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In Other Lands.
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Growing up, I didn’t read that much. My school-assigned books felt like enough. The turning point, as I remember it, was my introduction to Terry Pratchett. His Discworld novels were lighthearted and fun, but they still explored serious themes and presented honest reflections on humanity. That blend of levity and sincerity stuck with me and introduced me to the style of storytelling I now aim for in my own work. I find a lighter-hearted approach can make difficult or elusive topics more approachable, and mixing a little humor into the narrative helps us care. It connects us more deeply to the characters and makes a story’s heartfelt moments shine.
An angel and a demon work together to stop the antichrist from destroying the world. Simple enough. But things get off to a rocky start when they spend the first eleven years monitoring the wrong child.
I initially read this book on vacation, and while I don’t remember much about the trip itself, I remember the book! An otherwise-normal pre-teen with the power to shape reality takes this story to appropriate (and absurd) extremes, but at its core, it’s a narrative about good and evil, human nature, and free will—and it approaches these themes with sincerity, nuance, and care.
Come for the laughs, stay for the laughs…and for the profound reflection on humanity.
THE BOOK BEHIND THE AMAZON PRIME/BBC SERIES STARRING DAVID TENNANT, MICHAEL SHEEN, JON HAMM AND BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
'Ridiculously inventive and gloriously funny' Guardian
What if, for once, the predictions are right, and the Apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?
It's a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon, now find themselves in. They've been living amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse.
I am a Minnesota writer of cozy mysteries and contemporary fiction. I love the magical and care deeply about nature, the environment, and what is happening due to climate change. My novel was a chance to combine both interests. I wrote the first draft of Up There during the pandemic. While we were locked down, I spent time with a character who could fly. But while she was free, I discovered she was still lost. I spent so much of that year walking in the woods—thinking about how our world is changing, how confusing it is, and how we all are a little lost in these times.
I fell in love with this book from the very beginning.
When by-the-book case worker Linus Baker from the Department in Charge of Magical Youth comes to investigate a home for six dangerous magical children, he discovers an unlikely family in an unexpected place. As a mother, I was smitten by the insecure yet powerful children and was cheering for Linus to save them. I’ve been out of my element with kids too, Linus; I understand.
Best of all, I could feel the compassion and love on the pages of this amazing book.
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not…
I’m the author of the humorous YA novels The Supervillain and Me andThe Good for Nothings. I’ve been telling stories since I could talk, including the night I recited an entire Mickey Mouse scratch and sniff book to my mother at bedtime (she’s so proud), and the numerous evenings I subjected my friends and family to another one of my home “movies” set in front of a poorly painted bedsheet backdrop in my basement. I owe my writing career to Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield’s version), who inspired my first book. I spent countless college classes thinking about him instead of paying attention, but it all worked out in the end.
The humor in this book is delightfully… cheesy. Pun intended.Tweet Cute is about Jack and Pepper, son and daughter of the owners of a mom-and-pop deli and a massive fast-food chain, respectively, who get into a Twitter war once it is revealed that one has stolen the other’s secret family grilled cheese recipe. This book has three things that I absolutely adore: It’s set in New York City, the characters engage almost constantly in witty banter, and it’s packed with puns about—you guessed it—grilled cheese. But humor aside, Tweet Cute is a terrific story about tight-knit families, teenagers dealing with the pressures surrounding high school graduation, and ultimately, following your own path.
Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic over achiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming - mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger's massive Twitter account.
Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper's side. When he isn't trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin's shadow, he's busy working in his family's deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma's iconic grilled cheese recipe,…
I grew up in Texas where sex-ed curriculums ranged from spotty and misinformed to totally nonexistent. Therefore, as a teenager, I learned about sex from the novels I read—at that time, I was devouring Meg Cabot and John Green books—and I remember wishing for more tangible information. (This was before Urban Dictionary and Tumblr, unfortunately.) Fast forward a decade, and I’m the one writing YA novels. I no longer live in Texas, but my passion for crafting sex-positive, uplifting, and accessible books for teenagers remains central to my life as a writer and reader.
If you’re wanting young adult romance with well-crafted sex scenes that are equal parts sweet, funny, and informative, Rachel Lynn Solomon is your gal. Today Tonight Tomorrowtakes place in twenty-four hours in the city of Seattle as two high school rivals team up to win the senior class scavenger hunt. This fun, light-hearted novel is a great read for teens and adults alike! (And Solomon also has some stellar adult romances, if that’s more your speed.)
