Staff Picks
Inspired by the Classics
- Kei G.
- Saturday, October 01, 2022
Collection
These YA retellings prove that a classic never goes out of style! Get inspired and check out your favorite classic lit stories reimagined and reinvented:
Foul is Fair
Published in 2020
After being drugged and gang-raped while crashing a St. Andrew's Prep party on her sixteenth birthday, Jade leads her friends in exacting a horrific revenge on the golden boys who attacked her.
Debating Darcy
Published in 2022
"A life-long speech competitor, Leela loves nothing more than crushing the competition, all while wearing a smile. But when she meets the incorrigible Firoze Darcy, a debater from an elitist private school, Leela can’t stand him. Unfortunately, he’ll be competing in the state league, so their paths are set to collide. But why attempt to tolerate Firoze when Leela can one-up him? The situation is more complicated than Leela anticipated, though, and her participation in the tournament reveals that she might have tragically misjudged the debaters -- including Firoze Darcy -- and more than just her own winning streak is at stake…her heart is, too.
Epically Earnest
Published in 2022
"Jane Worthing's claim to fame is that she was one first viral internet sensations...discovered as a one-year-old in an oversized Gucci bag by her adopted father in a Poughkeepsie train station. Now in her senior year of high school, Janey is questioning whether she wants to look for her bio family due to a loving, but deeply misguided push from her best friend Algie, while also navigating an all-consuming crush on his cousin, the beautiful, way-out-of-her-league Gwen Fairfax"--Provided by publisher.
A Clash of Steel
A Treasure Island Remix
Published in 2021
Xiang and Anh--ages sixteen and seventeen--hunt the South China Sea for the lost treasure of the fabled pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao.
A Blade So Black
Published in 2018
"A Blade So Black delivers an irresistible urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland ... but it's not the Wonderland you remember. The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew. Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she's ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head ... literally. Debut author L.L. McKinney delivers an action-packed twist on an old classic, full of romance and otherworldly intrigue."--Amazon.
So Many Beginnings
A Little Women Remix
Published in 2021
At the Freedman's Colony of Roanoke Island, a haven for the recently emancipated, the four March sisters--Meg, Joanna, Bethlehem, and Amethyst--come into their own as independent young Black women together facing love, sickness, heartbreak, and new horizons.
And the Ocean Was Our Sky
Published in 2018
Presents a twist on themes from Moby Dick in the story of a proud warrior whale pod that attacks a ship before pursuing a near-mythical adversary on a vengeful hunt that risks the worlds of both whales and humans.
Dorothy Must Die
Published in 2014
Amy Gumm, the other girl from Kansas, has been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked to stop Dorothy who has found a way to come back to Oz, seizing a power that has gone to her head -- so now no one is safe!
What Souls Are Made of
A Wuthering Heights Remix
Published in 2022
"Two lost souls cut off from their heritage find solace in each other in this remix of the gothic novel Wuthering Heights"-- Provided by publisher.
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
Published in 2018
The events of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein unfold from the perspective of Elizabeth Lavenza, who is adopted as a child by the Frankensteins as a companion for their volatile son Victor.
Sometimes We Tell the Truth
Published in 2017
A contemporary retelling of "The Canterbury Tales" follows the experiences of a group of teens on a bus trip to Washington, DC, who exchange fantastical, realistic, and scandalous stories in the hopes of achieving a top grade in their class.
Pride
Published in 2018
Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable. When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially cant stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding. But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwicks changing landscape, or lose it all. In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic.