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Teen Librarian Karen Jensen discusses her experience on the GLLI Translated YA Book Prize committee for 2021

The post The 2021 GLLI Translated YA Book Prize appeared first on Teen Librarian Toolbox.

YA books with older characters appeal to teens looking ahead in life and adults drawn to themes of self-discovery and affirmation. 

With protagonists who are 18 and older, more and more young adult books are examining early adulthood. These realistic, historical, fantasy, and thriller novels will appeal to teens, with characters navigating the messiness of life after adolescence.

Teen contributor Riley Jensen shares a roundup of new and upcoming YA suspense thrillers for those who like a little murder, mayhem and mystery

The post On the Edge of Your Seat YA: Have Some Suspense Books; By Teen Contributor Riley Jensen appeared first on Teen Librarian Toolbox.

Hand these nail-biters to teens drawn to the movie based on Patrick Ness's novel The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Many tweens and young teens will see themselves in these middle grade and YA selections.

Teen Contributor Riley Jensen rounds up some upcoming April and May YA Lit releases that she's interested in reading

The post Have Some April and May YA Books, By Teen Contributor Riley Jensen appeared first on Teen Librarian Toolbox.

Debut novelists and former We Need Diverse Books mentees Diana Ma and Angeline Boulley discuss their writing challenges, their families’ reactions to their novels, and using the YA genre to discuss identity and culture.

Three YA authors tell SLJ about their favorite childhood books and take a deep dive into the main characters in their debut novels.

The author of The Project discusses false assumptions about cult members, the truths of surviving trauma, and how this “crossover” book really is YA.

In the summer of 2020, a time of tragedy and activism throughout the country, Black teens were still falling in love and discovering their relationships to the world...and Renée Watson was working on a book about radical self-love and a Black girl saving herself. Here she writes about finding joy amid pain and how love can be a personal revolution.

For the first time in its history, the SCWBI has announced a list of Golden Kite Award finalists.

These fiction and nonfiction titles take on the embarrassment and discomfort associated with menstruation—while urging readers to take pride in their bodies and combat the stigma related to periods.

This month’s debut authors share what it has been like to get their first YA book published in the midst of a pandemic. Crystal Maldonado, Louisa Onomé, Marti Leimbach, and Bethany Mangle also discuss some of the research and self-reflection that went into writing their stories, and the importance of staying true to yourself.

Teen reviewer and musical theatre teen Riley Jensen reviews a gender bent Phantom of the Opera inspired YA fantasy

The post Book Review: Sing Me Forgotten by Jessica S. Olson, by Teen Contributor Riley Jensen appeared first on Teen Librarian Toolbox.

Daniel Nayeri's Everything Sad is Untrue (a true story) won the 2021 Printz Award, rewarding and bringing great joy to a new publisher and the author, who used the spotlight to try to help others.

The Printz Award announcement is just around the corner. In our final column of the season, Stacey Shapiro, a member of last year's Printz committee, considers the books that could take this year's award—and helped her get through 2020.

In time for Valentine’s Day, these teen love stories center friends, enemies, and strangers who become something more.

Centering on fat protagonists who defy societal expectations and reject narrow beauty norms, these YA novels work to combat the messages that fat bodies are unacceptable and undeserving of respect.

Four first-time YA authors tell SLJ about the inspirations behind their novels, their paths to publication, and their hopes for young people in 2021.

From a choose-your-own-path Romeo and Juliet to a Macbeth retelling that channels #MeToo, there's something here for all teen readers and fans of the Bard. 

This month, four YA authors serve up restaurant-set reads. Teens will crave these love stories, and some tasty food too. 

Five debut YA authors are in the running for the 2021 Morris Award.

Appealing novels for fans of this comedy starring Devi, an Indian American teen, co-created by Mindy Kaling.

The five standout titles represent some of the year's best in nonfiction for young adults. 

New books inspired by The Princess Bride, Grease, Empire Records, and The Phantom of the Opera correct the sexism, homophobia, and racial privilege in their source material.

Nineteen novels made SLJ's list of the most exemplary young adult books published in 2020. 

Authors Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon have collaborated on a YA novel celebrating Black love during a New York City blackout.

Nonfiction works and sequels don’t usually win the Printz, but this year many such books—about a thrilling escape from tragedy, an inspiring refugee story, and more—are serious contenders.

Short story and essay collections for teens can be a classroom tool, an introduction to a new author or genre, and an opportunity for readers to feel seen. These selections celebrate diversity and intersectionality, exploring identity in new and dynamic ways.

SLJ's full Best Books 2020 list will be revealed on November 23, but check out a few of the titles that earned this year's honor.

Mara Fitzgerald, Vitor Martins, and Shannon Takaoka discuss the characters who are allowed to be unlikable, being vulnerable as an author, and protecting creative space.

A citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation, the author of Hearts Unbroken was awarded the prize in recognition of her "outstanding achievement" in YA literature.

This year’s top YA titles help us escape, look inward, and navigate our times.

Looking for books for teens that feature Latinx protagonists? Check out these titles, running the gamut from contemporary immigration stories to science fiction. 

Teens have long been engaged in the world around them, and this year many of them may be voting for the first time. As you encourage young people to be civic-minded, recommend these election-themed YA books that tackle family, friendship, love, and making their voices heard.

Teen contributor Riley Jensen highlights 5 new YA books coming soon for teen readers

The post More Books To Come, By Teen Contributor Riley Jensen appeared first on Teen Librarian Toolbox.

A brief look at voting and elections in YA literature

The post Voting and Elections in YA Lit appeared first on Teen Librarian Toolbox.

Check out our reviews of the books featured at the SLJ Summit 2020's graphic novel panel "I Guess This Is Growing Up: Coming-of-Age Stories in Graphic Novel Format."

Each month until the 2021 ALA Youth Media Awards on Monday, January 25, our Pondering Printz column will feature expert predictions and analysis of this year's Michael L. Printz Award by former committee members. This month our columnist asks, how can this year’s Printz Award contenders help us process our world?

As they look forward to publishing their first YA titles, these authors discuss writing about pain and joy, the long process of publishing, and advice for activists and college-bound teens.

These titles for middle and high school readers celebrate joy in the lives of Black teens and tweens. The characters in these stories laugh honestly, love fiercely, and exist wholly.

Read-alouds are usually the domain of picture books, but teens also enjoy being read to, and audiobooks are popular among all ages. Here are some read-aloud videos of YA titles—classic, new, and upcoming books—from publishers, authors, and librarians.

When the world feels heavy, when the days are full of restless energy, it feels great to sink into a book that can elicit some laughs. These teen titles explore complex topics with humor.

"But though I’ve been deeply indoctrinated by the white imagination, I don’t invest in it." Junauda Petrus, author of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book The Stars and the Blackness Between Them (Dutton; Gr 8 Up), discusses the power of speculative fiction, removing racist statues, and navigating whiteness.

The play about the Salem witch trials presents a moral dilemma, but it's another canonical work centering the white, Christian, male perspective. Here are suggestions for discussion and alternate works.

Debut novelists Kiku Hughes, Jordan Ifueko, Syed M. Masood, and Christina Hammonds Reed talk about constructing their books with food, folklore, and family stories.

July's debut YA authors discuss the images that gave way to their first novels, exploring their characters' backgrounds, and carefree childhood summers.

These immersive works of historical fiction surface events often omitted by textbooks, blend history and other genres, and urge readers to reconsider the past and look to the future.

From alternate histories to dystopian futures, these teen genre selections offer up magic, mermaids, mechsuits, and more.

Readers will cheer for these YA books about boxing, basketball, field hockey, and more.

Finding books that are age-appropriate but still compelling enough to hook the interest of older tweens and young teens can be tricky. Here are some of our recent favorites. 

With controlled vocabularies and short page counts, hi-lo (­high-interest, low-readability) books present engaging, age-­appropriate options for students reading below their grade level. This roundup of new and forthcoming series highlights a wide range of titles for collections serving elementary, middle, and high school ­audiences.

These titles avoid classic romance tropes and tackle topics of race, feminism, and being true to yourself, all with humor and heart.

These thrilling teen novels will keep readers up on hot summer nights.

From summer camp to improv troupes to rom coms, these YA reads keep things light as the days get longer.

These YA authors don’t flinch from the tough stuff, exploring harassment, privilege, racism, family expectations, and more, but these tender, utterly intimate books are also laced with humor and understanding. Looking for more summer reading recommendations? SLJ is publishing lists all summer long—from family stories to mysteries to teen reads. 

In honor of Pride Month, these debut authors discuss their LGBTQIA+ themed YA books.

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, these YA titles depict teens in counseling, normalizing and demystifying the process for readers.

Our monthly Q&A with writers whose first YA books are out now, debuting in the time of coronavirus.

Readers need diverse rom-coms where the love story comes first, where tenderness can blossom, and where happy endings are possible. These recent and upcoming books showcase the joy in the lives of teens of color, not just the pain.

An interview with Lauren Myracle, the author of This Boy, which follows a teenager named Paul Walden through four years of high school, capturing moments from the small and sweet to the tragic and life-altering.

Journaling and how-to books by Angie Thomas, Elizabeth Acevedo, Paul Fleischman, and Ally Carter can help students find their voice during challenging times.

