As you may have seen, I have put together a list of Diverse YA & MG 2017 UK Releases to help readers in the UK find diverse books that are being published over here. To help you further, at the beginning of each month I'll be sharing the books that are being published that month - but do continue to check the list, as I may on occasion miss out a book I'm not aware of until later, and the list will continuously be updated.
Here are the diverse YA & MG books being published in July. (Here are the releases for past months.)
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
Published 13th July from Hodder & Stoughton.
Characters:
POC: Indian American
The arranged-marriage YA romcom you didn't know you wanted or needed...
Meet Dimple.
Her main aim in life is to escape her traditional parents, get to university and begin her plan for tech world domination.
Meet Rishi.
He's rich, good-looking and a hopeless romantic. His parents think Dimple is the perfect match for him, but she's got other plans...
Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.
Perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jenny Han and Nicola Yoon, WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI is a frothy, funny contemporary romance set at a coding convention in San Francisco over one exciting summer. Told from the dual perspectives of two Indian American protagonists, Dimple is fighting her family traditions while Rishi couldn't be happier to follow in the footsteps of his parents. Could sparks fly between this odd couple, or is this matchmaking attempt doomed to fail? From Goodreads.
Indigo Donut by Patrice Lawrence (UKYA)
Published 13th July from Hodder Children's Books.
Characters:
POC: Biracial
Author:
POC: Black.
A story of longing, belonging and trust. Two very different young people discover who loves them, and who they can love back.
Bailey is 17, mixed race, lives with his mum and dad in Hackney and spends all his time playing guitar or tending to his luscious ginger afro. Indigo is 17 and new to London, having grown up in the care system after being found by her mum's dead body as a toddler. All Indigo wants is to know who she really is. When Bailey and Indigo meet at sixth form, sparks fly. But when Bailey becomes the target of a homeless man who seems to know more about Indigo than is normal, Bailey is forced to make a choice he should never have to make.
A story about falling in love and everyone's need to belong. From Goodreads.
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia (2017 debut in the UK)
Published 13th July from Harper360.
Characters:
Mental illness: Paranoid Schizophrenia.
Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.
Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.
Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up. From Goodreads.
Gender Games by Juno Dawson (YA & adult non-fiction.)
Published 13th July from Two Roads.
Author:
LGBTQ*: Trans.
Why we are all being messed up by gender, and what we can do about it.
'It's a boy!' or 'It's a girl!' are the first words almost all of us hear when we enter the world. Before our names, before we have likes and dislikes - before we, or anyone else, has any idea who we are. And two years ago, as Juno Dawson went to tell her mother she was (and actually, always had been) a woman, she started to realise just how wrong we've been getting it.
Gender isn't just screwing over trans people, it's messing with everyone. From little girls who think they can't be doctors to teenagers who come to expect street harassment. From exclusionist feminists to 'alt-right' young men. From men who can't cry to the women who think they shouldn't. As her body gets in line with her mind, Juno tells not only her own story, but the story of everyone who is shaped by society's expectations of gender - and what we can do about it.
Featuring insights from well-known gender, feminist and trans activists including Rebecca Root, Laura Bates, Gemma Cairney, Anthony Anaxagorou, Hannah Witton, Alaska Thunderfuck and many more, The Gender Games is a frank, witty and powerful manifesto for a world where what's in your head is more important than what's between your legs. From Goodreads.
Ash Boy by Lucy Coats (UKMG)
Published 15th July from Barrington Stoke.
Characters:
POCs: Indian.
When Cinder Ashok's mother dies in a freak carriage accident, he doesn't think life can get any worse but it does. His dad marries a total horror and Ash Boy inherits bullying step-brothers Rock and Boulder. All Cinder wants is to be left in peace in the library with his side-kick Buttons. But Rock and Boulder are on a mission to compete in Prince Charmless' upcoming jousting tournament. Everything turns upside down when Cinder's fairy godfather magics him into the tournament. Now he's got a happily-ever-after in his sights! From Goodreads.
Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
Published 27th July from Simon & Schuster Children's Books.
Characters:
Mental illness: Panic attacks.
A secondary character with drug addiction.
LGBTQ*: Gay secondary character.
Bailey “Mink” Rydell has met the boy of her dreams. They share a love of films and talk all day – Alex is perfect. Well, apart from the fact that they’ve never actually met . . . and neither of them knows the other’s real name.
When Bailey moves to sunny California to live with her dad, who happens to live in the same town as Alex, she decides to track him down. But finding someone based on online conversations alone proves harder than Bailey thought, and with her irritating but charismatic (and potentially attractive?) colleague Porter Roth distracting her at every turn, will she ever get to meet the mysterious Alex?
