Collection: Young Adult

A flagship anthology that ignites youth voice and inspires classroom writing. Great for educators, librarians, and champions of diverse story-telling, this captivating book says: The future is yours to write!

For 10 years Shout Mouse Press has published books by young people, and in that decade we've fallen in love with their stories, their honesty, and their courage. Are you a writer like them? If not, we know you could be.

This anthology features standout youth-authored pieces from across our 60+ books-memoir, poetry, fiction, comics, and picture books-that speak with heart and clarity about topics that shape our lives at every stage: family, friendship, identity, justice, belonging, and more.

But this isn't just a greatest-hits collection. Alongside these pieces, you'll find simple writing prompts, fun behind-the-scenes details insights, and insightful conversations with some of our favorite authors that show how rewarding and powerful it is to tell your truth.

Whether you've got a story ready or just a feeling in your gut-we hope this book gives you the spark to begin.

Featuring contributions from award-winning authors in conversation with young voices. Safia Elhillo, Robin Ha, Candice Iloh, Tony Keith, Jr., Nicole Lynn Lewis, José Olivarez, Clint Smith

What's Inside:

• A diverse collection of youth-authored memoirs, poetry, fiction, comics, and children's literature, featuring underrepresented voices.
• Creative writing prompts and behind-the-scenes insights to inspire students and emerging writers to tell their own stories.
• Intergenerational conversations with award-winning guest authors, exploring the role of storytelling in social change.
• Discussion questions for middle and high school classrooms, book clubs, and creative writing workshops.

Perfect for:

• Aspiring young writers looking for inspiration, mentorship, and creative guidance.
• Educators and librarians seeking an engaging, diverse, and inclusive classroom writing resource for middle and high school students.
• Readers who believe in the power of storytelling to spark dialogue and transform communities.

Her banshee scream is a death sentence. His love might be hers.

"You know that feeling people get when something bad is about to happen to someone they love? Or how some seem to know it's their time right before getting into a horrible accident? That's me. I warn that death is coming."

Sadie is a banshee on the run - from hunters, from her past, and from the terrifying truth that she's killed before. As an empath, she's learned to shut her emotions down, because if she feels too much, she could easily turn lethal again.

There are no highs. No lows. No chance of losing control.

But when Sadie falls sick from a hunter's mysterious spell, she can no longer escape into the safety of other people's emotions. Now in a new town with a new identity, she's forced to feel everything. Grief. Rage. Longing. Fear. For the first time in her life, she makes friends, forging connections and breaking her careful rules for survival. And then there's Nathan - the human boy she's connected to by fate.

Falling for him may well be her undoing.

As hunters close in, Sadie must decide whether to let herself lose control-and risk everything that keeps her safe - all to protect those she never meant to love.

Coming soon! I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang will be available Jan 27, 2026.

Seventeen-year-old noble Will Arrex and her classmate Paige Tarrant were destined to be bitter rivals. Where Will is ice cold and painfully poised--everything an Arrex should be--Tarrant is a firecracker, unafraid to speak her mind. Every twenty-five years, students aboard the Eden Space Station are chosen by lottery to pilot the Laikas--a fleet of ships sent on exploratory missions, humanity's last hope to find a habitable world. As the only daughter of a powerful politician, Will was not supposed to be one of them.When Will and Tarrant wind up piloting Laika 15 together, their mutual hatred begins to thaw. But all seems lost when they discover the Eden's darkest secret...Laika 15 was never meant to come home.Trapped in the vastness of space on an impossible mission, Will and Paige must bridge the lightyears keeping them apart if they want to survive.

In the thrilling, witchy sequel to Over My Dead Body, Abigail fights to clear her name as strange occurrences continue to plague Younwity Hidden Institute of Witchcraft--a spooky teen graphic novel perfect for fans of Wednesday Addams and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina!

Months after Abigail and her friends thwarted a dark magic ritual that threatened to destroy Younwity Hidden Institute of Witchcraft, new dangers and long-buried secrets bubble to the surface.

