The Penguin Hotline Recommends: Gifts for the YA Fanatic

YA historical fiction fans, get ready to hunker down in your coziest spot and zoom through this read! Set in antebellum South, this is the story of Jo Kuan, lady’s maid to the spoiled daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But Jo has dreams of her own and a sharp wit—too sharp to be contained. Secretly, at night, she writes a column for the local newspaper under the alias Miss Sweetie, giving advice to ladies based on the real struggles she encounters in her suffocating day job. Stacey Lee masterfully combines history, crime, social justice, mystery, and just a dash of romance in this wonderful book.

Fellow fantasy nerds, get ready to be hooked! Fireborne is a debut that has everything you require from your faves: intense rivalries fed by class strife, romance blooming from the bonds of friendship, and of course, dragons. Annie and Lee are orphans in a world changed by revolution. They’re also dragonriders, a powerful role that is open to people of all stations ever since the war. But when survivors of the old regime surface bent on taking their city back, Annie and Lee both have terrible choices to make.

Junauda Petrus’s debut novel is magic. It’s for black women and femmes that have been waiting to see themselves in a story. It’s for teens who have already felt their first heartbreak, who can guess your astrological sign, and who crave the sound of the ocean. Told from two perspectives, this is the story of Audre and Mabel: one a transplant from Trinidad, sent off to the U.S. after her family discovered her hiding a budding relationship with another girl; the other from Minneapolis, still trying to figure life out before everything suddenly changes.

Frankly is a slam dunk for YA romance lovers. Written by David Yoon (who romance fans will already know as the husband of Everything Everything author, Nicola Yoon), this is the story of Frank Li, who gets caught up in what he thought would be a simple dating scheme. The idea was to get his parents—who expect him to end up with a nice Korean girl—off his back while he dates Brit, the funny, nerdy white girl he’s always pined after. Now he’s got the perfect girlfriend, the perfect accomplice, and the perfect plan. What could go wrong… right?