YA recs?

[dragonyphoenix]

My Dad wants recs for YA books to send to my cousin’s daughter who’s about 13. He wants books that show strong women. Other than Calvin and Hobbes, we don’t really know what she likes. Any suggestions?

Comments

[conuly]

DO I HAVE RECS????

Okay. So.

If she likes Calvin and Hobbes then first of all, you probably cannot go wrong with Smile, Drama, or Roller Girl. Or Squirrel Girl, for that matter, the Shannon Hale take. Or Nimona. Or the Amulet books. Or the Zita, the Spacegirl books. Or Ms. Marvel. Or the Princeless or Hereville books.

Other than that (and keeping this mostly on the younger side of the YA/MG divide):

Zahrah, the Windseeker
Millicent Min, Girl Genius
Mars Evacuees
Oddity (my new fave)
Princess Academy (ignore the weird title)
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (Shannon Hale is gold, okay?)
Kiki Strike (get the whole darn trilogy)
Akata Witch
Celeste's Harlem Renaissance
One Crazy Summer
Dust Girl
Seraphina
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
The Jumbies
Amina's Voice
Not So Awful, Falafel
Labyrinth Lost
Shadowspeaker
Dragon's Milk (but skip the fourth)
Quest for a Maid (for my money, STILL the best first line in kidlit)
Anything by Frances Hardinge, especially Face Like Glass and Cuckoo Song
Blackbird Fly
The First Rule of Punk
The Mighty Miss Malone
Starglass
Salvage and Sound (must read both books. Love these)
Tin Star
Cinder (bit annoying that everybody gets heteronormatively paired up at the end of each book, but whatevs)
Breadcrumbs
Stranger by Rachel Manija
Cat Girl's Day Off
Un Lun Dun
Zeroes
Leviathan trilogy
Summer of the Mariposas
Chasing the Moon
Under a Painted Sky (warning - starts with the heroine's near-rape)
You're Welcome, Universe
Braced
Flygirl
The Floating Islands
Enter Title Here
A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman
The Occasional Diamond Thief
Galax-Arena
Tomorrow, When the War Began
Invitation to the Game (now republished as simply The Game)
The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf
Rain is Not My Indian Name
Full Cicada Moon
Yaqui Delgado Wants To Kick Your Ass

[tjs_whatnot]

w0w.

I just came here to rec The Uglies series, but I think I'm just going to steal this list instead.

[conuly]

Mind, The Uglies series is great, but that list already has two Westerfield recs.

[dragonyphoenix]

Thanks for confirming that the Uglies is awesome. I'm passing that along with the rest of the recs.

[dragonyphoenix]

It is an awesome list. Thanks for the Uglies rec. Since all three of you like it, I've pointed it out special in my letter to Dad.

[dragonyphoenix]

Wow, thank you so much! I'll pass them along to Dad.

And I apologize for my delay in responding. Last week was awful. I'm only feeling somewhat better after a weekend of taking it easy. ;-(

[conuly]

Don't worry about it! And you know, I'm just really good at coming up with booklists at the drop of a hat. I looooooove doing that.

[dragonyphoenix]

It's an awesome ability!

[dragonyphoenix]

I got a letter from Dad thanking me for the rec list. He's planning to pass it to Lauren and let her pick what she wants to read and then he'll get it for her.

I was wondering how he was going to deal with the really long list of recs. ;-)

[conuly]

Since I typed that up, I've become familiar with several more books I'd've ptu on the list....

[conuly]

Also, I see in the original list I somehow forgot Ambassador and Nomad (two books, not one) and Love In a Time of Global Warming and Ship Breaker and The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, and Amelia Rules, and Earth Girl, and Circus Galacticus, and....