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The Outsiders: Read & Blog Along

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readalong-outsiders

 

If you’re taking part in the read/blog along for The Outsiders, feel free to leave your posts or thoughts in the comments here and I’ll do a nice round-up at the end of the week.

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I picked up Hinton’s classic — perhaps the first YA book to be designated as such in 1967 — having little idea of the story. Sure, I knew some of the classic lines, and I knew the character names, and I was also somewhat familiar with the themes in the story. But I had no idea how it progressed, what the writing would be like, nor what would stand out to me as a reader. Going in with a lack of preconceptions was great, and it reminded me why reading backlist can be so rewarding and enjoyable in a way that sometimes reading the newest, latest, most buzz-y books isn’t. You get to sink in slowly, at your own pace, for yourself, rather than be steeped.

There’s not a lot to say in terms of plot, though; this is a story about a group of boys known as the greasers (which, yes, every time it showed up on page, reminded me of Grease and John Travolta) and their rival group known as the socs (so-ches). The two groups are divided by the city they live in physically but more importantly, they’re divided economically. The greasers are your poor kids and the socs are your middle class kids. The hobby du jour in town is for the two groups to rumble. In a present-day story, rumble would not be the word. It might be something more like fisticuffs.

Ponyboy is the protagonist and he’s 14, living with his older brother Sodapop, who is a high school drop out and his even older brother Darry. Darry is in charge of the boys since both parents died in a car crash prior to the story beginning. It’s a rough life, and Ponyboy feels throughout the story that he wants to be like Sodapop, and he fears his older brother Darry doesn’t like him. We learn, though, that it’s simply the way that Darry worries about Ponyboy that causes him to be strict or, as Ponyboy sees it, mean and cold.

Hinton does a great job telling us about the living situation, and knowing that this book is written as a story in a story — spoiler alert, it’s what Ponyboy writes to earn extra credit in one of his classes — it’s forgivable there is more telling of the story than showing it. We don’t really see the difference in class other than hearing about it, but knowing it’s through the perspective of a younger teen boy, it’s not hard to buy by any stretch of the imagination. What works wonderful through this storytelling device more than anything, though, is the emotion. We get to know exactly what Ponyboy thinks and feels, since he’s removed enough from the story to tell it and reflect on it while he’s telling it. This serves to give us a real sense of fear, of anger, of sadness, and of motivation he has.

The Outsiders is infamous for being one of the first YA books that really showcased the YA voice and perspective in a way that makes clear grownups aren’t always aware of the challenges and hardships that comes during adolescence. We’re there in the rumbles and we’re there through the emotional ups and downs of having friends who are hurt, who make poor choices, and the sorts of consequences that occur with both. Because that’s the thing about adolescents, about teenagers: they make stupid choices. A perennial complaint from adult readers of YA is that the main characters do dumb things, but anyone who knows a thing about teenagers knows that that is part and parcel of being that age. You’re learning, making choices that don’t always make sense, and yet, those are the places where learning can occur.

So much of this is smartly mirrored in the adoration Ponyboy has for Sodapop. Soda, who he refers to by good looks and as if he “has it all,” isn’t particularly book smart, and he made the decision to drop out of high school. There’s not a value judgment placed upon it, but rather, it’s used as a means of highlighting to Ponyboy that, with his smarts and determination, he has the power to continue his education and go places with it. Sodapop doesn’t have those same opportunities open to him because of the choices he made. Where Ponyboy paints that picture of an idol, we also see as readers those pain points and those flashes of truth that Sodaboy is, too, a flawed character who has made and will continue to make some questionable choices.

From the beginning, I found myself most drawn to Darry as a character. I think a big reason for that is that he’s not described much from Ponyboy for a long time. We get this sense he’s quite removed, that because he’s the “adult” in the story, he doesn’t know the half of what’s taking place.

The thing is, though, Darry might be most conscious of everything going on and purposefully works to ensure that his brothers stay safe first and foremost. He’s the foil to Ponyboy and the rest of the crew in that he’s the “adult” that they are sure doesn’t “get” what it’s like to be constantly in danger or in regular fear of another battle with the socs.

The Outsiders is one of those books that it seems everyone reads in school. I remember that the regular Reading classes in 7th grade took this on. I was in an advanced Reading class, and we didn’t — I couldn’t tell you what we read, but I could tell you the other reading because it came with so much complaining from teens in that class. As a teen, I guess I sympathized (hard to say now, of course, but I suspect I did because assigned reading can be that way). But now as an adult, I see why it’s such a popular classroom staple. There are a million ways to talk about this book, its themes, its characters, its contributions to the larger canon of children’s lit, its perspectives on life as a teenager, and so on. There’s essentially no wrong way to read this book or dissect it because there’s so much juice to it.

And, perhaps a point worth digging into in more contemporary classrooms and discussions of the book, it’d be worth talking about whether it’s been dated or continues to hold an important place in literary history. I’d argue that it certainly does, as shades of Hinton’s classic run through so many other YA novels. But I’d also have to note that there are places that, were the novel to be rewritten today, would be suspect to more critical eyes and criticisms, and rightly so. The language used in the book isn’t particularly kind toward Natives (I flagged at least one passage about “screeching like an Indian”), which in and of itself would provide a lot of discussion and critical fodder. What would this book look like were it written today?

I’d venture to guess it wouldn’t need to change a lot. Even the lack of technology here doesn’t necessarily “date” the story; rather, written today, it might offer a better “show” of the difference in economic class between the greasers and the socs.

My biggest fascination with the book is a relatively small one: Ponyboy loves books and reading. We know that, but we not only know that because he’s telling the story; we know it because he shows us with what he’s reading and his knowledge of literature. The weaving in and use of Gone With The Wind is particularly memorable, if only because it gives the book a sense of humor. It’s wild to think of two tough boys choosing to read that book when they’ve run away from a crime, and it’s wild to think about it becoming such a powerful novel that defines their relationship as friends and what happens when one dies and the other lives.

If you haven’t, you should pick up Hinton’s The Outsiders. I wouldn’t put it on my list of favorites, but knowing the value of the novel canonically, as well as knowing how much influence it has had on YA over the last fifty years, it’s worth the few hours it takes to read the 200 pages. It’s a good starting point to YA for those who are new to the category, and it’s a great reference point for those wanting to expand their knowledge.

