Hello there!

I’m at Life, the Universe, and Everything 43 this weekend, and in addition to yakking way too much on panels about everything from clothing production to the Best Kind of Dragon (cough all dragons are best cough), I’ve also given two presentation. One on the history/evolution of children’s books, and the other on reading diverse fantasy and sci fi, the benefits thereof, and my person recommendations! And I promised that I would post my recommendations here on the ol’ blog, and so I am! The evolution of kid lit really just needs a couple of titles, because it’s mostly about how’d we get from Improving Tales for Young Ladies to Too Young To Die!, so I’ll just recommend the books ABOUT writing for children/teens.

So here’s that:

The Magic Words - Cheryl B. Klein

Paperback Crush - Gabrielle Moss

The Way to Write for Children - Joan Aiken

And now for the books by not white authors that I personally recommend:

Elatsoe - Darcie Little Badger

Where the Mountains Meet the Moon – Grace Lin

Shadows Over Sherwood, The Lost Library - Kekla Magoon

The First State of Being – Erin Entrada Kelly

A Wish in the Dark – Christina Soontornvat

The City of Fire, The City of Ice, Dragonwings – Laurence Yep

Daydreamer- Rob Cameron

Rick Riordan Presents:

All of them, but especially:

Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting- Roseanne Brown

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky - Kwame Mbalia

Dragon Pearl - Yoon Ha Lee

Sal & Gabi Break the Universe - Carlos Hernandez

Young Adult

Flight – Sherman Alexie

I Was a Teenage Slasher! – Stephen Graham Jones

Legendborn/Bloodmarked/Oathbound – Tracy Deonn

Blood at the Root – LaDarrion Williams

A Tempest of Tea – Hafsah Faizal

The Gilded Wolves- Roshani Chokshi

Kingdom of Souls – Rena Barron

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin – Roseanne A. Brown

Six Crimson Cranes – Elizabeth Lim

Dread Nation – Justina Ireland

The Vampire’s Beautiful Daughter – S. P. Somtow

Lunar New Year Love Story – Gene Luen Yang/LeUyen Pham

American Born Chinese – Gene Luen Yang

Artie and the Wolf Moon – Olivia Stephens

Werewolf by Night: New Wolf Rising – Taboo

Vampires of El Norte – Isabel Cañas

Vampires Never Get Old – ed. Zoraida Cordova

Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno Garcia

Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel

Yellowface, The Poppy War, Babel - R. F. Kuang

The Grace of Kings, the Paper Menagerie – Ken Liu

Black Sun, Tread of Angels - Rebecca Roanhorse

My Heart is a Chainsaw/Don’t Fear the Reaper/The Angel of Indian Lake

The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones

Star Wars: The High Republic – Justina Ireland, Lydia Kang, Zoraida Cordova, Daniel Jose Older

The Fox Wife - Yangsze Choo

The Monstrous Misses Mai - Van Hoang

Dead Cat Tail Assassins - P. Djélì Clarke

Read them. Do it for ME.