Avid readers know that the authors we love can never write quickly enough to keep up with our demands. Fortunately, new writers are always coming onto the scene. In between comforting reconnections with familiar favorites, you can experience the thrill of new voices. Summertime may be a lighter season in publishing, but these not-to-be-missed debuts should be on your radar.
The Redemption of Daya Keane by Gia Gordon (HarperTeen, May 28): Gordon, who co-founded the nonprofit Never Counted Out, which supports access to books and the arts for young people in underserved communities, has written a debut novel our reviewer calls “raw and achingly truthful.” Her story follows queer teens in a small, conservative Christian Arizona town. Many readers will relate to its complex portrayal of coming of age while navigating various types of traumas.
Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell (Heartdrum, June 4): Cobell, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, has made a splash with this arresting thriller that explores timely themes as it keeps readers turning the pages. The tale centers on four Montana teens living on Blackfeet tribal land and draws yet more urgent attention to the ongoing, underreported crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women through shifting first-person perspectives that ramp up the tension.
The Wilderness of Girls by Madeline Claire Franklin (Zando Young Readers, June 11): Franklin’s debut will attract readers who love genre-blurring stories that are written in a lyrical style. The author’s website describes her journey as a witch whose parents met in a religious cult, an extraordinary background that has surely influenced this probing, unsettling tale of a displaced teen who encounters four girls living in the wilds of upstate New York with wolves and the prophet they call Mother.
With Love, Miss Americanah by Jane Igharo (Feiwel & Friends, June 18): Nigerian Canadian author Igharo has garnered praise for her adult fiction; now she’s turned with aplomb to teen literature. Nigerian Enore uses American movies to generate rules for surviving high school after her family moves to the U.S. She grieves her late father, endures cultural dislocation, and enjoys a new romance, narrating her highs and lows in a natural and engaging manner.
Joined at the Joints by Marissa Eller (Holiday House, July 2): Eller brings an insider’s voice to this sweet, nuanced romance about two teens living with chronic illness. Avoiding tired tropes, she writes well-rounded leads—avid baker Ivy and charming, funny Grant—both of whom have rheumatoid arthritis and fall in love after meeting in a support group. The impact of disability is naturally woven into the thoughtful portrayal of the pair’s lives and relationships.
It’s Only a Game by Kelsea Yu (Bloomsbury, July 9): Our reviewer calls out Yu’s full-length novel debut for its “propulsive momentum with effective cliffhangers and twists.” Online gamer Marina Chan, who’s surviving on the streets and hiding secrets, meets her Darkitect friends in real life at the game company’s headquarters. When the company’s CEO is murdered, the young people must fight for their lives against the mysterious, manipulative player for whom they were beta testers.
Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.