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Whenever I take part in a read/blog along, I always love taking a peek at the covers for backlist titles. Here’s a selection of some good ones from over the years. It’s not comprehensive, and I left off the one that we’re probably all really familiar with in mass market.

Next year, in honor of the 50th anniversary of The Outsiders, there will be a special repackaged cover. It will look like this:

 

the-outsiders-50th

 

If I hadn’t already thought about Grease every time I read the word “greasers,” then this jacket might make me do it. I love how simple and powerful it is in its simplicity.

 

the-outsiders-40th

 

This is the cover I have for the 40th anniversary. It was part of the Penguin “Platinum” line, and it’s really sharp looking. The gray on the side line is slick. The only thing I don’t like is the choice to go with deckled edges on this one; for the life of me, I don’t get why that’s considered high end when it makes flipping through pages nearly impossible for the small handed like myself (not to mention how it makes quickly perusing for quotes impossible).

 

penguin-classics

 

Another cover that came out in 2006 was the Classics line cover, and this might be among my favorites. It’s true to the feel of the novel — there’s mood with the color and lighting choices, as well as in the fact that the person on the cover is running away. But the “running away” is toward the reader, giving it even more pow.

 

40th-ann

 

This is the “official” 40th anniversary edition. It’s got a nice vibe to it, though it’s not all that memorable. It reminds me a lot of some of the covers I’ve seen for graphic novels (I assume that’s what the goal was here) and also, weirdly, a bit of Fahrenheit 451.

 

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In 1971, you could snag this mass market edition for a mere 10 cents. I love that it looks like a bad, bad record cover. And those boys look like they might be too nicely dressed and polished to be greasers. Though they have the hair down. Is the guy in the middle wearing a chain?

 

1982

 

This is about as perfectly 1982 as you could get in a book cover.

 

audiobook

The 1988 audiobook from Listening Library gets so many points because it incorporates a pile of references from the book. The busy, cluttered feeling almost works with the color choices; the burning church is a real great addition. I wonder what a cover with just that as the central image might evoke in terms of readership.

 

Cybils MG/YA Nonfiction Reviews: THE BORDEN MURDERS by Sarah Miller & TEN DAYS A MADWOMAN by Deborah Noyes

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I haven’t written many reviews this year, so it’s been interesting to try to get back into that mindset with these books (in a genre I generally do not review so much as consume!). But I want to be better at talking about the strengths and weaknesses of nonfiction, so expect a handful of reviews over the next few months as Cybils season rolls on. Some will be stand-alone reviews, while others, like this one, will pair up books for shorter reviews.

 

the-border-murdersConfession time: I know nothing about Lizzie Borden or the entire field of study and obsession with the murder case involving her father and stepmother. Her name is familiar, as is that song you sing as a kid, but otherwise, I am ignorant about it. And I think in a lot of ways, that was the ideal mindset to have while going into Sarah Miller’s excellent true crime book The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century.

Miller’s book begins by exploring how little is actually known about Lizzie Borden nor the murders of her family members, and it continues through its pages by setting up the scene, discussing what is known, and talking about how a number of missteps and missing pieces of the puzzle have created a flurry of conspiracy theories and questions surrounding Borden’s involvement in (or non-involvement in) the crime.

The book attempts to be even-handed, though savvy readers will understand that Miller’s portrait of Borden is quite sympathetic. Since little information exists about Borden’s demeanor — and little consistency exists even about her appearance — Miller wants readers to feel as though Borden’s entire experience was one that would make today’s general public rightfully angry. This angle was one that helped the book be more than a courtroom drama. We get to “know” Borden through Miller’s depiction.

The Borden Murders does an excellent job in terms of design and layout, though one small thing bothered me a bit: the photos in the book are not in the order of the text. A few photos which fell in the first collection were not written about until later in the book, making looking at them while reading a bit jarring. Likewise, Miller talks in depth about the gruesome murder photos at length, and when we finally get to see it, it’s really not at all gruesome. For the time period, it sure was, but by the buildup of the image and today’s standards, I can see teen readers going “what’s the big deal?”

It was a smart packaging decision to create this in the trim size of a novel. For readers who aren’t familiar with the printing side of things, this can mean making a lot of compromises in terms of how photos are included in the book. In this particular title, they’re in two 8-page spreads on glossy paper. A few reviews I’ve read criticized this, wishing instead the images were interspersed. This would have taken the quality down significantly, as well as made them tiny.

Readers who love true crime and who are fascinated with the legends of history, like Lizzie Borden, will absolutely devour Miller’s book. It’s well-written, compelling, and leaves a nice open door at the end for consideration of what it is that makes a person guilty — or innocent. I can see this being an easy sell to readers who love mysteries, too, and who enjoy procedural television shows like Law & Order.

A small nugget that stayed with me and I think was a great takeaway from this read: Borden was NOT a girl when this all happened. She was in her 30s. Many readers may know this, but knowing how she’s rendered in pop culture, it may also come as a surprise she was a fully mature adult woman.

 

ten-days-a-madwomanWhere I knew little about Lizzie Borden before diving into Miller’s book, I’m able to say quite the opposite of my knowledge of Nellie Bly. I’m having the hardest time remembering whether it was a film I watched or a book I read, but my familiarity with Bly and her stint at Blackwell Island was good when I began Deborah Noyes’s middle grade title Ten Days a Madwoman.

That said, after coming out of reading the book, I loved Bly even more than I already had.

Noyes traces through the early part of Bly’s life, and she does so in a way that doesn’t depict Bly as a woman with everything made for her to succeed — that was an image I had, not knowing her young upbringing — but rather, she’s shown to be a grit-fueled, hard-edged girl who came from little. Her mother, widowed when Bly was young, remarried because she needed help financially after Bly’s father’s death, but she ended up marrying a violent alcoholic. Her mother then divorced him, causing the cycle of money challenges to continue; Noyes does an excellent job of painting an image of being a woman in this time period and the sorts of challenges making a decision like divorce had, not just in terms of finances, but on social standing and more.

