The Divergent Series Returns, The Black YA Renaissance, and More YA Book News

Grab your TBRs and your to-be-watched lists. You’ll want them as we catch up all of the YA news.

• One of the biggest stories in YA dropped at the reimagined BookCon last month. Veronica Roth is returning to her “Divergent” series with new books that explore the story through an alternate universe. Roth’s been writing adult fiction in the years since this series concluded, but I kind of wish her return to YA would be something entirely new. The 15-year-olds who read the series as teens are now 30 years old.
• These are Barnes & Noble’s shortlisted titles for their 2026 Children’s & YA Book Awards. I’m thrilled to see The Secret Astronomers on here, which is a title that did not get the buzz it deserved (and I wish it had or I’d have read it last November when it published and shouted about it louder!).
• You may recall that earlier this year, Australian young adult author Craig Silvey was arrested for having child sex abuse material. He’s now pled guilty to it, and the country’s schools and libraries are wrestling with what to do about his books. This is something that I hope is also being discussed here in the U.S., as his book Jasper Jones was a 2012 Printz Honor title and is in plenty of libraries. I’m torn on what the “right” thing to do is. In libraries where the book hasn’t circulated and would meet weeding criteria, there’s little question. But in places where the book has a readership and/or in places where the book is being preserved for archival reasons, this is more nuanced.
• For something fun, here’s a piece on how YA author Alex Aster leans into style on her book tour.
• The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Fiction (that is, within the speculative genres) has named its finalists. It’s nice to see it’s all actual YA books this year.
• The Aurora Awards, which celebrate the best in Canadian science fiction and fantasy, have announced their finalists. Here’s the YA slate.
• The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, a division of the National Council of Teachers of English, has announced their 2025 Amelia Walden Award winners and finalists. It’s a real nice slate!
• Dive into all of the YA science fiction and fantasy that published in April.
• Want a preview of the great YA speculative fiction hitting shelves in May and June? You’re in luck.
• You don’t need to say the word. Here are all of the science fiction and fantasy YA books hitting shelves in May.
• These old school YA horror retrospectives are so fun. Revisit Christopher Pike’s Weekend with Reactor.
• “Articles such as these suggest that our literary futures may be uncertain, but post Myers’s op-ed, we carved an unlikely legacy for ourselves. We wrote, edited, marketed, conference-hopped, took on the unpredictable hellscapes of Twitter, then Instagram, then TikTok, then Threads, and BlueSky kind of, all while adding much needed Black characters to YA literature’s lexicon. Fighting for our place in history has been monumentally challenging, and while there are broader terms that include Black YA authors alongside artists and musicians of the time, I believe we deserve our own name to solidify our contributions to children’s literature.” This is an excellent piece about the Black YA Renaissance from YA author Randi Pink.
• I love a good story about international literature, and this one’s a fascinating look at how Nigeria is filling in the gap in young adult literature.
• This is a fun piece pairing up popular K-Pop songs with some great YA books.
• Erin A. Craig will be publishing a YA adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera.
• Curious what the next YA book will be for Reese’s “Sunnie Reads?” You can find it here (I’m excited to read this book).
• Here’s the official trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which will hit theaters in November.
• Fake Dates and Mooncakes is getting a television adaptation.
• Also getting an official adaptation on film? Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter. It’ll go to Netflix.
• Young World, which released last week, is also getting an adaptation. The author shopped it himself and tapped a pretty big name to be an executive producer on the project.
• The first images for the adaptation of The Upside of Unrequited are coming in.
• It sounds like there’s been some actual movement happening on the adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone.
• You’ll be able to stream the adaptation of YA zombie novel This Is Not a Test in May.
• The YA book The One Who Got Away With Murder, which published last year, is on deck for a TV adaptation at Hulu.
• Here’s everything to know so far about season two of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
• The Heartstopper Finale film has a release date for July, which is a lot closer than anticipated.
• Remember the film adaptation of Beautiful Creatures? It apparently returned to the ranks of the viewership charts recently, thanks to the growing popularity of Alden Ehrenreich. You can catch the adaptation on Tubi.
• Aside from how many of the books mention here are not YA books but adult romance novels (we know that the cute covers simply mean they must be for kids and that many writers in this area don’t actually know that categories mean something), this is an interesting piece about how streaming services have reignited an interest in YA adaptations.

How’s your year in reading going so far? If you’re looking for some inspiration, you’re now able to get your hands on just about every one of our most anticipated YA books of the year.