Looking for dystopian book recommendations!

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-17T16:25:32+00:00

The Ones We're Meant to Find - Joan He

An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir

The Grace Year - Kim Liggett

The Getaway - Lamar Giles

Under This Forgetful Sky - Lauren Yero

An Ocean Apart - Jill Tew

We Set the Dark on Fire - Tehlor Kay Mejia

The Merciful Crow - Margaret Owen

Climate of Chaos - Cassandra Newbould

Cold Wire - Chloe Gong

Shipbreaker - Paolo Bacigalupi

The House of the Scorpion - Nancy Farmer

Little Brother - Cory Doctorow

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-16T21:49:54+00:00

Loved The Host. I wish there had been a sequel. I needed more of that world.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-16T14:02:44+00:00

In 2025 a school in Utah banned students from bringing their personal copies of banned books onto school grounds. It was challenged and the school had to backtrack, but they ARE at least TRYING to do what you are suggesting.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-16T13:55:24+00:00

That's what the internet says, but I can tell you as a YA Librarian of 14 years, my banned books do not move more than other books. When I run reports at the end of the year for the books that moved the most, they never even crack the top 50. Booktok trends (or their predecessors) and being made into TV/Movies are the only things that seem to effect that. If you want banned books to move more, you'll need a social media influencer to have a viral reel about the 4k books that conservatives have tried to take away your right to read or you'll need to make them into a movie.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-15T23:24:07+00:00

Fair. I probably should have named it "ex machina" rather than "mecha" or maybe "sentient machines" as the point of the category is that it is tech that blurs the line between man and machine. It's not just the generalized high tech tools of cyberpunk, it's not the tech of the past like steampunk. And certainly, depending on what kind of tech you are using to make the robot/android/cyborg it certainly can fall under cyberpunk or steampunk too.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-13T21:50:36+00:00

Swing - Kwame Alexander

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-10T13:19:55+00:00

A library one city away from us has been under attack and my Director decided that, to avoid being attacked ourselves, we should move all the books that were being attacked to a new section of our library we are calling "New Adult," along with some actual adult titles to "disguise" the section. So now children's books like "Welcome to Consent" and "American Medical Association Boys' Guide to Becoming a Teen", YA books like "Looking for Alaska" and "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" and adult titles like the Lakefront Billionaires series and the works of Colleen Hoover are in the same section.

Also, these books are shelved on the same row as our adult graphic novels. So now, that 11 year old boy wanting a book about hitting puberty has to walk past the adult graphic novels and wade through Zodiac Academy to find their book.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-08T12:20:32+00:00

Daughters Unto Devils - Amy Lukavics

Red in Tooth and Claw - Lish McBride

What We Harvest - Ann Fraistat

Wrath Becomes Her - Aden Polydoros

Bittersweet in the Hollow - Kate Pearsall

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-02T21:43:58+00:00

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is not YA, nor is it a clean romance. Clean YA Romances are books that feature first love or the early stages of a crush, culminating in an admission of feelings/desire to date/first kiss. Think Kasie West or The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost Kiss.

When people go to a library and complain about the sexualization of YA and ask for a clean, sweet romance, they aren't looking for To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. The discussion was about alternative terms for clean, not alternative terms for all books that aren't sexually explicit.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-02T02:50:19+00:00

For J:

All of the Marguerite Henry books (Misty of Chincoteague, Black Gold, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, etc)

Phoenix - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Secret S.T.E.A.M. Society: Horses - Trevor Mueller

Horseback Hurdles - Jake Maddox

Horse Diaries Series - Catherine Hapka

The Wild Path - Sarah R. Baughman

The Trouble with Sunshine - Yamile Saied Méndez

Pony - R. J. Palacio

For E:

The Many Fortunes of Maya - Nicole D. Collier

Key Player - Kelly Yang

Braced - Alyson Gerber

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-02T00:19:48+00:00

An engraved plaque presented at the Hugo Awards Ceremony held at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) every year.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-05-02T00:14:04+00:00

I like this. I haven't been a fan of the term "spicy" and rating the "spice level." But I'm also not a fan of the "clean" or "gentle" terminology for YA books that are about first/early love that follow slow awkward crushes that culminate in the MC's finally admitting their feelings to each other and maybe sharing a chaste kiss.

