Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Six YA reads that get high school right

At the BN Teen blog Michael Waters tagged six excellent realistic YA contemporary novels for back to school season, including:
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Sam is dead. Well, not really. Though on the night of February 12 she dies in a car accident, she wakes up the next morning to relive the day again. And again. And again. Think Groundhog Day, except starring a popular high school student who, on the surface, may easily be written off as a typical mean girl. But the magic of Before I Fall is Sam’s evolution: as she continually relieves the day of February 12, she starts to question her own ethics. Like Falling Into Place, Before I Fall feels so real because it dismantles the trope of a popular mean girl—Sam is written with such empathy, and it rings true to the reality of high school, where it so often seems that, deep down, everyone is equally confused and lonely and insecure.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue