“I Like a Little Depression Now and Then”: over on the Hey YA Podcast, on the Book Riot platform, hosts Erica Ezeifedi and Kelly Jensen talk all things bookish for 2024, including their favorite young adult books of the year!
Books discussed on this episode:
Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee — In in 1930s Los Angeles Chinatown, the Chow sisters, May, Gemma, and Peony, suspect foul play in the death of Chinatown star Lulu Wong and take it upon themselves to solve the murder, revealing a conspiracy that threatens their Chinatown neighborhood. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook
Cat + Gamer series by Wataru Nadatani, translated by Zack Davisson — Riko, a twenty-nine-year-old office worker with an obsession for video games, finds her quiet life upended when she takes in a stray cat. Get the eBook
COMING SOON! Hirayasumi, Vol. 1 by Keigo Shinzō, translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash — In a world filled with anxiety, confusion, and grief, Hiroto and the people who surround him are all just doing their best to figure out this thing called life.
Flying Witch, Vol. 1 by Chihiro Ishizuka, translated by Melissa Tanaka — Makoto Kowata, a novice witch, packs up her belongings (including a black cat familiar) and moves in with her distant cousins in rural Aomori to complete her training and become a full-fledged witch.
Clever Creatures of the Night by Samantha Mabry — When Case arrives at her best friend Drea’s isolated West Texas home and finds her missing, she embarks on a search for clues about Drea’s disappearance while facing the unsettling, cult-like, and possibly murderous behavior of Drea’s roommates.
Flamboyants by George M. Johnson — An empowering set of essays about Black and Queer icons from the Harlem Renaissance. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook
Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States by J. Albert Mann — The engaging history of the worker actions that brought us weekends, pay equality, desegregation, an end to child labor and more documents how the labor movement has shaped America. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook
Heir by Sabaa Tahir — Three teens, whose fates intertwine to stop the murder of innocent children, journey across two warring nations to ensure a better future for their people. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook
Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic by Yi Shun Lai — In 1914 England, eighteen-year-old American Clara lies about her age and citizenship–claiming to be twenty-one and Canadian–to land a coveted spot on an Antarctic expedition, but when the crew is marooned on an ice floe, Clara’s mission to advance the women’s suffrage movement takes a back seat to survival.
Moon Dogs #1 (One Shot) by Tananarive Due, illustrated by Kelsey Ramsay — East African werewolves are secretly living in Miami, a minority within a minority caught in a burgeoning war that threatens both lycanthrope and human lives.
The Fade #1 by Aabria Iyengar, illustrated by Mari Costa — A once-fearless high school student, Jeannie wasn’t prepared for the aimless feeling of being a college freshman, but that’s all about to change.
COMING SOON! After Life by Gayle Forman — One afternoon after school, Amber arrives home on her bike. But when her mom sees her, she screams — because Amber died seven years ago, hit by a car while on the very same bicycle she’s inexplicably riding now.