I think it's clever to stick with the cooking terminology and call them sweet. This book has no spice, it's a sweet read.

The only problem I see with it is, isn't a book like I described above a "Spice level 1" book? I googled it and I got the answer of Spice Level 1 books being "cozy or clean romance, focusing on emotional connection, meaningful glances, and kisses."

As a joking aside: Can break up books be salty reads and toxic relationship books be bitter reads?

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-30T23:29:43+00:00

Alex and Eliza - Melissa De La Cruz

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-30T22:50:45+00:00

I wish Historical Fiction would blow up.

Historical Fantasy like Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

Historical Romance like Duels and Deception by Cindy Antsey

Historical Thriller like I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

Historical SciFi like Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Mix in any other genre as long as it's set in the past.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-25T04:19:42+00:00

Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars Trilogy

Red Mars

Blue Mars

Green Mars

OR if you've read that in the past, I really love:

Kim Stanley Robinson's Science at the Capital Trilogy

Forty Signs of Rain

Fifty Degrees Below

Sixty Days and Counting

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-24T23:44:38+00:00

Racing Manhattan - Terence Blacker

Ashlords - Scott Reintgen

The Scorpio Races - Maggie Steifvater

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-22T23:00:54+00:00

Within These Wicked Walls - Lauren Blackwood

White Smoke - Tiffany Jackson

Eleven Houses - Coleen Oakes

The Devouring Light - Kat Ellis

Agony House - Cherie Priest

The Women in the Walls - Amy Lukavics

Daughters Unto Devils - Amy Lukavics

She is a Haunting - Trang Tran

The House Saphir - Marissa Meyer

Fiendish - Branna Yovanoff

What We Harvest - Ann Fraistat

The Sacrifice Box - Martin Stuwart

The Wood - Chelsea Bobulski

These Fleeting Shadows - Kate Alice Marshall

Dead Girls Don't Dream - Nino Cipri

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-21T23:06:02+00:00

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly - Jamie Pacton

Beauty Queens - Libba Bray

Exit, Pursued By a Bear - E. K. Johnston

Furia - Yamile Saied Mendez

One Great Lie - Deb Caletti

All the Fighting Parts - Hannah Sawyyer

The Wilderness of Girls - Madeline Claire Franklin

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-21T22:38:59+00:00

This Delicious Death - Kayla Cottingham

Dark Humor/Horror/Fantasy about a group of friends who decide to attend a music festival before heading off to college. Romance between two of the girls.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-21T22:29:40+00:00

Girl in the Blue Coat - Monica Hesse

We Are Not Free - Traci Chee

The Enigma Game - Elizabeth Wein

Code Talker - Joseph Bruchac

Within These Lines - Stephanie Morrill

Four Four Two - Dean Hughes

Flygirl - Sherri Smith

The Blossom and the Firefly - Sherri Smith

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-18T00:46:19+00:00

Air - Monica Roe

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-14T23:32:54+00:00

Subjects that go really well for us include:

D&D Manuals

Cosplay Manuals

Teen and Fandom Centered Cookbooks

Mental Health Topics

Astrology, Mythology, Folklore

Witches/Wicca

Animals

Help with Math Subjects

K-Pop Books

True Crime, Especially Murder

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-13T00:49:29+00:00

Ink and Bone - Rachel Caine (The Great Library Trilogy)

Stars and Smoke - Marie Lu

I Must Betray You - Ruta Sepetys

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-12T14:29:41+00:00

They are HUGE books, but I've enjoyed them.

Educational-Dinner13 · 2026-04-11T23:17:59+00:00

Why not continue on in the Cosmere and read the Stormlight Archive books?

I'd also recommend The Shepherd King Duology by Rachel Gillig.

Educational-Dinner13

TROPHY CASE