young adult

young adult

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Free­man Book Award 2022. Now in trans­la­tion for the first time (Taka­mi Nie­da), the award-win­ning debut that broke lit­er­ary ground in Japan explores dias­po­ra, prej­u­dice, and the com­plex­i­ties of a teen girl’s expe­ri­ence grow­ing up as a Zainichi Kore­an, rem­i­nis­cent of Min Jin Lee’s clas­sic Pachinko and San­dra Cisneros’s The House on Man­go Street.

Chesil
Chesil

author

An instant New York Times Best­seller! “What would you do if the world’s biggest K­-pop star asked you to prom?”

“Choi’s jour­ney into the world of a young immi­grant girl caught between her family’s Kore­an val­ues and break­ing free to live her Cana­di­an dream adds a colour­ful tile to our nation’s lit­er­ary mosa­ic.” (The Ottawa Review of Books)

“Mau­rene Goo…has built a fol­low­ing with her breezy, pop-cul­ture-savvy roman­tic come­dies, all fea­tur­ing Kore­an-Amer­i­can teenage girls as her pro­tag­o­nists.” (The New York Times)

A pow­er­ful and mov­ing teen graph­ic nov­el mem­oir about immi­gra­tion, belong­ing, and how arts can save a life—perfect for fans of Amer­i­can Born Chi­nese and Hey, Kid­do.

2023 Edgar Award Win­ner. “A tense polit­i­cal thriller, a beau­ti­ful romance, and a com­ing of age all in one unique pack­age.” (School Library Jour­nal, starred review)

“If you’re in search of the per­fect YA rom­com with immac­u­late vibes and true joy and heart, con­sid­er this your ‘drop every­thing else on your TBR and make this book your entire per­son­al­i­ty’ notice.” —Rachel Strolle, Buz­zfeed books on Every­one Hates Kelsie Miller

Meredith Ireland
Mered­ith Ireland

author

Free­man Book Award Win­ner YA 2018; trans­lat­ed by Taka­mi Nie­da; often cit­ed by schol­ars for its por­tray­al of the Zainichi Kore­an expe­ri­ence. “A mem­o­rable, con­flict­ed, defi­ant pro­tag­o­nist and an idio­syn­crat­ic love sto­ry dri­ve this thought-pro­vok­ing page-turn­er.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, starred review)

Kazuki Kaneshiro
Kazu­ki Kaneshiro

author

“It’s hard to imag­ine a world where Banned Book Club could be more rel­e­vant than it is right now. The graph­ic nov­el revolves around a group of young peo­ple who meet to read and dis­cuss books banned by their gov­ern­ment. It’s set in South Korea in the ear­ly 1980s, a time that most Amer­i­cans are entire­ly igno­rant of but may find upset­ting­ly famil­iar.” —AV Club

Kim Hyun Sook
Kim Hyun Sook

author

Last of the Talons is a stun­ning blend of dark romance and Kore­an mythol­o­gy. Sophie Kim writes ene­mies to lovers with heart pound­ing inten­si­ty, blur­ring the line between love and hate. Blood­thirsty, addic­tive, and sear­ing­ly roman­tic.” (Axie Oh, New York Times-best­selling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea)

Sophie Kim
Sophie Kim

author

“Filled with a sweet new romance and star­ring a hero­ine to root for. Lee finds a spot along­side Jen­ny Han and Stacey Lee in rep­re­sent­ing the diver­si­ty of Asian Amer­i­can expe­ri­ences. A joy­ful pro­tag­o­nist who speaks to Gen­er­a­tion Z.” (School Library Jour­nal, starred review)

“With echoes of Marieke Nijkamp and Jason Reynolds, acclaimed author Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s stun­ning YA homage to Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men tells the trag­ic sto­ry of a Kore­an Amer­i­can teen who fights to pro­tect her­self and her neu­ro­di­ver­gent old­er broth­er from a hos­tile community.”

“The delec­table K‑pop con­fes­sion­al we’ve all been wait­ing for.” (The New York Times Book Review)

Michael L. Printz Award, 
Nation­al Book Award Final­ist, Inter­na­tion­al Book Award, 
New York Times Notable

“On every page I found some­thing mar­velous and new, and I was eager to keep read­ing because I want­ed to fur­ther explore this won­drous new world.” (The New York Times)

A Kore­an Amer­i­can teen tries to bal­ance her dream to become a chef with the cul­tur­al expec­ta­tions of her fam­i­ly when she enters the com­pet­i­tive world of a TV cook­ing show. A hilar­i­ous and heart­felt YA nov­el. “An engross­ing tale full of appeal­ing char­ac­ters, food­ie ele­ments, and heart.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“Park has a knack for writ­ing delight­ful romances that sparkle with her depic­tion of Asian cul­ture. The Christ­mas Clash is a gift we’re ready to open over and over.” (Enter­tain­ment Week­ly)

“Rous­ing and truthful…Rich is real with read­ers in a way that’s refreshing…A smart tool to fight inequity.” (Book­list) … “An inspir­ing and prac­ti­cal hand­book for mean­ing­ful resistance…Girls Resist! walks teens through the nit­ty-grit­ty of run­ning a cam­paign, protest­ing a pol­i­cy, or help­ing to get out the vote.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, starred review)

KaeLyn Rich
Kae­Lyn Rich

non­fic­tion

author

“The light tone and hap­py con­clu­sion make this a good choice for younger teens who enjoy themes of being true to your­self, find­ing your voice, and chang­ing the enter­tain­ment indus­try in the process.” (Book­list

Palimpsest is as much a detailed and con­vinc­ing argu­ment for change as it is a per­son­al tes­ta­ment of self.”(Comics Beat) Nom­i­nat­ed for Best Swedish Com­ic Book 2016, by the Swedish Comics Association

Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom
Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom

graph­ic novelist

The Space Between Here & Now is an intrigu­ing mix of fan­ta­sy and real­ism that lures read­ers in with the promise of mag­ic and keeps them engaged with emo­tion­al­ly res­o­nant themes. If you’re look­ing for a fun, mature com­ing-of-age sto­ry root­ed in nuanced emo­tions and rela­tion­ships, this book is for you.” (Book­Page, starred review)

“Bri­ar Girls is an anthem for queer female self-dis­cov­ery in fan­ta­sy form. Lena har­ness­es her inner strength and intel­lec­tu­al prowess to escape vic­tim­hood and gain her agency.” (Shelf Aware­ness)

Rebec­ca Kim Wells

author

“Using scores of inter­views, direct quotes, news reports, and archival pho­tographs to sculpt this thor­ough­ly researched his­to­ry, Yoo vivid­ly and mov­ing­ly con­veys the broad­er his­tor­i­cal con­text and the many lives that were affect­ed, shed­ding light on sys­temic chal­lenges that con­tin­ue today. A nuanced and nec­es­sary nar­ra­tive.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

Paula Yoo

pho­to by Sonya Sones

non­fic­tion

author

“Whether it’s dis­cov­er­ing shel­ter, find­ing food or sim­ply man­ag­ing in bru­tal con­di­tions, the ever-chal­leng­ing back­drop of City of Orange makes the deter­min­ing of real­i­ty a mys­tery read­ers will want to solve along­side the main char­ac­ter. That’s this novel’s biggest feat: By giv­ing just enough vivid detail but keep­ing key ele­ments ambigu­ous, a read­er can eas­i­ly morph into the main char­ac­ter and become a part of this world.” (USA Today)

“A beau­ti­ful­ly writ­ten epic replete with mag­ic, shapeshift­ing char­ac­ters, com­plex polit­i­cal intrigue and the oblig­a­tory bat­tles between good and evil … Strong female char­ac­ters and a hel­ter-skel­ter plot make for a com­pelling read.” (The Guardian, Books of the Months Pick, praise for Book 1, The Girl King)

Mimi Yu
Mimi Yu

author