New genre #LoveOzYA posters!

Hello Darling Readers,

I am really excited to share a new crop of #LoveOzYA posters with you all … these posters have been in the works for quite a while now, and they really came together thanks to one person in particular – Shivaun Plozza. She’s not only author of the forthcoming #LoveOzYA book ‘Frankie’ (which Melina Marchetta sings the praises of, FYI) but she’s a very talented graphic designer who put these posters together based on my ideas, and I’m just so grateful to her!

You’ll note that these FOUR posters are not the same ‘Readalikes’ format as the first two in the #LoveOzYA-inspired series. This time around I wanted to let Aussie titles set the agenda, and have a poster entirely dedicated to only OzYA books.

Click here to download the #LoveOzYA posters! 

These posters based around genre were inspired by Adele Walsh (from the Centre for Youth Literature, who also sits on the LoveOzYA committee with me) – Adele noted that teenagers don’t really care about genre-labels, they’ll be more interested if you pitch a book just by explaining it in terms of; “intergalactic space war!” So these are genre/non-genre posters, trying to mimic the way teenagers actually recommend books to each other.

... you'll also note that the posters cite the website 'loveozya.com.au' which is COMING (very) SOON! 

As always there will be titles and authors that I’ve missed – and I’m so sorry for that! I am trying to recommend as many authors as possible, and not double-up on author-recs by having their books appear on more than one poster … but I’m going to fail and I totally own that. My apologies – there are just too many awesome Aussie YA books!

But never fear, because I have ideas for future posters – the next one I have in mind is to team up with the awesome Michael Earp, and create poster/s based on his great ‘Australian LGBTQ YA’ tumblr. I just need to find another kind graphic designer willing to make those for me :) watch this space!

In the mean time, I hope you like these FOUR (!) new posters.  

And thank you again to lovely Shivaun!

 

 

Choose Aussie YA - #LoveOzYA readalikes part FOUR

Hello Darling Readers!

Yes! It’s that time when I do another ‘readalikes’ post – yay! (or are you sick of them by now? … Who cares?! I’m having fun!)

This readalikes has a “nonfiction” theme, because YA-nonfiction is having a bit of a moment in Australia and I, for one, am thrilled about it! I was inspired to this topic, partly because Clare Wright got me thinking about it when she gave a talk about women erased from Australian history at Reading Matters, and because I just finished reading Abdi Aden’s memoir ‘Shining: The Story of a Lucky Man’ and my first thought was “this should be required reading in all high-schools!”

So, onwards – !

Wonder by R J Palacio→ 

Ugly (younger readers) by Robert Hoge

Robert Hoge’s 2013 ‘Ugly: My Memoir’ is being released for a younger audience and I think this is a smashing idea and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy! I’ve been following Hoge’s career for a while now, and I just love his writing and particularly his commentary around physical-diversity and how important it is to embrace “ugly” in this beauty-obsessed world of ours. Here are two pieces of his that I highly recommend you read: one from The Drum and his Australian story. 

I also think it’s very clever marketing that his book is orientated to riff off of RJ Palacio’s ‘Wonder’ – which has been a runaway bestseller, and while not technically YA, I know all age-groups have embraced this book (you know you’ve written across generations when they bring out an “adult” cover version). I really hope that an Australian Writers Festival cottons onto the idea to bring RJ Palacio our here and have her and Robert Hoge in a Q&A together – because both their books are sparking much-needed conversations around outward/inner beauty … and because I kinda love that while Palacio just wrote about it, Robert Hoge has lived it and I think their insights into how readers have embraced their messages would be fascinating.

And I’m also a little bit thrilled that Robert Hoge will be at ‘Write Around The Murray’ in September, because I’m also on the schools program, and I am definitely going to sneak into a few of his sessions!

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo→ 

Shining: The Story of a Lucky Man by Abdi Aden

Abdi Aden’s book blew me away. I read it over the weekend and was just alternating between snot-nosed crying and fist-pumping joy for this man’s journey. It’s about how; ‘Abdi's world fell apart when he was only fifteen and Somalia's vicious civil war hit Mogadishu.’ It tells of his time spent in a refugee camp in Kenya, and then his decision to go back to Mogadishu in a desperate search for his family … all the way through to his arriving in Australia and the even more incredible journey of resettlement that followed. I read this and my overwhelming wish was to put this book in the hands of every Australian high school student by making it required-reading in schools (and, - hey! If you want to join me in appealing to VCAA, here’s the link!)

