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The Ultimate YA Summer Reading List

by Laura Lambert

summer-reading-young-adult

No matter where you live, this summer will be a summer like no other. Perhaps sleepaway camp has been cancelled. Trips abroad, or to see far-flung family and friends, deferred. In some cases, school might not even be in session for fall. Lucky for us, the latest crop of YA books — some brand new, some new in paperback — will still be there to help pass the time, to invite you into new worlds — beyond the walls of your own home, with characters both familiar and strange.

Books to bring to the “beach” (or just outside):

Girls Save the World in This One

Girls Save the World in This One

by Ash Parsons

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Think: Shaun of the Dead meets Clueless. In Girls Save the World in This One, the title is no lie. Three best friends — June, Imani and Siggy — hit up ZombieCon! only to realize that things are not as they seem, and that it’s up to them to save everyone from a “real” zombie apocalypse.

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American Royals

American Royals

by Katharine McGee

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Now out in paperback, American Royals is exactly what the title suggests — a re-envisioning of America where, instead of electing a president, the rulers are royalty, dating back to the Revolutionary War. And now, America might be about to have its first ruling queen. “Written from multiple perspectives, McGee … crafts a deliciously soapy American royal family,” writes Publishers Weekly.

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Verona Comics

Verona Comics

by Jennifer Dugan

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From ZombieCon! to FabCon prom. Kirkus calls this queer YA novel “breathlessly sweet,” even as the lighter aspects of a comic bookstore romance sit atop heavier topics like anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and mental health. From the author of last year’s Hot Dog Girl.

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Books to break your heart:

When You Were Everything

When You Were Everything

by Ashley Woodfolk

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What happens when best friends drift apart — and then are unceremoniously forced back together? That’s what Ashley Woodfolk explores in When You Were Everything, which Publishers Weekly calls “a satisfying coming-of-age friendship story.”

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A Girl in Three Parts

A Girl in Three Parts

by Suzanne Daniel

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In this debut coming-of-age novel, set in 1970s Australia, Allegra Elsom grapples not just with the loss of her mother, who died when she was just three years old, but also the complicated relationships she has with the people who are left in her life — her maternal grandmother, Matilde, her surfer father, and his mother, Joy. “This is both a story of self-discovery and one of family healing,” says Kirkus.

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How to Make Friends with the Dark

How to Make Friends with the Dark

by Kathleen Glasgow

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Now out in paperback, How to Make Friends with the Dark takes place in the tumultuous weeks after the death of 16-year-old Tiger Tolliver’s mother — her only family. Amidst the chaos of foster homes and funeral arrangements, Tiger learns how to move forward.

“This narrative is chiefly a first-person experience of the void left behind when the most important person in a young woman’s life is suddenly gone,” writes Kirkus. “It’s visceral and traumatic, pulsing with ache.”

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How It Feels to Float

How It Feels to Float

by Helena Fox

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How It Feels to Float is the story of 17-year-old Biz, who is awash in depression, grief, and undiagnosed, intergenerational mental illness, as she navigates her teen years without her father, who took his own life a decade before. “Biz’s mental health crisis, which primarily takes the form of hallucinations, dissociation, and panic attacks, is portrayed with raw, vivid authenticity,” writes Kirkus.

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Books to transport you far, far away:

The Queen’s Assassin

The Queen’s Assassin

by Melissa de la Cruz

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The first installment in a new YA fantasy-romance series is set in the mythical kingdoms of Avantine. Caledon Holt is the deadliest assassin in the land of Renovia, bound to the Queen; Shadow, a young woman raised learning magic in the Honey Glade, aspires to be like Cal, although her family has other plans. When Cal and Shadow connect by chance, they become assassin and apprentice — and more. The second book in the series, The Queen's Secret, will be published in 2021.

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The Kingdom of Back

The Kingdom of Back

by Marie Lu

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The Kingdom of Back is historical YA fantasy about the other Mozart — Maria Anna, older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Set in 18th century Europe, this is a departure from the futuristic fantasies that Lu, a New York Times bestselling author, is best known for. “I just found myself constantly haunted by this idea of this incredible young genius, who could have been just as good — if not better — than her brother,” Lu told Deseret News. “But we’ll never know. We don’t have her compositions; they’ve all been lost to history. So I just found myself thinking about her, and about that loss. I think that was the first inspiration for creating this book.”

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The Conference of the Birds

The Conference of the Birds

by Ransom Riggs

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In this, the fifth installment of the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series, Jacob Portman must find V — one of his grandfather’s associates — and deliver the newest peculiar, Noor Pradash, to her, before a dark prophecy has the chance to, as Riggs told Entertainment Weekly, "turn the whole peculiar world upside-down." He adds, “The peculiars are in serious trouble.”

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The Vanishing Deep

The Vanishing Deep

by Astrid Scholte

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In this sci-fi YA thriller, set on a watery world, there’s technology on the island of Palindromena that can resurrect the dead — but just for 24 hours, and at a considerable price. When Tempe, a 17-year-old scavenger who has lost her family, can finally afford it, she resurrects her sister, Elysea, to unearth the truth of her parents’ death. But Elysea has other plans.

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Ember Queen

Ember Queen

by Laura Sebastian

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In the final book of the New York Times bestselling Ash Princess series, Ember Queen, Princess Theodosia — Theo — must liberate her enslaved people and face a terrifying new enemy.