At age 23 (!!) after dropping out of school and working in Pittsburgh for a number of years, Bly decided she was going to go to New York City and get a newspaper job. It wasn’t a successful idea immediately, and she struggled to get work that was beyond the socially acceptable women’s reporting jobs. Until she busted down the doors of the World newspaper and was given the assignment of investigating the conditions of the public mental institution on Blackwell Island. This would, of course, be Bly’s break into the newspaper world.

Noyes balances this period of time in Bly’s life well with the actual conditions of Blackwell Island. We get a sense of what it was like to be there, but we’re not given the blow-by-blow. The focus remains on Bly and how she did her reporting.

This isn’t the whole of the book, and Noyes continues by highlighting many of the other important pieces of work Bly did. She’d interviewed — and was one of the first to offer sympathy for — women like Emma Goldman, who she interviewed whole Goldman was in prison. Although logically, I knew many famous individuals were alive during this time, it was still fascinating to see names referenced throughout as Bly’s contemporaries, including Susan B. Anthony and Charles Dickens.

But my favorite part of the whole book was a tiny part: Willa Cather wrote a scathing letter about Bly’s style of journalism. Despite breaking barriers for women reporters, many, like Cather, believed stunt journalism wasn’t valuable or groundbreaking, either. Seeing what Cather wrote about Bly mirrored so much of what happens in contemporary times: one person does a thing, gets recognition for it, and then also sees criticism from those who don’t agree with their work. I loved that push and pull and think Noyes does a huge service in showing how feminism and women in America struggled with representation, with work conditions, and more.

Ten Days a Madwoman is formatted with a bigger trim size and utilized double columns of text, just like many newspapers do. There are a lot of boxes and images scattered throughout, all of which are laid out smartly and make the work of stopping to read them easy on readers. There is excellent back matter, as well.

Hand this book to middle graders who are writers or who love stories about women breaking down boundaries. Bly was daring and full of grit, and it’s a story so many readers will relate to in terms of their desires to pursue their dreams, no matter how they have to get there. Noyes’s exploration of working conditions at the turn of the century, especially in the ever-industrializing city of New York, will appeal to readers who love history. It’s neat to see the parallels of this era in time with our contemporary times.

The most interesting takeaway from this: when Bly took her infamous round-the-world-by-ship trip, she decided on only one souvenir. It was a monkey she named McGinty. Nellie Bly owned a pet monkey. I’m not going to be over this for a while because I cannot think of anything more fitting to her after reading this book. (Also, if you’re interested, the first thing the monkey did when they got back home was break her dishes).

 

 

Both of these books are available now. Both copies were picked up from my local library. 

 

Cybils 2016: The Non-Fiction Edition

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As Kimberly mentioned last week, both of us are back on this year’s Cybils Awards committees. After doing the YA fiction panel for two years back-to-back, I needed some time off to recover from all of that reading. I decided instead of going for fiction this year, though, I wanted to try my hand at middle grade and young adult non-fiction. While I don’t read or review as much work in those categories as I do YA fiction, my background in writing non-fiction, as well as my extensive reading in adult non-fiction makes me feel like it’s an area I should spend some more time in. I want to write more about this growing area in YA and be able to talk more about it because of having read quite a bit. Upper middle grade non-fiction is a bonus to this reading, as it will be an awesome way to rework some of my thinking and approach to reading. I’m excited!

Because non-fiction isn’t an area we write about a whole lot, I thought I’d do like Kim and offer up a big list of titles you could nominate for my category. I’m pretty sure these are all eligible as either upper middle grade (5-8th grade publication age range) or YA, but do double check when you nominate that they are; I’ve gone by Amazon standards, which I believe is what Cybils organizers use. This post is going up Monday, and award nominations open on Saturday, so the chances of some of these titles already being nominated is pretty good.

But that’s why it’s such a huge list! I’ll absolutely be missing titles, so feel free to note others or nominate others that have been published between October 16, 2015 and October 15, 2016. I discovered while trying to compile this list that finding good resources for recent and forthcoming non-fiction is difficult. I put myself in the category of being bad about keeping up with it, but I’m determined now to be much better about it, knowing that the information is really hard to come by. If you know of sold resources outside of searching Edelweiss or Kirkus reviews, do let me know. My standbys for fiction don’t seem to offer the same depth for nonfiction.

I haven’t forgotten about the monthly debut round-up I do, so keep an eye out for that to tackle more than one month in my next post. I wanted to hop on the Cybils train first to ensure that there’s a huge selection of books for me to read over the next three months.

All of the information for how to nominate books for the Cybils — and again, anyone can nominate — is up on their website. Seriously: give Kimberly and I piles of books to read and write about. Or, well, give them to me, as Kim’s work will be much more secretive in the second round for graphic novels than mine will be in the first. Links on the titles below go to their Goodreads pages.

 

Mental Health & Teens of Color: A Guest Post by Patrice Caldwell

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Over the last few years, I’ve really paid attention to how the YA community discusses and writes about mental health. Part of it is my own interest in the topic as someone who experiences mental illness, but a far larger part is because the conversations are important and vital to teenagers and the books that aim to reach them. I’ve written before about a pivotal moment in my career, where a teen girl came to an open mic night at my library and shared a piece she’d written in honor of her friend, who’d committed suicide the previous day. It reminded me about the power of talking and sharing and not being ashamed of bringing these big, tough issues to light.

But one of the things that bothers me about this conversation is how rarely we talk about it in regards to people of color. The girl I referenced above was black, as were a good majority of teens I served in that community; in previous communities, the bulk of faces I served were brown, from various Hispanic heritages. It is, however, rare we see depictions of teens of color struggling with and coming to understand their mental health.

Even booklists compiled for major library journals or websites often fail to highlight the books that do exist showcasing mental health as an issue important to teens of color. Part of it is because there aren’t many books, but a good part of it is not paying attention to the importance of this issue to people of color.

I wanted to have someone write about this, and after putting out a call asking, I was flooded with interest for a piece about this, as well as a book list, and I was lucky enough to get a fantastic guest post from Patrice Caldwell on this. Please enjoy this post. Please think about it. Please share it. Talking about mental health and wellness is crucial, and it’s just as crucial to look at it through cultural and inclusive lenses.

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patrice-caldwell

 

Patrice is a twenty-three-year-old introvert gone wild. By day, she’s an editorial assistant at Scholastic, and by night, weekend, and early morning (if she’s had enough green tea) she’s a writer. You can learn more about Patrice, her writing, favorite books, and general musings at her blog, patricecaldwell.com. You can also find her on Twitter (@whimsicallyours), her secondary home.

