A Decade of Novels, #2: Youth Fiction

This is the second of a three-part series reviewing the last decade’s bestselling and award-winning genre novels by LDS authors. This section on youth fiction was preceded by one on romance novels, and will be followed by a section on adult speculative fiction. 

Lots of youth fiction by LDS authors, lots of awards

In 2010 the Whitney Awards had 2 awards and 10 finalist slots for youth fiction: Youth Fiction General and Youth Fiction Speculative . By the end of the decade there are 4 awards and 20 slots: Fantasy Young Adult Fiction, Speculative Young Adult Fiction, General Young Adult Fiction, and Middle Grade. The growth in slots reflects the huge number of LDS authors writing in those categories. Indeed, there are too many excellent authors writing in the children’s literature market for me to recognize them all. I’m going to take a stab at it though. Alright, well, this is a formidable task. This is when I start regretting my life choices.  I guess we’ll begin chronologically?

The woman who kicked off the decade with an astonishing success is Ally Condie with her release of MATCHED in 2010, a dystopian YA novel which hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller and stayed there for over a year. She won both a Whitney award and an AML award, as well as numerous other recognitions. MATCHED could be argued the trilogy of the decade. All of it is beautiful work and guys, how I admire Condie as a writer. I have never seen Ally Condie’s match in striving to create quality work. She began with a series of LDS-themed youth novels for Deseret Book/Shadow Mountain, starting with YEARBOOK (2006). Ever since then, Condie has consistently leveled up her game, challenged herself to do better. International success did not change a thing. Ally brings her best to every book she releases into this world. This decade also saw the release of ATLANTIA (2014, AML award), SUMMERLOST (2016, Whitney and AML awards), and LAST VOYAGE OF POE BLYTHE (2019, Whitney award), showing that Condie’s work held the widest audience appeal in the field of Mormon Literature for an entire decade. She frequently writes ultimately hopeful post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels. MATCHED marks the peak of the dystopian trend and BLYTHE the tail end.

Brandon Mull is already highly regarded writer of Youth Fantasy when the decade started, having had his wildly successful Fablehaven series published in 2006-2010. He used that success to launch himself into several popular Fantasy series. BEYONDERS (Aladdin), DRAGONWATCH (Shadow Mountain), and FIVE KINGDOMS (Aladdin). He also launched a collaborative multi-book series called SPIRIT ANIMALS.

Shannon Hale, who wrote the 4th volume of SPIRIT ANIMALS, also had a successful decade, venturing into a wide variety of genres. The Newberry Honor winner expanded her YA fantasy PRINCESS ACADEMY world into a trilogy, PALACE OF STONE (2012) and THE FORGOTTEN SISTERS (2015), and released the YA Science Fiction DANGEROUS (2014). Co-writing with her husband Dean, they jumped into the world of graphic novels with fairytale retelling RAPUNZEL’S REVENGE (2008) and CALAMITY JACK (2010), middle-grade superhero fiction for both Marvel and DC Comics: THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL: SQUIRREL MEETS WORLD (2017), 2 FUZZY 2 FURIOUS (2018), and DIANA: PRINCESS OF THE AMAZONS (2020, a graphic novel). The couple also created the amazing early reader chapter book THE PRINCESS IN BLACK series (2017), now eight books long. Shannon also collaborated with her Princess In Black illustrator LeUyen Pham to create the autobiographical graphic novels REAL FRIENDS (2017, AML award), BEST FRIENDS (2019), and the forthcoming FRIENDS FOREVER (2021). If that does not exhaust you, she also started the decade publishing the adult novel AUSTENLAND (2010) which she followed up with a sequel MIDNIGHT IN AUSTENLAND (2012). AUSTENLAND was later made into a movie, produced by Stephanie Meyer. She topped off the decade with her YA fantasy, KIND OF A BIG DEAL (2020).

This trifecta of authors, as well as their predecessor Stephanie Meyer, carved a pathway of aspiration and ambition. They spearheaded an era of Mormon artistic endeavor, a decade of economic and critical success that I don’t know that we’ll see again in the literary arts. The world has changed in significant ways in 2020. I don’t think the literary world will ever look the same as it did at the dawn of this decade.

