Welcome back to Book Break! This video is going to be all about YA. We don't post very much
about YA books here on Book Break so I wanted to rectify, that because obviously BookTube
has a huge YA audience and also there are a lot of people who possibly look down on YA or have
assumptions about what sort of genre YA is going to be. In that case they're usually assuming it's
going to be a paranormal romance along the lines of Twilight. A lot of people might think that YA
is only valuable for a young audience but none of that is true. So YA is actually a really broad
term. It can really be applied to any book written from the perspective of a younger character aged
around 12 to 18. And of course there are books with children or teenagers as protagonists even
though the books themselves are still very much aimed at adults and wouldn't really fit into YA,
but in those cases the writer tends to put a sort of knowing spin on the younger perspective,
so leaving the reader to feel like they maybe know more than the protagonist. Whereas YA books
more fully inhabit and explore that younger perspective. So if you fit into that 12 to 18
age bracket or thereabout, then YA can feel really relatable, but if you're a bit older than that age
bracket, then reading YA is a really great chance to broaden your perspective and see the world
through new eyes. It's been a long time since I was a teenager so I don't always remember exactly
what it felt like, and so reading YA feels like stepping into someone else's shoes for a while,
which is what reading is all about in the first place. So to shatter YA stereotypes I'm going to
recommend a YA book in every genre, so no matter your usual reading taste you can find something
perfectly suited to you. Let's start with romance, seeing as that is what a lot of people are
familiar with when they're thinking about YA. Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean is a sort
of reimagining of The Princess Diaries. This is about a Japanese-American teenager who tracks down
her long-lost father, only to discover he is the Crown Prince of Japan. So it's this really funny,
really heartwarming book that follows Izzy as she navigates this whole new world, new culture,
new traditions, and a blossoming romance with her super cute bodyguard. For fantasy readers there's
Enchantee by Gita Trelease. This is set in 18th century Paris and follows Camille, a 17
year old orphan left in charge of her two siblings using petty magic that she learnt from her mother
in order to survive. But when her brother disappears, Camille turns to the dark magic
that her mother always forbade her from using. She uses this to transform herself into a baroness
and starts living a double life at the court of Versailles. And the good news is if you love this
one there is a sequel, Liberte. Sci-fi fans will love Renegades by Marissa Meyer which is set in
an alternate universe ruled by the renegades, a group of humans with extraordinary abilities
who overthrew the anarchists and restored peace and order and hope amongst the chaos
that had previously filled this world. Nova, the daughter of two anarchists, was left orphaned by
the renegades and she is on a mission to get revenge. If you're not a full sci-fi fantasy
fan but you just like a little touch of the magical in your books, you’ll love Forever
Ends on Friday by Justin A Reynolds. So this book questions what if you could bring your best friend
back to life - but only for a short time. Jamal's ex-best friend Q doesn't know that he died,
he doesn't know that it's only thanks to a new technology that he's been brought back to life,
and he doesn't know that he's about to die for a second time. Q also doesn't know that the reason
he and Jamal haven't been friends for the last two years is because Jamal blames Q for the accident
that killed his parents. Jamal now has a second chance to say goodbye to his once best friend
but if he's not allowed to tell Q the truth how could he find the words to make everything right?
Next if you like your books set firmly in the real world, let's cast all fantasy aside
and pick up this really fun contemporary novel Boy Queen by George Lester. This one's about a
teenager called Robin who has been rejected from every drama school that he applied to
and so is really worried about being left behind while all his friends head off to university.
But then he discovers the local drag show and discovers a whole new glittering path ahead of
him. For historical fiction fans, The Swallows’ Flight by Hilary McKay is a beautiful World War
II novel about four ordinary lives brought together by extraordinary circumstances.
This book is about friendship and family on two sides of a devastating war: two German boys and
two English girls. And the book spans a whole decade, so we follow these characters and their
lives through the threat of war to war itself. If you're looking for something scary I've got
a thriller here, The Woods Are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins. Two girls go backpacking
in the woods but something goes very wrong, and then their paths collide with a serial killer.
So this is a super creepy setting - in the woods and all of the branches cracking and mysterious
noises in the night that that entails - and then things get full slasher book levels of scary.
You can even read YA horror. The book All These Bodies by Kendare Blake is about a gruesome
killer who has been plaguing the midwest with a very unusual calling card: all the bodies they
leave behind are completely drained of blood. The only suspect is a 15 year old girl called Marie,
but she doesn't look capable of committing these grisly crimes . . . at least not on her own.
So this one gets supernatural, very creepy. For poetry lovers I've got Slam! You're going to want
to hear this. This is a collection of poems chosen by Nikita Gill. It's a collection of slam poetry,
or spoken word poetry, and this is a really great introduction to the spoken word poetry scene.
As well as the poems in here, each poet introduces themselves, introduces their work, and gives their
own tips for preparing your own performance poetry. Non-fiction can be specifically aimed
at a YA audience as well. So this is Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Boy by Emmanuel Acho.
Emmanuel Acho is the author of Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man which tackled the
questions that white people and other non-Black people often don't know how to ask, or know to
ask in the first place. This one specifically revolves around questions that might spring up
for younger readers or for their parents, and also questions that might bring up in schools or other
communities for younger people. It's described here as an essential young person's guide to race,
privilege and allyship. And finally, the classics. So the term YA may be relatively new, but books
centred around a younger character's perspective are definitely not new. There are plenty of
amazing classics that do really appeal to what we now define as a YA audience. For example Journey
to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson. This one is set in 1910 and it follows 13 year old Maya
on an adventure up the Amazon accompanied by an eccentric and mysterious governess who has secret
reasons of her own for making the journey. So this is a really beloved classic for readers of
any age. I will link here to a playlist of all of our other YA videos here on Book Break,
and I would love to know in the comments if you are a big YA reader and if you would like to see
more videos like this. And of course if you have any YA books to recommend of your own,
we always love to hear your book suggestions. See you next time!