young adult novels

These Are Some of the Most Intriguing Young-Adult Novels Coming Out in 2016

Young-adult fiction is become more mature, as a publishing category. And that means that instead of a host of cookie-cutter books, that are all “dystopias” or whatnot, there’s a huge variety of subjects. ReadBreatheRelax has a great list of YA books coming in 2016, and what’s great is they all sound pretty different from each…

Who’s The Cleverest And Most Resourceful Young Adult Book Hero?

We don’t usually admire young-adult heroes for their brains. In fact, watching a young adventurer make mistakes can be part of the whole “growing up” storyline. But there’s also something to be said for a smart cookie. Who’s the smartest, most resourceful young-adult hero of them all? Please include a picture, book cover, poster, book…

First Look At Will McIntosh’s New Young-Adult Novel, Burning Midnight!

Will McIntosh has become one of our favorite new authors, thanks to books like Defenders and Love Minus Eighty. Now he’s written a young-adult novel called Burning Midnight, and we’ve got the exclusive first look! In Burning Midnight, mysterious spheres have shown up all over the world, and they have miraculous powers. Burn two spheres…

First Look At Guillermo Del Toro’s YA Horror Novel, Trollhunters!

Are you ready for a children’s book about monsters from Guillermo del Toro? Then we’ve got a nice surprise for you. Check out an exclusive peek at the front cover of del Toro’s Trollhunters, which he co-wrote with author Daniel Kraus (Rotters). We haven’t heard much about Trollhunters since 2010, when del Toro struck a…

Read An Exclusive Excerpt From Joe Abercrombie’s Half The World

In Joe Abercrombie’s spellbinding Half a King, Yarvi gets raised to a throne, only to be cast down into slavery and exile. But what’s Yarvi up to in the sequel, Half the World? Find out, in our excerpt from the new book, on sale Feb. 17. Kneeling ‘If in doubt, kneel.’ Rulf’s place as helmsman…

The Inside Scoop On The Movie Version Of YA Book Classic House Of Stairs

House of Stairs by William Sleator is an intense, dark story, and it would make a fantastic movie. So it’s fantastic news that a House of Stairs movie is in the pipeline, with a goal of starting production in September or October. We talked to a producer and got the inside scoop on the film.…

The Doubt Factory Is Paolo Bacigalupi’s Most Political Novel Yet

In today’s mediascape, right and wrong don’t matter: It’s how you spin your story. In The Doubt Factory, Paolo Bacigalupi takes aim at the spin used by major companies and turns it into a compelling tale of a young woman who confronts the truth about her life. Spoilers ahead… In this young-adult novel, Alix is…

In The Brilliant New Hunger Games Film, Katniss Can’t Escape The Arena

The third movie in the Hunger Games series is supposed to be the one where the frame pulls back and reveals a bigger world than the teen arena of the first two. Instead, Mockingjay Part 1 does something more daring: it shows how all of the dystopian land of Panem is just the Arena writ…

Your First Look At Half Wild, The Sequel To Sally Green’s Half Bad

We found Half Bad by Sally Green dangerously addictive , with its story of Nathan a boy who’s the spawn of a white witch mother and a black witch father. Now here’s an exclusive peek at the cover to the sequel, Half Wild. And Green will be here at 10 AM PST to answer your…

Kylie and Kendall Jenner’s YA Novel Has Nothing But 1-Star Reviews

Kylie and Kendall Jenner, two of the younger Kardashian sisters, published their long-awaited dystopian young-adult novel, the double-colonic Rebels: City ofIndra: The Story of Lex and Livia. And the early reviews are… not exactly raves. You can read the first two chapters online at MTV, but meanwhile, the Amazon page for the book, which has…

Full Length Divergent trailer shows the future ruins of Chicago

The new dystopian teen movie Divergent could be upping the ante for post-apocalyptic devastation, judging from this brand new trailer. What’s happened to Lake Michigan? Find out, in the movie’s first full-length trailer. Divergent, based on Veronica Roth’s YA book series, is set in a future Chicago, that’s surrounded by a dried-out Lake Michigan and…

Young-adult science fiction tackles ethics. We think of young-adult novels as a fun ride, or as a vehicle for exploring alienation. But the American Library Association has a great list of YA titles with thought-provoking ethical questions, from Ender’s Game to Sherri L. Smith’s Orleans.

Another publisher steps in. Simon & Schuster is launching its own science fiction imprint, overseen by Children’s Publishing EVP Jon Anderson and Young Readers VP Justin Chandra. But the imprint, edited by current literary agent Joe Monti, will publish “YA and above.”

Why Maze Runner‘s James Dashner abandoned dystopia for virtual reality

James Dashner made a huge impact with The Maze Runner, his dystopian young-adult novel which is being turned into a major movie by Fox. Now he’s back witha novel about virtual reality, The Eye of Minds. We talked to Dashner about why virtual reality could replace dystopia in young-adult novels. The Eye of Minds is…

Exclusive Excerpt from Francesca Lia Block’s Post-Apocalyptic Odyssey

In Love in the Time of Global Warming, Francesca Lia Block does an off-kilter spin on Homer’s Odyssey, set in a post-apocalyptic world. Pen, a 17-year-old girl, searches through the ruins of Los Angeles for her missing family. We’ve got an exclusive excerpt right here! I drive as fast as I can away from the…

The Real Reason Why Grown-Ups Love Young-Adult Fantasy Books

Marie Rutkoski’s young-adult novel The Winner’s Curse is already getting early raves. We’ve got the exclusive reveal of the book’s gorgeous cover, plus an essay in which Rutkoski, an English professor as well as a YA author, explains why adults love young-adult novels. Liminal Fantasy Eat the goblin fruit. Walk with the wolf. Kiss the…

Trapped on a Space Station: First Look at Cecil Castellucci’s Tin Star

Cecil Castellucci has written some of the most entertaining young-adult and middle-grade novels — and now, at last, she’s doing a full-on science fiction book. Tin Star is about what happens when you’re stuck on a space station, with just some aliens for company. Check out the cover, right here. Castellucci will be signing ARCs…

Lovely book trailer: A mom explains to her daughter why she left Earth

Check out the book trailer for Phoebe North’s new young-adult novel Starglass, which comes out a month from now. It’s a great example of using text and images to set up the book’s themes, in a way that’s actually quite moving. Here’s the official synopsis for Starglass: Terra has never known anything but life aboard…

This book is the closest you’ll ever get to hanging out with Madeleine L’Engle

For many of us, one of our first speculative fiction love affairs was with Madeleine L’Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time. Her warm, emotional approach to time travel and other science fiction ideas helped set the scene for today’s YA science fiction boom, and she made tesseracts a household word. And now, a new…

Proof that the End of the World Doesn’t Have to be Boring

The era of post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels for young adults may be winding down at last — but one of the best thing to come out of the trend has only just arrived. The anthology After, from editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, is one of the most dazzling collections of stories we’ve read in…