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Those end-of-the-year “best of” book lists can be rough. When you try to come up with only ten or fifteen titles, chances are some very worthy books aren’t going to be included, especially some of those published earlier in the year. It also seems like the same titles are always being mentioned; no doubt those books are great, but let’s share the love a little, yeah? Here then, from PubCrawlers and friends, are our picks for the best middle grade and young adult books of 2015 that you probably won’t find on any other lists. These are terrific choices for last-minute gifts for the readers in your life! In no particular order:

INFANDOUS by Elana K. Arnold. This is a gorgeous, lyrical coming-of-age contemporary (and I don’t often read contemporary!) YA novel set in LA. —recommended by S. Jae-Jones (Wintersong, Thomas Dunne, 2016)

THE STORYSPINNER by Becky Wallace. This book is an easy to slip into YA fantasy, laced with magic and romance, and with a creative MC who I rooted for throughout the entire book. —recommended by Stephanie Garber (Caraval, Flatiron/Macmillan, 2016)

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ZEBULON FINCH by Daniel Kraus. It was marketed as YA but probably holds more appeal to adults. It follows the extraordinarily long life of Zebulon Finch, who’s murdered as a teenager, but comes back to life and can’t die. I don’t know if you can call a book like this a Bildungsroman, but it has the feel of one. The writing is spectacular, and Kraus somehow manages to make this really horrible character sympathetic and likable. —recommended by Rachel Seigel

CONSPIRACY OF BLOOD AND SMOKE by Anne Blankman. The sequel to PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG, it’s amazing historical fiction set in Germany during the rise of the Nazis, and it’s a dang good story. —recommended by Julie Eshbaugh (Ivory and Bone, HarperCollins, 2016)

THIS MONSTROUS THING by MacKenzie Lee is a steampunk retelling of Frankenstein from the perspective of a teenaged mechanic who repairs human “clockwork” parts. A fascinating look at what it means to be human. —recommended by Stacey Lee (Under a Painted Sky and Outrun the Moon, G.P. Putnam’s Sons for Young Readers, 2016)

ZEROBOXER by Fonda Lee is a science fiction thriller set in a world where zero-gravity boxing can elevate one’s standing in society. Absorbing and fast-paced! —recommended by Stacey Lee

CITY OF THIRST by Carrie Ryan and JP Davis. The sequel to MAP TO EVERYWHERE, this fun adventure series is on par with Harry Potter–it has the most imaginative world I’ve ever been immersed in, and the characters are brilliantly written, funny, brave, and just wonderful. It’s not just a huge hit with me–it’s also my nephew’s favorite book! Definitely dive into this story! —recommended by Beth Revis (Across the Universe, The Body Electric, Paper Hearts)

THE LIES ABOUT TRUTH by Courtney C. Stevens, which is the wrenching and poignant story of a car crash survivor whose mental and physical scars have isolated her from everyone she knows and loves.  Court has this gift of being able to look the worst parts of life unflinchingly in the face and somehow still see hope, along with the capacity for healing and change. Lies is one of those books that makes me sniffle and then smile within the space of a few pages. —recommended by Bethany Hagen (Landry Park, Jubilee Manor)

FIRES OF INVENTION by J. Scott Savage. It is about a couple of kids who defy the “no inventing” rule in their underground city and build a steam-powered dragon huge enough to ride. I don’t think I’ve ever read a steampunk with this much heart. It was well written, chock full of action, had great characters and fascinating conflicts and plenty of mysteries to keep you dying to find out what happens next. And did I mention a STEAM-POWERED DRAGON?! —recommended by Peggy Eddleman (Sky Jumpers)

FIG by Sarah Elizabeth Schantz. Beautifully written, moving story and complex characters. —recommended by Elisa Ludwig (Pretty Crooked, Pretty Sly, Pretty Wanted, Coin Heist)

UPDRAFT by Fran Wilde. It’s rare to encounter such an original and fascinating setting as this city with its living bone towers, winged citizens, and frightening sky monsters. Wilde has built a world with a detailed, believable history and society, and layered the story with intrigue, action, and compelling characters—rich with themes of tradition, progress, ambition, and class struggles that will resonate with readers. —recommended by E.C. Myers (Fair Coin, Quantum Coin, The Silence of Six)

2015 was the first year I made any real concerted effort to track my reading habits. After having torched my Goodreads account a few years ago, I confess I came crawling back because I simply could not let go of the shelving function, flawed as it was. (Goodreads, I wish I could quit you!)

