disturbed to find that something even stranger has taken their place.

Determined to get on with her life, even amid a crazy paranormal manhunt, she applies for a competitive summer fashion internship in New York. Searching desperately for answers about what Caitlin might be, how Adrian’s father is involved, and where Lucian has been kidnapped to, Caitlin and Adrian must rely on each other to survive. But when the truth finally comes to light, the consequences are unimaginable.

And the question still haunts them both: even if they survive, how will they deal with the fact that Adrian is immortal and Caitlin is not?

This is the sequel to West’s traditionally-published Velvet.

YA Cover Makeovers: 5 To Check Out and Consider

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Part of my job at Book Riot requires spending time perusing Edelweiss in order to know the books that are on the horizon. I don’t write a whole lot about book covers over there, but I do take note of them as I work because there is a lot to say about them.

I’ve been highlighting cover changes in YA since this blog began nearly ten years ago, and though they’re still common, it seems to me that cover changes are happening less frequently than they have in years past. I suspect better initial designs and following tried-and-true trends is part of the reason. Make your title font nice and big with one key, easily-identifiable image — likely illustrated — and you’re going to not only catch eyes on book shelves, but you’re going to have something that shows up great on screens. Perhaps that’s part of it, too. There’s a much better understanding of the power of how covers appear digitally, either on a desktop or on mobile, and so there’s even more consideration in the design process than there ever has been before.

It’s also hard not to take into consideration the fact that YA books are primarily purchased by those over the age of 18 and armed with that knowledge, cover designs in YA mirror many seen in adult fiction. There are good things and there are not-so-good things about that. I’d recommend reading this thoughtful piece from a teen reader on the ways that YA can alienate the very age group it’s meant to reach.

This is the first round-up of recent and upcoming YA book cover changes I’ll share before the year ends. I’ve pulled an interesting range of design makeovers. Some do better in their original hardback while others sparkle a bit more in paperback.

As always, I’d love to hear what you think about the cover changes. What do you prefer of these? If you work with young readers, does one seem like it speaks more to them than the other?

Original hardcover designs are on the left, with the new paperback look on the right.

YA Cover Makeovers

 

I’m not going to lie: every time I see the hardcover for Margot Harrison’s The Killer In Me, I’m reminded that I want to read it. The vibes it gives are very much a me-book. It’s desolate. There’s a teen girl at the helm with what is either a clear mission or reflection upon a tough job done. It’s stark and striking. But, in being that way, the title of the book gets lost in the background. The font colors really do fade into the landscape, and not in a way that’s useful for actually remembering what the book is called. The font is also small, making it tough to render on screen. Note that on the hardcover, we get a tag line: “The truth can’t stay buried forever.” I love it, and I love how it mirrors the image of the off-centered girl.

The paperback version, which hit shelves in early October, takes away some of the desolation and starkness. But in exchange, it gives a much larger, more readable title, while maintaining the shovel that was on the hardcover. I’m not a huge fan of the way that the author’s name is stacked and shoved at the very top — not easy to read — and it’s interesting that because the focus is on the shovel and on the title, there’s no longer a tag line on the image. This to me reads much more like an adult book cover than a teen book cover, whereas the hardcover feels much more teen because we see what appears to be a younger person on it.

Neither one is better or worse, as they both have interesting and parallel elements to them. As a reader, I’d gravitate toward the hardcover because of the feeling I get from it, but I see that same reasoning being why readers might pick up the paperback.

 

 

Talk about a dramatic cover makeover. Caleb Roehrig’s White Rabbit had a frenzy of publicity when it hit shelves earlier this year. I ended up picking it up and liking it, and because it’s a psychological thriller/mystery/horror novel, there’s a high body count. The cover is actually pretty fitting, if not also fairly generic. The title and author names are easy to read, and the white and red color choices stand out against the blue and black palate of the image. There are two main male characters as identified by the shadows with the flashlights. And any time there is blood on a cover, you can count me in (Kimberly pointed out that bloody YA covers are a thing right now). The original hardback tells a reader everything you might want to know about the book and you can immediately place it within its appropriate readership.

The paperback, though, is a whole different rabbit. It’s bright and the contrast of the purple with the bright pink really makes it stand out. Visually, it’s a knockout in that department and it shows well both on screen and, I suspect, will pop on shelves. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with the pink splotches on the purple — maybe it’s blood? But the use of the knife as the “I” in White is really clever and conveys so much about the feel of the book. This cover has a blurb on it from bestseller Karen McManus, which wasn’t on the original. I’m not usually a blurb fan, but I actually think readers who love One Of Us Is Lying would really be into White Rabbit, so it works as its own reader’s advisory tool.

That said, it does not strike me as a YA book at all. It looks like adult fiction. Again, that means and doesn’t mean anything, but I’m far more likely to see teens reading the hardcover and identifying it as a book for them than I am with the paperback. Perhaps that’s the goal, to get more adults to pick it up in paperback, especially with the McManus endorsement.

I like both takes, but for very different reasons. I actually hope we see a rise in covers like the one on the right (with attention paid to making them look as teen-friendly as possible) because they’re so different. The paperback releases on January 29.

 

 

 

Can we talk about how fun the hardcover of The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee is? It’s clearly indicating exactly the kind of book it is: a fun, action packed title with a badass female lead. And the tagline! “A demon invasion is no excuse for bad grades” tells you everything about the book’s tone. That said: aside from being an extremely telling cover, it’s fairly generic. It doesn’t pop and doesn’t offer much in terms of the cultural touchstones within the book. The author’s name is small enough on the cover that, when pulling the images together, it got cut off.

The paperback edition of the book, available June 11 (yes, next summer!), is absolutely dreamy and it’s about as different from the hardcover as can be. The color palate is light and airy, and it’s very clear the book is set in San Francisco, with West Asian cultural heritage playing a large part of the story. We still have Genie Lo in the image, but this time, she’s less the focal point, but what’s neat is that all of the elements above her — the dragons, the mountains, the Golden Gate Bridge — comprise who she is. The title font is lovely and flowy. Yee’s name is a little more prominent, though in the paperback edition, the fabulous tagline is no longer there.

Not having read this book, I can’t pinpoint which one feels more true to the actual story. I have a hunch it might be the hardcover, but I suspect, too, that the paperback plays into some very crucial aspects of the book as well. The original cover? Sells to those who want action and adventure. The paperback? Appeals to readers who are eager for a more internal, culturally-enmeshed book. The original cover speaks to readers who want a louder book, while the paperback speaks to those who want a quieter read.

I really dig both of them and would be curious what others think. Neither does it better or worse. They’re just very different.

