The YA Agenda – December 2017
Dec. 19th, 2017 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helloladies posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ladybusinessIt’s December, the season for me to badger all my friends into letting me pick out gifts for them to buy their friends. To break up the tedium of me shoving Starfish at everybody this holiday season, I’ve asked some brilliant YA people to tell me what one YA (or YA-ish) book they’re giving as a gift this year. Let the gift ideas commence!
Elayne Becker: I’ll shout it from the rafters ‘til my lungs give out: I’m in love with a book, and that book is Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. This is one of the most captivating and compulsively-readable novels I’ve read in years. It’s clear that an extraordinary amount of research fuels nearly every page in the book, but Wein incorporates it into the narrative so seamlessly that I never detected her presence hovering behind the words. Instead, I was swept up heart and soul into the beautifully-voiced journeys of two young women fighting for survival and hope at a time when both seemed impossible. In my opinion, this is the gold standard for historical fiction, and indeed YA fiction itself.
Kate Brauning: The novel I'll be giving us a gift this year is The November Girl, by Lydia Kang, set on abandoned island in Lake Superior. This is actually a book I acquired and edited, and I'm recommending it for the same reasons I had to have it. It's the intensely romantic and haunting story of a boy fleeing violence in his life and a girl who is a lake superstition come to life - and violence personified. It's one of the most compelling reads of my year.
Angela Carstensen: The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti! Samuel Hawley is a criminal whose body is scarred by twelve bullets. Loo is his teenage daughter, who longs to know more about her mother and her mother's death. The propulsive narrative moves back and forth in time, creating suspense around the genesis of each bullet wound, circling around imagery of clocks and stars, and referencing the myth of Hercules.
Dhonielle Clayton: I'll be giving out Nic Stone's Dear Martin for the holidays because this book dismantles the idea that if you’re just perfect and do everything right, racism won’t affect you.
Brandy Colbert: I'll be giving Calling My Name by Liara Tamani as a gift this season. I love the lyrical writing, the way the novel is structured in vignettes, and the honesty of Taja's voice. In addition to being a beautiful coming-of-age story, Calling My Name is the first book I've read that reflects the feelings I had and the life I lived as a teen, yet I know it will be relatable to people who don't share so many similarities with Taja. It is one of my favorite books of the year.
Forestofglory: This year I’m giving my niece who just turned 10 (and is therefore on the young side for YA) Sabriel by Garth Nix. This was one of my first YA loves, and I’m excited to share it with her. My niece loves zombies, so I think she’ll enjoy the various creepy undead creatures in this book. Plus I’m happy to be giving her a book featuring an awesome young woman who gets to use the skills she has worked hard to learn.
Heidi Heilig: As a Coastal Elite, I'm somewhat shamefully susceptible to stereotypes about "The Rural South," but Done Dirt Cheap exploded all of them. The story—about two fierce, flawed girls and their unlikely friendship—is raw and real, and the setting spins out in gorgeous prose. The story had me raging and cheering and tearing up for Tourmaline and Virginia. I can't wait to share their journey with my city slicker friends.
Sandhya Menon: I'll be gifting people Dear Martin by Nic Stone this holiday season. I think just about everyone has read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas by now (a fact that makes me gleeful—it's such an important book), and I'd love to keep the conversation about the Black Lives Matter movement going. Dear Martin is heartbreaking and joyous and powerful in every way, and it's my personal belief that everyone needs to read it.
Kathryn Ormsbee: I will be giving Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga to both friends and family. Warga's My Heart and Other Black Holes was my favorite read of 2015. As someone who experienced depression and suicidal ideation as a teen, I'd never before read such an accurate and sensitive portrayal of a topic so near to my heart. That's why I've been eagerly anticipating Here We Are Now, and I continue to be awed by Warga's ability to weave together compelling prose and deeply emotional narratives. When I love books this much, I simply have to gift them to others! Also, have you seen that cover? It's the bee's knees.