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Aurora Burning

Aurora Burning

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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A follow up to last year’s Aurora Rising, the much-anticipated Aurora Burning follows Squad 312 as they try to save the galaxy. It’s the same band of misfits, with an all-new set of drama and challenges.

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A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope

A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope

edited by Patrice Caldwell

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Patrice Caldwell and 15 other writers take part in this sprawling anthology, which spans genders and genres — from fantasy and sci-fi to fairytale, folklore, and Afrofuturism. “Magical and real, this collection lives up to its goal with stories as diverse as the black experience. #BlackGirlMagic indeed,” says Kirkus.

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Books to make you swoon:

Jo & Laurie

Jo & Laurie

by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz

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For anyone who couldn’t get enough of Greta Gerwig’s adaption of Little Women — and in particular, for those who still don't understand Jo and Laurie’s unrequited love story — Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz collaborated on this treat, just for you. Written in the style of the original and based on real letters and events in Louisa May Alcott’s life, Jo & Laurie reimagines an alternate world where these childhood best friends make a different choice. “This is the fan fiction of fan fictions, and we honestly wrote it for ourselves more than anyone else,” Stohl told Paste Magazine.

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Time of Our Lives

Time of Our Lives

by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund Broka

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In this YA romance, Fitz Holton and Juniper Ramirez meet on a college tour in Boston, but they seem to be heading in different directions. Fitz wants to stay close to home and his mother, who has early onset Alzheimer’s; Juniper can’t wait to get far, far, away — and they learn a lot from each other as they cross paths again and again. The back story here is equally of interest.

“Time of Our Lives is a uniquely personal book for us,” Wibberly and Broka told Penguin Teen. “Not only are Juniper and Fitz’s feelings about college taken directly from our 18-year-old selves, but the idea for this book came from our experience as a young couple facing futures in different cities.”

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No One Here Is Lonely

No One Here Is Lonely

by Sarah Everett

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For 18-year-old Eden, the only person she can talk to about her broken friendship and broken family is Will — her long-time crush. The thing is, Will died in a car accident before graduation, and Eden’s blossoming romance is with his digital facsimile, thanks to a service called In Good Company. “Everett … makes the improbable seem plausible in this novel, which is part unrequited love story, part cautionary tale about grief turning to obsession and fantasy,” says Publishers Weekly .

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Books to keep you up at night:

Wilder Girls

Wilder Girls

by Rory Power

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This summer gives us the paperback version of this harrowing sci-fi horror story of three boarding school girls stuck on a remote island off the coast of Maine, under quarantine from a strange and deadly virus called the Tox. This one may hit a little close to home right now, but NPR calls it “fresh and horrible and beautiful.”

Fans of Power’s writing will be glad to know that her second book, an unnerving mystery called Burn Our Bodies Down, is due out in July 2020.

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The Unleashed

The Unleashed

by Danielle Vega

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Fans of the 2019 YA horror novel The Haunted — which Kirkus calls “a gently horrid reminder that some ghosts can be very real" — will welcome The Unleashed, its equally terrifying sequel.

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Nowhere on Earth

Nowhere on Earth

by Nick Lake

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This sci-fi thriller starts with a plane crash in Alaska, but that is almost the least of worries for two stowaways, Emily Perez and little Aiden. As they trek through the wilderness, along with the injured pilot, they are trailed by men with guns. Aiden, it seems, is no ordinary little boy. He’s an alien.

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Books to make you think:

We Are Not from Here

We Are Not from Here

by Jenny Torres Sanchez

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We Are Not from Here is the story of Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña, three teenagers fleeing the dangers of their hometown in Guatemala for an unclear future across the border in the United States. Says Kirkus, “Sanchez delivers a brutally honest, not-to-be-missed narrative enriched by linguistic and cultural nuances in which she gracefully describes the harrowing experiences the young people endure after making the choice to survive.”

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SHOUT

SHOUT

by Laurie Halse Anderson

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New in paperback, SHOUT is Laurie Halse Anderson’s memoir, written in free verse, which addresses her own rape, at age 13, and how it took her 23 years to talk about it. Anderson — the author of the 1999 book Speak, the fictional story of a 14-year-old who stops speaking after she is sexually assaulted — began writing SHOUT as the #MeToo movement came together. “This book was written in rage, literally,” Anderson told Time. “Lines of poetry just started raining in my head.”

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More Great Summer YA Reads

Skyward

Skyward

by Brandon Sanderson

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Nyxia Uprising

Nyxia Uprising

by Scott Reintgen

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Field Notes on Love

Field Notes on Love

by Jennifer E. Smith

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Night Music

Night Music

by Jenn Marie Thorne

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If I'm Being Honest

If I'm Being Honest

by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

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Her Royal Highness

Her Royal Highness

by Rachel Hawkins

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Hope and Other Punchlines

Hope and Other Punchlines

by Julie Buxbaum

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Bridge of Clay

Bridge of Clay

by Markus Zusak

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Lovely War

Lovely War

by Julie Berry

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The Things She's Seen

The Things She's Seen

by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

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Two Can Keep a Secret

Two Can Keep a Secret

by Karen M. McManus

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Four Dead Queens

Four Dead Queens

by Astrid Scholte

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Looking for summer reading ideas for younger kids? Check out our 2020 lists for Kids Ages 3 – 5, Ages 6 – 8, and Ages 9 – 12.