Seven new authors make their YA debuts during a global pandemic, with stories of hope, coping, and losses whose lessons may help others to thrive.

Lewis's Read Woke challenge prompts young readers to embrace social consciousness. Her students say she changed their lives.

Three recent YA nonfiction works—Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You; An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People; and A Queer History of the United States for Young People—are "remixing" history to put marginalized people front and center. 

For many of these authors, luck is what happens while they keep their heads down, do their homework, and always show up prepared.

From attacking the Third Reich to making high schools accountable for women's needs, authors are highlighting the large and small efforts of young people to effect change.

YA newcomers talk about the fictional crushes, heartbreaks, soaring romances, and legendary friendships that have kept them company creatively. 

These fiction and nonfiction titles nourish the body, soul, and imagination.

In advance of the Printz Award announcement on January 27, take a look at the expert analysis and predictions for YA's top prize in SLJ's Pondering Printz columns.

Tonya Bolden's newest historical novel, Saving Savannah, follows an affluent African American teenager as she navigates the tumultuous summer of 1919 and discovers the need for activism and the ways in which she can make a difference. Bolden talks to SLJ about doing research, connecting the past to the present, and taking inspiration from Toni Morrison.

In our last Pondering Printz column before this year's announcement, Angela Carstensen cautions that the award is not a popularity contest.

This month's debut YA authors share their bookish New Year’s resolutions, the inspirations behind their first titles, and more.

Paula Willey considers the ghostly, mysterious, and all around non-realistic books in contention for this year’s Printz Award.

Authors of SLJ’s Best Young Adult Books of 2019 weigh in on their favorite teen titles of the decade.

The librarians huddled around a table at SLJ’s annual Leadership Summit probably hadn’t played with wooden blocks since they were in grade school themselves.

La Sala sat down with SLJ to talk about giving power to underdogs, how drag queens are the ultimate world-builders, and the 10 years it took to write his debut novel...which he finished out of spite. "It was a selfish desire to correct many things I thought could be done a lot better, and a lot gayer."

The Young Adult Library Services Association has announced the finalists for the 2020 William C. Morris Award, which celebrates the best YA book by a previously unpublished author.

In the last few years, there's been a rise in YA anthologies hitting shelves, and the trend isn't slowing down. Librarians weigh in on these books' popularity and how to use them in schools and public programming.

Jonathan Hunt offers picks for this year's Printz Award—including nonfiction, graphic novels, and books for young teens—and reminds us that serving on award committees isn't for the faint of heart.

Seventeen titles made SLJ's list of the most distinguished young adult books published in 2019. 

Sera Reycraft’s American journey began in a United States Department of Defense school in Korea. At age ten, her mother married her stepfather, an American government official living abroad.

Titles on criminal justice and families experiencing incarceration.

Books for middle school readers, including YA and middle grade realistic, fantasy, series, and standalone titles, as recommended by librarians.

It's time to celebrate children's books and reading, tell Lerner about amazing librarians, and get excited for the sequel to a Newbery winner.

In Charlotte Nicole Davis's debut YA fantasy, The Good Luck Girls, young women escape from a "welcome house" on a planet inspired by the Wild West. Davis discusses how the Old West inspired her to create an adventure story Black and brown girls can see themselves in and building a fantasy world to understand our own.

In this month's Pondering Printz column, Lalitha Nataraj considers titles that center underrepresented voices and the inherent value of all books, whether or not they take home the award.

This fall, three acclaimed adult authors debut YA titles—including a National Book Award finalist. Jennifer Baker talks to them about writing across audiences, seeing teen readers as individuals, and trying to make the world better.

Not only is the representation of various mental illnesses in YA literature expanding, but so is the ­sensitivity of their portrayals. Here are 13 standout titles. 

The forthcoming "Hunger Games" release has a title and a cover,  Jeff Kinney lets Rowley pitch in to help educate kids about recycling, and more in News Bites. 

Randy’s latest book, Patron Saints of Nothing, is a powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder. It has received five starred reviews and was selected for the National Book Award Longlist.

Sports-themed titles to empower all young readers.

Author Shaun David Hutchinson considers taking a step back from darker narratives that reflect the trauma and struggles of the world as it is now, focusing instead on "telling stories about the world we could live in."

We live in a country where gun violence is shockingly normalized. Award-winning author Michelle Roehm McCann tackles the topic of gun violence through a community and national lens in this excerpt from her new book, Enough Is Enough: How Students Can Join the Fight for Gun Safety.

SLJ kicks off our monthly awards season column, Pondering Printz, with commentary and predictions on who might take the highest honor for YA books, the 2020 Michael L. Printz Award.

Readers return to the Orkney Isles to join a young witch’s epic adventure.

Tami Charles explores transformation and forgiveness in Becoming Beatriz.