15 Canadian books for teens and young adults to check out in spring 2024
From fantasy to contemporary to horror and more, here are the YA books by Canadians we are excited to get into this season.
Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada
Skater Boy follows Wesley "Big Mac" Mackenzie as he struggles to complete his senior year of high school. Wes spends most of his time skateboarding, hanging out with a trouble-making friend group and fostering his secret love for photography. When his mom brings him to a production of The Nutcracker, he meets and begins to become attached to its star performer, Tristan Monroe. Caught between his closeted self and his true identity, Wes comes to realize who he truly wants to be in this gay coming-of-age love story.
Skater Boy is available now.
Anthony Nerada is a writer currently based in Vancouver. He previously studied psychology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, as well as earning his diploma in public relations. Skater Boy is his debut novel.
Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops
Reality and imagination come together in Who We Are in Real Life. Darcy has just moved to a small town with her two moms and misses her boyfriend and gaming friends. When Art invites her to join his Dungeons & Dragons game, they grow closer and he becomes conflicted. Can he stand up to his conservative father who's trying to put a stop to Darcy's queer-straight alliance club? Meanwhile, in the fantasy world of the game, they fight alongside one another against corruption.
Who We Are in Real Life is available now.
Victoria Koops is a Saskatchewan-based author and practicing counsellor. Who We are in Real Life is her debut novel.
Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli
In Heartless Hunter, the first book in the Crimson Moth duology, Rune is forced to hide her magic following a revolution which has divided people into witches and witch hunters. Socialite by day and vigilante by night, she sets herself on a mission to court Gideon Sharpe, an infamous hunter. As Gideon catches on to her ploy, the two begin to fall for one another in this YA romantic fantasy.
Heartless Hunter is available now.
Kristen Ciccarelli is also the author of Edgewood and the Iskari series. She is based in the Niagara Peninsula and worked many different jobs before becoming a writer.
Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury
Following the death of their mother, Sunny Behre is left to take care of her four siblings and their family's wealth in the novel Tender Beasts. When Sunny finds her youngest brother, Dom, with the blood of his classmate on his hands, he becomes the leading suspect in a teen murder mystery. As more dead bodies are found, the two siblings become determined to find the true killer and clear Dom's name for the sake of their family in this eerie psychological thriller.
Tender Beasts is available now.
Liselle Sambury is a Trinidadian-Canadian YA writer and blogger. Her debut novel, Blood Like Magic, was on the shortlist for the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text. Her other novels include Blood Like Fate and Delicious Monsters.
The Lightning Circle by Vikki VanSickle, illustrated by Laura K. Watson
The Lightning Circle is the coming-of-age story of 17-year-old Nora Nichols told through verse, letter-writing and journal entries. Following a major heartbreak, Nora accepts a job as an arts and crafts counsellor for the summer at a camp in West Virginia. Trying to distract herself, Nora becomes more immersed in the lives and stories of her fellow girl campers and when she receives difficult news from home, she finds that she has a strong community of women to lean on.
When you can read it: March 26, 2024
Vikki VanSickle is a Toronto-based writer. Her first novel, Words That Start with B, was shortlisted for the 2011 Libris Award's Children's Book of the Year. It was followed up with Love is a Four-Letter Word, Days that End in Y and Summer Days, Starry Nights. Her YA novel The Winnowing was the winner of the OLA Red Maple Award.
And Then There Was Us by Kern Carter
After spending four years in the safety of her father's home, 18-year-old Coi is not equipped to handle the sudden death of her abusive mother. And Then There Was Us is a coming-of-age story about the challenges of losing a parent as a teenager after already having survived so much pain. When Coi begins having lucid dreams about her mother and reconnecting with her side of the family, she is confronted by her loss and the complicated feelings it brings.
When you can read it: April 9, 2024
Kern Carter is a Toronto author and freelance writer. His other books include the novella Thoughts of a Fractured Soul, the novel Beauty Scars and the YA novel Boys and Girls Screaming. He was named one of CBC Books' writers to watch in 2023.
Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne
In the summer of 2010, Jay Wong is desperate to make some worthy memories before her senior year comes to close, whether that be landing a kickflip or meeting someone new. Enter Ash Chan with a skateboard, a secret and a competition they need Jay's help filming a submission for. Crash Landing tells Jay's story as she navigates her immigrant community in Vancouver and a newfound friendship that's becoming something more.
When you can read it: April 16, 2024
Li Charmaine Anne is a writer with a BFA from the University of British Columbia in creative writing and English literature. Crash Landing is their debut novel.
The End of Always by Rebecca Phillips
The End of Always is a novel about Isobel, a teenage girl who moves with her family to a survivalist community. In the aftermath of her mother's death, Isobel's dad becomes obsessed with doomsday preparations: attending meetings and filling their home with rations and battery packs. When Isobel, her dad and her younger sister arrive at Endurance Ranch, she meets the son of another intense "prepper" family and starts to feel less alone. Can Isobel shield herself and her sister from her dad's paranoia and a life in isolation?
When you can read it: April 16, 2024
Rebecca Phillips is a Nova Scotian writer and copyeditor. Her other novels include Faking Perfect, Any Other Girl and The Girl You Thought I Was.