Kelly and I gave our Recommended Reads in last week’s podcast episode and looking back at my year in reading, I was slightly appalled by how, well, homogeneous my list looked. In the episode, Kelly and I did touch on how our reading tastes have shifted (and possibly calcified) as we have aged, how working in publishing has changed how much of a fair shot we give new books (spoiler: not as much as we used to), what genres and categories we prefer, etc.

Being incredibly specific with what you like to read helps you in a publishing career because it helps you understand niches in an already-incredibly specialized market, but now that I am two years past having worked the editorial desk, I wonder if that mentality hasn’t taken a slight toll on my reading habits. As a young child I was a voracious reader, voracious and indiscriminate. I read anything and everything. Not just books: I read short stories in the Highlights magazine, the Sunday funnies, articles in Time, those slim National Geographic nonfiction paperbacks about whales, etc.

But as I grew older, my reading tastes narrowed. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing; knowing what you like to read and why is an incredibly useful thing in both publishing and writing. However, while my number of books read is incredibly high, the number of genres, authors of color, LGBTQIA+ authors, disabled authors, etc. is not. I have read 1.5 nonfiction books this year (not including a collection of personal essays, which was a reread). The vast majority of the authors on my list are white. While I am a supporter of diverse voices in fiction, I have done a terrible job of putting my money where my mouth is.

Book Riot and the New York Public Library both have a 2016 Read Harder Challenge. I like the idea of challenging myself to read harder, and not just harder—to read broader. Next year I am going to challenge myself to read outside my comfort zone, and to better support marginalized voices. Author and blogger Dahlia Adler has several lists of recommendations that I think are a great place for me to start:

1. #OwnVoices in Neurodiversity and Disability
2. 2016-2017 YAs by Authors of Color
3. Jewish MG/NA/YA Authors
4. LGBTQIAP+ Books By and About People who Identify as LGBTQIAP+

What about you? Do any of you have reading goals? Do you track your reading? If so, what metrics do you track? Let us know in the comments!

This week, Kelly and JJ recommend ALL THE BOOKS. This is our year-end reading round-up, so be prepared for A LOT OF BOOKS to be thrown your way. (Also Hamilton. Again.)

Kelly’s Recommended Reads

• The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
  • Cinder
  • Scarlet
  • Cress
  • Winter
• The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
  • Throne of Glass
  • Crown of Midnight
  • Heir of Fire
  • Queen of Shadows
• The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman
  • The Magicians
  • The Magician King
  • The Magician’s Land

JJ’s Recommended Reads

• Another vote for The Lunar Chronicles!
• The Study (apparently also known as the Soulfinders) series by Maria V. Snyder
  • Poison Study
  • Magic Study
  • Fire Study
• The Original Sinners (The Red Years) series by Tiffany Reisz
  • The Siren
  • The Angel
  • The Prince
  • The Mistress
• The Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J. K. Rowling)
  • The Cuckoo’s Calling
  • The Silkworm
  • Career of Evil
• Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman (companion to Serafina)
• Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray (companion to The Diviners)
• Red Rising and Golden Son by Pierce Brown
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Books Discussed/What We’re Currently Reading

• The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
• The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
• The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
• Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge by Eleanor Herman
• The entire Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
• The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• Shadow Study by Maria V. Snyder
• The Glass series by Maria V. Snyder
  • Storm Glass
  • Sea Glass
  • Spy Glass
• The Queen by Tiffany Reisz
• The Winner’s Curse and The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski
• The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
• Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Reasons We Did Not Finish Books

• Not in the mood at the time
• Just not for us
• Didn’t care enough to finish
• Couldn’t read them quickly enough before they went back to the library

Books We’re Looking Forward To:

• Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (hey-o!)
• Morning Star by Pierce Brown
• The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski
• The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
• The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
• Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh
• Caraval by Stephanie Garber
• Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan
• Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda
• The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee
• Heartless by Marissa Meyer
• The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
• The Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

Off Menu Recommendations

In what makes her third musical recommendation since she started the podcast, JJ recommends Deaf West’s production/Broadway revival of Spring Awakening. The cast performed “Touch Me” on Late Night with Seth Meyers, so please watch and tell me this isn’t the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen.

