Feminist AF: Feminist YA That Does Not Disappoint a guest post by Mary Ellis
Feminist book lists frequently revolve entirely around the strongest, toughest, non-traditional young women that YA has to offer. This is not one of those lists. Feminism is the belief and unyielding pursuit of equality for all. For this reason, this is a Feminist YA book list that is more inclusive, has a broader reach, and does not disappoint.
This list will help enhance your perception of feminism and broaden your understanding of the human experience. The gender spectrum is wonderfully varied and diverse and the representation of own voices finally making its way onto YA bookshelves is promising, but we still need to do better. You can find strong female characters here, ones who eat the hearts of their enemies and love themselves more than any one else, but there is so much more feminist YA can offer you. Here you will find books that focus on race, social justice, immigration, disability, LGBTQ lives, mental health, abuse, and rape survivors as well. As in real life, many intersect and fall into several of these categories.
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Books like A Wrinkle in Time and Speak are often heralded as feminist YA masterpieces that will maintain a place in our hearts and on our shelves for a long time to come. The books included here are meant to reach further than the most obvious feminist YA books. If you couldn’t relate to little Meg Murry, then maybe Sunny, Radu, or Gabi are the characters that will finally make you feel seen. These books can take you to places profoundly different and into situations you could scarcely fathom before. These are the books that deserve a hold at your library, a spot in your TBR pile, and to be recommended to your friends. If you have struggled to find your own experiences reflected in the books you’re reading, you are not alone. Hopefully this book list leaves you feeling understood and introduces you to diverse human experiences. Feminism is for everyone and so are these books.
And I Darken by Kiersten White (series)
Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh (series)
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (series)
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao (series)
Asking For It by Louise O’Neill
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
We Free Men by Terry Pratchett (series)
Once & Future by Rose Capetta, Cori McCarthy
Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh (series)
To Best the Boys by Mary Weber
Toil and Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft by Tess Sharpe
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein (series)
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (series)
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages by Saundra Mitchell
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee (series)
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna (series)
Let’s Talk About Love by Clarie Kann
The V-Word: True Stories about First-Time Sex by Amber J. Keyser
Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi
This Land is Our Land: A History of American Immigration by Linda Barrett Osborne
Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard
Tomboy by Liz Prince
When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali
What Girls are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold
You Don’t Know Me, but I Know You by Rebecca Barrow
Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust
Dreadnought by April Daniels (series)
Murder, Magic, and What We Wore by Kelly Jones
That Thing We Call A Heart by Sheba Karim
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson, Ellen Hagan
Done Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (series)
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
This Impossible Light by Lily Myers
You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins
Noteworthy by Riley Redgate
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde
Drag Teen by Jeffery Self
Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
The Forest Queen by Betsy Cornwell
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Swing by Kwame Alexander, Mary Rand Hess
Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All by Candace Fleming
A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount
A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti
American Panda by Gloria Chao
Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert
Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson
As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman
Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge
Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno
Learning to Breathe by Janice Lynn Mather
Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough
Sadie by Courtney Summers
A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
Audacity by Melanie Crowder
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier (series)
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi
Crazy Horses Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy (series)
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnson
Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX by Karen Blumenthal
Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson
None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio
Rani Patel in Full Effect by Sonia Patel
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz
Run by Kody Keplinger
History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (series)
Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis
Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens by Marieke Nijkamp
Giant Days by John Allison (series)
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows (series)
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith
What’s A Girl Gotta Do? By Holly Bourne
American Girls by Alison Umminger
The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen
Does My Head Look Big in This? By Randa Abdel-Fattah
The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala
Mary Ellis is a Youth Specialist in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a die-hard feminist and readers advisory is her jam. You can find her at @motherofreaders on Instagram.
Filed under: Uncategorized
About Robin Willis
After working in middle school libraries for over 20 years, Robin Willis now works in a public library system in Maryland.
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