"Brilliant, hilarious, and oh-so-romantic." -BuzzFeed "Swoony, steamy." -Entertainment Weekly
The Hating Game meets Booksmart by way of Morgan Matson in this unforgettable romantic comedy about two rival overachievers whose relationship completely transforms over the course of twenty-four hours.
Today, she hates him.
It's the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she'd love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.…
As a Young Adult writer, I’m, of course, a huge YA reader as well. And one of my favorite things in YA - and in all of fiction - is falling in love with a fantastic ship. A lifelong fangirl, fanfic reader, and fanfic writer, I’ll never get sick of reading about two people falling in love. We can learn so much about a character, and ourselves, by how they approach romantic relationships and romantic tension is my favorite kind of plot tension! I hope you enjoy clutching your face and pacing the room as you wait for these characters to get together - I know I did!
While this story of rebellion and Black sisterhood is not first and foremost a romance, a central relationship in the book had me on the edge of my seat. I wondered if these two characters - who I’m not going to spoil for you - would ever realize how perfect they were for each other and ending up shouting out loud when all the tension finally snapped. Come for the slow burn romance and stay for the incredible commentary about power and politics.
The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls - they know their luck is anything but.
Sold to a "welcome house" as children and branded with cursed markings.
Trapped in a life they would never have chosen.
When Clementine accidentally kills a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta's most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a…
As a queer, nonbinary author and lover of historical fiction, I’ve spent countless hours thinking about how to tell stories I care about in a genre that has traditionally excluded people like me. We all know that life was hard for LGBTQ+ folks growing up in, well, basically any time in recent history. There’s a time and place for realistic depictions of those hardships, but we also need space to imagine ourselves in more joyful, fantastical depictions of the past. After all, if straight people can enjoy Jane Austen without thinking too hard about the legal rights of women during that era, why can’t queer people do the same?
I desperately want to be best friends with Henry (Monty) Montague, the delightful, ridiculous, irrepressibly queer gentleman of this book.
The story follows Monty on a joyous and, at times, harrowing romp through 18th-century Europe, accompanied by his prickly but secretly brilliant sister and his quiet, kind-hearted best friend (who he’s totally in love with but far too clueless to do anything about.)
What I love the most about this story is the way it depicts queerness in a way that feels true to its historical setting. Monty interrogates his identity with the flawed language and beliefs he inherited from the world around him, which I suspect anyone who didn’t grow up with access to an open and loving queer community, i.e., most of us, can relate to.
A Kirkus Prize nominee and Stonewall Honor winner with 5 starred reviews! A New York Times bestseller!
Named one of the best books of 2017 by NPR and the New York Public Library!
"The queer teen historical you didn't know was missing from your life."-Teen Vogue
"A stunning powerhouse of a story."-School Library Journal
"A gleeful romp through history."-ALA Booklist
A young bisexual British lord embarks on an unforgettable Grand Tour of Europe with his best friend/secret crush. An 18th-century romantic adventure for the modern age written by This Monstrous Thing author Mackenzi Lee-Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets…
Escape to the past and have a blast is definitely my motto as a Canadian young adult author. With a penchant for escapism fiction, I’ve always loved books that pull me into different places and adverse time periods. Enter time traveling and original storytelling. Legends, myths, and mysteries of the unexplained thrill me. A lover of anything arcane and ancient mysteries, I delve into our written past to give my fiction the facts I need to immerse readers into my imaginary universe—one book at a time.
Riordan had me at Norse mythology. Love it! Written in the usual tongue-in-cheek humor I’m used to with the author’s style, I loved the way he rebranded Norse myths to fit into the young adult genre he’s so famous for writing. It begins as homeless Magnus Chase (cousin to Annabeth from The Lightning Thief) is plucked from the real world (he literally dies) and taken to Hotel Valhalla, where he’s put through the gantlet over and over again (and dies many times in the process) until he teams up with an unlikely (and likable) diverse cast of characters who embark on a journey to recover his birthright—the Sword of Summer. However, what Magnus doesn’t count on is finding out the truth about who he really is, and his place in Asgard.