 

 

 

 

Veronica Chambers books were among some of the most popular books when I worked in a library that served a large Latinx population, and her latest book is a standalone. The Go-Between hardcover features a lot of fun, trendy elements to it: it’s illustrated, includes a number of bright colors on a black background, and uses the title font cleverly. The “Go” as a pair of glasses — maybe sunglasses, given the palm trees — adds something special to the title itself. There’s no tag line here, and as much as the cover leans into many contemporary YA book cover trends, the cover itself doesn’t tell you much about the book. The girl looks like she might have brown skin, but it’s not entirely clear if she’s meant to be brown skinned or if she’s a girl who has white skin with a dark tan. That ambiguity is only enhanced when you consider the “Go” as sunglasses, along with the waves for water, and the palm trees dotting the cover. It’s not a bad cover but it really doesn’t sell the book.

The paperback, however, is fabulous and tells the reader far more about the book. First and foremost? It’s a brown girl lead character. From her skin tone to the curly hair, there’s no question she is a girl of color. We retain the palm tree motif in the redesign, but they work more cohesively. The font choice for the title is fresher, and the cover itself reminds me quite a bit of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, a book that would be an excellent readalike for this one. This cover features a tagline, and it’s a tagline that really solidifies the comparison to Mexican Daughter and better expresses the tone and feel of the book: “She’s caught between two worlds, but neither will define her.” The girl’s expression, her placement between the trees, the sun peeping over her shoulder. Those aspects are smart.

I don’t dislike the hardcover on this one, but the paperback absolutely nails it. That book is for teens, and it’s a book fans of Sanchez’s title will want to pick up. You can pick up the paperback on April 16.

 

 

Finally, this cover change is one that I can’t stop thinking about. Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen is a book about war, and frankly, I can’t figure out how I didn’t get that from the original hardcover. I’ve been convinced it’s a mystery/thriller. Maybe because it’s eerily reminiscent of a YA series that uses the same red and giant face of a girl that is of that genre. Maybe, too, it’s the title itself. Likewise, the blurb — though by Elizabeth Wein — offers no insight into the book’s content either. It becomes more obviously not a mystery/thriller when you notice what’s going on in the background. Those are soldiers, and buried behind the girl’s head are Nazi flags. It takes a lot of careful attention to pick up on those things, and I think that symbolism and clarity is hard to parse out because of the red and giant face of a girl being front and center.

The paperback, due out on February 19, suffers from some challenges, but it isn’t as muddled as the hardcover is. The fonts for both the title and author are far cleaner and less designed, and while we have an image of a girl running away — a big contrast from a girl who is commanding attention — the tagline on the cover gives far more insight into the book’s content. “She’s a liar. A thief. And the Nazis worst nightmare.” We know exactly where the book is situated and we know that the girl is one who is bound and determined to do something. The planes also situate the book in World War 2. The color palate is far more muted than the hardcover, too, which changes the tone of the book. It’s less aggressive and more somber.

The two covers tell two very different stories. For readers, I think the paperback redesign might be more clear in terms of what the book is about.

 

 

What do you think? Which cover does it better in each of these? I’d love your thoughts in the comments! 

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada

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Catarina Agatta lives in a future world where every human has a “panel” that controls their genes, giving them the ability to recode their DNA. The programs to alter human DNA have to be coded by master code-writers and hackers – it’s not something that just anyone can do. Catarina is a master though; she takes after her father, Lachlan, a scientist who was kidnapped by the evil organization Cartaxus two years ago. Cartaxus keeps their own programs under copyright, including most importantly those that cure diseases. They’re hoping Lachlan will be able to code a vaccine for the latest disease that’s crippling humanity, one that makes humans go into “the wrath” and kill each other mindlessly, right before they literally explode. Catarina is left to survive on her own, eating those with the disease for immunity, refusing to enter a Cartaxus settlement that protects its residents from the disease because she has unauthorized code in her body, code that saves her life but would be stripped by Cartaxus. But then a young Cartaxus agent named Cole arrives, and he says he’s been sent by Lachlan to help Catarina unlock the key to the vaccine – and everything goes to hell in a handbasket after that (and you thought things were already bad).

There’s a lot going on in this book, and the synopsis above only gets at a portion of it. This is one of those books where it’s best to just strap yourself in and go along for the ride. It’s full of twists and turns, with a whopper of a reveal near the end that took me completely by surprise but in retrospect was carefully planned and executed by Suvada. I always appreciate a well-plotted novel, and this is a great example: readers should pay careful attention to every detail Suvada drops, because it may be important later on. This Mortal Coil also feels more cutting-edge than any of the other futuristic sci-fi novels I’ve read recently. I can’t think of another book for teens that uses the mapping of the human genome and subsequent gene editing (with tools like CRISPR) as a major plot point. It’s fascinating to me, in part because it’s just entering the mainstream conversation, and in part because the possibilities (practical and story-wise) seem endless. Tech like this makes me feel like I’m living in the future; Emily Suvada brought it to life. Whether her vision of what gene editing can actually do is realistic or not remains to be seen, and is a question perhaps best left to scientists. But it does make for a good story.

I liked Catarina as a protagonist. She’s smart and reacts realistically to every obstacle thrown at her (and there are many). There’s a romance that develops between her and Cole, which feels natural and unforced. The twist near the end gives it greater depth while simultaneously adding to its complications. Catarina is also a human teenager, though, despite her extraordinary intelligence. She’s easily led by the bad guys (and just who the bad guys are is not always clear), feels the betrayal of her loved ones keenly, and sometimes acts in a way that is not in her best interest out of fear or stubbornness.

While the book isn’t perfect (it meanders sometimes in the middle, the gene-coding aspects are not always well-explained), it’s a cut above most other recent apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic stories, particularly those featuring a plague. The gene-coding angle is not one that’s been done in this way before, and the twisty plot will keep readers hooked. This is one to seek out.

 

Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer

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Nita’s mother captures and kills unnaturals – supernatural beings with special abilities or powers – and sells their parts, which can pass down powers of their own, on the black market. Nita doesn’t do the killing; her job is to dissect the bodies and prepare the parts for sale. She tells herself it’s OK because she’s not actually killing anyone. And the unnaturals her mother kills and sells are dangerous anyway. Mostly. It helps her feel less guilty about how much she enjoys dissecting these beings, which are mostly just humans with a few tweaks. But then her mother brings home a live unnatural, whom she plans to cut up while he’s still living, and Nita has to make a choice. The choice she makes has catastrophic consequences: she ends up sold on the black market, her own unnatural ability to heal herself revealed. And her captors plan to sell her off, piece by piece, to buyers who think eating bits of her will make them immortal.

