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Other great YA titles that deal with issues of faith and doubt where religion is concerned. As an author, I'll try to keep my editorializing to a minimum, but these titles should definitely be included in this discussion.

Godless by Pete Hautman
Winner of the NBA for Young People's Lit in 2004, Hautman's protagonist wrestles with his doubts about his Catholic faith, eventually deciding to found his own religion with some friends over the summer. Great exploration of faith and the struggle to believe past your doubts.

[I'll Be There] (http://www.amazon.com/Ill-There-Holly-Goldberg-Sloan/dp/B009F7M5XY) by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Very positive and often hilarious portrayal of church-going family actually implementing social justice and selfless love without being preachy or heavy-handed.

[What We Lost] (http://www.amazon.com/What-We-Lost-ebook/dp/B00ADVLPNW) by Sara Zarr
Originally published as ONCE WAS LOST, Little, Brown has reissued this book, interestingly with a less blatantly religious title. (The original is a lyric from "Amazing Grace.") It follows a pastor's daughter whose Mom has been sent to rehab. It's an incredibly tender story with a dynamite first-person protagonist. Some of Zarr's best work.

COMING APRIL 2014:
[This Side of Salvation] (http://www.amazon.com/This-Side-of-Salvation-ebook/dp/B00DA98ZUA) by Jeri Smith-Ready
When David's brother dies, his parents find solace in a religious community counting down the days until believers are whisked away (called "The Rush" in this book, not the Rapture, interesting...). A book about how we deal with grief and the search for salvation.

The Dreamers by yours truly, Oliver Dahl. I am (quite) biased when I suggest it, but it is YA, and might be an interesting read. Sorry for the past and following self-promotion. :) I am 14 years old, published it when I was 13, with a sequel coming fairly soon. It's about a kid named Sam, who becomes a Dreamer, which means that he can live inside of his Dreams, and also affect events on earth through his dreams, so... Lots of cool stuff. It's in 1st person, full of Sci-fi/modern fantasy, explosions, and cheesy knock knock jokes. I've had 2nd graders enjoy it, and I have had grandparents read and enjoy it. Everywhere in between has so far, as well, too! Here's my amazon link, if you want to look into it a little more. Thanks! http://www.amazon.com/Dreamers-Story-Sam-Kullen/dp/1460919513/ref=la_B005H7HJRI_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348878264&sr=1-1

Writers and readers of YA, can I get your thoughts on these two cover options?

I’ve recently published a novella called Little People: A Fantasy Story About Fathers, Sons, and Monsters. It’s a 20,000 word dark fantasy novella. It’s geared towards YA readers, but it has some over-arching elements that will appeal to older readers as well.

I created it’s current cover—it’s a combination digital painting and photo montage that illustrates a scene in the second chapter when the protagonist is first exposed to the basement world. The cover I’m using reflects the genre, and hints at some of the elements in the story—the knight, for example, plays an important role, the monster isn’t what it appears to be, and there is violence and gore in the story—hence the blood splatters. I feel like the current cover creates a sense of foreboding and looks like the cover of a YA fantasy horror novella.

A talented buddy of mine created a mock-up of an alternate cover. It takes a very different approach. He created a stylish design based off of some of the elements and events that occurred in the first chapter. (I shared the first chapter with him.) His version with the broken train is really cool. It’s more subtle than my approach, but a broken toy alludes to a childhood trauma, and an envelope hints at an important message with life altering ramifications. Both of those are important elements in the first chapter of the story. There is a sense of mystery here too, and the simple cover looks pretty stylish. I like what he’s created, and am considering creating a design based off of his. But, I like my current cover too. :)

I’d love to get your thoughts on both of these cover options. Which do you think is more eye-catching, and why? For those of you that may have read the novella, or at least the first chapter, which cover do you think best reflects the material? Which type of cover do you think would have the widest appeal?

Here’s a link to the e-book.

Below is the plot description:
Five days after his estranged father’s funeral, a young man is visited in his apartment by two tiny figurines from the father’s basement model train diorama.

They are desperate for help and claim that their world is in terrible danger. Their sun has been out for a week, the train has stopped running, and an unstoppable monster from the outside world has gotten into the basement.

This is a wild adventure that may or may not be true about a son’s discovery of and quest to save the hidden world his mysterious father left behind.

So, a little about me.

I'm a writer and filmmaker. My first book, Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, was published by Simon & Schuster—it's a humor piece, a mashup of the works of Shakespeare with guess-which-movie. I've made short films of every sort—comedies, dramas, artsy pieces, documentaries. And it hasn't turned out so badly so far—I've gotten awards from festivals all over the country and been praised by Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, The New Republic, GQ, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Back Stage, Broadway World, E!, Maxim, IGN, Film Threat and more. But genre-wise, I'm sort of all over the place.

