The YA Agenda — April 2019

[helloladies]

Jenny is the funny and insightful co-host of the Reading the End bookcast. She blogs about books and other sundries at the very entertaining Reading the End, where you can go for even more book reviews, lists, and interviews! She is also an excellent goal setter and loves a hot plate of cheese fries.

In honor of April Fool’s, I’m highlighting YA protagonists who will fool the heck out of you! And so that you won’t think I’m cliché and repetitive, I haven’t even included Eugenides. I have read books not written by Megan Whalen Turner, and the rumor that I only care about books by Megan Whalen Turner is hurtfully false.



Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein — I am starting with a book I do not actually advocate reading because I think the world is too cold and cruel for Code Name Verity. If we ever reach a point where actual real-life Nazis cease to have salience in our political atmosphere, perhaps then I will once again recommend Code Name Verity to people. For now, it is frankly much too sad. Code Name Verity is the story of an English spy captured by Nazis and spilling all her secrets. There’s more to what she’s saying than meets the eye, though, and the hypothetical future world in which I hope one day to reside will be a great place to discover those secrets.



White Is for Witching, Helen Oyeyemi — In building this list, my main takeaway has been that there are not enough unreliable narrators in YA, and specifically there are not enough unreliable narrators in YA written by authors of color. So I’m slightly fudging by including White Is for Witching, which is literary fiction that I think a clever teenager could nevertheless enjoy. (It’s also my favorite book by Helen Oyeyemi, and I try never to miss a chance to advocate for it.) White Is for Witching is about a xenophobic haunted house and the family that resides in it. You can’t trust anything a xenophobe says.



Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge — Also known as the book that got me in on Frances Hardinge. I actually can’t say too much about Cuckoo Song without spoiling its twists, but I can say that it’s about a girl called Triss who wakes up from an accident to discover a chunk of her memories missing. Her sister is afraid of her, and her diary is missing pages. Cuckoo Song and the next book on this list are special to me because they’re not about intentionally unreliable narrators, but rather narrators who have failed to understand things about themselves and their worlds. I can’t tell you what a gratifying read that makes for.



Chime, Franny Billingsley — Honestly the gold standard for unreliable narrators in YA, and I say that in full knowledge that The Thief exists. As with Cuckoo Song, it’s easy to say too much about Chime. Our protagonist is Briony, and she’s a witch. If the town finds out she’s a witch, they’ll execute her. Though she makes herself as small and invisible as she can, there’s a new boy in town, Eldric, who sees her for who she is—maybe better than she can see herself. The unreliability here is mostly emotional, which makes for an absolutely beautiful payoff.

What are some of your favorite unreliable narrators? I know that I’ve left off Liar Liar, which I haven’t read yet! What else am I missing?

April YA Releases I’m Anticipating

      

The Princess and the Fangirl, Ash Poston — Jessica Stone is finished playing Princess Amara on the beloved franchise Starfield, and Imogen Lovelace is committed to ensuring that the show doesn’t kill Amara. The Princess and the Fangirl (2 April, Quirk Books) is about the two of them—and I’m going to ask you to brace yourself—having to switch places to find out who’s been leaking Starfield scripts. I predict that they’ll each come to understand each other a little better, and maybe find love along the way!

In the Key of Nira Ghani, Natasha Deen — Here we have a book by a Guyanese Canadian author about a Guyanese Canadian teenager following her dreams. Yay! In the Key of Nira Ghani (9 April, Running Press Kids) is about a girl who wants to be a musician in a jazz band, despite her parents’ dreams for her to become a doctor or scientist. Meanwhile, she’s getting caught up in a new social circle that threatens her oldest friendship.

Descendant of the Crane, Joan He — My favorite thing about Descendant of the Crane (9 April, Albert Whitman) is the consistency with which people reviewing this book have said O M G THE TWIST IN THIS BOOK. It’s about Princess Hesina, who abruptly becomes queen after her father’s unexpected death. When she begins to suspect that her father was murdered by someone close to her, she engages the help of a criminal named Akira, who has his own set of secrets (and, presumably, motives).

   

The Tiger at Midnight, Swati Teerdhala — I was never not hype for YA inspired by Hindu mythology, but Sangu Mandanna’s A Spark of White Fire was so wonderful that I am hungry as hell for more. The Tiger at Midnight (23 April, Katherine Tegen) is about a talented rebel assassin called Esha who has been assigned to kill a powerful general. When her path crosses with the general’s nephew, Kunal, things get complicated. I’ve been promised plenty of shades of moral gray.

Love from A to Z, S. K. Ali — Zayneb gets suspended from high school for confronting her teacher’s Islamophobic remarks, then heads to Qatar for the summer. Love from A to Z (30 April, Salaam Reads) is about what happens next. On the flight to Doha, Zayneb meets a boy called Adam who recently got a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Both of these characters are Muslim, and Zayneb’s a hijabi girl, which makes this contemporary romance something special. I can’t wait for it.