I think NoViolet Bulawayo’s Man Booker Prize-shortlisted book is a fitting readalike (even though it’s fiction) because both she and Aden deal so beautifully and heart-breakingly with the pain of leaving your life behind. And because both books are focused on the coming-of-age aspects of resettlement, in many ways (a majority of ‘Shining’ deals with Aden’s life from ages 15 to 17).

Women Heroes of the American Revolution: 20 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Defiance, and Rescue by Susan Casey → 

We Are the Rebels: The Women and Men Who Made Eureka by Clare Wright

Like I mentioned before, I heard Clare Wright speaking at Readings Matters this year and was really excited to read her YA-version of her Stella Prize-winning nonfiction book ‘The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka’. Her book is quite radical, because it’s butting-up against long-held assumptions about women’s roles in a major Australian historical event – the Eureka Stockade. And, actually, when you put this book in kids’ hands and start them thinking about the wrong history of Eureka, it’s going to send them down the rabbit-hole to think more critically about how women are wrongly portrayed throughout history, and beyond … isn’t that exciting?

So I think Susan Casey’s ‘Women Heroes of the American Revolution’ is an interesting readalike for obvious reasons – because she’s likewise taken an iconic historic event and is asking people to think beyond the oft-studied heroes and landmarks. The difference perhaps being that the women Casey is writing about are somewhat known in American history, just not as well as they should be – whereas Wright’s book is unearthing history that has never been studied, let alone in Australian schools.

Binge by Tyler Oakley→ 

How to Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Sex and Teenage Confusion by David Burton

This one’s a bit of a cheat because both books aren’t out yet, so I can only speculate wildly on their readalike-ness (?)

I have heard David Burton speak though, and read a chapter-sampler of his forthcoming ‘How To Be Happy’ (releasing August 26) and I was so impressed that I booked to attend several of his sessions at Brisbane Writers Festival – which I’m super excited about! Because Burton’s memoir is just what Aussie YA needs right now – a candid exploration into ‘Love, Sex and Teenage Confusion’. There’s been a Guardian article floating around lately ‘Falling Out of Love with YA’ in which the young author has totally legitimate concerns about how so many YA books feel same-same and not too challenging … which, I think, doesn’t translate to YA turning sub-par but rather readers craving more complex stories that aren’t currently being pushed to the forefront of the readership. I think David Burton’s memoir is going to be the book that hits that spot this year.

I like YouTube-star-turned-author Tyler Oakley’s ‘Binge’ as a readalike (releasing October 2015) because he’s one of the (alarmingly) few diverse voices coming out of the vlogging world at the moment – and he is an LGBT+ advocate, so I can only hope that his book will touch on some issues around love, sex and confusion too.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen→ 

Bad Behaviour by Rebecca Starford

I am so far behind in my book reviews this year – suffice to say, I have read ‘Bad Behaviour’, I loved ‘Bad Behaviour’ and I’m very excited that ‘Bad Behaviour’ has been optioned for TV!

So Kaysen’s ‘Girl, Interrupted’ (which was famously adapted into an amazing film of the same name with Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie) might seem like a pretty out-there readalike. After all, ‘Bad Behaviour’ is a memoir about Starford’s teen years at an elite country boarding school with a strong focus on the bullying that occurred there, and ‘Girl, Interrupted’ is a memoir about Kaysen’s life from age 18 living with a bunch of fellow teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital during the 1960s. I’m not suggesting that Starford’s boarding school was exactly like a psychiatric ward … but, actually, kinda yeah.

I also like these as readalikes for the observations around all-female company, and how that can sometimes devolve into anarchy. Neither book may be strictly YA – but I think teens should definitely make their way to them.

Choose Aussie YA - #LoveOzYA readalikes part THREE

Hello Darling Readers!

Yes! It’s that time again when I present you with Aussie YA readalikes to American YA books! And, hey – this idea has got some serious traction recently thanks to Trinity Doyle (yes, the Trinity Doyle of ‘Pieces of Sky’ fame!) she created this fabulous #LoveOzYA poster for people to do with as they will! How great is that?! If you’d like a copy of the poster – click this linky link.

