#OwnVoices Stories from Top YA Authors

Evoking Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler’s heirs have woven worlds to create 16 stories that put Black women and gender-nonconforming individuals at the center. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Love and betrayal. Strength and resistance. This collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters through which teens cannot help but see themselves reflected. Witches, scientists, sisters, priestesses, and rebels — the heroines shine brightly.

It’s impressive how the YA genre deftly handles social justice issues that impact today’s youth, from the POV of a teenager. One of the Good Ones explores the subject of police brutality and the implications of that loaded phrase—what it means when someone is identified as “one of the good ones.” Sisters and coauthors Maika and Maritza Moulite (Dear Haiti, Love Alaine) deliver a powerful listen that explores prejudice, sisterhood, and allyship, performed by Jordan Cobb, Carolyn Smith, and Narrator Hall of Famer Bahni Turpin.

In this provocative and gripping debut, 17-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes weekly letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. Seven years later, her dad has only 267 days left. Meanwhile, the police arrive in the night, and Tracy's older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a 'thug' on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela. Will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town's racist history that haunt the present?

When legendary R&B artist Korey Fields spots Enchanted Jones at an audition, her dreams of being a famous singer take flight. Until Enchanted wakes up with blood on her hands and zero memory of the previous night....

There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with the lesson that the city is safe for everyone. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature who some might call monstrous but, in reality, is anything but...

The Hate U Give is, in a word, transformative. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this searing debut from Angie Thomas will floor you with its elegant and deliberate prose. Starr Carter is driving home from a party with her best friend Khalil when they are pulled over by a cop, who ends up fatally shooting Khalil. Khalil was unarmed. Thomas fearlessly handles the narrative that follows with a grace and poignancy that will have you marveling at her talent. Narrator Bahni Turpin gives voice to such a broad and rich cast of characters, each with their own authentic perspective, demonstrating the power of performance to bring new depth to a complex social issue. This is the very definition of required listening—and one of our favorite audiobooks of the last decade.

Ibi Zoboi’s powerful debut novel explores the realities of immigration and the halted expectations of ''the American Dream.'' Fabiola Toussaint is immigrating from Haiti to the U.S. with her mother, but her mother gets detained by U.S. immigration, forcing Fabiola to adapt to this new world—a new city, a new school, a new family—on her own and without her support system. Performer Robin Miles is a chameleon, delivering a nuanced performance that beautifully conveys accents, dialects, and the emotional decisions each character must make.

Debut author Leah Johnson delivers an f/f romcom that will make your heart soar. When Liz Lighty doesn’t get the scholarship to college that she was expecting, she decides to run for Prom Queen—which comes with the promise of a generous scholarship for the one who wears the crown. But this story is so much more than your traditional #promromcom. Johnson explores through Liz what it means to be black, queer, and poor in a small midwestern town, all while falling for the new girl at school. Performed by debut narrator Alaska Jackson, You Should See Me in a Crown glitters with its individuality.

Building on a uniquely West African mythology, Tomi Adeyemi’s debut conjures up a vibrant, amazing fantasy world in which magic once thrived, a segment of the population is grievously oppressed, and a young woman becomes the leader she was meant to be. Bahni Turpin’s mastery of the accents expertly brings the wide array of characters to life, carrying you with the young rebel and her crew across the physical and emotional landscapes that make this listen so special.

Billed as Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give, Slay by Brittney Morris delivers on that promise and then some. 17-year-old Kiera Johnson is a gamer and game developer—but no one in her life knows that she’s the creator behind the wildly popular online game Slay. But then a teen is murdered over something that happened in the world of Slay, and Kiera’s universe comes crashing down. Performed by Kiersey Clemons with a full cast, Slay tackles several issues while also elevating a brilliant black teenager with a mind for STEM.

Nicola Yoon creates compelling, honest, and memorable characters in her fiction. The Sun Is Also a Star, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, is told from the alternating perspectives of two teenagers–one a Korean American boy who is on the ''doctor tract'' despite his proclivity for poetry; the other, a Jamaican girl who is desperately trying to save her family from their imminent deportation. Over a single day we watch how fate weaves its way into their relationship and their futures–together and apart. Bahni Turpin and Raymond Lee deliver beautiful performances, inhabiting the main characters in such a way that makes Yoon’s work essential listening.

Nic Stone’s debut novel grips you right from the start. Despite being at the top of his class, Justyce McAllister doesn’t feel like he fits in at his predominantly white high school. Without giving too much away, Justyce experiences run-ins with law enforcement, and taking in the injustice he sees in his life and in the news, he begins to write to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the hopes that the one-sided letters will help him both process his feelings and decide if, and in what form, to take action. Justyce’s letters and his internal monologues show remarkable vulnerability that is beautifully captured in Dion Graham’s performance.

First, let’s just have a moment of appreciation for this cover. Okay, ready? Bethany C. Morrow intricately weaves together a contemporary fantasy that explores a world of sirens and magic against a backdrop of gender and racial discrimination. In A Song Below Water high school juniors Tavia and Effie—performed by Andrea Lang and Jennifer Haralson—show us both the power of sisterhood and the power of finding and using one’s voice.

The lyrical way that Elizabeth Acevedo writes and performs her own work—you can just feel it, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. The Poet X, winner of the National Book Award and other accolades, is a novel-in-verse about Xiomara Batista, a high schooler who uses slam poetry as an outlet to vent her feelings and frustrations about her family, religion, her sexuality, and more. This is a story meant to be heard.

We can’t wait for Brandy Colbert’s latest YA novel, coming out in July. In this presidential election year, YA authors have created a trend in the genre with their political and activist based romances. Colbert adds to and expands on this trend by tackling the critical issue of voter suppression in The Voting Booth. When Duke gets turned away at the polls, Marva makes it her mission to have his vote and his voice count.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother....

Change the Game is an audio adaptation of celebrated athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick’s YA graphic memoir, where he looks back on a pivotal decision he faced as a baseball pitcher during his senior year of high school. Narrated by Colin Kaepernick, this audiobook features a stellar cast including Jaden Michael (Colin in Black and White). This touching story explores how a young change-maker learned to find himself and never compromise. How the right decision is rarely the easy one, but taking the road less traveled can make all the difference in the world.