What YA Books Are Your Must-Haves in a Dream Library?

It's not a secret to anyone who follows this blog that I'm a HUGE fan of young adult fiction. I started reading it when I was a tween, and I never stopped. So I was ecstatic when our local  children's librarian asked me for young adult book recommendations. The library is planning on revitalizing their young adult room, and I'm so happy to help! 

I decided to group my recommendations by genre. 

Realistic fiction:

This thought-provoking novel is set during the Rodney King trial and the L.A. riots. Ashley lives in a privileged neighborhood, and doesn't really think about race or racism until the riots affect every aspect of her life. Suddenly, the "jokes" her friends make about race aren't funny anymore. One of the only other Black kids at school gets framed for a crime he didn't commit, which prompts Ashley to take a deep look at her life, and the world around her. 

"Although my food still doesn't give me any memories, it has always been looking back; it's infused with the people I come from. But it's also a way for me to look forward: to watch the recipes from my roots transform, grow, and feed the hungriest places inside of me."

This great novel is about Emoni, a teen mom with a passion for cooking. I liked how this book showed that, while Emoni's life is greatly complicated by her daughter, it's far from over (the way teen pregnancy is sometimes depicted in YA). She has dreams and aspirations, but is level-headed enough to understand that her daughter must come first. Speaking of complicated, all the characters are multifaceted and interesting - Buela isn't just a sacrificing grandmother raising her granddaughter, Julio isn't just a deadbeat father. And Emoni is such a fantastic character too. 

This is not an easy read, but it's an important one. His cousin's murder leads Jay to a journey back to the Philippines. Jay has been in the US for years and feels like an outsider, and grapples with his identity as he works to uncover the truth of his cousin's death. This novel addresses Duterte's brutal war on drugs, as well as poverty and grief.

Liz really needs to be the Prom Queen at her school, but not because she's spent her childhood dreaming about being Queen. She desperately needs the scholarship money to attend the college of her dreams. The only thing is, Liz is Black, queer, and a band geek. But she's willing to try, and this novel is so sweet and charming. Her budding romance with Mack is lovely too. 

Historical fiction:

I love everything Stacey Lee has written, and her historical novel about Chinese passengers aboard the Titanic blew me away. It's not a romantic novel, but it's lively and interesting, and makes me wish we knew more about the actual Chinese passengers on the doomed ship. 

My Lady Jane is the first in a series of the Lady Janies series, and all three stand-alone novels are fun and inventive. My Lady Jane reimagines the life of Lady Jane from Tudor fame. I spent a few years reading everything I could about that time period, and Jane was always kind of a footnote. She was a doomed teenage queen who only ruled for nine days. It was great to see her life set in a world full of shape-shifters, where she and the other characters are witty and funny. 

Fantasy/sci-fi:

 

This is the first book in The Babysitter's Coven trilogy, but I recommend all three. It has a distinctly fun, Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel while toting girl power and endless snark. 

I really like fairy tale retellings, and this book exceeded my expectations! It's not a Disney-fied version of Cinderella, but rather a dystopian world where girls and women have no autonomy, and the Cinderella fairy tale is used to keep them in their places. 

The Raven Boys cycle is amazing, full-stop. All readers have a book or series that they go to when they've had a bad week, or just want to feel comforted. This is my comfort series. It's about so many things: magic, ley lines, found families, complicated mother-daughter relationships, grief, love. It's a lot, and it's all really, really great. 

An isolated boarding school, a mysterious illness, a biological mystery. This is one of the strangest YA books I've ever read, but also one of the most interesting. 

BIPOC romance:

I'm not a huge fan of romance novels, but the books in the When Dimple Met Rishi universe are so much fun. I especially love Sweetie, whose parents think that her worth is somehow tied to how much she weighs. They can't see past their fat-shaming to how wonderful and talented their daughter is. Sweetie's budding romance with Ashish is cute and lots of fun.

This romance (about food trucks!!) was sweet and funny. Clara feels abandoned by her social influencer, trendsetting mother, and has difficulty getting close to other people. She overcompensates by pulling out a series of pranks - but the pranks backfire, and she ends up working at her dad's food truck for the summer, side by side with her school nemesis. And of course there's a cute boy involved as well! 

This debut novel is billed as a fake dating rom com, but it's SO MUCH MORE. Frank is in his last year of high school, on the cusp of everything changing. He navigates dating (and yes, fake dating) while having great, deep discussions about children of immigrants, what it means to be American (or a hyphenated one), race, and socioeconomic statuses. This sounds dry, but it actually isn't. I particularly loved the long talks he had with best friend Q, because they seemed organic and authentic, the kind of real talks I had with my friends when I was 17.

This is also a bittersweet homage to growing up, leaving high school, and recognizing that while our parents are not perfect, our relationships with them are important and precious.

Frank, Q, Joy, Brit, and everyone's parents are so perfectly characterized. There are no cookie cutter stereotyping here, and I loved it because I'm a sucker for complicated, three-dimensional characters. As an Asian-American (though not Korean-American), I could relate to most of what happened to Frank. It feels so good to have such honest representation. I just wish I could have read this when I was 17!

Mysteries/thrillers:

I am always equal parts elated and apprehensive whenever I read a Courtney Summers book. Her novels are powerful but they're also devastating. This one still haunts me. Sadie is about a girl who has been reported missing after her younger sister was murdered. There's a podcast involved in uncovering the truth, and some triggering content, including sexual assault. 

Horror:

White Smoke is an amazing haunted house story that also delves into racism, poverty, the school-to-prison pipeline, and gentrification. 

Remember the horror movie The Grudge? This definitely has Grudge-like vibes. Truly a scary horror novel. 

Graphic novels:

This graphic novel reminds me of my own experiences of moving to a small town. I moved from Hawaii rather than Seoul, so I didn't have to deal with a language barrier, but I felt much like Robin did - drowning in racism and a persistent feeling of otherness. This is such a powerful read.

I know a lot of the books on this list are heavy-hitters. This one is just a lot of fun! It's the perfect graphic novel to read during the fall, when you're sipping on some apple cider. 

So readers, which books would you add?