More to that – I’ve had some fellow bloggers and vloggers asking if they can do their own #LoveOzYA readalikes post and turn this whole shebang into a tag … to which I say: GO FOR IT! Yes, please do – help spread the #LoveOzYA love, please!

Now, on with the show …

Because this is a most glorious month for the release of Harper Lee’s sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, I thought the theme I’d run with this time is “classics!” Yes, Aussie readalikes to some American books that have helped shape the readership … some of the Australian titles I’ve chosen are likewise our own classics, and some are just best fit. So let’s jump in!

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee→ 

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

I know, it’s pretty much impossible to match the Great(est) American Novel, but we can at least try, can’t we? Craig Silvey’s brilliant 2009 novel matches on so many levels – and in fact when it was released the tagline for it was “the Australian To Kill a Mockingbird”. It’s set in Australia in the 1960s, in a regional mining town.

Our narrator is 13-year-old Charlie Bucktin who is called to his window one night by Jasper Jones – local troublemaker and mixed-race boy with a serious rebellious streak. Jasper has found something terrible and he needs to share it with someone – so he chooses Charlie. What follows is a town rocked by tragedy that starts closing in on itself to reveal a disturbing underbelly.

I like this as a readalike for lots of reasons – explorations of racism in rural towns, local outcasts living on the periphery and that it’s ultimately a coming-of-age tale. And I like that people debate whether or not Jasper Jones is even YA, the same way people suggest that if it were published today, To Kill a Mockingbird would be marketed to teens. For the record: Allen&Unwin publish it as “General Fiction”, but we all know metadata means nothing and plenty of teen readers have made their way to this book because it’s just so darn good!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff→ 

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard

Yes, I’m cheating a wee bit. Well, not really - Meg Rosoff is an American author based in London. ‘How I Live Now’ is a huge book. It won the Printz Award in 2005, and was adapted into a great film in 2013, starring Saoirse Ronan. It’s a cracker of a YA book, and one of the few non-American YA books to hit it so big! So I’m including it here because I think it’s big enough, and because I want any excuse to recommend Australian author, Glenda Millard.

Both Rosoff and Millard were writing ‘Dystopic-realism’, I guess you could call it? When unknown invaders cause war to break out in England and Australia, respectively. In ‘How I Live Now’ the book takes place in the English countryside, and we see the impact of terrorist invaders on a group of far-flung kids. In ‘A Small Free Kiss in the Dark’ we see what happens when war breaks out in Melbourne, through the eyes of a young homeless boy.

They’re both incredible and spine-tinglingly good reads, and quite disturbing for being so realistic in current political climates.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky→ 

Letters From the Inside by John Marsden

I love both these books – I read both in my most formative years and they absolutely imprinted on me forever more. In choosing a readalike, I wanted another epistolary-told story that also had a big “aha!” twisting moment. These are also both fantastic character-driven stories, tightly told (‘Perks’ is just 213-pages, while ‘Letters’ is 160-pages).

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson → 

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

These are both such powerful books, about young women who have been raped, and how they claw their way out of the dark places they’ve retreated to, and begin to heal by telling what happened to them …

I recently had a debate with a family member around books for young people that have rape storylines – she insisted that they wouldn’t get past parents for classroom/library reading. And I said how insane that was – how are we expected to address problems around consent/respectful relationships/slut shaming/victim blaming/violence against women ... if these stories can’t even be talked about in schools, where a lot of the groundwork for good can be done?

So I’m presenting these readalikes – they’re two of my favourite books because they got me thinking, and empathising and hurting for these characters and if I could I would put them into every classroom in Australia. I loved Laurie Halse Anderson at Reading Matters this year, saying that she writes “resilience literature”. That’s what these books are, and they’re wonderful.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle → 

Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park

I think ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ is a great book, but *whispers* I think ‘Playing Beatie Bow’ is better.

I read Ruth Park’s timeslip novel when I was in Year Six and I’ve re-read it countless times since. In fact, I’m a bit obsessed with it. Granted, it doesn’t have quite the same time travel trickery philosophising going on as L'Engle’s book, but protagonist Abigail does have to consider the consequences she could have on the future when she finds herself transported back to Sydney in 1873.

