For this week’s Brainstorm we’re continuing reading ideas for those who want to participate in the ICS Bingo Reading Challenge (click
here for more info), or who are just looking for some reading ideas. This week I have 25 Young Adult reading ideas. You might see some of these listed as middle grade in other places (like
Refugee or
A World without Heroes), but they are MG+ meaning they appeal to upper middle grade and YA readers equally and usually feature characters of an age that is borderline MG/YA. Click on the titles to see my full summaries/reviews and any content notes.
Nonfiction Graphic Novel
March: Book One (March, #1) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, ill. by Nate Powell
Through graphic novel format, John Lewis tells a little about his childhood and then about his involvement in non-violent protests during the early part of the Civil Rights movement in Tennessee.
Mystery Book
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
The seven pupils at St. Etheldreda's School for Young Ladies have quite the conundrum on their hands when both their headmistress and her brother keel over at supper on Sunday night. The young women decide to hide the fact that the two are dead, keep the school running, and see if they can figure out who murdered the pair.
Fantasy Book
A World without Heroes (Beyonders, #1) by Brandon Mull
Jason finds himself in an alternate world after being swallowed by a hippo (yes, you read that right), and is then drawn into a quest to save this other world from an evil magician-emperor.
Time-Slip Book
Refugee by Alan Gratz
A Jewish boy in 1930s Germany, a girl in 1994 Cuba, and a boy in Syria in 2015 all find themselves risking their lives to find a place where they can be free and safe.
Survival Story
Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson
Victoria’s quick trip to check out some new sled dogs with her team are thrown for a loop when she comes across a snowmobiler in trouble and then a blizzard hits.
Animal Story
And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness, ill. by Rovina Cai
Bathsheba, a whale and 3rd apprentice on a ship that hunts humans, is swept along as her Captain becomes obsessed with hunting down Toby Wick. Toby Wick is an elusive man who plows a white hulled ship. Meanwhile, Bathsheba is left to interrogate the human captive, Demetrius, about Toby Wick and where to find him. She finds Demetrius not the monster she expected and herself questioning the entire war.
Science Fiction
Railhead (Railhead, #1) by Philip Reeve
Zen Sterling is a small time thief who just loves riding the trains of the Network. Such people are called railheads in the empire. The empire is made up of a Network of stations on different planets and moons linked together by K-gates allowing speedy travel across lightyears. When Zen is recruited by a man named Raven for a “small” theft of the imperial train, he has no clue what a mess he’s getting himself into.
Historical Fiction
Dodger by Terry Pratchett
Dodger, teenage orphan and tosher, comes to the rescue of a young woman being beaten on the back streets of London. On the night of the rescue, Dodger is assisted in getting help for the woman by Mr Mayhew and a shrewd newspaper man, Charlie Dickens, who believes that Dodger could be some further help in this case. Dodger takes his role of bringing justice to the perpetrators of this crime seriously, and starts nosing around the back streets of London more than usual. And once the woman's identity becomes known to certain individuals, her plight becomes a matter of some concern to the British government, and it seems up to Dodger to save the day for all involved.
Love Story
Somewhere Only We Know by Maureen Goo
A rewrite of
Roman Holiday featuring a tired K-Pop Star and a wanna-be Korean American journalist in Hong Kong.
Funny Book
The Last Dragonslayer (Last Dragonslayer, #1) by Jasper Fforde
Jennifer Strange has the daunting task of keeping a gaggle of waning wizards and magicians gainfully employed and out of trouble in a world where magic is on the downswing. Jennifer herself is only 15 (16 in two weeks), but is exceptionally mature for her age. That's a really good thing too, because things get a little extra complicated when some of the pre-cogs start getting visions about the death of the last dragon on Sunday at noon which will unleash a land war of epic proportions. Things then snowball when Jennifer finds herself to be the last dragonslayer.
Dystopia Book
Steelheart (Reckoners, #1) by Brandon Sanderson
People with superpowers (called Epics) have started popping up all over the world. But the powers corrupt and turn them evil. David’s father was killed by Steelheart, the Epic ruling Newcago (previously Chicago before Steelheart turned it all into steel). David has taken copious notes for years on Epics’ weaknesses and now he wants to join the resistance group of ordinary people trying to take down Epics. They call themselves the Reckoners. But what can ordinary people do against Epics?
Mythological-Based Fiction
Lovely War by Julie Berry
Aphrodite, caught between Ares and Hephaestus argues that gods don't really understand what love is, that only mortals do. So she tells them a tale about what true love looks like. She tells them of Hazel, a shy pianist in England who met James, a soldier about to leave for the WWI front, at a parish dance the week before he shipped out. And she tells them of Aubrey, an African American jazz pianist and soldier, and Colette, a Belgian girl who has lost everything in the war, but is still doing her part to help in France by volunteering with the YMCA. A story of life, death, WWI, racism, music, and love narrated mostly by Aphrodite, but also by Ares, Apollo, and Hades.
Fiction Graphic Novel
Space Boy 1 (Space Boy, #1) by Stephen McCranie
Amy is devastated when her father gets fired for a mishap in the mine and her entire family gets transferred back to Earth. Not only is she moving away from friends, but she'll be in cryo during the trip to Earth and when she wakes up all her friends will have experienced 30 years of life while she'll still be a teenager. The only ray of hope in Amy's life are some kind students at school who make an effort to befriend her and show her how to survive as a teenager on Earth in the present. Her curiosity is also piqued by the mysterious boy there who has no flavor for some reason. (Amy has synesthesia and everyone has a flavor to her.)