 

 

 

In my family mental illness is often referenced as a “the white man’s disease.” As people of color (POC) in a nation with a history of profiting off black and brown bodies, we endured slavery, we endured sharecropping, we endured segregation and so anything else, anything that literally doesn’t threaten your physical existence, is nothing compared to those past. At least that’s how I was raised.

Because formal schooling was a luxury many of my ancestors couldn’t afford, the importance of getting a education was stressed since I was born. And so I received a “good education,” a great one, even. In my neighborhood, this always meant going to the “whiter” school. Unlike my ancestors, I know I’ve had it easier. Like them, I often felt like I, too, had been ripped from my community, sent to some foreign land where I was now expected to be better than the rest while also putting up with every microaggression my well-meaning classmates and teachers threw my way. In short, I was to become a woman of steel who always smiled and never raised her voice as sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. I can’t tell you how many times I repeated that meaningless rhyme.

I’m not alone in this experience.

As I mentioned to Kelly, mental illness runs through my family. And though my dad likes to claim it’s only on my mom’s side (my parents are divorced so they blame everything on “the other side of the family”), his brother committed suicide when he was younger, which is something he only talked about with me once—when I was suicidal myself.

I’m not going to lie and say that a book can save a life. I honestly don’t remember if that’s true. However, books have helped me to understand myself. Books told me I wasn’t alone when my entire family refused to acknowledge the depression and anxiety I’d been battling for years. We like to talk about how books provide both mirrors and windows. Windows being books that offer alternative views of worlds real or imagined—a peek into someone else’s life, and mirrors being books in which you see your own stories and self reflected.

I can only think of two books from my childhood that provided true mirrors for most of my experiences: Yorbua Girl Dancing by Simi Bedford, about an African girl’s metamorphosis into an upper-class English schoolgirl and the homesickness and microaggressions she deals with, and At Her Majesty’s Request, a nonfiction account by Walter Dean Myers about an African princess in Victorian England. Those books meant the world to me and during my hardest times I read them weekly. If I were to add few more, that I discovered later in life, it’d be the works of Octavia Butler + Ash by Malinda Lo (the first time I read queers girl in literature) as well as The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, which gave me the vocabulary through which to speak my experiences.

In light of this I’d like to share YA novels I loved, that I found later in life, and ones the others have recommended. They all feature POC as main or major characters (we’re not having any of that oh, look here’s a POC on page 104) who are living, struggling, and thriving with mental illnesses.

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More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

In the months after his father’s suicide, it’s been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again–but he’s still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he’s slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron’s crew notices, and they’re not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can’t deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can’t stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute’s revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina

One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn’t even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she’s done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn’t Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn’t kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she’s never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy’s life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away? In an all-too-realistic novel, Meg Medina portrays a sympathetic heroine who is forced to decide who she really is. 

Pointe by Brandy Colbert

Theo is better now.

She’s eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But when her oldest friend, Donovan, returns home after spending four long years with his kidnapper, Theo starts reliving memories about his abduction—and his abductor.

Donovan isn’t talking about what happened, and even though Theo knows she didn’t do anything wrong, telling the truth would put everything she’s been living for at risk. But keeping quiet might be worse.

(This was my FAVORITE book from 2014 and still means the world to me for its frank portrayal of teenage-life and the mental health struggles of a black girl. Be sure to check out her forthcoming novel, Little & Lion, which also deals with the aftermath of mental health crises.)

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Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in high school in her diary: college applications, Cindy’s pregnancy, Sebastian’s coming out, the cute boys, her father’s meth habit, and the food she craves. And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

July 24

My mother named me Gabriella, after my grandmother who, coincidentally, didn’t want to meet me when I was born because my mother was unmarried, and therefore living in sin. My mom has told me the story many, many, MANY, times of how, when she confessed to my grandmother that she was pregnant with me, her mother beat her. BEAT HER! She was twenty-five. That story is the basis of my sexual education and has reiterated why it’s important to wait until you’re married to give it up. So now, every time I go out with a guy, my mom says, “Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.” Eyes open, legs closed. That’s as far as the birds and the bees talk has gone. And I don’t mind it. I don’t necessarily agree with that whole wait until you’re married crap, though. I mean, this is America and the 21st century; not Mexico one hundred years ago. But, of course, I can’t tell my mom that because she will think I’m bad. Or worse: trying to be White.

(This book, y’all. It’s so good! Read it as a Cybils Panelist in 2014 and fell in love.)

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

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

(As shown by my love for Pointe, I adore books that highlight mental health issues + the arts world through girls of color. This does just that, so well, and from the perspective of three, diverse girls.)

Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones

Seventh-grader Serena Shaw is trying to keep up at school while rehearsing for the lead role in the spring musical and dealing with a father so “blue” he is nearly catatonic. With the aid of a not-so-secret admirer as well as a growing sense of self-confidence, she faces the challenges of caring for herself and her ball-of-charm younger brother, all while attempting to lead the life of a normal pre-teen. Readers will be drawn into this convincing portrait of a vivacious young person who is on a path to discovering that taking on responsibility sometimes means finding the best way to ask for help. 

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Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna’s tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she’s far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

Irises by Francisco X. Stork

TWO SISTERS: Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. — if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood.

THREE YOUNG MEN: Then three men sway their lives: Kate’s boyfriend Simon offers to marry her, providing much-needed stability. Mary is drawn to Marcos, though she fears his violent past. And Andy tempts Kate with more than romance, recognizing her ambition because it matches his own.

ONE AGONIZING CHOICE: Kate and Mary each find new possibilities and darknesses in their sudden freedom. But it’s Mama’s life that might divide them for good — the question of *if* she lives, and what’s worth living for.

The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

Vicky Cruz shouldn’t be alive.

That’s what she thinks, anyway—and why she tried to kill herself. But then she arrives at Lakeview Hospital, where she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she’s never had.

Yet Vicky’s newfound peace is as fragile as the roses that grow around the hospital. And when a crisis forces the group to split up—sending her back to the life that drove her to suicide—Vicky must find her own courage and strength. She may not have any. She doesn’t know.

(Francisco X. Stork is truly a literary genius. If you haven’t read his works, get on it. They’re so powerful and he’s so talented at getting to the heart of what it means to strive to be yourself.)

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Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood #3) by Ann Brashares

It’s the summer before the sisterhood departs for college . . . their last real summer together before they head off to start their grown-up lives. It’s the time when Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen need their Pants the most.

When the Stars Go Blue by Caridad Ferrer

Dance is Soledad Reyes’s life. About to graduate from Miami’s Biscayne High School for the Performing Arts, she plans on spending her last summer at home teaching in a dance studio, saving money, and eventually auditioning for dance companies. That is, until fate intervenes in the form of fellow student Jonathan Crandall who has what sounds like an outrageous proposition: Forget teaching. Why not spend the summer performing in the intense environment of the competitive drum and bugle corps? The corps is going to be performing Carmen, and the opportunity to portray the character of the sultry gypsy proves too tempting for Soledad to pass up, as well as the opportunity to spend more time with Jonathan, who intrigues her in a way no boy ever has before.

But in an uncanny echo of the story they perform every evening, an unexpected competitor for Soledad’s affections appears: Taz, a member of an all-star Spanish soccer team. One explosive encounter later Soledad finds not only her relationship with Jonathan threatened, but her entire future as a professional dancer. 

When Reason Breaks by Cindy L. Rodriguez

A Goth girl with an attitude problem, Elizabeth Davis must learn to control her anger before it destroys her. Emily Delgado appears to be a smart, sweet girl, with a normal life, but as depression clutches at her, she struggles to feel normal. Both girls are in Ms. Diaz’s English class, where they connect to the words of Emily Dickinson. Both are hovering on the edge of an emotional precipice. One of them will attempt suicide. And with Dickinson’s poetry as their guide, both girls must conquer their personal demons to ever be happy.

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The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer

The Signe family is blessed with two daughters. Consuelo, the elder, is thought of as pensive and book-loving, the serious child-la niña seria-while Mili, her younger sister, is seen as vivacious, a ray of tropical sunshine. Two daughters: one dark, one light; one to offer comfort and consolation, the other to charm and delight. But, for all the joy both girls should bring, something is not right in this Puerto Rican family; a tragedia is developing, like a tumor, at its core.

Call Me Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Maria is a girl caught between two worlds: Puerto Rico, where she was born, and New York, where she now lives in a basement apartment in the barrio. While her mother remains on the island, Maria lives with her father, the super of their building. As she struggles to lose her island accent, Maria does her best to find her place within the unfamiliar culture of the barrio. Finally, with the Spanglish of the barrio people ringing in her ears, she finds the poet within herself.

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz

Everywhere she turns, someone feels she’s too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; and not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). Etta doesn’t fit anywhere— until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca seems like Etta’s salvation, but how can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself? 

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Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Caden Bosch is on a ship that’s headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.

Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior.

Caden Bosch is designated the ship’s artist in residence, to document the journey with images.

Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head.

Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny.

Caden Bosch is torn.

Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Zach is eighteen. He is bright and articulate. He’s also an alcoholic and in rehab instead of high school, but he doesn’t remember how he got there. He’s not sure he wants to remember. Something bad must have happened. Something really, really bad. Remembering sucks and being alive – well, what’s up with that? 

(I cannot recommend Benjamin Alire Sáenz enough, this is one of his lesser known works that’s equally as powerful. It’s so rare to see novels with teens of color, particularly boys, struggling with mental illness and addiction.)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

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I Will Save You by Matt De La Peña

Kidd is running from his past and his future. No mom, no dad, and there’s nothing for him at the group home but therapy. He doesn’t belong at the beach where he works either, unless he finds a reason to stay.

Olivia is blond hair, blue eyes, rich dad. The prettiest girl in Cardiff. She’s hiding something from Kidd—but could they ever be together anyway?

Devon is mean, mysterious, and driven by a death wish. A best friend and worst enemy. He followed Kidd all the way to the beach and he’s not leaving until he teaches him a few lessons about life. And Olivia.

We Were Here by Matt De La Peña

When it happened, Miguel was sent to Juvi. The judge gave him a year in a group home—said he had to write in a journal so some counselor could try to figure out how he thinks. The judge had no idea that he actually did Miguel a favor. Ever since it happened, his mom can’t even look at him in the face. Any home besides his would be a better place to live.

But Miguel didn’t bet on meeting Rondell or Mong or on any of what happened after they broke out. He only thought about Mexico and getting to the border to where he could start over. Forget his mom. Forget his brother. Forget himself.

Life usually doesn’t work out how you think it will, though. And most of the time, running away is the quickest path right back to what you’re running from.

(By now, you’ve probably heard of Matt De La Peña. Be sure to check out these novels, two of his earlier works.)

Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia

Reshma is a college counselor’s dream. She’s the top-ranked senior at her ultra-competitive Silicon Valley high school, with a spotless academic record and a long roster of extracurriculars. But there are plenty of perfect students in the country, and if Reshma wants to get into Stanford, and into med school after that, she needs the hook to beat them all.

What’s a habitual over-achiever to do? Land herself a literary agent, of course. Which is exactly what Reshma does after agent Linda Montrose spots an article she wrote for Huffington Post. Linda wants to represent Reshma, and, with her new agent’s help scoring a book deal, Reshma knows she’ll finally have the key to Stanford.

But she’s convinced no one would want to read a novel about a study machine like her. To make herself a more relatable protagonist, she must start doing all the regular American girl stuff she normally ignores. For starters, she has to make a friend, then get a boyfriend. And she’s already planned the perfect ending: after struggling for three hundred pages with her own perfectionism, Reshma will learn that meaningful relationships can be more important than success—a character arc librarians and critics alike will enjoy.

Of course, even with a mastermind like Reshma in charge, things can’t always go as planned. And when the valedictorian spot begins to slip from her grasp, she’ll have to decide just how far she’ll go for that satisfying ending. (Note: It’s pretty far.)

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Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez

Frenchie Garcia can’t come to grips with the death of Andy Cooper. Her friends didn’t know she had a crush him. And they don’t know she was the last person with him before he committed suicide. But Frenchie’s biggest concern is how she blindly helped him die that night.