When it comes to horror, I’m much more likely to read books for teens than adults. I’m a bit squeamish (no horror movies for me at all!), and I find that YA horror novels usually have the right amount of scares for me. Rebecca Schaeffer did her best to prove me wrong – Not Even Bones is pretty gruesome, and it doesn’t shy away from describing in detail how the parts for sale become detached from the body itself, and what people do with the parts once they buy them. It’s definitely on the edge of what I can handle. But it’s so well done, I enjoyed it a lot anyway. The book is essentially an escape plot, and it’s fast-paced and exciting, with twists I didn’t see coming. Schaeffer’s also a great world-builder. The market lives and breathes (often literally), bringing home the horror of the concept. She also does a good job of extrapolating her concept to the details: how attempts to protect unnaturals go awry and corruption sets in, how unnaturals use their abilities in creative ways large and small, the often ineffective and cruel ways unnaturals are used by others.

Nita is a great protagonist. She walks the line between hero and anti-hero, struggling with her own sense of morality. She must do things she never thought she would or could in order to escape, crossing several lines she had drawn for herself. Combine these actions with the opposing facts that Nita both enjoyed enabling her mother’s actions as well as freed her last victim, and readers will see that Nita is a complex and difficult character. Schaeffer introduces a sometimes-enemy, sometimes-ally of Nita’s in the character of Kovit, an unnatural called a zanny who must eat human pain to live. He has his own struggles with his morality that compare with Nita’s: he, too, enjoys his “work,” which in this case is torturing people. Zannies get intense pleasure from the kind of feeding they’re required to do. But he’s also capable of extreme acts of selflessness. Readers will find themselves questioning the degrees of moral difference between Nita and Kovit – and if there is any difference at all. This is a good pick for teens who don’t mind (or seek out!) some gore in their horror.

50 Must-Read Young Adult Anthologies For Your TBR

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At my very first library job, one of the school requests I got was specifically for Young Adult anthologies. The teacher used the stories as a means of getting teens interested in reading in a different way — something short, catchy, and with their reading in mind, young adult anthologies helped encourage new reading experiences and voices to those who might otherwise not be exposed to them outside the typical classroom canonical works.

Of course, young adult anthologies are something I care deeply about, having now edited two of my own. I’ve also curated a semi-regular series here called “Anatomy of a YA Anthology,” wherein editors of other YA anthologies have shared their inspirations, their processes, and talked about who their book is for.

Find below a round-up of 50 (actually 52, since two are forthcoming in 2019) young adult anthologies you should know about. These span topics and genres, with a wide range of voices and styles represented. While editorship of YA anthologies skews white and straight, there are more diverse titles in recent years and additionally, these collections themselves have gotten much stronger in representation in recent years, too. Not included on this list are short story collections by a single author; while they’re also anthologies, my focus here is on young adult anthologies which are edited works of numerous other authors.

Descriptions pulled from Goodreads/Amazon. Drop your favorite young adult anthologies into the comments if it’s not included; I can’t wait to hear about more and put them on other readers’ radars. I’ve included both young adult short story anthologies, as well as young adult anthologies with essays and nonfiction.

 

Must-Read YA Anthologies | YA Anthologies | book lists | anthologies to read | young adult anthologies | #YALit | #YABooks

 

Must-Read YA Anthologies

 

 

All Out: The No Longer Secret Stories of Queer Teens Through The Ages edited by Saundra Miller

Take a journey through time and genres and discover a past where queer figures live, love and shape the world around them. Seventeen of the best young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written diverse historical fiction for teens. 

From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

 

 

 

Because You Love To Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy by Amerie

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains’ points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like “Medusa,” Sherlock Holmes, and “Jack and the Beanstalk” provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains’ acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage–and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

 

 

 

 

 

Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology edited by Danielle Binks

The YA event of the year. Bestsellers. Award-winners. Superstars. This anthology has them all. With brilliantly entertaining short stories from beloved young adult authors Amie Kaufman, Melissa Keil, Will Kostakis, Ellie Marney, Jaclyn Moriarty, Michael Pryor, Alice Pung, Gabrielle Tozer, Lili Wilkinson and Danielle Binks, this all-new collection will show the world exactly how much there is to love about Aussie YA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behind The Song edited by KM Walton

A song to match everyone’s heartbeat.

A soaring melody, a pulse-pounding beat, a touching lyric: Music takes a moment and makes it a memory. It’s a universal language that can capture love, heartbreak, loss, soul searching, and wing spreading—all in the span of a few notes. In Behind the Song, fourteen acclaimed young adult authors and musicians share short stories and personal essays inspired by the songs, the albums, the musicians who move them.

So cue up the playlist and crank the volume. This is an anthology you’ll want to experience on repeat.

 

 

 

Black Enough: Stories of Being Black and Young in America edited by Ibi Zoboi

Black Enough is a star-studded anthology edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi that will delve into the closeted thoughts, hidden experiences, and daily struggles of black teens across the country. From a spectrum of backgrounds—urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more—Black Enough showcases diversity within diversity.

Whether it’s New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds writing about #blackboyjoy or Newbery Honor-winning author Renee Watson talking about black girls at camp in Portland, or emerging author Jay Coles’s story about two cowboys kissing in the south—Black Enough is an essential collection full of captivating coming-of-age stories about what it’s like to be young and black in America.

 

 

Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance edited by Rhoda Belleza

It does not necessarily take a fist to create a punch in the gut. This fourteen-story YA fiction anthology delves into the experience of being bullied—socially, emotionally, physically, psychologically, and sexually. The school hallways, walks home, and house walls are no longer the boundaries for intimidation and harassment. With the rapid-fire response time of social media and smartphones, bullying has lost all limits, and the lines among truth, lies, and real accountability have become blurred. Featuring some of the hottest voices in YA literature, both bestselling and on the rise, Cornered includes works from Kirsten Miller (New York Times bestseller The Eternal Ones), Jennifer Brown (Hate List), Elizabeth Miles (Fury), Jaime Adoff (The Death of Jayson Porter), Lish McBride (Morris Award finalist Hold Me Closer, Necromancer), Matthue Roth (Losers), Sheba Karim (Skunk Girl), Kate Ellison (Butterfly Clues), Zeta Elliot (A Wish After Midnight), Josh Berk (The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin), and James Lecesne (Absolute Brightness and founder of the Trevor Project).

