#teen fiction

[notdxbya]

when i say i have "main character energy," i mean the nerdy introvert with anxiety and a general distaste for humans

[littleeyesofpallas]

I have always loved Molly Knox Ostertag's work, in particular the really cute, heartwarming tact of the Witch Boy trilogy's trans allegory and the way it feels so well built to walk that fine line of appropriately nuanced but still perfectly digestible for its intended teen audience.

Well The Deep Dark is more of precisely that style of writing and it blows me away just as much now as Witch Boy did the first time I read it. It's exactly the kind of book I wish I'd had as a kid, and the sort of thing that lights a little hopeful flame in the jaded dark corners of my heart. It's the sort of thing that helps me feel optimistic about a generation of kids who will grow up with this kind of story as their formative personal mythos.

I know I don't usually do reviews or recommendation on this blog so I dunno who this is for really, and it certainly won't have any particular reach, but if you find yourself with the chance to, I really can't recommend The Deep Dark enough. And of course everything else Molly Knox Ostertag has had a hand in, even the one's she's not been the sole author on.

[hadesoftheladies]

FEMALE MOVIE/TV RECS (PART 7 / YA & COMING OF AGE)

got inspired from a recommendation post so decided to make a list of movies and shows with female-centric stories/female protagonists. since i can't post all of the genres in one post, i'll split it into multiple posts and y'all can save or add to the list as you wish. (disclaimer: i have watched most of these, but i only know about the existence of others. not every movie/show on these lists will be my recommendation. my recommendations will be beneath the list with reasons. also some of these are way better than others in terms of storytelling/performance--which is why i'll list my faves separately):

Common Themes/Tropes:

-Girls fighting with their parents

-Crushes and romance (and love triangles)

-Strong friendships

-Exploring sexuality (most of these have scenes of a sexual nature)

-Finding herself (or learning how to grow up)

-A lot of (oftentimes comedic) blunders

-Enemies/rivals to lovers

-Girls getting up to no good (or girls getting up to good but getting derailed)

ONES I HAVEN'T WATCHED:

Darby and The Dead

Girlhood

Blood & Water

Eighth Grade

I Am Not Okay With This

Skate Kitchen

The Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants

Ladybird

We Are Lady Parts

ONES I'D RECOMMEND

Derry Girls (9/10) (GOATED SHOW!)

Bottoms (9/10) (hilarious and insane in the best ways!)

Paper Girls (7/10) (the chaos that happens when adult you meets preteen you)

Everything Now (8/10) (actually deals with eating disorders appropriately, the most humanizing teen show i've ever seen)

Booksmart (8/10)(a calmer version of Bottoms, but still pretty unhinged and witty)

PERSONAL NOTES

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is the more sober version of But I'm A Cheerleader, where two lesbians get sent to conversion therapy camps. I found both entertaining and refreshing, full of nuance and oftentimes clever about the writing. The performances were also quite good.

I remember My First Summer being bittersweet, but I think there was one scene that made me a little antsy (because the girls in this are pretty young). If it was done tastefully is better left interpreted by those who decide to watch it.

Do Revenge is a whole bag of everything. Mean Girls meets Bottoms. Funny, cruel and unhinged (yet also a little sweet). It was overall fun stuff.

Skate Kitchen has a spin-off show by HBO called Betty.

I barely remember the one episode of Blood & Water I watched, but I know there were things I found to raunchy too be tasteful, yet there was also quite a bit that was still pretty solid and sweet. Not sure I can recommend because I don't know enough except it's about sisters.

If you like sweet and simple teen love stories, Rafiki and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love are right up your alley.

I only watched one season of Never Have I Ever to emotionally support my sister who had started it. I have never felt such visceral second-hand embarrassment in my LIFE.

First Kill is Romeo and Juliet with vampires and monster hunters. I liked the actors/actresses but you can tell that the budget for this show wasn't that big. If you like Warrior Nun, though, you may like First Kill.

[trexalicious]

❤

[promptsforpoemproseandplay]

Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

Kurt Vonnegut

[with-our-hearts-in-it]

Out-of-context quotes from TWM

[somedeadbeatloz3r69]

HEY U!!! do u like reading? u do?? WOW!!! read my super cool yet tragic [mlm] book!!! give it a shot trust 🙏🙏🙏

its HOPEFULLY gonna end up being atLEAST 200 pages In google doc units its about two opposites who end up becoming friends in like the WORST circumstances ever. it's still in the works but chapter 1 is out :3 TRIGGER WARNING : substance abuse, addiction, suggestive discussions. the link :

Always opposites. - br4akcorexxdoxy - Wattpad

[22240-1]

OUR SECRET DIARY (2023)

[mantimae]

I wanna take a sec to talk about Lucky Penny.

If you haven’t been lucky enough to have heard of Lucky Penny before now: it is my favorite graphic novel. It has been since junior year of High-school. I am now a senior in my final semester in college (and accounting for my Covid style gap year) Lucky Penny has been my #1 fave graphic novel for six years and counting.

It’s funny, it’s raunchy, the characters feel real, the story is well paced and takes some very fun and unexpected twists! However, the story and art aren’t the only reason I love Lucky Penny. I originally found Yuko Ota and Ananth Hirsh via their autobiographical book of daily life comics Johnny Wander: Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us, which I had picked up from the local library and was absolutely thrilled to find out was a webcomic that at the time was still actively updating. On their website (linked here!) you can actually read Lucky Penny and their Autobiographical comics completely for free as well as their current (still updating) work, Barbarous.

