Our final May Weekend Picks comes to us from University of Missouri professor Renee Stites Kruep. She has the perfect recommendation to keep our spring TBR lists well-stocked!

Welcome to the 4th Weekend Picks for the month of May​! Our continued thanks and appreciation to the graduate students from the University of Missouri for their contributions to our YA Lit community this month. 

​What stands out is how the book handles adolescence under extraordinary circumstances. Lizzie is navigating the same questions most teens face — Who am I becoming? Who can I trust? What do I do with the knowledge I’m not supposed to have? —but the stakes are amplified by the war. The authors never lose sight of her age. Her courage is real, but so is her uncertainty. That balance keeps the story honest.

Greetings to our YA reading community, and welcome to the third week of May. Our Weekend Pick is brought to us by another University of Missouri graduate student - and we are so thankful for their contributions this month!

Angeline Boulley’s Sisters in the Wind is a powerful YA mystery thriller that follows 18-year-old Lucy Smith, whose life has been shaped by loss and survival ever since her father’s death five years ago. As a ward of the state, Lucy has spent years moving through the foster system, learning to stay guarded and constantly alert. 

​One of the most powerful elements of the novel is its focus on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and the role it plays in protecting indigenous children from being removed from their communities. Boulley makes it clear that Lucy’s story is not an individual case, but rather part of a larger history of indigenous children being separated from their families through foster care and adoption systems. The inclusion of ICWA helps frame the conversation around what justice and protection should look like, and what happens when the law is ignored or treated as inconvenient. The novel also touches on how institutions and systems like foster care do not always support young people in the ways they are meant to. Through Lucy’s experiences, Boulley highlights how systems designed to protect kids can still fail and leave young people to rely on themselves in situations where they should be supported and cared for. 

This is the kind of novel that would absolutely keep students reading. The pacing is quick, the tension is constant, and every chapter leaves you wanting more. But what makes it worth teaching or recommending is the depth underneath the suspense. It invites readers to think critically about systems of care, the role of law and policy, and the long-term impact of identity being taken away. ​

It's the second weekend of May, and we have another great speculative fiction YA novel for our Weekend Pick! Our contributor this week is Ben Clements. 

​Set twenty-four years before The Hunger Games, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins tells the story of the second Quarter Quell. A Quarter Quell commemorates twenty-five years of the Games, and each one introduces an “exciting” twist to the rules. In this case, the number of tributes is doubled–from twenty-four to forty-eight competitors. 

Fans of The Hunger Games finally get what they have been long asking for:  a novel about Haymitch’s extraordinary Game, first described in Catching Fire. The book explores the origins of his cynicism and his connections to the Capitol while also examining themes of propaganda, grief, control, resistance, and love. This prequel follows The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which is set during the tenth Hunger Games with a focus on Coriolanus Snow before he was president of Panem (another great read!). ​

​While reading this novel, I was also teaching Animal Farm by George Orwell and noticed striking thematic parallels. Both works illustrate the manipulative power of propaganda wielded by oppressive governments. Although Collins has explored propaganda before (notably in Mockingjay) she delves even deeper into it here. I don’t usually analyze a novel through a teaching lens while reading, but this time I had to pause and reflect. I even began assembling a text set that currently includes Animal Farm, Sunrise on the Reaping, The Raven, Lord of the Flies, and The Crucible. One key difference, however, lies in the characters’ awareness: in Animal Farm, many remain oblivious to the manipulation, whereas in Sunrise on the Reaping, characters recognize it. 

​Haymitch becomes acutely aware that he is being used by the Capitol to promote a flawed, tactless, and discriminatory agenda. What can he do in response? Alongside other characters, he begins to embrace the idea of rebellion, finding small but meaningful ways to resist. These acts of defiance help lay the groundwork for the original series. However, as often is the case in any dystopian narrative, the government sees more than it reveals and Haymitch is subjected to punishment for his resistance– cruelty that I found deeply appalling. 

​Anyone who knows me knows what The Hunger Games means to me. As a reader reading this book for the first time, I fell in love with the speculative aspect that dystopian fiction offers and The Hunger Games exemplifies that power. Sunrise on the Reaping is no exception; it expands upon the already rich speculation of this dystopian world. While some critics may dismiss this novel as a fan service due to its “returning” characters (younger versions of those introduced in Catching Fire), I would argue–who cares? Seeing these characters in the early stages of the revolution they later bring to fruition in Mockingjay made the story feel even more complete and compelling. And honestly, who doesn’t want more time with their favorite characters? Now we just need more Finnick. To conclude, Sunrise on the Reaping is a phenomenal read that not only provokes thought but also weaves together existing storylines (even explaining why Haymitch was feeding geese in the end of Mockingjay). I’m especially excited for the upcoming film adaptation and look forward to continued discussion of this powerful addition to the series. 

​Beyond spectacular speculation and core character development, Shusterman crafts a narrative that both adult and young adult readers alike can enjoy for its balance between intensity and levity. The question is: If we could simply make ourselves feel all better, what could possibly go wrong in the process?