Each week, we ask a member of the college grad student community to share 3 picks related to one of their passions. This week, Hannah Homrich, a M.A. in Teaching & Curriculum student, shares 3 young adult (YA) books for the 20-something teenager at heart: I’m a high school English teacher, so I never stopped reading or loving young adult (YA) fiction books. I see my (very) young adult students in the characters, navigating worlds larger and more unforgiving than they may have imagined, which is something none of us truly grow out of.
- The Grace Year, Kim Liggett (Dystopian, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror): This was a fresh but timeless look at a dystopian society’s unhealthy obsession and resentment towards its young women. Thrilling, mysterious, and feminist!
- The Love that Split the World, Emily Henry (Romance, Magical Realism, Mystery): This book is honestly beautiful. The prose is rich, and I’m an absolute sucker for magical realism done well! There’s a lot up for reader interpretation, so I’m sure everyone gets something a little different out of it.
- Scythe, Neal Schusterman (Fantasy, Dystopia): This story is told in a futuristic setting in which humanity has “solved” most of the problems we deal with: war, poverty, hunger, inequality, prejudice, crime, and most notably, death. People “turn the corner” when they reach a certain age and can biologically reset to be young, and death is no longer the norm. I love how this book pokes holes in the idea of such a utopia, reminding you that the people at the heart of it all are still flawed, because they’re still people. I’d recommend this entire trilogy to readers who like dystopian series but maybe got a little burned out on the genre. This felt like a new level to the genre that asked big questions like “what does it mean to be human,” “who deserves power,” and “what is life without death?”
Missed last week’s feature? Kinesiology doctoral student Chelsi Ricketts shared 3 favorite songs.