An interesting microtrend that’s popped up in the last year in YA fiction is the bucket list. Either a character inherits one from a relative or friend who has died or it’s a list that’s been given to them with the understanding it’s the character’s responsibility to complete it or else fill in the blank. 

What’s been interesting about this emerging microtrend in the last year is that it’s not entirely new. It seems like bucket lists or stories where the main character works through a series of items on a list pops up periodically. There are a lot of variations on the list, too: sometimes it’s a straight bucket list that’s propelling the story forward and sometimes, it’s a list the main character keeps in order to keep his or her life in order (Amy Spalding’s The Reece Malcolm List is an excellent example of this). Sometimes, the lists work for the story, and other times, it feels like the list is the only glue keeping the characters and story together. 

As someone who is a list keeper, I find the concept interesting from the start, and I think it’s something that teens who — like me — are compulsive list keepers find this element to be compelling. 

Here’s a roundup of recent YA bucket list titles, along with descriptions from WorldCat. I’ve limited to books published in 2013 and 2014. I would love to know of other titles where there are bucket lists or lists kept out in the last year, so feel free to chime in in the comments. I’d also love to know what you think of the bucket list/list usage in books. What are some of the best ones? Which ones haven’t worked so well? 

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy: Alice is ready to go out in a blaze of glory, but then she discovers she’s in remission from cancer and she must deal with all of the mistakes she’s made and the people she’s hurt. 

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

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson: Quiet Emily’s sociable and daring best friend, Sloane, has disappeared leaving nothing but a random list of bizarre tasks for her to complete, but with unexpected help from popular classmate Frank Porter, Emily gives them a try.

There Will Come A Time by Carrie Arcos: Overwhelmed by grief and guilt after his twin sister Grace’s accidental death, seventeen-year-old Mark Santos is persuaded by her best friend to complete the “bucket list” from Grace’s journal.

Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell: Rebecca “Rebel” Blue, a loner rebel and budding artist, reluctantly completes the bucket list of Kennedy Green, an over-committed do-gooder classmate who dies in a car accident following a stint in detention where both girls were forced to consider their morality and write bucket lists.

Nantucket Red by Leila Howland: Before starting college, Cricket Thompson returns to Nantucket for a summer filled with hard choices and infinite possibility. (This description tells you nothing about the list, which is a Life List that Cricket finds).