No matter how old I get, I love returning to young adult novels. Maybe it’s the escapism or maybe it’s the quick pace, but I find them so absorbing and easy to read. I gravitate towards issue-led YA with older, complex characters and difficult themes. I like to see characters overcoming obstacles and becoming adults. So, if that sounds good to you, here are some books you might want to read.
A mystery about three boys who are suspected of killing their principal. A novel in verse about a mixed-race boy’s journey to becoming a drag queen. Jana is an ordinary sixteen-year-old from a London council estate when she’s spotted by a model scout. But eventually she sees the ugly side of the industry. A mystery set in an elite boarding school. Recovering from a “meltdown” during the summer holidays, Morgan is diagnosed with depression.Stuck in an underprivileged neighbourhood, Maverick was pretty much born into a gang. But then he becomes a father at 17-years-old. After being sectioned, a sixteen-year-old girl is diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
After her best friend is murdered, an African-American teenager must speak up for justice.Iris lost her mum in a house fire when she was 10, but now she’s seventeen and discovers her father has been lying to her.Two sisters don’t know the other exists.A beautiful novel about two star-crossed Pakistani-American teens in CaliforniaA fantasy set in a magical Caribbean-inspired land. The Obeah witches are subservient to a new clan and their magic is suppressed.A 17-year-old heiress and socialite goes to rehab for heroin addiction.
A thriller where a girl fights for a college scholarship by entering a competition run by a powerful familyA mixed-race girl moves from Lagos to Manchester and must confront the family trauma that turned her life upside down.Fabiola immigrates from Haiti to the U.S. but must get her mother released from an ICE detention centre. A girl who dreams of becoming a singer is signed to a label by a famous rapper.A thriller set in an elite school. Someone called ‘Aces’ starts messaging everyone secrets about two Black students.A new student at an elite school must find her missing roommate.
Amina's Bookshelf 