Standing out from the crowd during the busy fall publishing season, the YA titles below offer teen readers books that authentically reflect their own life experiences while they expand teens’ worlds by exposing them to voices they might not otherwise have encountered.
Silenced Voices: Reclaiming Memories From the Guatemalan Genocide (HarperAlley, September 2) is the latest from Eisner Award–nominated artist Pablo Leon, who’s originally from Guatemala. This unflinching, resonant graphic novel centers on José and Charlie, whose mother actively encourages her sons’ assimilation into American society and refuses to talk about her Qʼeqchiʼ Mayan village. But the genocide trial of military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt piques the brothers’ curiosity about Guatemalan history—on both national and personal levels—leading to painful revelations as well as healing. The message that acknowledging difficult truth is the only path to future progress shines through.
When readers pick up a Wendelin Van Draanen novel, they immediately sense that they’re in the hands of a skilled storyteller, and this prolific author’s newest book, The Steps (Holiday House, September 2), will hook teens from the opening page. Narrator Ruby’s wry, endearing voice introduces an outrageously entertaining cast of dysfunctional, scheming people trapped in the orbit of her grandmother Oma, the family’s wealthy and manipulative matriarch. Oma’s stolen ring is the catalyst for an action-packed, twist-filled mystery that reveals shocking secrets and involves Ruby’s neglectful father, horrible stepfamily, estranged cousins, and chess club buddies.
Released to much acclaim in the U.K. in 2023, Wild Song (Carolrhoda Lab, October 7), by Candy Gourlay, a Filipino journalist and author, offers a nuanced, heart-wrenching look at imperialism, cultural exploitation, and human resilience. Fleeing an arranged marriage and restrictive gender roles, Luki, a teenage girl from the Indigenous Bontok community, agrees to journey to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, unaware that she and over 1,000 other people from the Philippines will be exhibited and gawked at. The well-realized setting and skillfully integrated historical facts give this work broad contemporary relevance and resonance.
Following her Michael L. Printz Honor book, Fire From the Sky (2023), Moa Backe Åstot (Sámi) gifts readers with Butterfly Heart (Em Querido, October 14), beautifully translated by Agnes Broomé. It’s compact and accessible enough for reluctant readers without sacrificing depth or complexity. Vilda, who’s Swedish and Sámi, loses her beloved grandfather Áddjá just as she’s poised to learn more about her Sámi heritage from him. She also gets her first period, develops a crush, and asserts her Sámi identity, experiencing painful rejection and supportive connection. Vilda is a relatable protagonist whose struggles with finding genuine connection will draw sympathy.
In a return to the wildly popular world of the We Were Liars series, E. Lockhart’s We Fell Apart (Delacorte, November 4) is fully captivating as a stand-alone read. The daughter of a self-centered absentee mother, Los Angeles teen Matilda gets an unexpected email invitation from the father she’s never known, renowned artist Kingsley Cello, to visit him on Martha’s Vineyard. There, Matilda meets her half brother, his eccentric mom, and the two young men who live on the estate and is plunged into their strange, disorienting world, confronting slippery truths and secrets.
Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.
