A cool fun book for a HS freshman

August 13, 2023 3:33 PM

Granddaughter, 13, entering high school in a couple of weeks needs to read book for her English class.- She asked me to read it with her and we were all set and ready to go to have a two person book club. Then she found out it cannot be a graphic novel. Bummer.

We were going to pivot to The Hate U Give, her mom's suggestion, but she didn't love it -- probably because her mom suggested it...
Anyway, she's a good reader, in that she doesn't struggle with it. She describes books she likes as "fast-moving" and she doesn't want it to be too long. It can't be too "old-fashioned" -- so I'm looking here for recommendations. Help us plan our book club. Amazon availability would be OK, or one that would be available in a library. THANKS!!

posted by mmf to Media & Arts (18 answers total)

I really loved Convenience Store Woman and I think I would have found many aspects of it validating as a weirdo teen.
posted by phunniemee at 3:38 PM on August 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

Exit West
posted by diodotos at 3:49 PM on August 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

You might point her toward the Young Adult Library Services Association's book finder and see what jumps out.

Or, if she's the kind of kid that wants to read things people don't want her to read, maybe something from the list of Banned & Challenged books?

Some specific recommendations: Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America (Ibi Zoboi, ed.); George, by Alex Gino; High School, by Tegan and Sara; The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School, by Sonora Reyes; The Swallows, by Lisa Lutz.
posted by box at 3:52 PM on August 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

LOVESTAR.
posted by wowenthusiast at 4:04 PM on August 13, 2023

Comics Will Break Your Heart by Faith Erin Hicks. It's a novel (prose) by someone who typically makes graphic novels. It's a sweet, fun romance with some parallels to actual comics history.

It came out in 2019 so it's not super super recent but maybe recent enough.
posted by edencosmic at 4:18 PM on August 13, 2023

A series that often gets recommended here is The Murderbot Diaries. The first book is called All Systems Red. 160 pages. Fast-moving and entertaining.
posted by zadcat at 4:18 PM on August 13, 2023 [9 favorites]

This is How You Lose the Time War

Two women are protagonists in a wild sci-fi war. Modern, short, weird, arty, edgy, lots of action. Also a MeFi favorite, see thread on the blue for more info!
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:37 PM on August 13, 2023 [6 favorites]

My son's 8th grade friends have all devoured Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education.

The Monsters We Defy, by Leslye Penelope, is a great supernatural heist mystery that takes place in the 1920s in Black society in Washington DC.
posted by gideonfrog at 4:39 PM on August 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
posted by abraxasaxarba at 7:10 PM on August 13, 2023

+1 to the Novik but be aware it's a trilogy and really a single narrative.

I think these are pretty fast-moving standalones, all approved by similar age group:

Darcie Little Badger, Elatsoe

Justine Pucella Winans, Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything

Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch (sequels now exist, but it was standalone for years)

Elle McNicoll, A Kind of Spark
posted by away for regrooving at 7:56 PM on August 13, 2023

If she hasn't ready any Terry Pratchett, and would enjoy a strong, non-trivial female protagonist, any of the Tiffany Aching books (starting with 'Wee Free Men'). They develop in complexity and issues.
posted by dws at 8:50 PM on August 13, 2023 [5 favorites]

The Gospel of Orla. 14 year old headstrong female protagonist. Amusing plot. Will give fundies conniptions without being sacrilegious (too much).
posted by aspo at 8:58 PM on August 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

+1 to the Novik but be aware it's a trilogy

That's actually a plus, I think - it ends on a total cliffhanger so if she likes it she's apt to go on to read the next two on her own.

It's also a great fit - not only is it "fast-moving" and very well written, but it takes place in a school (a terrible one where everything is trying to kill you) and is thus very appropriate for starting HS.
posted by trig at 5:55 AM on August 14, 2023

What graphic novel had she picked? I’d love to know where her taste is before making a suggestion, since 13 can run a bunch of different ways.

Without knowing anything, there’s a reason The Hunger Games was such a huge hit, so if she hasn’t read that yet, it’s definitely fast-paced and not old fashioned.
posted by Mchelly at 6:20 AM on August 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

+1 for the Murderbot series (Martha Wells). I've been tearing through them lately and they're great fun.
posted by corvine at 6:44 AM on August 14, 2023

It is hard to give a book rec knowing almost nothing about the reader. But, in my library the kids that age are reading Karen McManus (thriller/suspense) and Jenny Han (romance).

(Also a big eyeroll from me to any teacher who lays rules down on reading.)
posted by lyssabee at 7:17 AM on August 14, 2023

My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand and Jodi Meadows might be just what you're looking for. It's an alternate history look at the events surrounding the reign of Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen. The religious difficulties of the day are replaced by conflicts between shape shifters and non-shape shifters, and the authors self-consciously toss off any obligations to historical accuracy before the end. It's romantic, adventurous, and a ton of fun.
posted by lhauser at 7:54 AM on August 14, 2023

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff dystopian, young teen characters, would lead to good discussions

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - a sort of fantasy with very clever storytelling, again good discussions

John Greene's books
posted by maxg94 at 9:40 AM on August 14, 2023