We hope everyone had a great time spending June immersed in YA lit all about survival!
If you’re new to #SummerofYA, you can find more information on the purpose of the virtual book club, the importance of YA Lit and our modes for discussion and connection over the course of our reading in our post from June.
At the end of the month, we will host a #SummerofYA Twitter chat to discuss our reading of July’s theme. However, we don’t want to wait until the end of the month to start sharing our thoughts about what we’re reading. We’d like to encourage all of you to use both the comment section of this post and Twitter as a means to facilitate discussion throughout July.
Now onto July’s theme!
July’s Theme: THE NEW NORMAL
What does the normal YA reader look like? What does it even mean to be normal in the first place?
Being a young adult brings with it many challenges, among these are figuring out who you are and where you fit into the world. During July, we will be reading books that honor all types of “normal” and reach all types of readers. All of our readers deserve books that they can connect with, which is why we will use this month to celebrate diversity and the “new normal.”
For July, we will have a spotlight genre; Realistic Fiction. Check out this awesome list of realistic fiction to help you get started with your July book choice.
You may also want to begin your search for realistic fiction that celebrates diversity by checking out authors such as Sharon Draper, Rainbow Rowell, David Levithan, John Green and Matt de la Peña.
Year of YA 
I am THRILLED about this topic! It is so relevant in the ongoing discussions of We Need Diverse Books, LBGT and the general worry of “Am I Normal?”
What is normal???
The authors that Tavia suggests are wonderful for this theme and diving into contemporary, realistic YA. I’ve devoured Rainbow and John Green already, so will be starting with David Levithan’s Every Day ($1.99 on Kindle right now). I’m a HUGE Sarah Dessen fan (ok… Fan Girl, Pretend BFF, etc etc) and am excited to have her new Saint Anything to read this month. I’m not sure yet about book #3, but will be looking for something with more diversity than the first 2 titles… will keep you posted! Let us know what you’re thinking… don’t forget, JUST ONE is all you need!
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I love the idea of this and am looking forward to following the Twitter chat tonight! This is probably my favorite subgenre within YA fiction, too. I’ve read most of the books on the Goodreads list and just finished Saint Anything a couple of weeks ago – one of Dessen’s best, I think. I’ve got Levithan’s Every Day to read while I’m working at a summer camp next week and am reading All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (and Matthew Quick’s Love May Fail, as far as non-YA books go) at the moment. A student recommended All the Bright Places and so far it’s excellent.
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Lauren – I finally got around to reading Every Day and really liked it. Using it for one of my Books for Boys titles. Currently on the companion/sequel Another Day and I guess the parallel nature of the storytelling doesn’t have me as hooked (you’re getting Rhiannon’s POV, after hitting “rewind” to the beginning on Every Day). I’m hoping it will pick up soon 🙂
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I loaned Every Day to a camper at summer camp a few weeks ago and haven’t had a chance to read it yet – I’m really intrigued by the premise of it. I didn’t know the sequel was a parallel story but those are usually not as good to me, so that’s a little disappointing!
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