#YA literature

[rayghosts]

jk rowling: wrote a childrens book series in the 2000s about a society of outcasts, which attracted a lot of queer fans because of its themes on acceptance. comes out as transphobic, tweets out "merry terfmas 😘," and proceeds to write a crime novel about a man who disguises himself as a woman to kill people

eoin colfer: wrote a childrens book series in the 2000s that he describes as "die hard but with fairies," which attracted a lot of queer fans because he accidentally gave his male protagonist a feminine name. is confused but supportive of his largely queer fanbase, leaves nice comments on trans artemis fanart, and proceeds to have one of the protagonists in the sequel series marry a ghost princess inhabiting the clone body of her evil uncle, which when she asks if its weird, the protagonist responds with “Maybe people would think you strange back in the olden days, but kids these days don’t care about stuff like insides and outsides matching”

[sleepandblog]

"Please dance with me, I know that dancing is awkward and outdated, and I know that you don't like doing stuff like that and if I'm honest, neither do I, and I know that the night isn't going to last very long and soon everyone will just go home back to their laptops and their empty beds, and we'll probably be alone tomorrow, and we all have to go to school on Monday–but i just think if you tried it, you know, dancing, you might feel for a few minutes that all of this, all of these people... none of it is really too bad."

this line in solitaire ghdjgfjhdf michael cares about tori so much he really just wants her to see that the world isn't all horrible rahhhhhhhHHH

[ofstarsandmoonlightt]

Kit: you really don’t know how much something is worth to you

Kit: until you sell it

Jem:

Jem: Kit where’s Church?

[arson-09]

would love if we brought back romances in books that aren’t completely built on sex/the whole relationship doesnt hinge on sexual attraction and wanting to fuck.

Theres nothing wrong with a good smutty romance, love what you love. But good god i miss non sexual intimacy in books. Not every physical action between a couple has to be sexual. I get bored having to read this couple being extremely horny for eachother 24/7 like theres beauty to your partner outside their sexual appeal and power!! Let a character think positively about their partner without it being/becoming sexual

This is why i used to love ya romances. Since their SUPPOSED TO BE Ya (12-18) they SHOULDNT be too sexual (Maybe a fade to black if we r getting real spicy.) The characters relationship has to be built purely on respect and affection for eachother. You get to watch them become friends or falling for eachother, realizing that wow they love eachother

and its not just because of sex

anyway

[mrzastudies]

What a great day to read a YA novel I’m too old for hehe

[katnissmellarkkk]

“I love you.”

“You are my life now.”

[inspiredbyabook]

a study in drowning by ava reid

What is a mermaid but a woman half-drowned, What a selkie but an unwilling wife, What a tale but a sea-net, snatching up both From the gentle tumult of dark waves?

[stephaniemccrea]

Omg. So I'm doing a read along with my daughter, and I gotta say I was not expecting to absolutely love this series as much as I do. I'm in book 2 now, but I just gotta give a hell of a shout out to Tamora Pierce for such an enjoyable work.

Also, these new covers are absolutely fantastic. It is very appealing to the anime kids of this age, as I can attest to. My daughter immediately gravitated to this series over the many book options I presented to her. Yeah, try telling an 11-year-old not to judge a book by its cover. But then put this next to the 80-90s mass market paperback editions for Wild Magic, Diana Wynne Jones, Shannon Hale, and a few others, and she's gonna pick this.

Some of the topics are maybe slightly for an older age group than I was expecting, but my daughter is obsessively burning through them. I will have to explain some of the behind closed doors activities and explain to her that there is no such thing as a magical contraceptive charm pendant sadly; well, maybe an IUD is the closest thing we have. 😅

Anyways, I would definitely recommend this set for any young adult readers into fantasy. Hell, even old readers who love a fun fantasy.

I also read Sabriel and would recommend that, it's probably safer for younger ages/general audience as it was only ever glimpses and kisses if that.

And on a darker note reading The Women by Kristin Hannah, because I loved The Nightingale. It's so good. Late, but finally, a part of the 'Kristin Hannah rip my heart out with your historical fictions, and I will say please and thank you, and come back for more' train.

[silvermoon424]

I uploaded my PDF collection of Christopher Pike books for y'all to enjoy

I've been on a huge nostalgia kick for Christopher Pike lately, a horror YA author I adored in my teen years. If you never read his books, perhaps he's more familiar to you as the source material for Netflix's/Mike Flanigan's The Midnight Club (which not only was a book of his, but from what I've heard the series adapts several of his other books as stories the characters tell. Unfortunately the series got the axe despite being successful because it was on Netflix, of course it did)

Thanks to the Internet Archive and other independent archivists, I've managed to accumulate almost everything Pike ever wrote. There are some gaps, but thankfully most of my faves have been preserved!

If you're curious to get into some 90s horror goodness but don't know where to start, I can recommend some of my old faves:

The Season of Passage: VAMPIRES on MARS!!!

Monster: VAMPIRES from MARS ANOTHER PLANET!!!

The Immortal: Retelling Greek mythology before Percy Jackson made it cool again.