Thriller/Suspense Book
The Safest Lies by Megan Miranda
Kelsey Thomas has not exactly had a normal life up till this Junior year of high school. Her mother was abducted as a teenager, disappeared for about a year, and when she reappeared she was 4 months pregnant and had no memory of what happened to her while she was missing. She was a media sensation for several months until she changed her name, built a fortress and disappeared inside with her baby daughter. She has not stepped outside since then. Kelsey has thought her mother unnecessarily paranoid. But days after a car accident puts her in the news she returns home to find her mother gone. Her mother who hasn’t willingly left the house in 17 years, not even when Kelsey was in a car accident. Is her mother’s paranoia warranted after all?
Nonfiction History Book
Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America by Gail Jarrow
Jarrow relates how
The War of the Worlds radio adaptation came about in 1938, how the radio crew thought it was going to bore the audience to tears, how the public responded to the broadcast (both positively and negatively), and then how the actual history of the reaction to this event itself became a piece of fake news and was misrepresented for many years.
Fantasy Book
My Lady Jane (The Lady Janies, #1) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
A humorous, reimagined history of Lady Jane Grey, her sudden marriage to Gifford (which she’d have appreciated some warning about) so she can be crowned queen after the maybe death of her cousin (she’s suspicious), and with a barely cold war simmering between the E∂ians (who can change into animals) and the Veritys (who think changing is evil).
Nonfiction Science Book
The Next Wave: the Quest to Harness the Power of the Oceans (Scientists in the Field) by Elizabeth Rusch
A fascinating look at the research and ideas currently being generated in using waves to create energy.
Mystery Book
The Leaving by Tara Altebrando
Six five-year olds disappeared from their school on the first full day of kindergarten. The tragedy rocked the small town in Florida, but no one was affected like the family members left behind. Avery's life has certainly never been the same or very full since her brother Max disappeared. Eleven years later, five of them walk into town. Lucas, Scarlett, Kristen, Adam, and Sarah have returned. But much to the shock and heartbreak of Avery's family, there's no Max. The returned five have no memories from the past eleven years, and no memory of Max. What happened to them? Why return them after eleven years? Who did this? And where is Max?
Time Travel Book
Dark Mirror (Dark Mirror, #1) by M.J. Putney
Lackland Academy is a reform school for the children of gentry in Regency England who have the unfortunate ability to perform magic. While the school teaches the pupils to repress their magic, a literal underground movement secretly meets in caves below the school at night and teaches them how to improve their magical skills in the event they are needed in the war against Napoleon. Lady Victoria Mansfield, Tory, is one of those students in training. In a moment of crisis she discovers a mirror in the subterranean passageways that transports her and others with magical skills to WWII where they are needed to help with the retreat from Dunkirk.
Sports Story
Ski Soldier: a World War II Biography by Louise Borden
A free verse biography of Pete Siebert who grew up loving skiing and joined a special division of the US military that included men with skiing and mountaineering experience. Siebert was so good at skiing he actually instructed others in his division before they were shipped off to Italy for WWII. During a daring attack, Siebert was severely wounded and was told he may never walk again. But he persevered through rehab and went on to join the 1950 US Olympic team, and after that created the Vail ski resort.
Fairytale Rewrite
Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis
Once upon a time there was a teenage girl named Essie who lives outside a village on the mining planet of Thanda. Essie makes her way by stitching tech. She has made seven drones who help make the mining in her village much more efficient and provide company to her. Essie's life is comfortable, and she's holding her own. But when a stranger crashes near the village and Essie decides to help him get his ship back together, her carefully built walls are threatened. Dane is looking for a treasure. A treasure that will help end the war on Windsong that started when Princess Snow was kidnapped. Essie can't wait to get Dane on the road, because he is bringing up memories she had carefully buried and his presence is threatening to make her dissatisfied with the life she has built on Thanda.
Contemporary Fiction
Yotsuba&! 1 (Yotsuba, #1) by Kiyohiko Azuma, translated by Amy Forsyth
Yotsuba is a precocious little girl who has just moved into a new neighborhood. She has adventures with the new neighbor girls who are all older than her, but welcome her like a little sister. And she also has adventures with her dad and his friends, like going to the store to get things for their house, or catching cicadas.
Science Fiction
Skyward (Skyward, #1) by Brandon Sanderson
All Spensa has ever dreamed of is being a pilot to fight off the Krell just like her dad. But they say her dad was a coward. Despite the fact that they are losing more and more pilots and desperately need to fill those planes, Spensa will have to work extra hard to prove to them that she belongs in one of their planes and that she is no coward. At the same time, in her exploration of the planet's caverns, Spensa has stumbled on a very old wreck of a plane. Surprisingly, it still has some working components. Even more surprisingly, it has an artificial intelligence and tech that surpasses current DDF designs. Spensa dubs it M-Bot and in all her free time works to get it in running order again with the help of her genius friend Rig. Because there is no way Spensa will be content to stay out of the skies ever again.
Biography, Autobiography, or Memoir
The Underground Abductor (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, #5) by Nathan Hale
A graphic novel biography of Araminta Ross, aka Harriet Tubman.
Foodie Story
Giant Spider & Me: a Post-Apocalyptic Tale Vol. 1 (Giant Spider & Me, #1) by Kikori Morino
Nagi is a girl who lives in the forest by herself. One day while weeding and harvesting from her garden, she meets a huge spider-like creature. At first she's scared, but the beast doesn't seem to be very beastly and enjoys Nagi's cooking. She names it Asa and they quickly become friends over food, which Nagi loves to cook. (Recipes are included.)
