Recent Reads: Favorite YA Books

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted about what I’ve been reading! I have so many books to talk about that I’ve decided to divide them up a bit into multiple posts rather than one long one. I’ve read a lot of mediocre YA books in the last few months, but here are some of my favorites, books that I really enjoyed and strongly recommend:

• A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen. The Banana and I both really loved this story about a family torn apart by the Berlin Wall, a perilous escape from East Berlin, and their reunification. It was a great glimpse into life in an Eastern European Communist country, and the kind of tale that keeps you glued to the book, turning the next page as fast as you can.
• Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry. This story, set in the time of the Medieval Inquisition was so interesting to me, and sparked a desire to learn more about this historical time period that was not familiar to me. It is a story that is very different from most fiction you will find on the shelf at your library or bookstore, and definitely worth reading.
• The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster by Cary Fagan. There was just something about this book that was charming. Two resident teenagers agreed. I can’t really put a finger on it, but I really did enjoy this one. One thing I really liked about this book was seeing the perspective of a healing family who had experienced the loss of a missing child (he ran away) from the eyes of a sibling of that missing child. There were some really believable moments as characters in the story experienced grief, and the need to move on, only to have things drastically change at a point midway through the book.
• Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum. It took me a bit to become friends with the characters in this book, but in the end, I found myself invested in what happened to them and what they were thinking.
• Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience This was hands down my favorite poetry book I have read in the past year. I loved these poems and the cultural perspectives that they brought so much. These are not fluffy poems. These voices need to be heard, and this anthology of great writing needs to be read. I gifted this book to a few friends and relatives whom I thought might appreciate it.
• Butterfly Yellow by Thannha Lai. This might be the most absurd collection of people brought together in a story ever. But it is an excellent story.
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. This book won so many awards! And I think it deserved them. It’s a quick read in verse, and I found it to be a helpful window into an urban, African American culture that I don’t get to experience every day, but need to understand better.