A perennial complaint in the YA world is that there are no YA books published for younger teen readers. In some ways, this is true. There is a dearth of books featuring and appealing to readers who are just outside of that middle grade demographic and looking for YA books with characters who are 13, 14, or 15. For reference, among the classics of YA, Charlie from Perks of Being a Wallflower is 15; Melinda in Speak is 14; and Steve in Monster, 16. A lot of the books that get buzz and attention online today—and in the last half decade or more—are those with protagonists who are older, sometimes even older than 18.
That there are now YA books published for younger teens is also a fair assessment given the history of YA itself. For generations, YA and middle grade were commonly lumped together, with many of the books meant for teens featuring those younger characters. Defining middle grade more clearly impacted the titles landing right on the line dividing the two age ranges.
In other ways, this claim of a lack of younger YA books isn’t true. There are numerous books that meet this criteria, particularly in the realm of comics. The issue is that because younger YA titles are not easily sold to an adult audience, they’re not marketed as broadly or as well—you can and should tune into this conversation I had with author Tiffany Schmidt several years ago about this topic, as she’s among the writers who is and has been writing specifically for those younger teen readers.
It also stands to reason that for some, the demand for younger YA books is an updated phrasing for “clean,” a deeply problematic term typically describing books where there is no sex, no violence, and no profanity. We’ve just seen one publisher talk about how they’re building two new imprints that can “grow with” teen readers; one of those imprints will include a warning label on the cover that indicates the book contains themes best for those over 16. This is the slippery slope into book censorship and plays into the demands by this generation of book banners for a ratings system. (And I should mention here in all fairness that in the days after that announcement of the labeling, I got a pitch from a major publisher angling one of their next book middle grade books as a “clean” read—what is going on?).
None of this touches on the issue of how different young people are and how the idea of younger YA can too easily mean YA for privileged young people. There are a number of excellent YA books featuring 14-year-old, young protagonists, but they’re stories about violence and activism because they’re set in communities where being 14 is being more adult than child. Two that immediately come to mind here are Kekla Magoon’s outstanding The Rock and the River duology and Marie Arnold’s And I Rise. Arnold has published multiple books with younger teen characters, including one set to release in September, Split The Sky. You will notice in this roundup of YA books for younger teens that the bulk of these stories are by and center younger teens of color. There’s a lot unsaid about the disconnect between the years’ long wishes for younger YA and the wealth of younger YA by and about teens of color, as well as the ways these books are and are not marketed as featuring younger protagonists.
“Younger” YA books are complicated. There’s a need to meet the interests of older tween and younger teen readers. But there’s also the subtext from some parties about what that really means. That subtext isn’t often coming from gatekeepers who are seeking these books out for their readers—those folks are most frequently challenged by a lack of publicity and marketing for what does get published. But how much are some of those gatekeepers simply overlooking books that don’t center white voices?
Let’s take a look at the younger YA books that have come out in the last few years. Titles included here are focused on stories with younger teen characters, and as is the case in real life, some of those younger teens are dealing with situations and experiences that are as challenging and complicated and nuanced as their older YA peers are. This list is far from complete.
An interesting thing about a lot of these books? They’re also funny. We know humor is a mood and not a genre, but it is noteworthy that the books with younger teen main characters have more funny stuff than their older YA counterparts.
Basil and Oregano by Melissa Capriglione
Take one part Great British Bake Off and one part Magic School, and you get this comic. Porta Bella Magiculinary Academy is all about cooking with magic, and Basil plans to be the top student her senior year. But then in walks Arabella Oregano, daughter of a chef. Immediately, the two begin to grow close. Basil suspects Arabella is keeping a secret though, despite how much they’re working together in order to secure the top rank at school.
So when the secret is spilled, Basil is faced with one of the hardest decisions of her life.
While this particular title does feature older teens, it has great appeal to younger teen readers. This is the only book on the list that doesn’t have a younger teen at the center, but it’s included because this one hits so many buttons for younger readers, including magic, boarding schools, and hijinks.