 

 

Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories edited by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Discover how Lauren Kate transformed the feeling of that one mean girl getting under her skin into her first novel, how Lauren Oliver learned to celebrate ambiguity in her classmates and in herself, and how R.L. Stine turned being the “funny guy” into the best defense against the bullies in his class.

Today’s top authors for teens come together to share their stories about bullying—as silent observers on the sidelines of high school, as victims, and as perpetrators—in a collection at turns moving and self-effacing, but always deeply personal.

 

Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters To Their Teen Selves edited by E. Kristin Anderson

Dear Teen Me includes advice from 70 YA authors (including Lauren Oliver, Ellen Hopkins, and Nancy Holder, to name a few) to their teenage selves. The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium. So pick a page, and find out which of your favorite authors had a really bad first kiss? Who found true love at 18? Who wishes he’d had more fun in high school instead of studying so hard? Some authors write diary entries, some write letters, and a few graphic novelists turn their stories into visual art. And whether you hang out with the theater kids, the band geeks, the bad boys, the loners, the class presidents, the delinquents, the jocks, or the nerds, you’ll find friends–and a lot of familiar faces–in the course of Dear Teen Me.

 

 

 

Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love edited by Heather Demetrios

This is a book about the dark side of love: the way it kicks your ass, tears out your heart, and then forces you to eat it, bite by bloody bite. If you’ve felt this way, you’re not alone…

In this powerful collection, YA authors answer real letters from teens all over the world about the dark side of love: dating violence, break-ups, cheating, betrayals, and loneliness. This book contains a no-holds-barred, raw outpouring of the wisdom these authors have culled from mining their own hearts for the fiction they write. Their responses are autobiographical, unflinching, and filled with love and hope for the anonymous teen letter writers.

Featuring Adi Alsaid, Becky Albertalli, Libba Bray, Heather Demetrios, Amy Ewing, Zach Fehst, Gayle Forman, Corey Ann Haydu, Varian Johnson, A.S. King, Nina LaCour, Kim Liggett, Kekla Magoon, Sarah McCarry, Sandhya Menon, Cristina Moracho, Jasmine Warga, and Ibi Zoboi.

 

 

Defy The Dark edited by Saundra Mitchell

The seventeen original stories in Defy the Dark, an eerie, mind-bending YA anthology, could only take place in darkness.

Open the pages and discover: A creepy guy who stares too long. The secrets of the core of the earth. Dreams of other people’s lives. A girl who goes mad in the darkness. Monsters in Bavaria. A generational spaceship where night doesn’t exist. And other mysteries and oddities.

The contributors to the enthralling collection are: Sarah Rees Brennan, Tessa Gratton, Rachel Hawkins, Christine Johnson, Valerie Kemp, Malinda Lo, Myra McEntire, Saundra Mitchell, Sarah Ockler, Jackson Pearce, Aprilynne Pike, Dia Reeves, Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan, Jon Skovron, Courtney Summers, and Kate Espy, winner of the Defy the Dark new author contest.

 

 

Diverse Energies edited by Tobias S. Buckell and Joe Monti

“No one can doubt that the wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men. No one can doubt that cooperation in the pursuit of knowledge must lead to freedom of the mind and freedom of the soul.”
—President John F. Kennedy, from a speech at University of California, March 23, 1962

In a world gone wrong, heroes and villains are not always easy to distinguish and every individual has the ability to contribute something powerful.

In this stunning collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the stars are a diverse group of students, street kids, good girls, kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, differing cultures, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds. Take a journey through time from a nuclear nightmare of the past to society’s far future beyond Earth with these eleven stories by masters of speculative fiction. Includes stories by Paolo Bacigalupi, Ursula K. Le Guin, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Daniel H. Wilson, and more.

 

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy edited by Kelly Jensen

Who’s Crazy?

What does it mean to be crazy? Is using the word crazy offensive? What happens when such a label gets attached to your everyday experiences?

In order to understand mental health, we need to talk openly about it. Because there’s no single definition of crazy, there’s no single experience that embodies it, and the word itself means different things—wild? extreme? disturbed? passionate?—to different people.

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy is a conversation starter and guide to better understanding how our mental health affects us every day. Thirty-three writers, athletes, and artists offer essays, lists, comics, and illustrations that explore their personal experiences with mental illness, how we do and do not talk about mental health, help for better understanding how every person’s brain is wired differently, and what, exactly, might make someone crazy.

If you’ve ever struggled with your mental health, or know someone who has, come on in, turn the pages, and let’s get talking.

 

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions edited by Marissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong

A journey may take hundreds of miles, or it may cover the distance between duty and desire.

Sixteen of today’s hottest writers of paranormal tales weave stories on a common theme of journeying. Authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine, and Melissa Marr return to the beloved worlds of their bestselling series, while others, like Claudia Gray, Kami Garcia, and Margaret Stohl, create new land-scapes and characters. But whether they’re writing about vampires, faeries, angels, or other magical beings, each author explores the strength and resilience of the human heart.

Suspenseful, funny, or romantic, the stories in Enthralled will leave you moved.

 

 

Feral Youth edited by Shaun David Hutchinson

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.

 

First Kiss (Then Tell) edited by Cylin Busby

Was it magical, momentous, and completely earth-shattering? Or was it sloppy and self-conscious? Cecil Castellucci realizes that bad boys can be good kissers. Lisa Papademetriou relives being a Texas girl at a Vermont summer camp-and one momentous night in the woods. Amy Kim Ganter draws her first kiss with her future husband in full comic-book form. And those are just a few of the many stories in First Kiss (Then Tell), a collection of anecdotes, poems, cartoons, and stories that are altogether hilarious, heartwarming, and memorable-just as a first kiss should be.

This unique collection features pieces from today’s hottest young-adult authors, and is packed with extras like kissing advice, trivia, and favorite quotes. First Kiss (Then Tell) will make readers want to relive their own magical moments all over again-or imagine what it might be like someday

 

 

 

Fresh Ink edited by Lamar Giles

In partnership with We Need Diverse Books, thirteen of the most recognizable, diverse authors come together in this remarkable YA anthology featuring ten short stories, a graphic short story, and a one-act play from Walter Dean Myers never before in-print.

Careful–you are holding fresh ink. And not hot-off-the-press, still-drying-in-your-hands ink. Instead, you are holding twelve stories with endings that are still being written–whose next chapters are up to you.

Because these stories are meant to be read. And shared.

Thirteen of the most accomplished YA authors deliver a label-defying anthology that includes ten short stories, a graphic novel, and a one-act play. This collection will inspire you to break conventions, bend the rules, and color outside the lines. All you need is fresh ink.

