The best contemporary novels that celebrate the power of stories and finding your voice

In this novel in verse, Elizabeth Acevedo beautifully evokes the landscape and feel of Harlem through the observant character of Xiomara Batista.

Having lived in upper Manhattan for years, I recognized the neighborhood in the vibrant descriptions. I identified with Xiomara’s need to express herself, how she fills the pages of her notebook with what she feels she can’t speak aloud. Her emotions as she confronts the challenges of friendship, romance, and family feel very real.

When a high school teacher opens up for her the world of spoken word poetry and a whole new set of possibilities for self-expression, I find myself rooting for Xiomara to be brave and take the steps she must take on her personal and artistic journey towards sharing her voice.

Perhaps what I most admire about this novelized memoir is the way Daniel Nayeri, through the voice of Khosrou, expertly weaves together family stories, Persian history and mythology, and the trials and tribulations of being a kid from Iran in an Oklahoma middle school.

The author does all this while staying true to the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy. Khosrou tells stories he knows from his home country through a series of class assignments, prompting reactions from classmates that let Khosrou know just how wide the gulf can be between his understanding of the world and theirs.

The sometimes fantastical, often heartbreaking tales he tells his teacher, his classmates, and the reader—whom he repeatedly addresses—challenge us to value what refugees have to tell.

Twelve-year-old Petra Peña tenderly recounts family stories about Earth in a dystopian, sci-fi context far from our home planet.

Her memories and stories evoke a beauty that clashes spectacularly with the aseptic spaceship and the repressive government that takes control of it. What kept me turning pages were Petra’s strong relationships with her family—including her grandmother, Lita, who tells her old Mexican legends, and her little brother, Javier—and the way Petra’s stories reflect these strong, human relationships.

When she tells stories to younger kids on the spaceship, it is a subversive act that brings the characters closer. I resonated with the novel’s message that stories are a way to bring people together despite the odds, and they are vital to the survival of humanity as we know it. 

In this book Laurie Halse Anderson lets us inside the mind of Melinda, a high schooler who finds herself increasingly isolated from friends and family.

As a reader, it was easy to share her frustration with how others treat her, because it was clear that her inner world didn’t match up with what others perceived outside of her. She has experienced a traumatic event, a violation that she doesn’t know how to process or talk about.

This novel masterfully captures the way Melinda compartmentalizes what has happened to her and grasps for coping mechanisms. Some of my favorite scenes occur in art class, where art-making becomes a key part of Melinda’s journey of gaining the courage to speak up about her trauma, and of reconnecting with others. 

Each of the interconnected stories told in this novel is fascinating in and of itself, but they’re even more enthralling as an interwoven whole.

An ancient Greek manuscript that tells of a fantastical journey provides a connective thread across space and time, from fifteenth-century Constantinople to the near future on a spaceship. I kept turning pages to know more about what happened in each of the stories, but also to find out all the myriad, deliciously satisfying ways they were connected.

The storylines swelled together into one epic tale, which was capacious enough that I felt I, too, could inhabit it, pondering questions about life and the universe alongside the characters. This book affirms the life-saving power of stories, and their capacity to forge invaluable human connections.