Briarcliff Prep by Brianna Peppins
Avielle LeBeau, age 14, is just starting Briarcliff Prep, a historically Black Boarding School. She’s excited to fit in with kids who look like her and get her, and she’s eager to follow in her family’s legacy.
But when Avielle discovers a secret about her sister’s boyfriend, she realizes she has to make a choice that could change everyone’s life: keep the secret or tell her sister and potentially ruin their sibling relationship.
Dropping Beats by Nathanael Lessore
This story follows 13-year-old aspiring rapper Shaun “Growls” and his best friend Zachariah “Shanks” as they enter a Raptology competition. Growls isn’t just there to show off his chops—he’s convinced it’ll be how he can win the heart of his longtime crush Tanisha.
But the rap duo has an epically bad practice and worse, it goes viral, making them the absolute butt of every joke in school. Now Growls is convinced he’ll never get the eye of Tanisha and he’s also worried about the sudden disappearance of Shanks.
When Growls meets a new girl who begins to change his perspective, he might have to give his passion for rapping another shot. That confidence and resilience might be what helps Shanks show up back as well.
Flamer by Mike Curato
Aiden Navarro is at summer camp before the start of junior high. It’s an intense summer of hanging out with his friends, navigating bullies desperate to make him feel bad about himself as a half Asian boy, and coming to terms with the fact he might be gay.
One night, when Aiden kisses his best friend and campmate, things shift immediately. Has he forever lost the trust of his friend Elias? Did that kiss mean anything romantic? Was it an accident?
This is a moving, heartfelt story and one that will resonate with younger teens. It’s about traversing that tricky space between what faith might tell you is right, what it might tell you is a sin, and how you come to accept yourself as you are.
House of Yesterday by Deeba Zargarpur
Fifteen-year-old Sara comes from a large Afghani-Uzbeck family, but she’s feeling alone after the divorce of her parents. Her dad’s started dating someone new, and making things more awkward is the fact that her dad and mom still work together in their house flipping business. Sara’s recruited as part of their work to take photos of the before and after.
The newest project, Sumner, is not giving great vibes. Sara begins to see the ghost of her grandmother and then the ghost of a strange little girl. No one else is seeing this, and she can’t capture it on camera. Her grandmother, who struggles with memory, has been having strange conversations about having another child that none of her family seems to know about. Are these comments and what Sara’s seeing related?
This is an immersive story about family, about history, and about the stories and choices immigrants sometimes have to make in order to build a new life.
Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy
You could put Fahmy’s full series into the “good for younger teens” category, and her first entry is specifically set during freshman year of high school.
Huda moved from a community where she was the only Muslim American hijabi in her class to Dearborn, Michigan, and when she does, she has an identity crisis. No longer was the thing that once made her stand out a thing that made her unique in her school—Dearborn has a huge Muslim American population, and now, Huda is unsure who she is or where she fits in.
This is a funny and relatable comic, and I loved how Huda wrote it as a lengthy flashback through her identity crisis, bringing readers from the watershed moment in the first couple of pages back to it in the last few. But that timeframe is only a few months, and yet, so much transpires and it’s hard not to absolutely root for Huda (even when she does some cringeworthy things).
The art is bright, expressive, and really fun.
I’m Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas by Tiffany Schmidt
There might not be a lot of readers clamoring for Christmas-themed romance right now, but tuck this one in your pocket for when the time comes (and hey, I don’t judge if you or someone you know are reading this kind of book right now!)
Noelle is a 14-year-old dancer who is excited about the prospect of attending a dance academy—but it might be out of the budget and out of reality with a single father whose business hasn’t yet started to thrive. Noelle is also a babysitter, and she’s been given the chance to attend a week-long ski vacation with a client’s family as a means of babysitting the youngest child when he’s not up for the activity. It’s good money, it’s time away, and even though it conflicts with all of her favorite Christmas traditions, she knows things are not going to be what they used to be before her mom died. Her dad’s attention and presence has been waning, so she might as well stash some cash for potentially going to the dance academy (one hitch: she hasn’t told her dad yet).
Enter Wyatt.