Frenchie’s already insane obsession with death and Emily Dickinson won’t help her understand the role she played during Andy’s “one night of adventure.” But when she meets Colin, she may have found the perfect opportunity to recreate that night. While exploring the emotional depth of loss and transition to adulthood, Sanchez’s sharp humor and clever observations bring forth a richly developed voice.

Willow Tree and Olive by Irini Savvides

Enough waterwave taffeta for a lifetime of weddings, always in apricot, matching shoes and a sugared almond under your pillow so you can dream of the man you love. Olive laughs wildly and counts the expensive plates as they hit the wall. But she can’t hide her desperate struggle to piece together a shattered sense of trust. Sometimes Olive is embarrassed by her culture, and even hates being Greek. But, as her friend Kerry tells her, the rest of the time she harps on as if the Greeks invented everything. Olive’s parents decide that a change of scene will help her through her inability to handle school, family and growing up in general. So they send her on a holiday to Greece. And it’s the Greek determination to survive, along with their love of poetry and myth, that finally encourage Olive to step out of a past she can no longer face, and take on the future.

Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn

Evie Tanaka is the put-upon personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco’s most beloved superheroine. She’s great at her job—blending into the background, handling her boss’s epic diva tantrums, and getting demon blood out of leather pants.

Unfortunately, she’s not nearly as together when it comes to running her own life, standing up for herself, or raising her tempestuous teenage sister, Bea.

But everything changes when Evie’s forced to pose as her glamorous boss for one night, and her darkest comes out: she has powers, too. Now it’s up to her to contend with murderous cupcakes, nosy gossip bloggers, and supernatural karaoke battles—all while juggling unexpected romance and Aveda’s increasingly outrageous demands. And when a larger threat emerges, Evie must finally take charge and become a superheroine in her own right… or see her city fall to a full-on demonic invasion.

(Though this book is technically adult, the main character is only in her early 20s and the voice is so perfect that I had to include it. It’s a laugh-out-loud hilarious novel featuring a diverse cast & a main character who struggles with anxiety. Such a unique premise, I can’t wait to see what Sarah Kuhn writes next.)

Forthcoming:

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Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

Mary B. Addison killed a baby.

Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it?

There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary’s fate now lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But does anyone know the real Mary?

(Add this to your to-reads now. It’s out in January 2017, and it’s sure to be a debut novel you don’t want to miss!)

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you’ve found a new novel, or two! Crises with mental illness and addiction have at times defined and consumed my life. If you’re struggling with your mental health, you are not alone. I promise that there are others who understand how you feel. Don’t suffer alone. There’s this idea in POC communities that we have to be strong, that we have to be polite, that we can’t ask for help. I faked all for years and though it was scary as hell to eventually to reach out to others, asking and following through with getting help, along with reading books like these that humanized and destigmatized my experiences, saved my life.

I’d love to hear about any other titles that you know of, that I left out. Feel free to continue this conversation in the comments or contact me via Twitter, @whimsicallyours.

Thank you, again!

Patrice

P.S. If you’re interested in other mediums that highlight POC with mental illnesses, check out this awesome photo series by Dior Vargas.

Going Viral: A YA Reading List

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A couple of weeks ago, I took a survey for Tumblr about my user experience. One of the repeat questions that came up was about how important it was for what I share on the site to “go viral.” Knowing that the target demographic of Tumblr users skews much younger than me, I couldn’t help but think about that and the power that going viral might have in a teenager’s life.

Of course I’m not alone in this. And of course, this wasn’t the first time I’ve thought about it. “Going viral” is a topic that’s been well-traversed in the YA landscape, and it’s one that will continue to play a role in storytelling for quite a while. For some teens, it’s a thing they seek and for others, it’s exactly the kind of thing that they hope to a
void. Unlike stories where social media or blogging are important in the life of a teenager, going viral plays a completely different role in the story and character’s life. It’s more focused and in-the-moment, a quick thrust into the spotlight, even if the consequences are long-lasting.

 

Teens Gone Viral

 

Here’s a look at a pile of books where going viral on social media plays a noteworthy part in the story. This isn’t comprehensive, so feel free to leave additional titles in the comments. Likewise, and not surprising to me, is that this list is quite white. Where are the teens of color going viral? Because anyone who has been around the internet knows that the reality is people of all shapes, sizes, and colors can find themselves in a moment of internet fame.

All descriptions come from either WorldCat or Goodreads.

 

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#famous by Jilly Gagnon (February 14, 2017)

In this modern-day love story, Girl likes Boy, Girl takes photo of Boy and posts it online, Boy becomes accidentally insta-famous. And what starts out as an innocent joke spirals into a whirlwind adventure that could change both their lives—and their hearts—forever. But are fame and love worth the price?

Told in alternating points of view, #famous captures the out-of-control thrill ride of falling for someone in front of everyone.

 

#scandal by Sarah Ockler

Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love.

 

Asking For It by Louise O’Neill

It’s the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O’Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident. One night, there’s a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma.

The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can’t remember what happened, she doesn’t know how she got there. She doesn’t know why she’s in pain. But everyone else does.

Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night. But sometimes people don’t want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town’s heroes.

 

 

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The Art of Getting Stared At by Laura Langston

After a school video she produced goes viral, sixteen-year-old Sloane Kendrick is given a chance at a film school scholarship. She has less than two weeks to produce a second video, and she’s determined to do it. Unfortunately, she must work with Isaac Alexander, an irresponsible charmer with whom she shares an uneasy history.

On the heels of this opportunity comes a horrifying discovery: a bald spot on her head. No bigger than a quarter, the patch shouldn’t be there. Neither should the bald spots that follow. Horror gives way to devastation when Sloane is diagnosed with alopecia areata. The auto-immune disease has no cause, no cure, and no definitive outcome. The spots might grow over tomorrow or Sloane might become completely bald. No one knows.

Determined to produce her video, hide her condition, and resist Isaac’s easy charm, Sloane finds herself turning into the kind of person she has always mocked: someone obsessed with her looks. And just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, Sloane is forced to make the most difficult decision of her life.

 

Breakout by Kevin Emerson

When Anthony’s angst-ridden rock ‘n’ roll lyrics go viral, he’s unwittingly cast as the school rebel. The truth is, he’s not trying to be anyone’s hero.

