Speak, published in 1999, is a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson that tells the story of high school freshman Melinda Sordino. After Melinda is raped at an end of summer party, she calls the police, who break up the party. Melinda is then ostracized by her peers because she will not say why she called the police. Unable to verbalize what happened, Melinda nearly stops speaking altogether, expressing her voice through the art she produces for Mr. Freeman's class. This expression slowly helps Melinda acknowledge what happened, face her problems, and recreate her identity.
Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld is an American writer. She is the author of a collection of short stories, You Think it, I’ll Say It (2018), as well as seven novels: Prep (2005), the story of students at a Massachusetts prep school; The Man of My Dreams (2006), a coming-of-age novel and an examination of romantic love; American Wife (2008), a fictional story loosely based on the life of First Lady Laura Bush; Sisterland (2013), which tells the story of identical twins with psychic powers; Eligible (2016), a modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice; Rodham (2020), an alternate history political novel about the life of Hillary Clinton; and Romantic Comedy (2023), a romance between a comedy writer and a pop star.
Looking for Alaska is American author John Green's debut novel, published in March 2005 by Dutton Juvenile. Based on his time at Indian Springs School, Green wrote the novel as a result of his desire to create meaningful young adult fiction. The characters and events of the plot are grounded in Green's life, while the story itself is fictional.
David Almond is a British author who has written many novels for children and young adults from 1998, each one receiving critical acclaim.
A Northern Light, or A Gathering Light in the U.K., is an American historical novel for young adults, written by Jennifer Donnelly and published by Harcourt in 2003. Set in northern Herkimer County, New York in 1906, it is based on the murder of Grace Brown case —the basis also for An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser (1925).
Markus Zusak is an Australian writer. He is best known for The Book Thief and The Messenger, two novels that became international bestsellers. He won the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2014.
Zhang Jie was a Chinese novelist and short-story writer. She also co-wrote a biography of the film director Wu Zuguang in 1986. She worked on writing different kinds of books for or with young protagonists; these types of works are included in junior and senior high school textbooks in China. She was one of China's first feminist writers.
An Abundance of Katherines is a young adult novel by John Green. Released in 2006, it was a finalist for the Michael L. Printz Award.
Hard Love is a young adult novel written by author Ellen Wittlinger. It was published in 1999.
Carolyn Mackler is an American author. She has written ten novels for teens and young people, including Infinite in Between; Not If I Can Help It; The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, which won an honorable mention from the Michael L. Printz award; Vegan Virgin Valentine; Guyaholic; and Tangled. Her first novel for adults, The Wife App, received praise from authors such as Judy Blume and Gabrielle Zevin.
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things is a 2003 young adult novel by Carolyn Mackler. It follows the life of Virginia Shreves, who lives in New York City.
My Heartbeat is a 2002 novel by Garret Freymann-Weyr, about a fourteen-year-old girl who discovers that her brother and his best friend, James, who she has been in love with for years, could be a couple. It was named a Printz Honor book in 2003.
Margaret Stiefvater is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for her fantasy series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle.
Gayle Forman is an American young adult fiction author, best known for her novel If I Stay, which topped the New York Times best sellers list of Young Adult Fiction and was made into a film of the same name.
Jandy Nelson is an American author. Prior to her career as an author, Nelson worked for 13 years as a literary agent at Manus & Associates Literary Agency. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University as well as several Master of Fine Arts degrees. She later attended Vermont College of Fine Arts.
The Fosters is an American family drama television series created by Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg. It premiered in the United States on June 3, 2013, on the ABC Family television network and concluded on June 6, 2018. It followed the lives of the Adams-Foster family led by a lesbian couple, Stef Foster, a police officer, and Lena Adams, a school vice principal, who raise one biological son and four adopted teenagers in San Diego, California.
The Sky Is Everywhere is a 2010 young adult novel by Jandy Nelson as her debut novel. It tells the story of an American high school girl, Lennie Walker, struggling to cope with the sudden death of her older sister. Lennie becomes romantically involved both with her sister's former fiancé, who shares Lennie's grief and loss, and with a new boy in town, who shares Lennie's love of music. Ultimately, Lennie must choose between the two relationships. A film adaptation from A24 and Apple TV+ was released on February 11, 2022. It stars Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon, Cherry Jones, and Jason Segel.
This One Summer is a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki published by First Second Books in 2014. It is a coming of age story about two teenage friends, Rose and Windy, during a summer in Awago, a small beach town. Rose and Windy discover themselves and their sexuality while battling family dynamics and mental disabilities.
Jason Reynolds is an American author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade audience. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in neighboring Oxon Hill, Maryland, Reynolds found inspiration in rap and had an early focus on poetry, publishing several poetry collections before his first novel in 2014, When I Was The Greatest, which won the John Steptoe Award for New Talent.
Nina LaCour is an American author, primarily known for writing young adult literature with queer, romantic story lines. Her novel We Are Okay won the Printz Award in 2017.