I think part of the reason I love this book so very much has to do with the fact that it is Australian – blending science fiction and historical fiction brilliantly. I still, to this day, get delicious goosebumps when I visit The Rocks in Sydney because of its significance in ‘Playing Beatie Bow’. Never underestimate the power of reading the YA books of your own country and being able to go there – to that exact place in the story! It’s a marvellous, marvellous thing.

Choose Aussie YA - #LoveOzYA readalikes part TWO

Hello Darling Readers!

Wow! I received a great response to my 'Choose Aussie YA' post, so I've decided to do another one - and, actually, this might become a semi-regular thing.

For this Aussie-readalikes post, I'm riffing off the New York Times young adult bestseller list (for July 5, 2015). I don't really think that Australian readers/teachers/librarians are overly swayed by the NYT-bestseller list, but I needed a launching-off point and even though some of the books listed by the NYT aren't even sold in Australia (don't have territorial rights) thanks to Book Depository and Amazon and globalisation generally, I'm gonna say it's safe to assume that Aussie readers know about and are even reading those books that aren't stocked at their local library or bookshop.

I've only included one John Green book - because I provided readalikes for his Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars and An Abundance of Katherines in my original post. 

And - hey! - if you'd like to throw up a favourite US or UK title that you'd like an Aussie readalike to, feel free to reach out to me in the comments section here, or by twitter. 

So, let's dive in and see these great Aussie-YA reading companions to American books! 

♥♥♥

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella → 

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta and 

Chasing Charlie Duskin by Cath Crowley 

Finding Audrey is a teen romance with a twist, as the protagonist suffers from an anxiety disorder. So in choosing readalikes, I was trying to think of books that hang teen romance on bigger issues around mental health, intersected with coming-of-age narrative. 

Saving Francesca is kind of the ultimate book for Melina Marchetta's open and honest portrayal of a young girl coping with all the dramas of a new school and a potential crush, along with her crumbling home life as her mother falls deeper and deeper into depression. This book is funny, tender and claws at the hard stuff too - if I could, I would gift it to every teen reader because it's one of the most confronting and complex portrayals of depression that I've ever read. Also: Will Trombal is the nerd-crush of my dreams. 

Chasing Charlie Duskin by Cath Crowley is another book that I wouldn't say the romance is the most important aspect of the story, but it being there adds a lightness and tenderness to otherwise harrowing subject matters. It's narrated by two teenage girls - one who is still dealing with the fallout of her mother's sudden death, and the other who is trying to find a way to break out of her small town. I chose this one because, like Audrey, I see Charlie Duskin as a character who needs to overcome in order to be happy - there are no quick fixes to what she's dealing with, but rather small cataclysmic revelations about what she needs to do in her life. 

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han →

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley and 

Beatle Meets Destiny by Gabrielle Williams 

I loved Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before, so I'm really glad that I got to think up some readalikes for this fantastic teen romance! 

I think Crowley's Graffiti Moon fits as a readalike because, much like Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky in Han's novel, Lucy and Ed in Graffiti Moon have a rocky history - and both couplings start out antagonistic, but evolve into friendship and then something more. Graffiti Moon is an especially great romance because it's condensed into one night of adventure - there's graffiti artwork and lovelorn poetry, and Cath Crowley's gorgeous prose will illuminate your heart; 

I guess love's kind of like a marshmallow in a microwave on high. After it explodes it's still a marshmallow. But, you know, now it's a complicated marshmallow.

Beatle Meets Destiny I chose because it's another truly great teen romance, and there are wonderful vignettes in the novel featuring couples recounting their romantic history (which reminded me of Lara Jean's writing letters to all her past crushes). Williams is another one with heart-stopping, delectable prose; 

And she leant forward and kissed him. Right there, in the middle of the bar. Right there, in the middle of his lips.

 P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han →

Good Oil by Laura Buzo and 

Hate is Such a Strong Word by Sarah Ayoub

P.S. I Still Love You is of course the second book in Han's duology, but you can take all four books I mention as a readalike to her series. 

