Unsung & Unlikely Heroes: #YearofYA November 2019

 

As usual with #YearofYA, we pick a topic and you pick the book(s). That means you get to define what “unsung” or “unlikely” means to you – and how to find that in YA lit!

We also encourage you to explore “pairings” – matching a YA book with either an adult, middle grade, or kid lit title and be ready to share at our chat how you made that connection!

Below are some lists to get you started, but you’re free to pick books that fit the theme – for you!

Celebrating Unlikely Heroes in Young Adult Fantasy Novels

20 Unlikely YA Heroes We Love

GIVING A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS: 8 UNSUNG HEROES

Unsung Heroes: 60 Books about Extraordinary Black Mighty Girls and Women

Tess of the Road Author Rachel Hartman on YA Heroines Who Showed Her New Ways to Be

Stranger YA Things – #YearofYA October 2019

Join us as we chat on October 24 – 8pm EST / 5pm PST

Spooky books seems to have taken over YA with the arrival of cultural phenomenon Stranger Things, the re-vamp of Stephen King’s IT, and authors who tap into their inner R.L. Stine and keep readers screaming (literally) for more!

In October we will be reading YA books that scare us, leave us mystified, and take us to worlds unknown. This month, choose horror, thrillers, sci-fi, mysteries — anything that leaves you with goosebumps! Join us at the end of the month to share…if you dare!! 

Don’t have anything spooky creeping up your TBR list? Here are some resources to help you dig up a haunting pick:

• 15 Scary Young Adult Books That Are Perfect for Halloween
• A definitive list of YA thrillers that will keep you up at night
• Surefire YA Scares: 13 of the Best Teen Horror Books
• 20 New Horror Books For Readers Who Take Spooky Season Seriously (not exclusively YA, but a good list)
• FROM CHRISTOPHER PIKE TO L.J. SMITH, THE YA HORROR BOOKS THAT RULED THE ’80S AND ’90S (if you’re feeling nostalgic)
• 5 YA Horror Novels We Love
• Spooky, Semi-Scary Books for Middle Grade Readers
• 5 Extra-Scary Middle Grade Books for Future Stephen King Fans
• SCARY, SCARIER, SCARIEST: 13 TERRIFYING TALES FOR MIDDLE GRADE READERS
• 13 Great Scary Books That Are Appropriate for Tweens
• RA FOR ALL: HORROR

 

Summer Readin’… had me a blaaaast #YearofYA

Somehow… it’s the middle of JUNE!

Thank you for your patience with our May slow chat… working on opposite ends of the country with timezones and work demands puts a damper sometimes on what Tavia and I can team up on, but we get so much from these reading challenges and conversations with readers all over that it’s important for us to still get the questions out there and some dialogue around YA in our timelines!

 

This summer we both have some exciting projects – personal and professional – so we are setting you up for a summer reading challenge! Below are some fantastic reading lists and established challenges that we invite you to explore and decide what you are interested in diving into. Share on Twitter using #YearofYA on whatever challenge you decide on, or adapt…

With each great read you enjoy over the summer, please tweet about it and include #YearofYA on your journey!

Come across any good lists, hashtags, or additional challenges, share them!

We hope to host a mid-summer check-in chat in July and resume normal monthly themes as we look ahead to another school year.

HAPPY READING!

Challenges:

Modern Ms. Darcy 2019 Reading Challenge
This is an open ending reading challenge, but could easily be applied to YA Lit. It gives goals, a guide, etc. for readers to use.

Random House YA Bingo
You pick the books based on squares of fun categories and challenges!

YA Buccaneers Choice Board
Fun ideas that inspire you to pick a book based on a theme

Librarian Michelle Annett shares these BINGO boards with students
*Make a copy for yourself to edit!
6th Grade Example
7th Grade Example
8th Grade Example

Greater Washington Reading Council fill-in-the-title example
(Mollee’s favorite! Very reminiscent of how we do themes for #YearofYA!)

Book Lists:

ProjectLIT 2019-2020

Brightly Summer Reading List 2019

50+ YA Paperbacks for Summer 2019 Reading

Epic Reads Summer of 2019 New Releases

B&N Summer 2019 Curated Lists

 

Crossovers #YearofYA May 2019

 

 

YA is for everyone, we can agree on that statement, right?

 

We won’t have had this bookclub on Twitter for nearly 4 years now if adults weren’t enjoying YA as much as teens do!

 

But there’s a fuzzy time between when a teen is ready for college and finding “adult” books on the shelf (and no, we don’t mean adult) where there isn’t very much to appeal to adults who are young… versus “young adults.”

 

The adult books that bridge the gap between teenage years and early adulthood can be called “crossovers” – that’s what we’re digging into for the May 2019 #YearofYA theme!