Diana Pho: There have been several wonderful additions to the YA canon this year, exploring race relations in the US in light of Black Lives matter's spotlight upon police brutality upon the black experience. Nic Stone does an amazing, down-to-earth job exploring the realities of Justyce MaAllister in Dear Martin, as a brilliant teenager who is struggling to define himself and the meaning of black masculinity at the crossroads of a community in conflict. Stone's writing is raw, emotional, and shows a nuanced understanding that deconstructs the challenges that Justyce and his friends must confront in order to envision a better reality.
Lilliam Rivera: This year I'll be giving Fred Aceves’s debut novel The Closest I've Come to everyone. First, I love the cover so much. How many boys of color do you get to see on a young adult cover? It is so beautiful. As for the prose, it is both heartbreaking and real.
DongWon Song: This Mortal Coil, by Emily Suvada. This is a great holiday book because it's... festive! Look at that big explosion on the cover. It's red, which means it's Christmas themed! Does it matter that that festive cloud is a recently aerosolized human saturated with virus bits? No! It's red because it's fun.
Also, this book features a STEM heroine who solves her very dire problems with her coding skills, her wits, and her conviction. She's the kind of heroine I want my nieces to grow up with, and I encourage all of you to gift this book widely and often.
Saba Sulaiman: Oh my gosh, choosing one YA book to recommend this year is such a hard feat, especially since there are so many different (yet equally great) kinds of YA books out there, but I think if there's one book I'd gift to people this year it would be Tiffany D. Jackson's Allegedly. It's a gorgeously written, incredibly absorbing novel with a propulsive plot and a memorable protagonist whose story will stay with you beyond your read.
Part psychological suspense, part contemporary, this book will shock you, move you, and make you rethink what you know to be true about mother-daughter relationships, culpability, and the juvenile criminal justice system. It's a fantastic debut by a woman of color whose books I will certainly be paying close attention to—I hope you enjoy it!
Prince in Disguise, by Stephanie Kate Strohm
The holidays can be a stressful time, and stressful times are good times to read fun fluffy books. Prince in Disguise is the story of a beauty queen and reality star’s little sister, who gets whisked off to Scotland to costar on her sister’s reality-televised wedding. Maybe she meets a handsome Scottish lad there, maybe she does not; we will all have to read and find out. Prince in Disguise comes out on 19 December from Disney-Hyperion.
Shadow Girl, Liana Liu
Mei’s summer job, tutoring a rich kid, seems like the perfect escape from her exhausting, everyday life in the city; but she soon discovers (because of course she does) that the Morrison household may be concealing terrible secrets. Mansion living? Check. Upstairs/Downstairs vibe? Check. Ghosts? APPARENTLY ALSO CHECK. Sounds like a delicious, summery treat to brighten up the cold month of December. This one comes out on 19 December from HarperTeen.
I have now done all that I can do to keep you in books throughout this holiday season—with the help of a whole bunch of deeply brilliant authors, editors, agents, and prize dispensers. Deck your halls with boughs of books, and accept my blanket permission to skip holiday events that make you miserable, and stay in reading instead. Hit me up on Twitter or stop by the blog, and never hesitate to ask me for book ideas to buy for your loved ones.
Elayne Becker: I’ll shout it from the rafters ‘til my lungs give out: I’m in love with a book, and that book is Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. This is one of the most captivating and compulsively-readable novels I’ve read in years. It’s clear that an extraordinary amount of research fuels nearly every page in the book, but Wein incorporates it into the narrative so seamlessly that I never detected her presence hovering behind the words. Instead, I was swept up heart and soul into the beautifully-voiced journeys of two young women fighting for survival and hope at a time when both seemed impossible. In my opinion, this is the gold standard for historical fiction, and indeed YA fiction itself.
Elayne Becker is a Junior Associate Editor for Forge Books, Tor Teen, and Starscape. She works closely with books across multiple genres of fiction, but her heart lies with tales of history, myth, and magic.
Kate Brauning: The novel I'll be giving us a gift this year is The November Girl, by Lydia Kang, set on abandoned island in Lake Superior. This is actually a book I acquired and edited, and I'm recommending it for the same reasons I had to have it. It's the intensely romantic and haunting story of a boy fleeing violence in his life and a girl who is a lake superstition come to life - and violence personified. It's one of the most compelling reads of my year.