Anthony Castillo needs a new life. His teachers are clueless autocrats except for Mr. Darren, who’s in charge of the rock band program. The girls at school are either shallow cutebots or out of his league. And his parents mean well, but they just make things worse. It’s as if Anthony is stuck on the bottom level of his favorite video game, Liberation Force 4.5. Except there is no secret escape tunnel and definitely no cheat code.

Fed up, pissed off, and feeling trapped, Anthony writes his first song for his rock band, the Rusty Soles. His only problem: Arts Night. If he exercises his right to free speech and sings his original lyrics—where his own bombs will drop—he and his band will be through.

The clock is ticking. Time for Anthony to pick his battles and decide what’s really worth fighting for.

 

Butter by Erin Jade Lange

A lonely obese boy everyone calls “Butter” is about to make history. He is going to eat himself to death-live on the Internet-and everyone is invited to watch. When he first makes the announcement online to his classmates, Butter expects pity, insults, and possibly sheer indifference. What he gets are morbid cheerleaders rallying around his deadly plan. Yet as their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline? Can he live with the fallout if he doesn’t go through with his plans?

 

YA Viral Stories 3

 

 

Flannery by Lisa Moore

Sixteen-year-old Flannery Malone has it bad. She’s been in love with Tyrone O’Rourke since the days she still believed in Santa Claus. But Tyrone has grown from a dorky kid into an outlaw graffiti artist, the rebel-with-a-cause of Flannery’s dreams, literally too cool for school.

Which is a problem, since he and Flannery are partners for the entrepreneurship class that she needs to graduate. And Tyrone’s vanishing act may have darker causes than she realizes.

Tyrone isn’t Flannery’s only problem. Her mother, Miranda, can’t pay the heating bills, let alone buy Flannery’s biology book. Her little brother, Felix, is careening out of control. And her best-friend-since-forever, Amber, has fallen for a guy who is making her forget all about the things she’s always cared most about — Flannery included — leading Amber down a dark and dangerous path of her own.

When Flannery decides to make a love potion for her entrepreneurship project, rumors that it actually works go viral, and she suddenly has a hot commodity on her hands. But a series of shattering events makes her realize that real-life love is far more potent — and potentially damaging — than any fairy-tale prescription.

 

Generation Next by Oli White

Things haven’t been easy for Jack recently – life as a teenager has its ups and downs. But when he meets a new group of friends, who are every bit as geek as they are chic, his luck seems to be changing. Each of the group is talented and when they pool together to create Generation Next, an incredible new kind of social media platform, it’s clear that they’re on to something special.

What if your Instagram account grew by hundreds of thousands of followers overnight, and big companies were fighting each other to offer you photoshoots? When GenNext suddenly goes viral, Jack and his friends are thrust into a crazy world of fame which is as terrifying as it is awesome.

Because someone out there is determined to trip Jack up at every step. If he doesn’t stop them, soon everyone he cares about – his friends, his family, and the girl he’s falling for – will be in danger.

 

Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards

Piper Woods can’t wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She’s sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone’s sure it’s suicide, but Piper remembers Stella’s name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse.

Drowning in secrets she doesn’t want to keep, Piper’s fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished…

 

YA Viral Stories 4

 

 

How To Keep Rolling After A Fall by Karole Cozzo

After a cyber bullying incident turns her life upside down, a handsome wheelchair rugby player shows a former mean girl that everyone deserves a second chance.

The party was at her house. The photos were posted to her Facebook account. That’s all the evidence anyone needed to condemn Nikki Baylor for a cyberbullying incident that humiliated a classmate and nearly resulted in the girl’s suicide. Now Nikki’s been expelled from her old school, her friends have abandoned her, and even her own parents can’t look her in the eye. With her plans for the future all but destroyed, Nikki resigns herself to being the girl everyone hates – almost as much as she hates herself. But then Nikki meets Pax, a spirited wheelchair rugby player who knows what it’s like when one mistake completely shatters your life. Refusing to judge her because of her past, he shows her that everyone deserves a second chance… and everyone deserves to be loved.

 

In Case You Missed It by Sarah Darer Littman

Sammy Wallach has epic plans for the end of junior year over: Sneak out to the city to see her favorite band. Get crush-worthy Jamie Moss to ask her to prom. Rock all exams (APs and driver’s).

With a few white lies, some killer flirting, and tons of practice, Sammy’s got things covered. That is, until the bank her dad works for is attacked by hacktivists who manage to steal everything in the Wallach family’s private cloud, including Sammy’s entire digital life. Literally the whole world has access to her emails, texts, photos, and, worst of all, journal.

Life. Is. Over.

Now Sammy’s best friends are furious about things she wrote, Jamie thinks she’s desperate, and she can barely show her face at school. Plus, her parents know all the rules she broke. But Sammy’s not the only one with secrets — her family has a few of its own that could change everything. And while the truth might set you free, no one said it was going to be painless. Or in Sammy’s case, private.

 

The Inside of Out by Jenn Marie Throne

When her best friend Hannah comes out the day before junior year, Daisy is so ready to let her ally flag fly that even a second, way more blindsiding confession can’t derail her smiling determination to fight for gay rights.

Before you can spell LGBTQIA, Daisy’s leading the charge to end their school’s antiquated ban on same-sex dates at dances—starting with homecoming. And if people assume Daisy herself is gay? Meh, so what. It’s all for the cause.

What Daisy doesn’t expect is for “the cause” to blow up—starting with Adam, the cute college journalist whose interview with Daisy for his university paper goes viral, catching fire in the national media. #Holy #cats.

With the story spinning out of control, protesters gathering, Hannah left in the dust of Daisy’s good intentions, and Daisy’s mad attraction to Adam feeling like an inconvenient truth, Daisy finds herself caught between her bold plans, her bad decisions, and her big fat mouth.

 

 

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Last Message Received by Emily Trunko (January 10 — going meta on this inclusion!)

Named one of the Top 10 Most Viral Blogs by Mashable, the Tumblr The Last Message Received created by 16-year-old Emily Trunko is now available as a gift book!