Another significant literary innovator, Jeffrey Scott Savage, started off the decade publishing an overtly Mormon fantasy THE FOURTH NEPHITE. The decade saw him finish his FARWOLRD SERIES, complete the MYSTERIES OF COVE SERIES, and launch a new LOST WONDERLAND DIARIES SERIES, all with Shadow Mountain. In 2012, he launched the CASE FILE 13 Series with THE ZOMBIE KID, which won several notable recognitions and awards. He also penned DARK MEMORIES, a 2013 Whiney Speculative Award Winner, a Mormon horror novel.

Savage’s connection with the literary agent Michael Bourret opened the way for several other Mormon writers to enter the YA market, most notably–James Dashner.

The start of the decade saw Dashner finishing the 13th REALITY series for Shadow Mountain. He then launched THE MAZE RUNNER series and the MORALITY DOCTRINE series. THE MAZE RUNNER series was incredibly successful. The series was made into a trilogy of blockbuster movies.

At the height of his career in 2018, in the Mormon literary community’s biggest controversy of the decade, Dashner was accused of sexual harassment, for which he apologized on his Twitter account. The scandal led to his publisher canceling his book contract and his agent dropping him from representation, thus, stalling the enormous success of his career. I was not in Utah when this scandal went down but this event sent ripples of shock through the community. I fear that many people drew lines and erected walls based on this event that probably still impact the community today.

Other authors currently repped by Bourret Agency are: Cassie Mae (2019 Whitney Romance finalist), Brodi Ashton (EVERNEATH, 2012 Whitney YA Speculative award winner), Jolene Perry, three-time Whitney award Finalist (NEXT DOOR BOYS trilogy (2011-2012), HAS TO BE LOVE (2015) and numerous other titles), and Emily Wing Smith (BACK WHEN YOU WERE EASIER TO LOVE, (2011))

Kiersten White debuted onto the YA scene with a splash with the 2010 Whitney award win for PARANORMALCY, the first in a paranormal romance series that received a lot of praise. She also took the 2014 Whitney award home for ILLUSIONS OF FATE. She wrote some of the dark fantasy of the decade with AND I DARKEN Trilogy. Her work had been very influence by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise from the start, and she got the chance to write two novels set in that world–SLAYER AND CHOSEN. In 2018 her YA horror novel THE DARK DESCENT OF ELIZABETH FRANKENSTEIN won the AML YA Novel award. She closed the decade writing a gender-swapped Camelot Rising Series.

Aprilynne Pike started the decade fresh on the success of her New York Times #1 Bestseller WINGS. The Wings quartet (2009-2012) was an amazing success for both the author and her publisher. She wrote three more series in the decade, the last of which ended with SHATTER (2018). Early 2020, she indie-published CLOCKWORK SCOTT, a graphic steampunk novel that she co-wrote with her husband Kenneth Pike. She’s a two-time Whitney Finalist.

Robison Wells, the creator of the Whitney Awards, took the 2011 Whitney Youth Speculative and AML YA awards for his title VARIANT. He wrote five successful titles with Harper Teen the first half of the decade. His most recent release THE WARNING (2019) he co-wrote with the esteemed James Patterson.

In 2011 Jessica Day George was a Whitney Youth Speculative finalist for TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE, the first in a five-book series that was completed in 2017. Her most recent work is the ROSE LEGACY trilogy, caped by RIDER’S REIGN (2020). She is a six-time Whitney award finalist.

2011 was also the year that Janette Rallison was nominated for two Whitney Awards, one under her pen name, CJ Hill. Man, if you haven’t tried to read something by Rallison you are missing out. She is one of my favorite writers. This decade she made a splash with the unique fairy-tale inspired My FAIR GODMOTHER (2009),  MY UNFAIR GODMOTHER (2011), followed up by MY FAIRLY DANGEROUS GODMOTHER (2015). As CJ Hill she wrote the SLAYERS series, which she completed in 2018 with the title INTO THE FIRESTORM.  She also wrote a middle grade THE WRONG SIDE OF MAGIC (2016) and the romantic comedy HOW I MET YOUR BROTHER (2016). By the decade’s end, she has accumulated ten Whitney Award finalist spots.