Kate Brauning is the YA author of How We Fall and an editor at Entangled Publishing. She can be found at www.katebrauning.com or on Twitter atKateBrauning.
Angela Carstensen: The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti! Samuel Hawley is a criminal whose body is scarred by twelve bullets. Loo is his teenage daughter, who longs to know more about her mother and her mother's death. The propulsive narrative moves back and forth in time, creating suspense around the genesis of each bullet wound, circling around imagery of clocks and stars, and referencing the myth of Hercules.
Angela Carstensen has been a school librarian for 18 years and is currently serving as Chair of the Michael L. Printz Award committee.
Dhonielle Clayton: I'll be giving out Nic Stone's Dear Martin for the holidays because this book dismantles the idea that if you’re just perfect and do everything right, racism won’t affect you.
Dhonielle Clayton is the co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things series and the author of The Belles series. A former teacher and middle school librarian, Dhonielle is cofounder of CAKE Literary—a creative development company whipping up decidedly diverse books for a wide array of readers—and COO of the nonprofit, We Need Diverse Books. You can also find her lurking online at dhonielleclayton.com or follow her at
Brandy Colbert: I'll be giving Calling My Name by Liara Tamani as a gift this season. I love the lyrical writing, the way the novel is structured in vignettes, and the honesty of Taja's voice. In addition to being a beautiful coming-of-age story, Calling My Name is the first book I've read that reflects the feelings I had and the life I lived as a teen, yet I know it will be relatable to people who don't share so many similarities with Taja. It is one of my favorite books of the year.
Brandy Colbert is the critically acclaimed author of Pointe and Little & Lion, and the forthcoming Finding Yvonne. She lives and writes in Los Angeles.
Forestofglory: This year I’m giving my niece who just turned 10 (and is therefore on the young side for YA) Sabriel by Garth Nix. This was one of my first YA loves, and I’m excited to share it with her. My niece loves zombies, so I think she’ll enjoy the various creepy undead creatures in this book. Plus I’m happy to be giving her a book featuring an awesome young woman who gets to use the skills she has worked hard to learn.
Forestofglory reads lots of short fiction and posts recommendations on her Dreamwidth. She was on the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) committee that created a new YA award to be presented for the first time at the 2018 Hugo Awards Ceremony.
Heidi Heilig: As a Coastal Elite, I'm somewhat shamefully susceptible to stereotypes about "The Rural South," but Done Dirt Cheap exploded all of them. The story—about two fierce, flawed girls and their unlikely friendship—is raw and real, and the setting spins out in gorgeous prose. The story had me raging and cheering and tearing up for Tourmaline and Virginia. I can't wait to share their journey with my city slicker friends.
Heidi Heilig is the author of The Girl from Everywhere series and the upcoming fantasy novel For A Muse of Fire. She lives in Brooklyn.
Sandhya Menon: I'll be gifting people Dear Martin by Nic Stone this holiday season. I think just about everyone has read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas by now (a fact that makes me gleeful—it's such an important book), and I'd love to keep the conversation about the Black Lives Matter movement going. Dear Martin is heartbreaking and joyous and powerful in every way, and it's my personal belief that everyone needs to read it.
Sandhya Menon is the author of the New York Times–bestselling novel When Dimple Met Rishi and the forthcoming From Twinkle, with Love.
Kathryn Ormsbee: I will be giving Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga to both friends and family. Warga's My Heart and Other Black Holes was my favorite read of 2015. As someone who experienced depression and suicidal ideation as a teen, I'd never before read such an accurate and sensitive portrayal of a topic so near to my heart. That's why I've been eagerly anticipating Here We Are Now, and I continue to be awed by Warga's ability to weave together compelling prose and deeply emotional narratives. When I love books this much, I simply have to gift them to others! Also, have you seen that cover? It's the bee's knees.
Kathryn (K.E.) Ormsbee writes books for kids and teens. Her most recent release is Tash Hearts Tolstoy (Simon & Schuster), and her upcoming Middle Grade novel, The House in Poplar Wood, comes out Fall 2018 from Chronicle Books. She likes clothes from the 60s, music from the 70s, and movies from the 80s. She is from the 90s.