He’s the stepson of the family Noelle is babysitting and her deep crush. He’s a dancer, too, and a student at the academy. When he shows up as a surprise on the ski trip, it’s with a secret: he wants to leave the dance academy. It’s no longer his dream or passion. While he and Noelle are not immediately smitten, feelings do develop…as does Noelle’s understanding of what it is SHE’S passionate about, too, and it might not be the future she once saw for herself.
The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
You likely know Lu for her action-packed science fiction and fantasy reads, but she has also written this standalone work of historical fantasy. It follows two siblings, Nannerl and Wolfgang, and their last name might sound familiar. It’s Mozart.
Where Nannerl knows she has a limited time to make music, she’s good and dreams of having a future in composition. But as a girl in 18th-century Europe, she knows she’ll be forced to quit when her father chooses to marry her off.
Wolfgang, her younger brother, is seeing his future take off, and Nannerl longs for the same. So when a stranger offers her the chance to follow her dreams, she’s stuck between deciding to go for it and risking everything she’s ever known or letting that dream go and being subject to her father and future husband’s whims.
Nyxia by Scott Reintgen
Readers who want a science fiction series will do well with this one. Nyxia follows as Emmett Atwater is recruited from his home town of Detroit by the Babel Corporation, who offers him a significant sum of money if he’s able to return to Earth after their trip. What this trip is, Emmett has no idea when he says yes. But he soon learns that he is one of ten young people who’ve been recruited. They will be competing for the honor to enter the mysterious planet of Eden—a planet that has been kept hidden by the Babel Corporation—and if they make it to Eden, they’ll be mining Nyxia, deemed the most precious substance in the universe.
Emmett learns that he is among recruits who all come from troubled pasts. As they travel, the recruits begin to see there are secrets galore aboard the lightship and even though they’re to be competing for the ultimate prize—security for life—it might end up costing them their lives right now.
On Again, Awkward Again by Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame Mbalia (April 15)
This book by two superstars of middle grade will be hitting shelves in April, but it’s worth getting on your TBR right now. It is written for those older tweens and younger teens in mind, and those who love a good love story will be smitten.
Pacy Mercado and Cecil Holloway met their first week of freshman year of high school. But everything seems to be getting in the way of them being themselves around one another. Sure, there are stolen glances and a lot of real feelings, but they cannot seem to just be themselves.
So when they’re both recruited to help plan the freshman dance, they have to spend more time together. What emerges is that they start to truly let down their guard—and be open and honest about their awkward teen-ness—and allow themselves to express an interest in each other.
Only On The Weekends by Dean Atta
Fifteen-year-old Mack is a romantic, and he’s had a crush on the gorgeous Karim for forever. Now Karim is into him, too…just in time for Mack’s father to announce he has a job in Scotland so they’ll be moving. The long-distance thing is hard, and it’s made even harder both because Karim is hard to read and because of the cute guy Mack has met at his father’s job.
This is a book in verse about first love, about the challenges of long-distance romance, and what happens when the perfect person comes along when you aren’t looking.
Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi
Fourteen-year-old Parvin is an Iranian American set on capturing the attention of the cute guy named Matty. Too bad her last relationship was an utter disaster and she herself is far too nerdy for him.
Her plan? Mirror the behavior of the leads in the types of rom-coms she loves.
Except this isn’t going to be easy, nor is it necessarily going to be effective. Parvin is navigating a lot of things, including Farsi lessons, a ban on Muslims impacting her family in Iran, and a friendship with a boy who she definitely does not want to make romantic (or…does she?).
Rez Ball by Byron Graves
Tre Brun is a great basketball player with dreams of making it to the NBA. He’s happy now playing for his Red Lake Reservation team, even as he struggles with the feelings he has surrounding the death of his brother Jaxon.
When Tre is invited to the varsity team and Jaxon’s friends offer to be guides in his transition, the pressure is on. He’s got to be on his game and work hard to bring his team to the state. But can he focus enough to do so? Can he live up to what his brother would want for him?
If you want a Native sports story, look no further than this engaging story of an Ojibwe teen and community.
