What to Read Now - Young Adult Books (Paperback)
A selection of new & notable Young Adult (YA) titles in paperback. Also check out our list of New & Notable YA - Hardcover.
Last updated September 9, 2023.
The year is 2013, and Aria's plans for a summer in Martha's Vineyard are disrupted in favor of a quiet summer with her artist grandmother in California. Where Aria had expected a boring summer, she's instead introduced to the vibrancy of the working class queer community. A Scatter of Light kindly and tenderly explores many of the experiences of a young person coming into their queer identity, detailing the beauty and pain that can exist while finding and coming home to yourself. This will give you both a heartfelt cry and needed catharsis. --Jordan
A tight-knit group of friends is shaken when tragedy strikes and one of their own disappears without a trace. With no answers and no closure, the kids drift apart. But then a few years pass and their missing friend randomly shows back up, having not aged a day. I'm a sucker for any story dealing with a supernatural mystery, but then you put it in the 90s - a decade I'm familiar with, being *coughcoughcough* years old - and I'm totally on board. This is a great story about friendship and acceptance, and I couldn't get enough! --Colin
How lucky we are to have another historical fantasy from Justina Ireland! In Rust in the Root, Ireland reimagines the origins of Prohibition, the Dust Bowl and Depression-era America as the result of an ongoing battle between magical philosophies: Dynamism or "the possibilities" vs Mechomancy. In addition to being a devastatingly clever and insightful commentary on the inherently racist roots of capitalism in this country, it's a just a really good story. Makes me wish we all had well-verns in our backyard. --Elese