 

Geektastic: Stories From The Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci

Acclaimed authors Holly Black (Ironside) and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof) have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O’Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you’re a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!

 

 

 

Grim edited by Christine Johnson

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins
Amanda Hocking
Julie Kagawa
Claudia Gray
Rachel Hawkins
Kimberly Derting
Myra McEntire
Malinda Lo
Sarah Rees-Brennan
Jackson Pearce
Christine Johnson
Jeri Smith Ready
Shaun David Hutchinson
Saundra Mitchell
Sonia Gensler
Tessa Gratton
Jon Skrovon

 

Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World edited by Kelly Jensen

LET’S GET THE FEMINIST PARTY STARTED!

Have you ever wanted to be a superheroine? Join a fandom? Create the perfect empowering playlist? Understand exactly what it means to be a feminist in the twenty-first century? You’ve come to the right place.

Forty-four writers, dancers, actors, and artists contribute essays, lists, poems, comics, and illustrations about everything from body positivity to romance to gender identity to intersectionality to the greatest girl friendships in fiction. Together, they share diverse perspectives on and insights into what feminism means and what it looks like. Come on in, turn the pages, and be inspired to find your own path to feminism by the awesome individuals in Here We Are.

Welcome to one of the most life-changing parties around!

 

His Hideous Heart edited by Dahlia Adler (Fall 2019)

Dahlia Adler (ed.)’s HIS HIDEOUS HEART, a collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s most unsettling and surprising short stories reimagined by authors Kendare Blake, Rin Chupeco, Lamar Giles, Tessa Gratton, Tiffany Jackson, Stephanie Kuehn, Amanda Lovelace, Emily Lloyd-Jones, Hillary Monahan, Marieke Nijkamp, Caleb Roehrig, and Fran Wilde, with the original tales also included, to Sarah Barley at Flatiron Books, for publication in Fall 2019, by Victoria Marini at Irene Goodman Agency.

 

Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration edited by Rose Brock

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”–Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We all experience moments when we struggle to understand the state of the world, when we feel powerless and–in some cases–even hopeless. The teens of today are the caretakers of tomorrow, and yet it’s difficult for many to find joy or comfort in such a turbulent society. But in trying times, words are power.

Some of today’s most influential young adult authors come together in this highly personal nonfiction collection of essays, poems, and letters, each a first-hand account that ultimately strives to inspire hope.

Like a modern day Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul or Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff for Teens, Hope Nation acknowledges the pain and shines a light on what comes after.

 

How Beautiful The Ordinary edited by Michael Cart

A girl thought to be a boy steals her sister’s skirt, while a boy thought to be a girl refuses to wear a cornflower blue dress. One boy’s love of a soldier leads to the death of a stranger. The present takes a bittersweet journey into the past when a man revisits the summer school where he had “an accidental romance.” And a forgotten mother writes a poignant letter to the teenage daughter she hasn’t seen for fourteen years.

Poised between the past and the future are the stories of now. In nontraditional narratives, short stories, and brief graphics, tales of anticipation and regret, eagerness and confusion present distinctively modern views of love, sexuality, and gender identification. Together, they reflect the vibrant possibilities available for young people learning to love others—and themselves—in today’s multifaceted and quickly changing world.

 

 

How I Resist: Activism and Hope for the Next Generation edited by Maureen Johnson

Now, more than ever, young people are motivated to make a difference in a world they’re bound to inherit. They’re ready to stand up and be heard – but with much to shout about, where they do they begin? What can I do? How can I help?

How I Resist is the response, and a way to start the conversation. To show readers that they are not helpless, and that anyone can be the change. A collection of essays, songs, illustrations, and interviews about activism and hope, How I Resist features an all-star group of contributors, including, John Paul Brammer, Libba Bray, Lauren Duca, Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband Justin Mikita, Alex Gino, Hebh Jamal, Malinda Lo, Dylan Marron, Hamilton star Javier Muñoz, Rosie O’Donnell, Junauda Petrus, Jodi Picoult, Jason Reynolds, Karuna Riazi, Maya Rupert, Dana Schwartz, Dan Sinker, Ali Stroker, Jonny Sun (aka @jonnysun), Sabaa Tahir, Daniel Watts, Jennifer Weiner, Jacqueline Woodson, and more, all edited and compiled by New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

In How I Resist, readers will find hope and support through voices that are at turns personal, funny, irreverent, and instructive. Not just for a young adult audience, this incredibly impactful collection will appeal to readers of all ages who are feeling adrift and looking for guidance.

How I Resist is the kind of book people will be discussing for years to come and a staple on bookshelves for generations.

 

I See Reality: Twelve Short Stories About Real Life

Through prose and comics alike, these heart-pounding short stories ask hard questions about a range of topics from sexuality and addiction to violence and immigration. Here is the perfect tool for starting tough discussions or simply as an introduction to realistic literary fiction. In turns funny, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking, I See Reality will resonate with today’s teens long after the last page has been turned.

Contributing authors include Jay Clark, Kristin Clark, Heather Demetrios, Stephen Emond, Patrick Flores-Scott, Faith Hicks, Trisha Leaver, Kekla Magoon, Marcella Pixley, James Preller, Jason Schmidt, and Jordan Sonnenblick.

 

 

 

It’s a Whole Spiel edited by Katherine Locke (2019)

Knopf has acquired It’s a Whole Spiel, a YA anthology by Jewish writers, edited by Katherine Locke and Laura Silverman. With contributions from #ownvoices authors including David Levithan, Nova Ren Suma, and more, the anthology will contain contemporary stories with Jewish protagonists who are diverse in sexuality, ability, race, and level of religious observance. Publication is planned for fall 2019.

 

Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories

What do a disabled superhero, a time-traveling Chinese-American figure skater, and a transgendered animal shifter have in common? They’re all stars of Kaleidoscope stories! Kaleidoscope collects fun, edgy, meditative, and hopeful YA science fiction and fantasy with diverse leads. These twenty original stories tell of scary futures, magical adventures, and the joys and heartbreaks of teenage life. Featuring New York Times bestselling and award winning authors along with newer voices: Garth Nix, Sofia Samatar, William Alexander, Karen Healey, E.C. Myers, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Ken Liu, Vylar Kaftan, Sean Williams, Amal El-Mohtar, Jim C. Hines, Faith Mudge, John Chu, Alena McNamara, Tim Susman, Gabriela Lee, Dirk Flinthart, Holly Kench, Sean Eads, and Shveta Thakrar.