The Eternal Enemy: A Terminator-esque story that legit made me cry every time I read it as a 14-year-old (if you're wondering why, it's because the main character's nobility and love for humanity really struck a chord with me).

The Last Vampire series: A fun series (6 original books + 3 reboot books) about a hot, powerful 5,000-year-old vampire named Sita and her many escapades. I can't vouch for the reboot books but I loved the original series; it was my Twilight, lol.

Remember Me: The ghost of a teenage girl must solve her own murder. The first book is super strong; there are two sequels but tbh they're not nearly as good.

Honorable mentions go to Last Act, Witch, and Die Softly. Scavenger Hunt also gets a mention for being absolutely fucking insane in an entertaining way (it involves sexy immortal lizard teens and ritual sacrifice).

[bazberkker]

Oh, I get it. When a Bible Studies teacher spends a whole semester talking about one book, that’s “completely normal” but when I spend an entire year talking about MY favorite book nonstop—

[thoughtofadumbteenprotagonist]

the strangest part of YA books stipulating the ages of their protagonists is like,,,,, eventually, you get to that age, and you reread the books, and you wonder at how any of these characters survived for so long when the average 15-18 year old can barely organise and complete a group project, let alone topple governments

[charleslecunt]

After all, the darkness only looked the way he did because of her. She’d given him that shape, chosen what to make of him, what to see.

[the-fab-fox]

Love Chronicles of Narnia or don't but I think we can ALL agree that this line is one of the hardest and g.o.a.t.iest to ever come out of Children's/YA fiction:

"Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written." - Aslan

Like hot damn, Aslan. YASSS, QUEEN—I mean King. *bows respectfully*

Got any others to share? I'd love to see more! Perhaps get some good reading material to add to my list!

Please take a moment to read the note below the cut if the thing you are about to reply or reblog is anything religious in nature.

[Note: this post is a fun post about the books. DO NOT get into any religious debates or it will be deleted. I myself am a wiccan and have 15 gods who patron me ATM. You can find inspiration and happiness and meaning and enjoyment in things even if they weren't created specifically for you. Yes, it's a Christian allegory and quite frankly, the best IMHO. But if C.S. Lewis, a devout atheist-turned-Christian, and J.R.R. Tolkien, a passionate Catholic could be friends during the time of Lewis's atheism—a friendship based on truth of self and respect and understanding that two different beliefs can co-exist respectfully within the same space if allowed to do so—then people can enjoy books with certain religious themes and beliefs and not be compelled to change their beliefs because of it. Like if if happens and that's best for them, great. But we have our own agency. A book is not going to force me to change who I am. I decide what to take from the content. Not the other way around. Also Edmund is an amazing character and I'll hear no heresy about him. That is all.]

[ofstarsandmoonlightt]

i want ty’s pov so bad like i want to know what was going in his head; when he put a knife to the throat of the kid in the basement, when he slept in front of the door of the same kid at the institute, like we know he kinda wanted someone to solve mysteries or whatever (like kit said, you want a watson for your holmes?) but he had livvy for that right? it’s said that he and livvy were so closed off together that they didn’t even include dru (but than that might’ve been some siblings thing because sometimes yeah at that age you kinda are annoyed by siblings in general lol) but yeah i want to know what was it about kit that just made ty drawn to him from the start

[avantegarda]

Wild-Ass Fantasy Series I Read As A Kid

"Sarah J. Maas" this and "Shadow and Bone" that, pshaw. Everyone know the best YA/Middle Grade fantasy books were random little collections of bizarre nonsense that'd keep you awake for a week straight. Such as:

The Young Wizards by Diane Duane: Two middle schoolers gain magical powers via library book and become wizards, which in this universe means "person who helps prevent the heat death of the universe." Featuring a pretty obvious gay wizard couple, talking cars, a white hole (opposite of black hole) named Fred, and Whale Rituals.

The Claidi Journals by Tanith Lee: An extremely funny girl flees servitude in a tiny city-state called the House, falls in love with a the leader of a nomadic tribe, and learns some deeply odd science-magic. Featuring robots, walking sharks, magnets that make you fly, psychic matchmaking rings, and so on.

Abarat by Clive Barker: Girl from the Midwest stumbles upon an entrance to another dimension, where there's an island for each hour of the day. She's threatened by an emo dictator, his grandmother, and her army of living dolls. Reading this series is like dropping acid, cannot recommend highly enough. Featuring a guy who has antlers and brothers who consist of heads on said antlers. Oh, and an evil tech billionaire.

Dark Reflections by Kai Meyer: Two orphans in an alternate version of 19th-century Venice learn to make magic mirrors while their city is being attacked by a reboot of the Ancient Egyptian Empire. The Venetian stone lions are alive. Featuring a trip to literal hell, a sphinx, a SCARIER sphinx, and a mermaid with legs.

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer: An aspiring tween bard in early-medieval England and his little sister get kidnapped by Vikings and meet all the VIPs of Norse mythology. Their surrogate grandpa is a master bard named The Bard. Featuring bitchy elves, matriarchal trolls, and a ghost named Jenny Greenteeth.

Please read these. Please. For the sake of your brain and soul.