The YA Novels You Should be Reading
Amanda Doughty ‘16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
The success of The Fault in Our Stars and its recent film adaptation have made John Green a bit of a household name. This is wonderful because he’s a truly amazing writer, but what’s even better is the door this success has opened. For years, YA has been viewed as a trashy subgenre of children’s literature. Now, as Stephen Colbert recently said, YA novels are considered “adult books that people actually read.” Granted, a good portion of YA is quite terrible (looking at you, Twilight), but there is also a lot of beautiful literature hidden in this genre. And, though he is fabulously talented and his books are some of the best the genre has to offer, this stems beyond John Green. It also stems beyond the classic blockbuster series like The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. Here are five wonderful YA novels that most avid YA readers have never heard of.
5. Leaving Paradise – Simone Elkeles
Some could argue that this is just another sappy teenage romance novel. But this stems beyond what is usually seen in a love story. Caleb Becker has just returned to his hometown after spending a year in juvenile jail for drunkenly running over a classmate. Simultaneously, Maggie Armstrong, the victim, is growing tired of being pitied by everyone around her, though she still struggles to walk. Stereotypically enough, they find solace in one another. However, what makes this book standout from other teen romances is the development of these two characters. The guilt of one character and the hesitant fear of another make for truly interesting chemistry, and watching these two grow and come to terms with what happened together makes for a truly beautiful story. This book will tear readers’ hearts out in more ways than one, but it’s absolutely worth reading.
4. Suicide Notes – Michael Thomas Ford
While not a love story, this does deal with another pretty common premise for novels: being placed in a mental institution. Much like Leaving Paradise, what makes this book standout is the characters. Jeff, the protagonist who’s in the institution after a suicide attempt, spends a majority of the novel wondering what lead him to attempt suicide in the first place. This makes for an interesting character journey, and one not usually seen in this type of novel. The characters around him, the so-called “nut-jobs” that really aren’t much different from the “normal” people Jeff knows only make the story more interesting and fun to read. Overall, this book puts a new twist on both the “locked up in a mental institution” story and the coming of age story, and that’s what makes it so spectacular.
3. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy – Libba Bray
This is a difficult series to describe in a matter of sentences. Basically, a young Gemma Doyle witnesses her mother’s death, and this sets her off on a journey to a boarding school where she’ll eventually realize she can travel to “the Realms”: a purgatory-like place disguised as the Garden of Eden for the recently passed. To go much further would either spoil something or make everyone more confused, but the plot is excellent and incredibly fast-paced. But what truly makes this series stand out from other paranormal YA novels are the characters. Despite the fact that this novel takes place in the 1800s, Gemma and her three friends (Felicity, Ann, and Pippa) deal with some pretty modern issues. One of the first things readers learn about Gemma is that she is deathly afraid of sexual assault, a relatable issue that is not addressed enough in YA novels. Topics of homosexuality, acceptance, co-dependency, and self-harm are also addressed throughout the trilogy. These issues make the characters relatable, and also forces readers to want them to succeed, even if they may not always like them as people. In addition, the love story between Gemma and her mentor Kartik is genuine: it takes time and deals with relatable issues. Overall, this series will take its readers on an epic journey that will be unlike anything they have ever read.
2. Eleanor and Park – Rainbow Rowell
This is probably the least “underrated” novel in the bunch, as John Green recommended it. It’s also the newest novel on this list, so it’s possible that it just doesn’t have enough traction yet, but this should be considered one of YA’s best. Yes, it’s yet another teenage love story, and about misfits finding love to boot. In addition, the plot isn’t particularly unique or exciting, but the writing is so beautiful that readers become enveloped in the story anyway. Seriously, one rarely finds a quote as beautiful as “Holding Eleanor’s hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive” in any novel, let alone a YA novel. In addition, these characters are also insanely relatable, and their love realistic. Much like Leaving Paradise, this one will rip the hearts of its readers out, but they stunningly beautiful prose and the great characters makes them want to immediately read it again anyway.
1. The Talk-Funny Girl – Roland Merullo
Any novel that comes up with its own dialect for its characters is already impressive, but this coming-of-age story is truly one of the best YA novels out there, and yet few have heard of it. Marjorie Williams has been raised by parents who attend a cult-like church that encourages punishments like “boying/girling” (where they treat there child as though they were the opposite gender for a day), and tying them to a tree in the woods. And these parents are so antisocial that they have come up with their own dialect, a broken English that Marjorie has picked up. When Marjorie gets her first job helping rebuild an old church, though, she realizes that maybe there is a better life beyond what she’s known. This is a remarkable tale of courage and self-discovery. It is brutal to read at times, but gorgeously written. Marjorie is a character readers root for and admire, while also being quite relatable. Throw a murder mystery backdrop and what is left is a truly remarkable novel that really proves the worth of the YA genre.