 

 

Kisses From Hell

Truly, Madly, Undeadly

This irresistible collection features stories of love amid vampires by five of today’s hottest authors—Kristin Cast (Tempted), Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy), Alyson Noël (Evermore), Kelley Armstrong (The Summoning), and Francesca Lia Block (Pretty Dead).

From a fugitive vampire forced to trust a boy who might work for the group bent on destroying her to the legendary romance of two immortals whose love compels them to risk everything, this heart-pounding collection brings new meaning to the words “love you forever.” Whether you’re into romances that are dark and moody or light and fun, these stories will quench that insatiable thirst for enchanting tales of the beautiful undead.

 

 

The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes To Their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon

If you received a letter from your older self, what do you think it would say? What do you wish it would say?

That the boy you were crushing on in History turns out to be gay too, and that you become boyfriends in college? That the bully who is making your life miserable will one day become so insignificant that you won’t remember his name until he shows up at your book signing?

In this anthology, sixty-three award-winning authors such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Armistead Maupin make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered people. Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love and understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead. They will tell you things about your favorite authors that you never knew before. And they will tell you about yourself.

 

Life Inside My Mind edited by Jessica Burkhart

Your favorite YA authors including Kami Garcia, Ellen Hopkins, Maureen Johnson, and more recount their own experiences with mental illness in this raw, real, and powerful collection of essays that explores everything from ADD to PTSD.

Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t get out of bed? Not the occasional morning, but every single day? Do you find yourself listening to a voice in your head that says “you’re not good enough,” “not good-looking enough,” “not thin enough,” or “not smart enough?” Have you ever found yourself unable to do homework or pay attention in class unless everything is “just so” on your desk? Everyone has had days like that, but what if you have them every day?

You’re not alone. Millions of people are going through similar things. And many of them are people you know—you know them because they write the books that you’re reading.

Life Inside My Mind is an anthology of true-life events from writers of this generation, for this generation. It takes aim at ending the shame of mental illness. With the intention of providing hope to those who are suffering, awareness to those who are witnessing a friend or family member battle mental illness, and opening the floodgates to conversations about mental illness, Side Effects tackles the stigmas around mental illness in a new and refreshing way.

 

Love Is Hell

Sure, love is hell. But it,s totally worth it.

In these supernatural stories by five of today’s hottest writers—Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely), Scott Westerfeld (Specials), Justine Larbalestier (Magic or Madness), Gabrielle Zevin (Elsewhere), and Laurie Faria Stolarz (Blue is for Nightmares)—love may be twisted and turned around, but it’s more potent than ever on its quest to conquer all.

From two students who let the power of attraction guide them to break the hard-and-fast rules of their world to the girl who falls hard for a good-looking ghost with a score to settle, the clever, quirky characters in this exciting collection will break your heart, then leave you believing in love more than ever.

 

 

Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined To Meet

Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. MEET CUTE is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of “how they first met” from some of today’s most popular YA authors.

Readers will experience Nina LaCour’s beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard’s glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon’s imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno’s story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick’s charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a thoughtful, speculate approach to pre-destined love, and Julie Murphy dreams up a fun twist on reality dating show contestants.

This incredibly talented group of authors brings us a collection of stories that are at turns romantic and witty, epic and everyday, heartbreaking and real.

 

My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins. Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Year’s there’s something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.

 

 

 

 

 

Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices edited by Mitali Perkins

Using humor as the common denominator, a multicultural cast of YA authors steps up to the mic to share stories touching on race.

Listen in as ten YA authors — some familiar, some new — use their own brand of humor to share their stories about growing up between cultures. Henry Choi Lee discovers that pretending to be a tai chi master or a sought-after wiz at math wins him friends for a while — until it comically backfires. A biracial girl is amused when her dad clears seats for his family on a crowded subway in under a minute flat, simply by sitting quietly in between two uptight white women. Edited by acclaimed author and speaker Mitali Perkins, this collection of fiction and nonfiction uses a mix of styles as diverse as their authors, from laugh-out-loud funny to wry, ironic, or poingnant, in prose, poetry, and comic form.

 

 

Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America edited by Amy Reed

From Amy Reed, Ellen Hopkins, Amber Smith, Sandhya Menon, and more of your favorite YA authors comes an anthology of essays that explore the diverse experiences of injustice, empowerment, and growing up female in America.

This collection of twenty-one essays from major YA authors—including award-winning and bestselling writers—touches on a powerful range of topics related to growing up female in today’s America, and the intersection with race, religion, and ethnicity. Sure to inspire hope and solidarity to anyone who reads it, Our Stories, Our Voices belongs on every young woman’s shelf.

This anthology features essays from Martha Brockenbrough, Jaye Robin Brown, Sona Charaipotra, Brandy Colbert, Somaiya Daud, Christine Day, Alexandra Duncan, Ilene Wong (I.W.) Gregorio, Maurene Goo, Ellen Hopkins, Stephanie Kuehnert, Nina LaCour, Anna-Marie McLemore, Sandhya Menon, Hannah Moskowitz, Julie Murphy, Aisha Saeed, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Amber Smith, and Tracy Walker.

 

Pick-Up Game: A Full Day of Full Court edited by Marc Aronson and Charles Smith, Jr.

Pass! Shoot! Swish! An all-star team of YA authors scores spectacularly with an action-packed anthology about street basketball.

It’s one steamy July day at the West 4th Street Court in NYC, otherwise known as The Cage. Hotshot ESPN is wooing the scouts, Boo is struggling to guard the weird new guy named Waco, a Spike Lee wannabe has video rolling, and virgin Irene is sizing up six-foot-eightand-a-half-inch Chester. Nine of YA literature’s top writers, including Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, Adam Rapp, Joseph Bruchac, and Sharon Flake reveal how it all goes down in a searing collection of short stories, in which each one picks up where the previous one ends. Characters weave in and out of narratives, perspectives change, and emotions play out for a fluid and fast-paced ode to the game. Crackling with humor, grit, and streetball philosophy, and featuring poems and photographs by Charles R. Smith Jr., this anthology is a slam dunk.

 

The Radical Element edited by Jessica Spotswood

In an anthology of revolution and resistance, a sisterhood of YA writers shines a light on a century and a half of heroines on the margins and in the intersections.

To respect yourself, to love yourself—should not have to be a radical decision. And yet it remains as challenging for an American girl to make today as it was in 1927 on the steps of the Supreme Court. It’s a decision that must be faced whether you’re balancing on the tightrope of neurodivergence, finding your way as a second-generation immigrant, or facing down American racism even while loving America. And it’s the only decision when you’ve weighed society’s expectations and found them wanting. In The Radical Element, twelve of the most talented writers working in young adult literature today tell the stories of the girls of all colors and creeds standing up for themselves and their beliefs—whether that means secretly learning Hebrew in early Savannah, using the family magic to pass as white in 1920s Hollywood, or singing in a feminist punk band in 1980s Boston. And they’re asking you to join them.