What if a message someone sends you today is the last you ll ever receive from them? Would you respond differently, or even at all, if you knew that the end of a friendship, a brutal breakup, or worse might be coming, and that this might be your only chance?
The collection The Last Message Receivedincludes over a hundred final text messages, social media posts, emails, and more. Adapted from the popular Tumblr The Last Message Received followed by more than 85,000 people and selected as a finalist for the Shorty Award the Last Message Received book features sudden endings and the type of loss that will inspire readers to reflect on what s essential in their own lives and the importance of celebrating the people they love every day.

 

Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies by Laura Stampler

Harper Anderson always believed she belonged somewhere more glamorous than her sleepy Northern California suburb. After all, how many water polo matches and lame parties in Bobby McKittrick’s backyard can one girl take? That’s why Harper is beyond ecstatic when she lands her dream internship as a dating blogger at the elite teen magazine Shift. Getting to spend the summer in New York City to live her dream of becoming a writer? Harper’s totally in.

There’s just one teeny, tiny, infinitesimal problem: apart from some dance floor make-outs, Harper doesn’t have a lot of—or, really, any—dating expertise. In fact, she might have sort of stolen her best friend’s experiences as her own on her Shiftapplication. But she can learn on the job…right?

From awkward run-ins with the cute neighborhood dog walker to terrifying encounters with her crazed editor, from Brooklyn gallery openings to weekends in the Hamptons, Harper finds out what it takes to make it in the Big City—and as the writer of her own destiny.

 

Little White Lies by Brianna Baker and F. Bowman Hastie

Seventeen-year-old honors student Coretta White’s Tumblr, Little White Lies—her witty thoughts on pretty much . . . everything—has gone viral. She’s got hundreds of thousands of followers; she’s even been offered a TV deal. But Coretta has a secret. She hasn’t been writing all her own posts. Stressed from the demands of the sudden attention, she hired an expert ghostwriter, forty-one-year-old Karl Ristoff, to keep the Tumblr going. Now consumed with guilt, she confesses.

Almost instantly, she suffers a public humiliation. The TV deal disappears. Her boyfriend breaks up with her. Then Karl is thrust into the limelight, only to suffer a dramatic fall himself. Together, they vow to find out who is responsible for ruining both of their lives, and why. But in order to exact justice and a wicked revenge, they must first come clean with each other.

 

YA Viral Stories 6

 

The Possibility of Now by Kimberly Culbertson

Mara James has always been a perfectionist with a plan. But despite years of overachieving at her elite school, Mara didn’t plan on having a total meltdown during her calculus exam. Like a rip-up-the-test-and-walk-out kind of meltdown. And she didn’t plan on a video of it going viral. And she definitely didn’t plan on never wanting to show her face again.

Mara knows she should go back, but suddenly she doesn’t know why she’s been overachieving all these years. Impulsively, she tells her mom she wants to go live with her estranged dad in Tahoe. Maybe in a place like Tahoe, where people go to get away from everyday life, and with a dad like Trick McHale, a ski bum avoiding the real world, Mara can figure things out.

Only Tahoe is nothing like she thought. There are awesome new friends and hot boys and a chance to finally get to know Trick, but there is also still massive amounts of schoolwork. Can Mara stopping planning long enough to see the life that’s happening right now?

 

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

What if everything you set yourself up to be was wrong?

Frances has always been a study machine with one goal, elite university. Nothing will stand in her way; not friends, not a guilty secret – not even the person she is on the inside.

But when Frances meets Aled, the shy genius behind her favourite podcast, she discovers a new freedom. He unlocks the door to Real Frances and for the first time she experiences true friendship, unafraid to be herself. Then the podcast goes viral and the fragile trust between them is broken.

Caught between who she was and who she longs to be, Frances’ dreams come crashing down. Suffocating with guilt, she knows that she has to confront her past…
She has to confess why Carys disappeared…

Meanwhile at uni, Aled is alone, fighting even darker secrets.

It’s only by facing up to your fears that you can overcome them. And it’s only by being your true self that you can find happiness.

Frances is going to need every bit of courage she has.

 

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. The thing is…Riley isn’t exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in uber-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley’s so-called “normal” life.

On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it’s REALLY like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley’s starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley’s real identity, threatening exposure. Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created—a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in—or stand up, come out, and risk everything.

 

YA Viral Stories 7

 

 

Tease by Amanda Maciel

Provocative, unforgettable, and inspired by real-life incidents, Amanda Maciel’s highly acclaimed debut novel Tease is the story of a teenage girl who faces criminal charges for bullying after a classmate commits suicide. With its powerful narrative, unconventional point of view, and strong anti-bullying theme, this coming-of-age story offers smart, insightful, and nuanced views on high school society, toxic friendships, and family relationships.

Emma Putnam is dead, and it’s all Sara Wharton’s fault. At least, that’s what everyone seems to think. Sara, along with her best friend and three other classmates, has been criminally charged for the bullying and harassment that led to Emma’s shocking suicide. Now Sara is the one who’s ostracized, already guilty according to her peers, the community, and the media. In the summer before her senior year, in between meetings with lawyers and a court-recommended therapist, Sara is forced to reflect on the events that brought her to this moment—and ultimately consider her own role in an undeniable tragedy. And she’ll have to find a way to move forward, even when it feels like her own life is over.

 

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

Ashleigh’s boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he’ll forget about her while he’s away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh’s friends suggest she text him a picture of herself — sans swimsuit — to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits “send.”

But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the attention of the school board, the local police, and the media. As her friends and family try to distance themselves from the scandal, Ashleigh feels completely alone — until she meets Mack while serving her court-ordered community service. Not only does Mack offer a fresh chance at friendship, but he’s the one person in town who received the text of Ashleigh’s photo — and didn’t look.

 

Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer

Witty, sarcastic Ethan and his three best friends are students at Selwyn Arts Academy, which has been hijacked by For Art’s Sake, a sleazy reality-television show. In the tradition of Ezra Pound, the foursome secretly writes and distributes a long poem to protest the show. They’re thrilled to have started a budding rebellion.

But the forces behind the show are craftier than they seem. The web of betrayal stretches farther than Ethan could have ever imagined, and it’s up to him, his friends, and a heroic gerbil named Baconnaise to save Selwyn.

 

 

And if you’re already thinking about books that will hit shelves in 2018 (!!) you’ll want to know about Kimberly Reid’s forthcoming #Prettyboy Must Die.