Good Oil totally hits the mark for exploring a teen girl's first crush - and it's pitch-perfectly Aussie that her crush is on an older guy she works with at Woolworths. I loved Laura Buzo's debut, particularly because it's told from both young girl Amelia's perspective, and the guy she has a crush on - Chris. 

There's a big diversity aspect in Jenny Han's series, because Lara Jean is half-Korean and a bit of the book is dedicated to the casual racism she encounters, and how she's trying to fit herself into two different cultures. I like Sarah Ayoub's book as a readalike for this reason, as protagonist Sophie is reconciling her Lebanese heritage with her growing independence. There's also a great romance in here with a half-Lebanese boy. 

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews → 

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil 

I suspect it's only a matter of time before Jesse Andrews' 2012 debut makes its way onto Aussie bestseller lists again, as the book has just been adapted into a pretty kick-butt looking film. 

For this readalike, I was honing in on the pop-culture/fandom aspects of Andrews' book, with male-perspective and "token female" character (who actually works to subvert a lot of male posturing!). Enter - Melissa Keil's Life in Outer Space. This is a seriously funny and beautiful book about a geek guy whose life is infiltrated by a spitfire of a girl who decides she's going to be part of his world! 

Paper Towns by John Green → 

Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield, 

The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty and Notes from the Teenage Underground by Simmone Howell

By now you've probably seen the Paper Towns movie trailer and vaguely know what the book is about. In choosing these readalikes I was trying to nail down the mystery/enigmatic girl fantasy/teen adventure aspects. 

Friday Brown I think is a good readalike for including a band of teenagers who go on a sort-of road-trip to get away from it all. Admittedly, in Wakefield's book they're a band of homeless and runaway teens. Green's characters are searching for paper towns, but Wakefield's are camping out in abandoned ones. I can't help but feel there's even a little bit of Arden in Margo Roth Spiegelman ... 

The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie is a chosen readalike for the mystery aspect - and because I think this is a good book for slightly younger readers who maybe haven't yet gotten to the point of reading John Green's YA books. 

Notes from the Teenage Underground I love because it's like all Howell's characters are cooler than Green's coolest Margo Roth Spiegelman (trust me on this!). Paper Towns is about teens breaking away from what is expected of them, and coming-of-age involves questioning the lives before them ... Howell asks similar questions, but with a more enigmatic cast. 

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs → 

Tales from Outer Suburbia and 

The Arrival by Shaun Tan 

Gah! I thought this was going to be so hard to find a readalike to Ransom Riggs' series that's pretty much in a genre of its own ... but okay, if you want mind-bending, thought-provoking books that defy classification, then you can't really go past the genius of Shaun Tan. 

If you've never picked up one of Tan's books before then I envy you - because you're about to go on a journey, and you'll never see the world the same way again. Have fun! 

He is an Australian treasure. 

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart → 

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and

Dreaming of Amelia by Jaclyn Moriarty 

I loved We Were Liars (I love E. Lockhart in general, FYI!) and these two readalikes came very easily when I tried to think about books with ghosts and mysteries at their heart ...

On the Jellicoe Road is just gorgeous - it's a heartbreaking book told in forwards-backwards narrative that the reader gets to piece together along with protagonist Taylor Markham - in much the same way readers have to figure out Cadence ‘Cady’ Sinclair Eastman's tragic story with truth/fiction, memory and fantasy. But Marchetta has Lockhart beat when it comes to the romance stakes - few teen characters can compete against Jonah Griggs. 

FYI: this book is being adapted into a movie, so read it now to know what all the buzz is going to be about! 

Dreaming of Amelia is a likewise beautiful novel in which readers will have to sort out fact from fiction. And where Lockhart presents the prestigious and moneyed Sinclair family, Moriarty writes about the moneyed Ashbury school kids - great explorations into wealth and status in both books. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie →

 Us Mob Walawurru by David Spillman & Lisa Wilyuka, 

Calypso Summer by Jared Thomas and 

Grace Beside Me by Sue McPherson

 Sherman Alexie is brilliant, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is genius. None of the readalikes I came up with have the illustrations similar to Alexie's book, but I wanted to instead focus on feelings of not fitting into one's culture and of course, wider themes of racism and diversity. 

Us Mob Walawurru is set in the 1960s, and takes place on a cattle station and ‘silver bullet' school - I can see parallels between these settings, and The Rez where Alexie's book is set. 