All three books in the best-selling Magnus Chase trilogy, collected in a gift-worthy paperback boxed set. Magnus Chase, a once-homeless teen, is on a death-defying quest across the Norse realms, literally. As a resident of the Hotel Valhalla, this son of the god Frey is now one of Odin's chosen warriors. Magnus and his friends, Hearthstone the elf, Blitzen the dwarf, Samirah the Valkyrie, and other heroic characters must use all their wits and special talents in order to defeat fearsome giants, lethal creatures, and meddlesome gods in order stave off Ragnarok. "A whirlwind of myth, action, and wry sarcasm,…
I have always adored fairy tales, most particularly rewritings of fairy tales where the heroines seize a destiny all their own. But beyond feminine agency, I want a story that sweeps me away in every respect: lose me in a forest, turn my head with magic, let me stand and face my inner darkness, and, perhaps most importantly, entrance me with gorgeous language—it has to feel like a fairy tale. As fate would have it, these particular proclivities led me to write fantasy novels in my own right! You won’t find princesses, but you will find magic libraries and stories that dwell on the power of stories themselves!
Stories within stories, each honing and enhancing the other, is one of my favorite tropes across literature, and it finds a special expression in Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea.
Unlike the other novels in this list, this one begins in our “normal” world, albeit a magically enhanced version of it. (You and I live there already, of course.) Fairy tales weave into and through the story as our young protagonist tries to find his way in the world, inextricably drawn back to these mystical tales.
Morgenstern’s prose will sweep you away while also meditating on the power of prose to sweep you away, and then we’re all in this tangle of a love of stories and the magic of fairy tales, exactly where we wanted to be all along.
Discover the enchanting, magical bestseller from the author of The Night Circus, now in a stunning new edition.
We are all stardust and stories...
When Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a mysterious book containing details from his own life among its pages, it leads him on a quest unlike any other.
Following the clues inside, he is guided to a masquerade ball, a dangerous secret club, and finally to an ancient library hidden far beneath the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their…
I started in publishing at the Advocate magazine, twenty years ago in its heyday, then moved to Alyson Books, who first published Emma Donoghue among many others, offering a place for queer writers showcasing queer stories to find their audience. Afterwards, I became involved with Gertrude literary journal, a beloved, 25-year-old non-profit, LGBTQA journal that has now evolved to The Gertrude Conference. All the while, I read, wrote, and supported queer stories, like these gems!
I vote that this novella by Cassandra Khaw be made into an animated limited series, opening on a mermaid who leaves her two children after they’ve devoured what is left of the city that had to be burned to the ground to prevent the spread of the plague.
They devoured because they have teeth, as mermaids do. The children also have “supple lips”, as their father had, a prince who abducted and forced the mermaid to marry him then cut her tongue out.
She leaves them and their destruction behind to wander the countryside with a plague doctor who wears a vulture mask. It was the plague doctor who insisted they burn everything to the ground. The unusual pair soon find their way to a village where saints decide which people can be brought back from the dead in (on theme) Frankenstein-ian ways. A perfect animation.
A sensuous and strange horror novella full of creeping dread and delicious gore, twisting mermaid myths into something sharp, dangerous, and hungry, for fans of Christina Henry, Carmen Maria Machado and Eric LaRocca.
After the murder of her husband and the fall of his empire, a mermaid and her plague doctor companion escape into the wilderness. Deep in the woods, they stumble across a village where children hunt each other for sport, sacrificing one of their own at the behest of three surgeons they call "the saints." These saints play god with their magic, harvesting the best bits of the…
I am writing this list because I am a sea monster. I’m the sort of sea monster who loves merpeople, pirates, sharks, dolphins, octopuses, shipwrecks, and…did I miss anything? Oh yes, piranhas. Some people have pointed out that I look like a regular adult human, but really it’s just a trick of the light. I like to make stories, draw pictures, and build miniature environments for stop motion animated films. My typical day is spent gluing miniature flowers to miniature rocks, or screwing miniature chairs to miniature floors. It’s the sort of job that makes you feel like magic is around every corner. Because it is, probably.
It’s impossible not to fall head over heels in love with the little
mermaid explorer Oona and her sea otter friend Otto. The adorable duo was
created by illustrator Raissa Figueroa who has this amazing ability to make all
her characters completely irresistible and her environments rich with
atmospheric colors and magical details. I can’t wait to see what adventures
Oona and Otto go on next!
1
author picked
Oona
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
3,
4,
5, and
6.
What is this book about?
This comical and heartfelt picture book is a winning celebration of invention, creativity, and friendship. With gorgeous underwater scenes and a crowd-pleasing tale, this is one little mermaid who is here to make a splash!
New York Times bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Raissa Figueroa would like to introduce Oona-the big wide sea's littlest mischief-maker.
Oona and her best friend Otto love to search for treasure...and often find trouble instead.
Messy trouble.
Tricky trouble.
Even shark-related trouble.
That's never stopped them before, though!
After all, no proper treasure hunt is without some adventure. But…
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