 

Rags and Bones: New Twists On Timeless Tales edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt

The best writers of our generation retell classic tales. From Sir Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene” to E. M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”, literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, today’s most acclaimed award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories and use their own unique styles to rebuild these timeless stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these twelve stories and boil them down to their bones, and reassemble them for a new generation of readers. Written from a twenty-first century perspective and set within the realms of science fiction, dystopian fiction, fantasy, and realistic fiction, these short stories are as moving and thought provoking as their originators. They pay homage to groundbreaking literary achievements of the past while celebrating each author’s unique perception and innovative style.

 

 

Sixteen: Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday edited by Megan McCafferty

An incredible anthology of 16 short-stories by award winning & critically acclaimed young-adult authors, inspired by all the angst, melodrama, and wonderment of being sixteen. These hilarious, poignant, and touching tales capture all the emotions and milestones of this age ranging from first love to establishing one’s own identity. A perfect read for anyone about to reach this pivotal age, or those who want reminisce about their “sweetest” year. 

Sarah Dessen’s “Infinity” is about a girl confronting two major milestones: getting her driver’s license and losing her virginity. The Dead Girls in Jacqueline Woodson’s “Nebraska 99” have already decided to “do it” and must now cope with being teenage mothers. And Carolyn Mackler’s “Mona Lisa, Jesus, Chad, and Me” explores whether friendship can survive when partying and prayer clash. Also included is a new Jessica Darling story by Megan McCafferty about the last fifteen minutes Jessica spends–or rather, doesn’t spend–with her best friend, Hope, who is leaving Pineville.

Featuring stories by Steve Almond, M. T. Anderson, Julianna Baggott, Cat Bauer, Emma Forrest, Tanuja Desai Hidier, David Levithan, Sarah Mlynowski, Sonya Sones, Zoe Trope, Ned Vizzini, and Joseph Weisberg.

 

Slasher Girls and Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke

A host of the smartest young adult authors come together in this collection of scary stories and psychological thrillers curated by Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’s April Genevieve Tucholke.

Each story draws from a classic tale or two—sometimes of the horror genre, sometimes not—to inspire something new and fresh and terrifying. There are no superficial scares here; these are stories that will make you think even as they keep you on the edge of your seat. From bloody horror to supernatural creatures to unsettling, all-too-possible realism, this collection has something for any reader looking for a thrill.

Fans of TV’s The Walking Dead, True Blood, and American Horror Story will tear through tales by these talented authors:

Stefan Bachmann
Leigh Bardugo
Kendare Blake
A. G. Howard
Jay Kristoff
Marie Lu
Jonathan Maberry
Danielle Paige
Carrie Ryan
Megan Shepherd
Nova Ren Suma
McCormick Templeman
April Genevieve Tucholke
Cat Winters

Summer Days and Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins

Maybe it’s the long, lazy days, or maybe it’s the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Featuring stories by Leigh Bardugo, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, Nina LaCour, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, and Jennifer E. Smith.

 

 

 

Things I’ll Never Say: Stories About Our Secret Selves edited by Ann Angel

A baby no one knows about. A dangerous hidden identity. Off-limits hookups. A parent whose problems your friends won’t understand. Everyone keeps secrets—from themselves, from their families, from their friends—and secrets have a habit of shaping the lives around them. Acclaimed author Ann Angel brings together some of today’s most gifted YA authors to explore, in a variety of genres, the nature of secrets: Do they make you stronger or weaker? Do they alter your world when revealed? Do they divide your life into what you’ll tell and what you won’t? The one thing these diverse stories share is a glimpse into the secret self we all keep hidden.

With stories by:
Ann Angel
Kerry Cohen
Louise Hawes
Varian Johnson
erica l. kaufman
Ron Koertge
E. M. Kokie
Chris Lynch
Kekla Magoon
Zoë Marriott
Katy Moran
J. L. Powers
Mary Ann Rodman
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Ellen Wittlinger

 

Things We Haven’t Said: Sexual Violence Survivors Speak Out edited by Erin E Moulton

“There are days when I am less stardust than sawdust, less survivor than victim, but that does not mean that the reclamation of my own body is any less eternal.” –Jane Cochrane

“How to describe the feeling of not being believed? It is the feeling of disappearing.” –Stephanie Oakes

“I used to want to hurt you, to break you, to give you the sort of nightmares I still have so many years later.” –Melissa Marr

“It’s so easy to say you’ll fight when it’s not happening to you. But then it was happening to me. And I locked up. My bones had all linked together and I was still.” –Bryson McCrone

Things We Haven’t Said is a powerful collection of poems, essays, letters, vignettes and interviews written by a diverse group of impressive adults who survived sexual violence as children and adolescents. Structured to incorporate creative writing to engage the reader and informative interviews to dig for context, this anthology is a valuable resource of hope, grit and honest conversation that will help teens tackle the topic of sexual violence, upend stigma and maintain hope for a better future.

 

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman

Star-crossed lovers, meddling immortals, feigned identities, battles of wits, and dire warnings. These are the stuff of fairy tale, myth, and folklore that have drawn us in for centuries.

Fifteen bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate.

Compiled by We Need Diverse Books’s Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman, the authors included in this exquisite collection are: Renee Ahdieh, Sona Charaipotra, Preeti Chhibber, Roshani Chokshi, Aliette de Bodard, Melissa de la Cruz, Julie Kagawa, Rahul Kanakia, Lori M. Lee, E. C. Myers, Cindy Pon, Aisha Saeed, Shveta Thakrar, and Alyssa Wong.

A mountain loses her heart. Two sisters transform into birds to escape captivity. A young man learns the true meaning of sacrifice. A young woman takes up her mother’s mantle and leads the dead to their final resting place. From fantasy to science fiction to contemporary, from romance to tales of revenge, these stories will beguile readers from start to finish. For fans of Neil Gaiman’s Unnatural Creatures and Ameriie’s New York Times–bestselling Because You Love to Hate Me.

 

Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles edited by Natalie C. Parker

You may think you know the love triangle, but you’ve never seen love triangles like these.

These top YA authors tackle the much-debated trope of the love triangle, and the result is sixteen fresh, diverse, and romantic stories you don’t want to miss.

