I’ve been reading a lot of young adult books lately. I love them at any time, because I think they are not afraid to address essentials that adult books dance around, but I also notice that the more going on in my life, the more I tend to read simpler or less grim books – which is not to say that there aren’t a lot of quite convoluted or dark YA books, but at least the former tend to be convoluted for a reason and the latter to have at least a spice of hope.
I’ve been meaning to write up some recommendations, and was just pushed into finally doing it by some online conversations, so I’ll post them here as well. There’s a metric tonne of good new stuff out there; when you hear people talk about the flowering of YA in recent years, they’re not kidding. It’s especially been true in fantasy. Some recent favorites include:
The Percy Jackson series and the Erec Rex series: you know how everything these days gets compared to Harry Potter? In this case it’s a valid comparison. These series are as much like HP as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms is like Anne of Green Gables – and just as much unlike. Each is a series in which a boy missing a parent or two finds there is a magic domain parallel to our own and that he must save the world with the help for his friends. They appeal for the same reasons HP does, but the similarities end there. The Percy Jackson series is based on Greek mythology – only the gods are still around in modern America and are still siring demigod heroes. Rick Riordan clearly knows his mythology. I love them now and would have loved them in 5th grade. The fifth and last book is just out, but it contains a hint of a new series to come (my prediction is that it will center on Nico.) Oh, and they’re making a movie, but it sounds like a single one rather than a movie series. The Erec Rex books are more fanciful, mixing mythology and invention; one unique thing about this series is that after two books, we’re still figuring out Erec’s background and destiny, and those of his siblings. The third book (I think 8 are planned) comes out in June.
Philip Reeve’s Larklight / Starcross / Mothstorm: I love the voice in these, so because they’re so purely “Oswald Bastable ventures into space!”
Ysabeau Wilce’s Flora Segunda: Another whimsical one, though set in another world rather than an alternate history. I will probably have to break down and order the sequel from Amazon, because how you can resist a house with a blue butler and a girl who knows her own mind?
R.J. Anderson’s Knife (UK) / Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter (US): RJ Anderson wrote IMO one of the best HP fics ever, centering on a new character and a romance (!) for Snape. Fanfic honed her skills and now Knife and upcoming sequelae center on a different and unique view of faery and its intersection with our world. (Note: she’s a conservative Christian. I’m very much not. I like her work. She writes excellent stories that are consistent with her own principles. This means that her stuff might be a great idea for any of you who might be Christians looking for stories for your kids to read. But it’s also good for anyone looking for good YA fantasy, period.) Sequelae are upcoming.
Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book – every knows about this one already, right? If you liked Coraline or The Nightmare Before Christmas, you’ll love it.
Jeanne Birdsall’s The Penderwicks / The Penderwicks on Gardam Street: not fantasy. Centers on four sisters aged 4-12, set today but feels a lot like Elizabeth Enright’s Melendy series. Apparently there will be more in the series, which makes me happy.
Ingrid Law’s Savvy: this one feels like some of Richard Peck’s books to me – centers on a girl turning 13 in a family whose members develop some unsettling talents on that birthday.
Alma Alexander’s Worldweavers trilogy: also compared to HP, but in this case I don’t think it’s a very good comparison. Magic, computers, boarding school, Navajo traditions, Nikola Tesla, seventh daughter of two seventh children… I love stories that blend a lot of disparate elements. I think the computer bits are a bit weak logically, but that’s my only real complaint. The main character has such a distinctive voice that I could tell Thea from the MC of any of the other books here in a paragraph.
Jim Hines’ The Stepsister Scheme: what if all the heroines of fairy tales got together and decide to kick butt? I’m looking forward to the sequel of this one.
China Mieville’s UnLunDon: reminds me of a YA version of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, except that the heroine is less clueless from the start – even when she’s not sure if she is the heroine.
Linda Buckley Archer’s Gideon/Timequake trilogy: Be careful with this one, because the books have different UK/US titles. The UK ones are much better. (The first two US titles are Time Traveler and Time Thief. Boring!) The books feature time travel with actual consequences, a rare thing, and a nice picture of London in Fielding’s time.
Holly Black’s Tithe: one of those dark ones I mentioned. In coming of age teen stories, the heroine often learns she’s more than she thought she was – but it’s considerably more literal in this case.
Michael Scott’s Alchemyst / Magician / Sorceress: His website says Scott is a recognized authority on Irish mythology, and it shows – Scathach, for instance, is a suppportng character. The books center on the (historical character) alchemist Nicholas Flamel, his wife Perenelle, and a pair of twins, boy and girl. I think the third book, Sorceress, is due this month or next.
Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Mysterious Benedict Society: two books out so far about the group of kids, each a genius in a different way (because really, why *wouldn’t* anyone want to carry a bucket everywhere?) who are brought together to fight evildoers. Makes me feel like Encyclopedia Brown really never fulfilled his potential.
Lois Lowry’s The Willoughbys: once you’ve read all of the above, you can read this one – because it parodies the whole genre hilariously.
And this is just within the limits of what I’ve been able to get on Kindle, find here, or what I broke down and ordered. (In fact, most though not all of the above are available for Kindle and I was delighted that, with the last Percy Jackson books, they *finally* issued an ebook edition.) I haven’t read Sherwood Smith’s latest, A Posse of Princesses, or Patricia Wrede’s Thirteenth Child (which is currently the subject of a lot of debate and anger, due to her decision to omit Native Americans from her alternate history – or possibly to leave their ancestors in Asia). I haven’t read much else by Holly Black, or anything by Cassie Claire. I haven’t mentioned the charming Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, because this got long, and I just learned about Dull Boy today. There’s so many riches that I’m sure I’m both forgetting and missing some good stuff.
That is not a complaint.