As autumn turns to winter, a mysterious rune-dotted fissure has appeared in the school grounds, and no one from the Coven is able to seal it--no matter how powerful their magic is. Even worse, it's believed this fissure is the source of hazardous tremors that continue to rip through the grounds, threatening the institute's very foundation. Abigail is certain this is all her fault and hatches a plan to seal the fissure herself, but when her ritual goes sideways, she awakens a long-dormant entity hellbent on revenge. To put things right, Abigail will need to unearth the true history of Younwity Institute and, just maybe, unravel the secrets of her own forgotten past along the way.

Your teens are a time of self-discovery, development, and change, but they can also be a time of anxiety and confusion. You may be perplexed by matters like your relationships with peers, your personality, and the future. As a result, you can be tempted to make hasty decisions with long-term consequences. Life Advice for Teens is specially written for you to help you navigate this critical stage of your life. With so much to learn, it's helpful to find a comprehensive guide.

In Life Advice for Teens, you'll master how to:

• Manage your time
• Set goals
• Build confidence
• Manage money
• Develop resiliency
• And so much more!

Life Advice for Teens is a powerful tool that has helped other teens navigate the challenges of adolescence and beyond. It offers a roadmap for personal growth, self-improvement, and success.

Are you ready to become your best self and master new skills?

Furyborn meets Curious Tides with a dash of Sailor Moon in this magical, dark fantasy debut.

When fifteen-year-old Astraea Windsor watches her grandmother die, her entire world changes. Literally.

Taken from the small town she grew up in-and the only world she ever knew-Astraea finds herself transported to Voncord, a magical world inhabited by Signs, who wield elemental energies, and her true home. Here, there are people who look like her-with vibrant hair and orange-colored eyes-and despite drawing unwanted attention for her never-before-seen power signature, Astraea finally feels she's found her place.

But Voncord is a world in turmoil.

Signs are blaming each other for seismic tremors causing devastation, Guides, beings who can rip open gateways in timepsace are calling for equality to Signs, and girls from Astraea's new school-The University of Voncordia-are vanishing.

And only Astraea may know how to find them.

When she develops dark, unexplainable dreams of an ice fortress that leaves her dazed, Astraea realizes they might be more than just nightmares. But with her warnings ignored, she must dive into the madness herself, teaming up with an enemy and following the threads in her dreams, if she is to save the missing students and keep everything around her from sinking.

Or watch her world drown.

2025 IngramSpark(R) Editorial Selection - Young Adult

The Dragons in Our Midst series is a modern-day Arthurian adventure following a boy with fire breath and a girl with dragon wings as they battle against a thousand-year-old dragon slayer.

Readers will be drawn to the hair-raising adventure with relevant themes like trusting friends, compassion, forgiveness, loyalty to family, faith, and light triumphing over darkness. This complete set includes the four books in the Dragons in Our Midst series:

• Raising Dragons Outcasts Billy and Bonnie must come together to preserve a thousand-year-old secret legacy. Thrust into an evil war they didn't even know existed; the teens' newly formed friendship will be tested as they battle a blood thirsty dragon slayer who wields a powerful, medieval weapon. This unlikely pair will try to save their dragon heritage before it's destroyed forever.
• The Candlestone: Billy and Bonnie learn to use their unique strengths as they battle powerful enemies wielding the candlestone, an ancient gemstone weapon used against dragons.
• Circles of Seven: Billy and Bonnie discover seven evil circles in a multidimensional world.
• Tears of a Dragon: Billy and Bonnie will be forced to make the greatest decision of their lives--a choice that will change their world forever.

Dive into a world filled with knights, dragons, fair maidens in a war against good and evil.

When legends bite back.