The Lady of Rapture by Sarah Raughley
The Lady of Rapture is the third and final instalment of the Bones of Ruin trilogy. In The Lady of Rapture, the African tightrope walker, Iris, was thought to be immortal. In the aftermath of her calculated murder, the Enlightenment Committee realizes there's another Hiva like her and the threat of apocalypse still looms. Set on revenge, the end of days are numbered in the conclusion to the epic Victorian fantasy series.
The Lady of Rapture follows The Bones of Ruin and The Song of Wrath.
When you can read it: April 16, 2024
Sarah Raughley is a fantasy novelist from Southern Ontario. Her YA Effigies series includes Fate of Flames, Siege of Shadows and Legacy of Light. Raughley was the 2022 judge for CBC's student writing challenge, The First Page.
Song of the Six Realms by Judy I. Lin
In the epic gothic romance Song of the Six Realms, Xue is a young musician, orphaned and indentured to perform for the House of Flowing Water with no escape in sight. That is, until she performs for Duke Meng, a noble who offers Xue a deal: be the musician of his estate for one year and then he'll set her free. When he reveals himself to secretly be a divine ruler of the Celestial Realm, Xue is faced with the knowledge that she may be the key to saving the Six Realms from disaster.
When you can read it: April 23, 2024
Judy I. Lin was born in Taiwan and immigrated to Canada with her family at a young age. She is the author of the Book of Tea duology, which includes A Magic Steeped in Poison and A Venom Dark and Sweet.
The Stones of Burren Bay by Emily De Angelis
Fifteen-year-old Norie's world is turned upside down when a tragic car accident kills her father and injures her mother in the YA novel The Stones of Burren Bay. Norie is reeling from loss and grief of both a parent she despised and her love for art. Norie and her mom turn to an old friend, Dahlia, and her daughter who live on Manitoulin Island and run the Jolly Pot Tearoom and Burren Bay Lighthouse Museum. Through the island, Norie learns more about ancient Irish Celtic spiritualism and works to rebuild the pieces of her life and relationship with her mother.
When you can read it: May 4, 2024
Emily De Angelis is an artist and writer born in Sudbury, Ont. Her poems and short stories have been featured in many anthologies and she is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers. The Stones of Burren Bay is her first YA novel. She currently resides between Woodstock, Ont., and Manitoulin Island.
A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur
A Crane Among Wolves takes place in Joseon in 1506, under the tyrannical reign of Yeonsan, a king hellbent on torturing the land, the women and burning books within the kingdom. After her older sister, Suyeon is captured by the king, Iseul leaves the comforts of her village to defy the capital and save her sister. Meanwhile, Prince Daehyun, the king's half-brother is staging a risky coup to dethrone him and save the people. When Iseul and Daehyun meet, they begrudgingly join forces to take down their common enemy.
When you can read it: May 14, 2024
June Hur is a South Korea-born writer based in Toronto. Her other novels include The Forest of Stolen Girls, The Silence of Bones and The Red Palace.
Age 16 by Rosena Fung
The dynamics of gender, race and motherhood between three generations of women are carefully explored in the coming-of-age graphic novel Age 16. In 1954 Guangdong, Mei Laan is 16 and seeks an arranged marriage so that she can be "free." In Hong Kong in 1972, her now teenage daughter Lydia is a dancer and longs for her approval. In Toronto in 2000, Lydia's daughter Roz is struggling with body image and is confronted by family secrets when her estranged por por, grandma, makes a surprise visit.
When you can read it: May 28, 2024
Rosena Fung is an illustrator and comic artist from Toronto. Her work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, giant murals and on TV. She is also the creator of Living with Viola.
With Love, Miss Americanah by Jane Igharo
With Love, Miss Americanah is a contemporary romance novel about Enore Adesuwa, a Nigerian girl having just moved to America for her senior year following the death of her father. Still grappling with her own grief and her mother's high standards, Enore turns to her cousin Adrian for his expertise on American high schools, all of which comes in the form of classic teen movies. However, when Enore meets the handsome Davi Santiago, she forgets all the rules she and her mother had set for her and begins to chart her own path.
When you can read it: June 18, 2024
Jane Igharo came to Canada from Nigeria when she was 12 years old. She currently lives in Toronto. Her other novels include Ties That Tether and Where We End & Begin.
Misadventures in Ghosthunting by Melissa Yue
In the haunting middle grade novel Misadventures in Ghosthunting, Emma Wong is finding it difficult to balance her schoolwork and the fact that she sees ghosts all the time. Emma has a lot to contend with after her family's altar is set on fire by an unknown figure. She has to deal with Henry, a loathsome ghosthunter, her curious and flighty ghost friends and the discovery that her grandma is secretly an exorcist. Now faced with her family's ghostly legacy, Emma must harness her skills in magical Chinese calligraphy to protect the Wongs.
Misadventures in Ghosthunting is recommended for ages 8 to 12.
When you can read it: Aug. 27, 2024
Melissa Yue is a writer and lover of ghost stories. She previously studied at the University of Victoria and worked in English as a Second Language education. Misadventures in Ghosthunting is her first novel.
Corrections
- A previous version of this article listed Misadventures in Ghosthunting by Melissa Yue as a young adult novel. The correct recommended age group for readers is ages 8 to 12.Apr 02, 2024 4:17 PM ET