From the author of Night Owls comes a story of summer, first love and hidden identities... From Goodreads.
--
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on:
Bloglovin' | Twitter | Instagram
Here are the diverse YA & MG books being published in July. (Here are the releases for past months.)
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
Published 13th July from Hodder & Stoughton.
Characters:
POC: Indian American
The arranged-marriage YA romcom you didn't know you wanted or needed...
Meet Dimple.
Her main aim in life is to escape her traditional parents, get to university and begin her plan for tech world domination.
Meet Rishi.
He's rich, good-looking and a hopeless romantic. His parents think Dimple is the perfect match for him, but she's got other plans...
Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.
Perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jenny Han and Nicola Yoon, WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI is a frothy, funny contemporary romance set at a coding convention in San Francisco over one exciting summer. Told from the dual perspectives of two Indian American protagonists, Dimple is fighting her family traditions while Rishi couldn't be happier to follow in the footsteps of his parents. Could sparks fly between this odd couple, or is this matchmaking attempt doomed to fail? From Goodreads.
Indigo Donut by Patrice Lawrence (UKYA)
Published 13th July from Hodder Children's Books.
Characters:
POC: Biracial
Author:
POC: Black.
A story of longing, belonging and trust. Two very different young people discover who loves them, and who they can love back.
Bailey is 17, mixed race, lives with his mum and dad in Hackney and spends all his time playing guitar or tending to his luscious ginger afro. Indigo is 17 and new to London, having grown up in the care system after being found by her mum's dead body as a toddler. All Indigo wants is to know who she really is. When Bailey and Indigo meet at sixth form, sparks fly. But when Bailey becomes the target of a homeless man who seems to know more about Indigo than is normal, Bailey is forced to make a choice he should never have to make.
A story about falling in love and everyone's need to belong. From Goodreads.
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia (2017 debut in the UK)
Published 13th July from Harper360.
Characters:
Mental illness: Paranoid Schizophrenia.
Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.
Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.
Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up. From Goodreads.
Gender Games by Juno Dawson (YA & adult non-fiction.)
Published 13th July from Two Roads.
Author:
LGBTQ*: Trans.
Why we are all being messed up by gender, and what we can do about it.
'It's a boy!' or 'It's a girl!' are the first words almost all of us hear when we enter the world. Before our names, before we have likes and dislikes - before we, or anyone else, has any idea who we are. And two years ago, as Juno Dawson went to tell her mother she was (and actually, always had been) a woman, she started to realise just how wrong we've been getting it.
Gender isn't just screwing over trans people, it's messing with everyone. From little girls who think they can't be doctors to teenagers who come to expect street harassment. From exclusionist feminists to 'alt-right' young men. From men who can't cry to the women who think they shouldn't. As her body gets in line with her mind, Juno tells not only her own story, but the story of everyone who is shaped by society's expectations of gender - and what we can do about it.
Featuring insights from well-known gender, feminist and trans activists including Rebecca Root, Laura Bates, Gemma Cairney, Anthony Anaxagorou, Hannah Witton, Alaska Thunderfuck and many more, The Gender Games is a frank, witty and powerful manifesto for a world where what's in your head is more important than what's between your legs. From Goodreads.
Ash Boy by Lucy Coats (UKMG)
Published 15th July from Barrington Stoke.
Characters:
POCs: Indian.
When Cinder Ashok's mother dies in a freak carriage accident, he doesn't think life can get any worse but it does. His dad marries a total horror and Ash Boy inherits bullying step-brothers Rock and Boulder. All Cinder wants is to be left in peace in the library with his side-kick Buttons. But Rock and Boulder are on a mission to compete in Prince Charmless' upcoming jousting tournament. Everything turns upside down when Cinder's fairy godfather magics him into the tournament. Now he's got a happily-ever-after in his sights! From Goodreads.
Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
Published 27th July from Simon & Schuster Children's Books.
Characters:
Mental illness: Panic attacks.
A secondary character with drug addiction.
LGBTQ*: Gay secondary character.
Bailey “Mink” Rydell has met the boy of her dreams. They share a love of films and talk all day – Alex is perfect. Well, apart from the fact that they’ve never actually met . . . and neither of them knows the other’s real name.
When Bailey moves to sunny California to live with her dad, who happens to live in the same town as Alex, she decides to track him down. But finding someone based on online conversations alone proves harder than Bailey thought, and with her irritating but charismatic (and potentially attractive?) colleague Porter Roth distracting her at every turn, will she ever get to meet the mysterious Alex?
From the author of Night Owls comes a story of summer, first love and hidden identities... From Goodreads.
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on:
Bloglovin' | Twitter | Instagram