Lemon Ziegler wants to escape rural Devil's Elbow, Pennsylvania to attend college--but that's impossible now that she's expected to impersonate the town's lake monster for the rest of her life. Her family has been secretly keeping the tradition of Old Lucy, the famed (and very fake) monster of Lake Lokakoma, alive for generations, all to keep the tourists coming. Without Lemon, the town dies, and she can't disappoint her grandparents . . . or tell her best friends about any of it. That includes Troy Ramirez, who has been covertly in love with Lemon for years, afraid to ruin their friendship by confessing his feelings. When a very real, and very hungry monster is discovered in the lake, secrets must fall by the wayside. Determined to stop the monster, Lemon and her best friends are the only thing standing between Devil's Elbow and the monster out for blood.

For readers who enjoy Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis, House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland, Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain, and The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst.

Bestselling author of Scythe and Challenger Deep Neal Shusterman, here with coauthors Debra Young and Michelle Knowlden, tells an intense yet tender story of two teens, trapped in impossible circumstances and unjust systems, willing to risk everything for love--no matter the consequences.

Adriana knows that if she can manage to keep her head down for the next seven months, she might be able to get through her sentence in the Compass juvenile detention center. Thankfully, she's allowed to keep her journal, where she writes down her most private thoughts when her feelings get too big.

Until the day she opens her journal and discovers that her thoughts are no longer so private. Someone has read her writings--and has written back. A boy who lives on the other side of the gender-divided detention center. A boy who sparks a fire in her to write back.

Jon's story is different than Adriana's; he's already been at Compass for years and will be in the system for years to come. Still, when he reads the words Adriana writes to him, it makes him feel like the walls that hold them in have melted away.

This fast-paced, highly compelling tour de force novel exposes what life is like in detention--and reveals the hearts of two teens who are forced to live in desperate circumstances.

Alexandra Moody's BookTok sensation DARLING DEVILS series is back with the most devilish Darling brother of all in a wholesome, banter-filled ice-hockey romance perfect for fans of Hannah Grace, slow-burn chemistry, and happily ever afters!

Enemies. Teammates. Something dangerously close to more . . .
Parker Darling is ready to take center ice, but the Ransom Devils' new coach already hates him for a dumb mistake Parker made years ago--with the help of that new coach's daughter.

Kenzie Foster loves hockey. If only her hockey-coach dad hadn't forbidden her from playing--thanks to Parker Darling.

When the Devils' goalie gets injured, Parker is determined to lead the team back to greatness. Kenzie, meanwhile, sees a wide-open net just waiting to prove her dad wrong.

Parker and Kenzie will need to work together to reach their goals--but does that mean risking another big mistake?

• Enemies to lovers: Parker and Kenzie are responsible for each other's biggest problems. But the reason they got into trouble in the first place was their chemistry--which is still too hot to ignore.

• Girl power: Parker Darling isn't the only hockey player in this story. You'll be rooting for Kenzie as she beats out the boys for the star goalie spot.

• Hockey romance galore: Fall in love with all four Darling siblings with the other books in the DARLING DEVILS series!

A hilarious and heartwarming young YA comedy about an unlikely connection between two very different teen boys as they grapple with crushes, toxic friendships, and the true meaning of masculinity.

Anton Charles and his friends are the kings of the school, and they rule with an iron fist, intimidating classmates and maintaining a reputation built on fear.

But at home, Mum reigns supreme, and after one too many detentions, she cuts off Anton's internet and decides it's time for a serious change. She signs him up for the Happy Campers, a local activity group, and Anton's worst nightmare becomes a reality: Matthew, the school's biggest dork, is in it too.

Anton can't imagine anything worse than spending weekends sewing and singing campfire songs with Matthew and his band of geeks--how will he ever keep his reputation intact if anyone finds out? But after Matthew unexpectedly saves Anton's life, everything changes.

As the boys strike up an unlikely friendship, Anton finds himself questioning everything he thought was true. Maybe there's more to life than what his friends think of him? Maybe it's time to rethink what being a "man" really means?

And maybe there are some things more important than being king.

RINGO AWARD NOMINATION for Best Digital Book of the Year!