Calypso Summer is at once funny and heartfelt, looking at a young Nukunu man who takes on a Rastafarian identity, because he doesn't really know his own heritage. There's similar push-pull explorations of culture and identity in this book as in Sherman Alexie's, and Thomas's Calypso is an equally great character to follow as he tries to figure out what it means to be a man. 

I don't want to say that Grace Beside Me is the "girl version" of anything, but certainly Sue McPherson throws up questions of growing up a young woman without a mother, in her award-winning YA debut that's set during the year of Kevin Rudd's National Apology. 

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell → 

Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell, 

Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight by Nick Earls & Rebecca Sparrow, 

and Green Valentine by Lili Wilkinson 

I'm not the biggest fan of Eleanor and Park (*shock-horror!* I know, I know - I just prefer Fangirl and Attachments so much more) but I can appreciate that Rowell wrote a darn good "boy meets girl" spin of a story. For that reason, I've chosen on readalikes that concentrate on dynamic duos. 

Everything Beautiful is superb - Riley Rose is our protagonist, and like Eleanor she's a plus-sized girl. Her co-conspirator is a wheelchair-bound boy called Dylan, and together they're taking on a Jesus Camp. This novel broke my heart and put it back together again so many times, I can't recommend it enough - for telling a truly beautiful story of a unique friendship, and featuring two very different and fantastic protagonists in Riley and Dylan. 

Joel & Cat Set the Story Straight is laugh-out-loud awesome, and I love it for the antagonistic relationship that evolves over the course of this hilarious novel. The same way Eleanor and Park meet because they're kind of forced to share a bus-seat, Joel and Cat are forced to sit side-by-side in English class, which is how their rollercoaster ride gets started ... 

Ok, so Lili Wilkinson's Green Valentine isn't out until August but I'm so desperate for it (THAT COVER!), and I couldn't get it out of my head as an Eleanor and Park readalike. I like the opposites-attract chemistry and book promises; "Astrid Katy Smythe is beautiful, smart and popular. She's a straight-A student and a committed environmental activist. She's basically perfect. Hiro is the opposite of perfect. He's slouchy, rude and resentful. Despite his brains, he doesn't see the point of school." 

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard → 

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta and 

The Sending by Isobelle Carmody

Confession (again!) I didn't like Red Queen - I got about 20 pages in and had to give up. It's just not my cup of tea. You know what is my cup of High Fantasy tea? - Melina Marchetta's Lumatere Chronicles series, and Isobelle Carmody's The Obernewtyn Chronicles. 

If you want incredible and incredibly complex female characters, adventure, violence and deeper-meanings to the fantasy then you can't go past these two incredible Aussie series. Marchetta's is a now completed trilogy (Quintana being the final book), but Carmody's is still going, with book number seven - called (get ready for this!) The Red Queen - due out later this year. 

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher → 

Pieces of Sky by Trinity Doyle, 

The Protected by Claire Zorn and 

Cracked Clare Strahan

So Jay Asher's 2007 book is still a NYT bestseller. Ooooookay. I didn't like it that much anyway - but in finding readalikes I was looking for books about kids dealing with the death of someone close to them, and raising mental health awareness. 

Trinity Doyle's Pieces of Sky is about protagonist Lucy, who is coming to grips with her brother's recent death. There's a small mystery in there because Lucy and her family are not sure if Cam's death was accident or suicide, and like the tapes left behind in Jay Asher's book, Lucy follows a trail of mysterious text messages to illuminate Cam's past ... 

Claire Zorn's The Protected is about Hannah accepting her sister's sudden and tragic death - but to do so Hannah, and readers, have to go back to see how complicated their sibling relationship was. There's a mystery in this book too that's a slow burn and speaks to wider issues around bullying. So powerful, highly recommend. 

And Cracked by Clare Strahan is a really stunning debut novel, examining a fifteen-year-old girl's increasing troubles with her school and home life, until she gets to a point where she's just "cracked into a pile of shards, beyond repair." 

With all three of these books there are explorations into grief, guilt and mental health - and I prefer all three of these Australian books to Jay Asher's, for giving more autonomy to the teen characters who are then able to take control of their lives in the wake of tragedy.