Young Adult Novels Worth Reading After High School 

How many books have you reread after middle or high school? Perhaps it’s one you were required to read for an English class or one you picked up from the Barnes & Noble “Bestsellers” section nearly a decade ago, but have no reason to pick up again.

This semester, I took a course on Young Adult Literature and engaged with seven novels, three of which I had previously read but found completely new meanings in and feel are worth revisiting a second or even third time. While I was required to read these novels with a specific perspective and guiding question, rereading them from the time I was thirteen to nearly twenty provided brand-new insights, lessons, and emotions, ranging from themes of identity, coming-of-age, mental health, social issues, and relationships.

Whether you’re a bookworm or not, or you’re looking for something new to read, I would highly recommend these novels that could be completed in two days, although you may enjoy them so much that you’ll read them in one sitting!

5 Classic must-reads

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is by far my favorite book on this list. It follows fifteen-year-old Xiomara Batista, who is living in Harlem as an expressive, attention-grabbing, and headstrong Dominican girl who many readers with a similar background can relate to. Growing up with highly religious parents, a developed body from a young age, and relationships with those who don’t necessarily understand her, the novel is written in poems that tell the story of her experience learning to embrace herself in her own skin. As a gifted and talented poet, her writing allows readers to feel all of the emotions in the heat of many moments, and as a young Dominican woman myself, I was able to relate and sympathize with her while learning new lessons about acceptance and challenging the status quo. 

Having won the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in YA literature, and the Pura Belpré Author Award, The Poet X serves as a loud and proud love letter to those with a similar story. I would also highly recommend this book for those who don’t share the same background, as it offers insight into perspectives that, while often overlooked, are present in our everyday classrooms, workplaces, and communities around the world.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The House on Mango Street is one of the three novels that I’d previously read before taking my YA Literature course, and by rereading, I fell in love with it all over again. The protagonist, Esperanza Cordero, is a twelve-year-old Mexican-American girl who, similar to Xiomara, stands out in her family and community because of the aspirations she holds and how she strives to achieve them despite gender and cultural standards. Esperanza is particularly unique in that she lives in Chicago, part of a low-income household, but views the lives of those around her to decide how she will change her narrative rather than accepting her fate. 

The book’s structure is also special as it’s written in vignettes and instead of following a typical plot line takes her most impactful stories to help define what home means both physically and emotionally. Navigating the twelve-year-old protagonist’s intake on life allows readers, especially older, to reflect on how they are making decisions that either reinforce harmful societal expectations that lead to an unsatisfying quality of life or not, despite its many challenges.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

While The Outsiders was published in 1967, it still serves as a staple across many U.S. middle and high school curricula for introducing awareness about class conflict and social groups. As we follow a rivalry between two gangs: the Greasers, who are part of the poor working-class, and the “wealthy” Socs, the book navigates the life of fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, who is one of the Greasers. As a young boy who doesn’t feel like he fits into either group, the author, S.E. Hinton, has a phenomenal way of highlighting themes of family and coming-of-age that allow Ponyboy to define what family and loyalty mean to him. 

Popular enough, the book was turned into a 1983 film adaptation, which is usually played after reading the book in class, and is even a Broadway musical as of April 11, 2024. The production itself has “won four 2024 Tony Awards, including Best Musical,” proving to be a classic piece of literature and work of art that is still appreciated almost sixty years later.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

While on the heavier thematic side, The Bell Jar has become an increasingly popular novel, offering realistic depictions of mental illness as a semi-autobiography by author Sylvia Plath. In several ways, the protagonist Esther Greenwood’s life mirrors that of Plath and the challenging relationship with her mom, pre- and post-academic pressures, 1950s gender roles, and time spent in psychiatric hospitals due to severe depression. 

The book’s famous metaphor of the bell jar reveals how isolating and suffocating it can be to face internal and external pressures that fuel one’s mental illnesses, and stresses the importance of asking for help. For those who don’t struggle with the same issues, The Bell Jar provides critical lessons on how to notice the signs of those who need support, along with how to offer that guidance. Common to the first three novels listed, this book highlights the need for meaningful relationships, which, from a young age, can be difficult to realize, but reveals the dangers in not having such bonds. 

Of the seven novels I read this semester, reading this book for the first time took the longest because of its heavy themes, but it was truly transformative and deserves multiple rereads to appreciate Esher’s raw and realistic emotions that many can relate to, as did Sylvia Plath.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki

Mariko Tamaki’s Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me is a graphic novel following Freddy Riley, a seventeen-year-old lesbian in a toxic relationship, unsure of how to walk away and reject her girlfriend, Laura Dean. This ultimately undermines her self-image and disrupts her close friendships, as she struggles to find certainty without her partner despite being taken advantage of and having her feelings disregarded, an unfortunate yet common situation seen in young adult relationships.

The novel takes an interesting take on telling Freddy’s story, with artist Rosemary Valero-O’Connell illustrating events that provide new perspectives despite words that convey different meanings. Below, I included two pages from the novel that depict Valero-O’Connell’s beautiful work alongside Tamaki’s dialogue, which together become a captivating and easy-to-read book for people of all ages! 

Rereading and reflecting

Despite the young age of the protagonists in young adult novels, revisiting them can be a rather fun and eye-opening experience. Whether you relate to them or not, these books represent common issues that are faced by those all around the world as they are coming of age. Reading these books at my age not only reminded me of how I handled situations differently when I was twelve or even seventeen, but also how I can actively change the way I take action today and manage living in a society with countless societal expectations that must be challenged.

I hope you consider reading one, if not all of these novels, and can guarantee it’ll be well worth your time. Happy reading!

<p>The post Young Adult Novels Worth Reading After High School  first appeared on Her Campus.</p>