In this stunning debut series by Miyuli, perfect for fans of fantasy and romance, a struggling witch crosses paths with an angsty vampire, setting the stage for either love or war.

What happens when a struggling witch meets an angsty vampire? Either love or war.

Morgana Winterberry belongs to a long line of witches, while Oz belongs to the rival vampire clan. After lifting a magical curse on the vampires, Morgana makes an uneasy truce with them, very much against her family's warnings.

Morgana and Oz plan to work together to investigate who cursed the vampires in the first place, and who summoned the ghouls that are stalking the forest. Much to Morgana's worry, signs point to someone in her family using her powerful ancestor Neil Winterberry's grimoire.

Morgana and Oz get separated, but Morgana is finally able to find her missing grandfather...but he is under the thrall of a mysterious vampire who appears to be a young boy. After another of her spells goes awry, Morgana is taken in by a family of werewolves with a surprising connection to Oz.

Morgana is serious about righting her great-great-grandfather's wrongs and Oz is determined to protect Morgana. The witch and vampire will have to work together to unravel a tangled web of dark magic that ensnares both their families.

This volume collects episodes 59 to 77 of the hit fantasy WEBTOON series with over 81 million reads, Morgana and Oz.

Kelvin, the battle junkie Summoner from another world, finally clashes with Leonhart Gaun, the king of the host country of the Beast King Festival. They bring all their strength, wits, and cunning to bear, each struggling to gain dominance over the other and proceed further in the tournament. At the same time, the organization who pulled the strings behind the Demon Lord incident and manipulated Trycen into declaring war on the rest of the continent seems to be on the move. Will this entity shrouded in mystery appear before Kelvin and his companions once again?

Cursed by love

Doomed never to speak.

Cursed by memories

Doomed always to forget.

After being left by her first love, Merri Caspiana has fallen for a commoner who lives by Kerilow Bay. The only problem is that she's bound by the sea. When she bargains with the sea witch for a pair of legs, it comes at a graver cost than she realizes. Just when she's learning how to walk, a terrible prophecy is brought to light. The prince of Windkeep, Chaera is in grave danger, and to ensure his safety, all maidens must be sent away from the kingdom until the prince's eighteenth year has passed.

Prince Olivander Daws is set to claim the throne when he comes of age, but he never gets the chance. When he suddenly loses his memory, and in turn is forgotten by all those who know him, he's cast off to a distant land while the one he left behind is turning to ruins.

In the small town of Tenby, Wales, a lighthouse keeper named Jac Hughes thinks he's going crazy. He's been having recurring dreams of a foreign prince and a sea maiden whom he's never met before. And he'll do just about anything to figure out why.

Something dangerous and sinister is on the rise in Windkeep Citadel and Kerilow Bay, but in this YA portal fantasy where Narnia meets The Little Mermaid and ABC's Once Upon a Time, Olivander, Merri, and Jac will learn that even darkness must bend to the light.

Susan Dennard's New York Times bestselling, young adult epic fantasy Witchlands series continues with Witchshadow, the story of the Threadwitch Iseult.

War has come to the Witchlands . . . and nothing will be the same again.

Iseult has found her heartsister Safi at last, but their reunion is brief. For Iseult to stay alive, she must flee Cartorra while Safi remains. And though Iseult has plans to save her friend, they will require her to summon magic more dangerous than anything she has ever faced before.

Meanwhile, the Bloodwitch Aeduan is beset by forces he cannot understand. And Vivia--rightful queen of Nubrevna--finds herself without a crown or home.

As villains from legend reawaken across the Witchlands, only the mythical Cahr Awen can stop the gathering war. Iseult could embrace this power and heal the land, but first she must choose on which side of the shadows her destiny will lie.

Also by Susan Dennard

The Executioners Three

The Luminaries trilogy
The Luminaries
The Hunting Moon
The Whispering Night

The Witchlands series
Truthwitch
Windwitch
Sightwitch (novella)
Bloodwitch
Witchshadow
Witchlight