But if God came down and told me I could only write one kind of story for the rest of my life, I would pick high school. Wouldn't even have to think about it. I like stories about young people. I like the way their brains spin at furious rates, I like how they take everything so seriously or not seriously at all, I like how they're all cooped up in one institution and have to just live with each other for hours and years on end.

I've written teenage girls before—but usually for movies, and usually for movies that didn't get made. So in a strange way this is the first time most people have seen the result of my strange little tours around their heads.

Anyway, this is a fun one, a cute one, about a girl who, bless her angry little heart, just won't wear green on St. Patrick's Day. OR WILL SHE?!

(What can I say. The holiday was coming up and I needed the hook.) Anyway, hope you enjoy it, it's free for your Kindle through Monday, and I suspect I'll be dropping in here with future work as well.

I just finished Emerge by Tobie Easton. It's not officially released yet but amazon is already shipping it early (http://www.amazon.com/Emerge-Tobie-Easton/dp/1942664915).

The book is simply amazing and got better with each chapter, really fun writing and incredible cliffhangers (plus mermaids!). One of the most fun YA books I have read in the last 3 years. I binge-read it in two days :)

Hi /u/iammorrigan, thanks for suggesting this amazing book :) I bought the paperback after you recommended it and LOVED it! It's a really fun mermaid story with lots of clever surprises and great writing. In short, a really unique YA book from a fresh voice.

Can't believe I've never heard of the author before but it looks like this is a debut (more books in the Mer Chronicles series to look forward to, yeah). Thank you :)

EDIT: Here's the Amazon link for you guys https://www.amazon.com/Emerge-Mer-Chronicles-Tobie-Easton/dp/1944816321/

Sherwood Smith. Start with Crown Duel because it's the best to start with from Pierce, but she has a number of really wonderful books. Possibly Maria Snyder's books as well. I didn't discover those until many years since I'd worked through every Pierce book more than once, but they're probably still age appropriate. I'd start with Poison Study. The Enchanted Forest series could also be a nice option. Walter Moers might be a bit intimidating at 12, but I'm a big fan. Robin McKinley's Damar series would also be good.

Oliver, congrats on the publication. I started writing my own YA book around that age, and I envy your courage and ability to put yourself out there while you're a YA yourself. Wishing you all due success, I hope you don't mind me offering you a marketing tip. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1460919513/ is also a direct link to your book, just shorter and so more... elegant.

Here's one you actually may not have heard of/considered: A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears was my favorite book when I was an ickle teense. I thought it was pretty much the funniest thing ever written.

Not sure how old I was, but I'm pretty sure I was single digits.

Geoff Herbach's "Stupid Fast" series is incredible. It's the story is a geeky, kind of awkward boy who discovers that he's, well, really fast when we gets to high school. All the sudden he's a football star. He has to deal with this rapid change in self-identity and figure out who he is. They're great, funny, and full of heart.

Here's the first one: http://www.amazon.com/Stupid-Fast-Geoff-Herbach/dp/1402256302/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369271224&sr=8-1&keywords=stupid+fast

The second won a Minnesota Book Award this month, and the third was just released.

Some of the Valdemar books, by Mercedes Lackey, are pretty good - I can't speak for the others, since I haven't read them yet -, as is the Elvenbane series, which she worked on with Andre Norton.

And then, speaking of Andre Norton, there's the Witch World series, of course, or at least what I've read of it, including some of the stuff by other authors in the same setting.

The Dreaming Tree, which is an omnibus of two others, by C.J Cheryh, and the Morgaine series, by the same, are quite good.

Dragon Fate, if you have a Kindle or e-reader software.

There are more but it's one-thirty in the morning, so... Maybe tomorrow.

(And yes, I know it's a bit late, but I figure that since your family likes to read, recommendations are always going to be nice.)

If you guys want to check the book out you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Mirrors-Young-Adult-Novella-ebook/dp/B07GMZVF72/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1541259548&sr=8-7&keywords=cj+evans

It's also on Kindle Unlimited. If you read it, hope you like it and please drop a review, that would mean a lot! thanks :)

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: Feed


|Country|Link|Charity Links|
|:-----------|:------------|:------------|
|USA|smile.amazon.com|EFF|
|UK|www.amazon.co.uk|Macmillan|
|Spain|www.amazon.es||
|Mexico|www.amazon.com.mx||
|France|www.amazon.fr||
|Germany|www.amazon.de||
|Japan|www.amazon.co.jp||
|Canada|www.amazon.ca||
|Australia|www.amazon.com.au||
|Italy|www.amazon.it||
|India|www.amazon.in||




To help add charity links, please have a look at this thread.

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For first person and not necessarily tied to a happy ending for everyone, I would recommend Feed (almost everyone grows up with the internet in their heads) or Boy Proof (geek girl pushes everyone away).

My son just read J.D. Hallowell's Dragon Fate, and loved it.

To all the other suggestion so far, definitely add Deadline by Chris Crutcher.