Those of you who can make it, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE GO. PLEASE GO AND LET ME LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH YOU.

That’s all for this year! In 2016, we will return with a podcast about REVISIONS to help those of you who have won NaNoWriMo (congrats!). We also have more Publishing 101 episodes, as well as some other topics we hope you guys will find useful. As always, if you have a question, feel free to ask us!

by

E.C. Myers

—

It’s harder than ever to become a writer.

Not because of all the doom and gloom about the death of the novel, print vs. electronic books, big publishers vs. self-publishing, or Amazon vs. everyone. The problem is that many kids today (girls and boys) not only aren’t reading, but they don’t have access to books. Good writers are born from a lifetime love of reading.

It’s not a matter of kids and teens choosing to play video games, or watch TV, or go online instead of picking up a book — books simply are not in their lives as much as they should be. I was recently invited to talk to a couple of English classes at my old high school about my writing. I was honored, and even more so when I discovered what a hardship it was for the school to afford an author visit and books on their limited budget, which does not include much money even for school books. Or for a school newspaper or literary journal. Or a full-time librarian. These kinds of budgetary cutbacks in school and public libraries is an epidemic.

Back in my day, we had all those things. (Although one committed English teacher did sometimes have to resort to photocopying Marlowe, in an early form of book piracy.) I’m a product of every school library, every book we studied in class, every librarian who either recommended good reads to me or quietly looked the other way while I explored on my own. I’m a published author because of English teachers like Mrs. Fein, Mrs. Post, Mrs. Halpern, Mr. Riti, and Mr. Valk.

My author bio says that I was “raised by a single mom and a public library” for a reason: I was lucky enough to live a 10-minute walk from my local library (and I’m not exaggerating when I say I had to walk home up a huge hill in 100-degree weather carrying an armload of books, but it was worth it.) I was lucky because I had family and teachers who nurtured my love for reading and gave me the tools to turn that love into something else: a desire to write books of my own one day.

I was also fortunate to have other positive influences in my life like Reading Rainbow, which reinforced reading as a good thing; even at the time, I stood out for reading so much. Many people of a certain age remember the show’s theme song fondly. It talks about the amazing and varied experiences readers can have in the pages of a book, but the lyrics are also motivational for what readers can accomplish in life: “Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high.” “I can go anywhere!” “I can be anything!” Those are important messages to give young people. Happily, Reading Rainbow is making a comeback and will be able to reach new generations via computers and mobile devices.

At my former high school, where kids no longer have a creative outlet or writing instruction, one student asked me if I needed a college degree to become a writer. Though I was a little embarrassed, because college is important to getting most good jobs these days, I was also truthful. “No,” I said. “I learned how to write by reading books.” By reading, you naturally gain a knowledge of proper grammar (even if you don’t know the names of the rules or how to parse a sentence) and story structure and pacing, and you begin to develop a prose style and your own voice. Yes, you can take classes and join workshops or critique groups, and I think those are useful things. But to build a solid foundation with words, an active imagination, and a lifelong devotion to consuming and creating stories, you have to read.

So my best advice, forever and always, to kids in school, aspiring writers, and published authors is READ. Read anything. Read everything. Read genres you love and books you think you’ll hate. Read young adult and middle grade and books intended for adults, even if you aren’t meant to understand them. Pick up literary bestsellers and mysteries and science fiction. Try urban fantasy and new adult. Read non fiction and fanfiction, comics and read magazines — and yes, the internet. Read for pleasure. Read for research. Read for inspiration. Read to learn how other authors write well, and to learn what you shouldn’t do. Just read.

So… What are you reading now? (Other than this blog post.) Me, I’m finishing up my friend Rajan Khanna’s excellent debut science fiction novel, Falling Sky, out in October from Pyr. In the comments below, tell us about what’s on your eReader, in your bag, or on your night stand.

—

E.C. Myers was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised by a single mother and a public library in Yonkers, New York. He is the author of the Andre Norton Award–winning young adult novel FAIR COIN and its sequel, QUANTUM COIN; his next YA novel, THE SILENCE OF SIX, will be published by Adaptive in November 2014. You can find traces of him all over the internet, but especially at his blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

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