Diana Pho: There have been several wonderful additions to the YA canon this year, exploring race relations in the US in light of Black Lives matter's spotlight upon police brutality upon the black experience. Nic Stone does an amazing, down-to-earth job exploring the realities of Justyce MaAllister in Dear Martin, as a brilliant teenager who is struggling to define himself and the meaning of black masculinity at the crossroads of a community in conflict. Stone's writing is raw, emotional, and shows a nuanced understanding that deconstructs the challenges that Justyce and his friends must confront in order to envision a better reality.
Diana M. Pho is an editor at Tor Books and has worked in the industry for over ten years. Additionally, Diana is a published academic, and she has been interviewed for many media outlets about science fiction and fandom, including CBS’s Inside Edition, MSN.com, and BBC America.
Lilliam Rivera: This year I'll be giving Fred Aceves’s debut novel The Closest I've Come to everyone. First, I love the cover so much. How many boys of color do you get to see on a young adult cover? It is so beautiful. As for the prose, it is both heartbreaking and real.
Lilliam Rivera is the author of The Education of Margot Sanchez, a contemporary young adult novel available now from Simon & Schuster. Named a "2017 Face to Watch" by the Los Angeles Times, Lilliam lives in California where she is completing her second young adult novel, Dealing in Dreams, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.
DongWon Song: This Mortal Coil, by Emily Suvada. This is a great holiday book because it's... festive! Look at that big explosion on the cover. It's red, which means it's Christmas themed! Does it matter that that festive cloud is a recently aerosolized human saturated with virus bits? No! It's red because it's fun.
Also, this book features a STEM heroine who solves her very dire problems with her coding skills, her wits, and her conviction. She's the kind of heroine I want my nieces to grow up with, and I encourage all of you to gift this book widely and often.
DongWon Song is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Agency. He was formerly an editor at Orbit and a product manager at Zola Books. He lives in Portland, OR.
Saba Sulaiman: Oh my gosh, choosing one YA book to recommend this year is such a hard feat, especially since there are so many different (yet equally great) kinds of YA books out there, but I think if there's one book I'd gift to people this year it would be Tiffany D. Jackson's Allegedly. It's a gorgeously written, incredibly absorbing novel with a propulsive plot and a memorable protagonist whose story will stay with you beyond your read.
Part psychological suspense, part contemporary, this book will shock you, move you, and make you rethink what you know to be true about mother-daughter relationships, culpability, and the juvenile criminal justice system. It's a fantastic debut by a woman of color whose books I will certainly be paying close attention to—I hope you enjoy it!
Saba Sulaiman is an Associate Agent at Talcott Notch Literary who's building her list in a variety of genres, including, of course, Young Adult. For more information, check out her website or follow her on Twitter.
December Releases
Prince in Disguise, by Stephanie Kate Strohm
The holidays can be a stressful time, and stressful times are good times to read fun fluffy books. Prince in Disguise is the story of a beauty queen and reality star’s little sister, who gets whisked off to Scotland to costar on her sister’s reality-televised wedding. Maybe she meets a handsome Scottish lad there, maybe she does not; we will all have to read and find out. Prince in Disguise comes out on 19 December from Disney-Hyperion.
Shadow Girl, Liana Liu
Mei’s summer job, tutoring a rich kid, seems like the perfect escape from her exhausting, everyday life in the city; but she soon discovers (because of course she does) that the Morrison household may be concealing terrible secrets. Mansion living? Check. Upstairs/Downstairs vibe? Check. Ghosts? APPARENTLY ALSO CHECK. Sounds like a delicious, summery treat to brighten up the cold month of December. This one comes out on 19 December from HarperTeen.
I have now done all that I can do to keep you in books throughout this holiday season—with the help of a whole bunch of deeply brilliant authors, editors, agents, and prize dispensers. Deck your halls with boughs of books, and accept my blanket permission to skip holiday events that make you miserable, and stay in reading instead. Hit me up on Twitter or stop by the blog, and never hesitate to ask me for book ideas to buy for your loved ones.
Jenny is the charming and effervescent co-host of the Reading the End bookcast. She blogs about books and other sundries at the delightful and educational Reading the End, where you will gain many excellent book recs about Oscar Wilde.
