New Young Adult books for June 2022
by Sophie GreenLooking for some new YA titles to read this June? Take a look at our top picks, from a quest to resurrect a loved one, to a turbulent relationship between two sisters in the wake of a personal tragedy.
If you still recognise me, by Cynthia So
Elsie has a crush on Ada, the only person in the world who truly understands her. Unfortunately, they've never met in real life and Ada lives an ocean away. But Elsie has decided it's now or never to tell Ada how she feels. That is, until her long-lost best friend Joan walks back into her life. In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn't nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make.
Borrow If you still recognise me →
Friends like these, by Meg Rosoff
New York City. June, 1982. When eighteen-year-old Beth arrives in Manhattan for a prestigious journalism internship, everything feels brand new - and not always in a good way. A cockroach-infested sublet and a disaffected roommate are the least of her worries, and she soon finds herself caught up with her fellow interns - preppy Oliver, ruthless Dan and ridiculously cool, beautiful, wild Edie. Soon, Beth and Edie are best friends - the sort of heady, all-consuming best-friendship that's impossible to resist. But with the mercury rising and deceit mounting up, betrayal lies just around the corner.
This place is still beautiful, by Xixi Tian
Two sisters. A shocking racist incident. The summer that will change both of their lives forever. Annalie and Margaret are sisters who agree on only one thing: that they have nothing in common. Annalie is seventeen: sweet, content and looking forward to a summer of flirting with the most popular boy in school. Margaret is nineteen: ambitious, a warrior for social justice, and desperate to forget her ex-boyfriend in New York City.
When their family is the victim of a racial attack, Annalie tries to pretend it never happened - but Margaret wants to fight back. Suddenly their relationship - and all the ones around them - are hanging by a thread. And then a crushing secret threatens to tear them apart forever...
Borrow This place is still beautiful →
This wicked fate, by Kalynn Bayron
Briseis's mother is dead, but there is one chance to bring her back. Find the last piece of the deadly Absyrtus Heart. If she is to find the missing piece she must turn to the blood relatives she's never known, learn of their secret powers and take her place in their ancient lineage. But Briseis is not the only one who wants the Heart, and her enemies will try to use her in any way they can.
Sequel to This poison heart.
Oxygen mask: a graphic novel, by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin
Intimately set within the walls of a family home, this book is an incredible artefact of the historic year we have all lived through. We travel from the depths of despair but not without hope; the mundane details contained within four walls becomes our sanctuary. This is a gift in commemoration of a time and place, of a world wide pandemic, of loss and of the murder of George Floyd. It is a reminder of how, in uncertain times, we can cling to the simple things for respite, for hope. A reminder of how comforting books and artworks are in times of extreme stress.
Find more recommendations for young adults.