For me Lucky Penny acts as a bridge and a love letter to middle school me, who avidly read webcomics on solo hosting sights, many of which have been lost to time or have simply stopped updating. Self published webcomics outside of companies like Tapas (formerly Tapastic) and LINE Webtoon have ensured that solo host websites are far and few in between and routinely get looked over. Despite existing in the face of these big companies Johnny Wander lives on.

Lucky Penny is like warm soup. It’s comforting and every read feels different depending on where I am emotionally and just in my life in general. You can find Lucky Penny free to read on Johnny Wander here and even grab a physical copy for yourself here if you prefer paper. Updates on Yuko Ota and Ananth Hirsh’s current work and activities can be found on their respective tumblrs @aidosaur and @ananthhirsh

If you choose to read Lucky Penny I hope you love it. I’m sure you will. :)

[aclaywrites]

Here’s my butch/femme (kinda) skater ballerina romance. I’d love to hear anything anyone has to say!

[arconinternet]

4 Fantastic Novels (Book, Daniel Pinkwater, 1979/1981/1985/1992, collected in 2000)

You can digitally borrow this collection here.

You can find free audiobooks of two of them on the author's website here.

[elowenbaudelaire]

"That's the secret. We do nothing. Or as close to nothing as we can."

-Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl (2000)

[my4ththerapist]

Did anyone else eat up the Harley Merlin books cuz I’ve never heard anyone talk about them and the author was pumping that shit outttttttrr

Or was this an original experience

[thehorrorsofoklahoma]

Chapter 3 and 4

Chapters 3 and 4 have been posted! Link in pinned post!

[iambic-stan]

last book read + last stethoscope used, part 35

This is A.S. King's newest novel, Pick the Lock, with my MDF Procardial Titanium in Botswana agate and rose gold. A.S. King is one of my all-time favorite authors. As far as I'm concerned, she does not miss. Jane's mother is a rock star on tour and her unemployed father has become physically and psychologically abusive to her and her younger brother, Henry. But neither child recognizes the relationship is so harmful. There's quite a bit they don't know about the world, as they've been confined to the family's Victorian mansion since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Though it's 2024 and their peers have gone back to school, they are cut off from all social interactions outside of the home in the name of "safety." To make matters worse, the hired help, including their mother's childhood friend Marta and Milorad, an inscrutable Serbian immigrant, behave as though the abuse the children suffer is normal and expected. There's an ever-present, crotchety rat named Brutus as well as an Aunt Finch, who treats the children with cheerful condescension while she's screwing their dad behind everyone's backs. But when Jane discovers her family's "home movies"--recordings from the elaborate surveillance system on their property, she's able to review moments from her childhood that she thought she remembered quite differently, slowly piecing together what's really going on in her home. The story quickly turns into horror as Jane realizes her time to plan and execute an escape from this prison is running out.

[qbdatabase]

Since Lesbian Visibility Week falls in Autism Acceptance Month this year, I’m combining them together! From April 26th – May 2nd, the Daily Books all feature autistic wlw characters, plus some bonus titles that have already appeared as Daily Books

Full list of titles, authors, and blurbs below the cut!

Barbary Station by R. E. Stearns

Desperate new engineers high-jack a space station to join a pirate crew only to find the pirates aren’t living in luxury–they’re hiding from the AI security system gone mad.

(bonus wlnb) The Unbalancing by R. B. Lemberg

New love blossoms between an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet as they try together to save their island home from sinking beneath the waves.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society—and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future.

Ellen Outside the Lines by A. J. Sass

A novel about an autistic thirteen-year-old navigating changing friendships, a school trip to Spain, and expanding horizons as she questions her gender identity.

Hoshi and the Red City Circuit by Dora M. Raymaker

Due to their unique neurology, only the enslaved Operator caste can program the quantum computers that run 26th century Red City. When three of the caste are ritually murdered, it’s up to private investigator Hoshi Archer–herself a recently liberated Operator–to help the police solve the case.

All the Love Songs by Nicole Pyland

When Lennox and Kenzie meet, there’s electricity between them. And a celebrity summer camp is the perfect opportunity for them to explore what might be. But after the magic of their week away from the world dissipates, can they still find that spark and make their relationship work?

Sprinkled in the Stars by Violet Morley

AJ Beckett is just trying to get her seven-year-old autistic daughter through life in one piece. Melanie Cooper has just signed her last movie after the media keeps portraying her as cold and hard to work with. In a series of coincidental meetings, AJ battles her desire for control while Mel struggles with trust, but falling in love has never been so sweet.

Thornfruit by Felicia Davins

Alizhan can’t see faces, but she can read minds. Evreyet Umarsad longs to be the kind of hero she reads about in books. So when Alizhan needs help, Ev doesn’t hesitate. Together, they uncover a conspiracy that draws them all over Laalvur and beyond.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Now, a new crew has been assembled …

The Outside by Ada Hoffmann

Autistic scientist Yasira Shien has developed a radical new energy drive that could change the future of humanity. But when she activates it, reality warps, destroying the space station and everyone aboard.