 

We’ve done this theme before, but with fresh titles coming out for this age (or interest!) group coming out on the regular, and even a yearly ALA award (Alex) for adult books that appeal to teen readers, we figured it would be worth shining a light on again!

 

This is also inspired by 2 recent crossover reads from each of us:
One Day in December (Mollee)

and

Circe (Tavia).

 

Grab a book you think ties YA readers to the world of adult lit & join us to chat in May!

 

2019 Alex Awards (ALA)

7 ‘Adult’ Books That Every YA Reader Will Love

8 Great Adult Books for Teens Ready to Move On from YA

Adult Fiction for YA Readers

Book Browse

Popular YA Adult Crossover Books on GoodReads

 

#YearofYA Goes Graphic April 2019

We always love bringing Graphic Novels in the spotlight with #YearofYA! So much so, that graphic novels seem to sneak into our choices each month, for any topic!

 

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a whole month around graphic novels, so we felt it was time to take a look at some of the new titles, series, and authors/illustrators that have emerged in the last couple years.

 

2018/early 2019 has seen some graphics get well-deserved attention in Hey Kiddo as National Book Award finalist, The Unwanted earning YALSA excellence in nonfiction & the Sibert Honor, and Check Please! As a Morris finalists. It would be shameful to miss reading these stories, delivered in a format that is becoming increasingly popular with young readers.

 

What’s amazing about the ongoing growth of Graphic Novels is how many unique stories are being told through this format: retellings of favorite YA texts like Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, glimpses into history like Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation, and informational products that teach readers everything from the journey of a refugee, to the struggles of mental illness, and how to better understand using pronouns and gender identity. Art is a powerful way to communicate stories – both fictional and true.

 

Enjoy this month – if you are a reader of GNs already, share some of your favorite in the comments or on twitter using #YearofYA! And if this is not a format you typically explore, grab a story that sounds interesting to you and see how it goes!

• And if you still need to be sold on reading a graphic novel, check out this recent revelation by Abby Hargreaves on Book Riot

 

As always with #YearofYA, we pick the theme (in this case, a format!) and YOU choose the books!

 

Lists & Resources:

YALSA Great Graphic Novels {links to many lists}

YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2019

YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2019 nominees (even more titles to explore!)

YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2018

Chicago Public Library Best Comics & Graphic Novels for Teens 2018

Epic Reads 29 Must-Have Graphic Novels for your Collection

Book Riot Teen Graphic Novel Releases Aug-Dec 2018

Book Riot Teen Graphic Novel Releases Jan-March 2019

Comics and Graphic Novels for Reluctant Readers

Award Winners! #YearofYA March 2019

 

Booknerds everywhere get excited (and frustrated!) when it’s book award season! Now that the ALA Youth Media Awards have been announced, we figured we’d celebrate award winners – from ALA along with other favorites. And don’t worry if your favorite didn’t get the love you feel it deserved… we might have a question for that! As always with our themes, you have the freedom to pick titles that interest YOU.

 

Below are just a few of our favorite award lists! If you want to share more and read from something different, send ideas our way!

 

ALA Youth Media Awards

Book Shimmy Awards by EPIC Reads

CYBLIS awards – Children and YA Bloggers awards!

Goodreads Award Winners

National Book Awards

A Celebration of African-American YA | #YearofYA February ’19

 

There is a beautiful book called 28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World by Charles R. Smith Jr. that should be in every library, every classroom, every month of the year.

 

Perhaps just as necessary now than ever, young people need to find inspiration in the courage of generations before us, to learn about lived experiences vastly different (or incredibly similar!) to their own, to reflect on what it means to be a bystander, versus an ally, versus an upstander.

 

Stories like the short biographies found in 28 Days provide readers with those essential windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors that Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop has so famously referred to – and while biographies are a fitting way to connect and reflect during Black History Month, #YearofYA wants to celebrate the incredible works of African-American young adult authors.

 

Below are lists of books written by African American authors:

• 21 Books for Black History Month by Epic Reads
• Don’t Miss These Fantastic YA Books by Black Authors That Release This Year (2018) by Buzzfeed
• 18 Young Adult Books by POC Writers that you Need to Read by Epic Reads
• Great Books for Teens by African-American Authors by Burlington County Library System
• 100 Books for Black Boys/Teens of Color by Langston League

 

Additional helpful resources:

Reading While White

Tolerance.org

 

Mollee’s Must-Reads

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Anything by Jason Reynolds

 

Tavia’s Must-Reads

Any and Everything by Jason Reynolds (All American Boys is my favorite)

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

Allegedly By Tiffany D. Jackson