The Hot Young Adult Books of the Summer

The Hot Young Adult Books of the Summer

Nothing staves off the summer brain drain like reading. In the midst of all the fun they’ll be having, your child should find some time to sit down with a few good books. Here are the young adult books that kids will be talking about this summer. You can earn some cred if you suggest them first.

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

To be honest, this might not qualify as young adult fiction anymore. But since everyone reads To Kill a Mockingbird in school, kids will probably be checking out what might be the most popular book overall this year. The manuscript for Watchman was thought lost, but was found late last year. Thematically, it’s a sequel to Mockingbird even though Lee finished and submitted this book first (and was rejected). If you’re going to “push” a book on your child, this might be the one.

Paper Towns by John Green

Although this isn’t a new book from the author of The Fault in Our Stars (it was published three years before that blockbuster), it is the basis of a new movie. Quentin has been neighbors with Margo since they were kids, loving her from afar the whole time. When she shows up in the middle of the night to take him on a crazy revenge-fueled adventure, he can’t say no. It has the same occasional language as Green’s other books, but it’s not nearly as serious as Stars was.

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

This was perhaps the most critically acclaimed YA book of last year, winning the Michael L. Printz Award and appearing on all of the notable year-end lists. Two fraternal twins, Jude and Noah, were as close as twins can be until they reached puberty and started fighting over everything, including boys. Now they don’t speak. It’s told from each twin’s perspective in alternating tone and timeframe. The reader eventually puts together what happened to split them up and whether they can come back to each other.

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Kinsella, the author of the wildly popular Shopaholic adult series turns her attention to the young adult market. As you might expect, it’s about a romance that forms between Audrey, a girl with a severe anxiety disorder, and her brother’s friend Linus. He has a way of connecting with Audrey and pushing her in ways that seem dangerous to her recovery, but are actually helping her conquer her disorder.

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