This collection, edited by Natalie C. Parker, contains stories written by Renee Ahdieh, Rae Carson, Brandy Colbert, Katie Cotugno, Lamar Giles, Tessa Gratton, Bethany Hagan, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, EK Johnston, Julie Murphy, Garth Nix, Natalie C. Parker, Veronica Roth, Sabaa Tahir, and Brenna Yovanoff.

A teen girl who offers kissing lessons. Zombies in the Civil War South. The girl next door, the boy who loves her, and the girl who loves them both. Vampires at a boarding school. Three teens fighting monsters in an abandoned video rental store. Literally the last three people on the planet.

What do all these stories have in common?

The love triangle.

 

Toil and Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft edited by Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe

A young adult fiction anthology of 15 stories featuring contemporary, historical, and futuristic stories featuring witchy heroines who are diverse in race, class, sexuality, religion, geography, and era.

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

Glinda the Good Witch. Elphaba the Wicked Witch. Willow. Sabrina. Gemma Doyle. The Mayfair Witches. Ursula the Sea Witch. Morgan le Fey. The three weird sisters from Macbeth.

History tells us women accused of witchcraft were often outsiders: educated, independent, unmarried, unwilling to fall in line with traditional societal expectations.

Bold. Powerful. Rebellious.

A bruja’s traditional love spell has unexpected results. A witch’s healing hands begin to take life instead of giving it when she ignores her attraction to a fellow witch. In a terrifying future, women are captured by a cabal of men crying witchcraft and the one true witch among them must fight to free them all. In a desolate past, three orphaned sisters prophesize for a murderous king. Somewhere in the present, a teen girl just wants to kiss a boy without causing a hurricane.

From good witches to bad witches, to witches who are a bit of both, this is an anthology of diverse witchy tales from a collection of diverse, feminist authors. The collective strength of women working together—magically or mundanely–has long frightened society, to the point that women’s rights are challenged, legislated against, and denied all over the world. Toil & Trouble delves deep into the truly diverse mythology of witchcraft from many cultures and feminist points of view, to create modern and unique tales of witchery that have yet to be explored.

 

Truth and Dare: 20 Tales of Heartbreak and Happiness edited by Liz Miles

Truth & Dare is a collection of short stories confirming the truth we all know– high school is painful–and written for those who dare to be different. These edgy short stories are told from the point of view of the quirky, cool, but not necessarily popular teens, who are dealing with all the pressures of growing up–school, friends, music, relationships, parents, and just plain fitting in.This collection features some of the hottest writers in the teen genre, including: Jennifer Boylan, Sarah Rees Brennan, Cecil Castellucci, Emma Donoghue, Courtney Gillette, A.M. Homes, Jennifer Hubbard, Heidi R. Kling, Jennifer Knight, Michael Lowenthal, Liz Miles, Saundra Mitchell, Luisa Plaja, Matthue Roth, Sherry Shahan, Gary Soto, Shelley Stoehr, Sara Wilkinson, Ellen Wittlinger, and Jill Wolfson.

 

 

 

A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood

From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines.

Criss-cross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They’re making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.

 

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp

This anthology explores disability in fictional tales told from the viewpoint of disabled characters, written by disabled creators. With stories in various genres about first loves, friendship, war, travel, and more, Unbroken will offer today’s teen readers a glimpse into the lives of disabled people in the past, present, and future.

The contributing authors are awardwinners, bestsellers, and newcomers including Kody Keplinger, Kristine Wyllys, Francisco X. Stork, William Alexander, Corinne Duyvis, Marieke Nijkamp, Dhonielle Clayton, Heidi Heilig, Katherine Locke, Karuna Riazi, Kayla Whaley, Keah Brown, and Fox Benwell. Each author identifies as disabled along a physical, mental, or neurodiverse axis—and their characters reflect this diversity.

The V-Word: True Stories About First Time Sex edited by Amber J. Keyser

HAVING SEX FOR THE FIRST TIME IS A BIG UNKNOWN. LOTS OF PEOPLE WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO, BUT IS ANYONE TELLING YOU WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE?

The V-Word pulls back the sheets on sex. Queer and straight. Relished and regretted. Funny and exhilarating. The seventeen women in this book (including Christa Desir, Justina Ireland, Sara Ryan, Carrie Mesrobian, Erica Lorraine Scheidt, and Jamia Wilson) write about first-time sex—hot, meaningful, cringe-worthy, gross, forgettable, magnificent, empowering, and transformative.

Whether you’re diving in or whether you’re waiting, we hope these stories will help you chart your own course.

 

 

Vacations From Hell

Life’s a beach . . . and then you’re undead?

In this must-have collection, five of today’s hottest writers—Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty), Cassandra Clare (City of Bones), Claudia Gray (Evernight), Maureen Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes), and Sarah Mlynowski (Bras & Broomsticks)—tell supernatural tales of vacations gone awry. Lost luggage is only mildly unpleasant compared to bunking with a witch who holds a grudge. And a sunburn might be embarrassing and painful, but it doesn’t last as long as a curse. Of course, even in the most hellish of situations, love can thrive. . . .

From light and funny to dark and creepy, these stories have something for everyone. You definitely won’t want to leave this collection at home!

 

Violent Ends edited by Shaun David Hutchinson

In a one-of-a-kind collaboration, seventeen of the most recognizable YA writers—including Shaun David Hutchinson, Neal and Brendan Shusterman, and Beth Revis—come together to share the viewpoints of a group of students affected by a school shooting.

It took only twenty-two minutes for Kirby Matheson to exit his car, march onto the school grounds, enter the gymnasium, and open fire, killing six and injuring five others.

But this isn’t a story about the shooting itself. This isn’t about recounting that one unforgettable day.

This is about one boy—who had friends, enjoyed reading, playing saxophone in the band, and had never been in trouble before—became a monster capable of entering his school with a loaded gun and firing bullets at his classmates.

Each chapter is told from a different victim’s viewpoint, giving insight into who Kirby was and who he’d become. Some are sweet, some are dark; some are seemingly unrelated, about fights or first kisses or late-night parties. This is a book told from multiple perspectives—with one character and one event drawing them all together—by some of YA’s most recognizable names.

 

Welcome Home: An Anthology on Love and Adoption edited by Eric Smith

Welcome Home collects a number of adoption-themed fictional short stories, and brings them together in one anthology from a diverse range of celebrated Young Adult authors. The all-star roster includes Edgar-award winner Mindy McGinnis, New York Times bestselling authors C.J. Redwine (The Shadow Queen) and William Ritter (Jackaby), and acclaimed YA authors across all genres, like Adi Alsaid, Lauren Gibaldi, Sangu Mandanna, Karen Akins, and many more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

It’s a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths–for good and evil–of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?