Julie Berry has been heavily lauded by the national and Mormon literary communities. After two fantasy novels, AMARANTH ENCHANTMENT (2009) and SECONDHAND CHARM (2010), she launched into national literary attention with the 2013 hit ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME, set in a colonial-era Puritan community. It won the Whitney Young Adult General Award, and was on many national top-ten lists. Then she didn’t stop writing wonderful award-winning books for the entire decade. What a treasure! Her comic THE SCANDALOUS SISTERHOOD OF PRICKWILLOW PLACE (2014) won an Odyssey Honor from the American Library Association, the AML Middle Grade Novel award, and Whitney Best Novel in Youth Fiction. THE PASSION OF DOLSSA (2017) is a fascinating story of religious devotion in medieval France, which won an American Library Association Printz Honor, the Whitney General Young Adult Fiction award, and an AML award finalist. She ended the decade with the masterpiece LOVELY WAR, which was the 2019 Whitney Award Novel of the Year (Youth) and AML YA Novel award winner.

Jennifer A. Nielsen took the Whitney and AML Middle Grade awards for THE FALSE PRINCE in 2012, a series that spanned four books and the entire decade. She also wrote two trilogies, TRAITOR’S GAME and MARK OF THE THIEF.  In 2015 A NIGHT DIVIDED won the Whitney Middle Grade award. 2018 RESISTANCE took the middle grade and Best Youth Novel of the year Whitneys. In the same year, THE TRAITOR’S GAME took the YA Fantasy Whitney. In 2019, WORDS ON FIRE took the AML Middle Grade award. In total, she has won seven Whitney Awards, and was a finalist three other times. If we have to name a middle-grade writer of the decade? The award goes to Jennifer Nielsen.

Jeff Zentner made a big impression with his deeply southern and deeply spiritual debut THE SERPENT KING, in 2016. It took the William C. Morris Debut award from the ALA, the Whitney Best Debut Novel, the AML Young Adult Novel award, and many other recognitions. Indeed, this work made so much buzz, I’d nominate it as YA novel of the decade. Zentner’s GOODBYE DAYS also won the AML YA Novel award, and both it and RAYNE AND DELILAH’s MATINEE were nominated for Whitneys.

Chris Crowe is both a novelist and an English professor at BYU, who has guided many of the authors on this list at the start of their careers. His 2014 novel, DEATH COMING UP THE HILL, won both the Whitney Young Adult General and the AML Young Adult awards. Written entirely in haiku, it tells the story of a high school boy in 1968, facing the reality of the Vietnam War.

Ann Dee Ellis has produced a series of award-winning young adult novels, and also teaches writing at BYU. She won the AML Young Adult award for THIS IS WHAT I DID (2007), and AML Middle Grade awards for THE END OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT (2014, honorable mention), and YOU MAY ALREADY BE A WINNER (2017).

Kasie West is another extremely prolific novelist, starting with her debut YA novel in 2013. PIVOT POINT won the Whitney Best Novel by a New Author, and her second novel, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, published that same year, was also a finalist. Since then West has published a dozen books, the majority contemporary YA romances. She was a finalist for the Whitney General YA award for five straight years until BY YOUR SIDE took home the Whitney Award in 2017.

Bethany Wiggins released six novels this decade. Her first SHIFTING (2011) and third CURED (2014) were recognized as Whitney finalists.

Breanna Shields’s debut POISONS’S KISS was a Whitney finalist in 2017.  Her novel THE BONE CHARMER won the Whitney in YA Fantasy in 2019.

Rosalyn Eves‘s debut novel BLOOD ROSE REBELLION (2017) won a Whitney Fantasy Young Adult award, and was the first of a trilogy. In 2021 her novel BEYOND THE MAPPED STARS will be released, a 19th-century YA novel which will include a Mormon main character, a rarity for youth novels. Sara B. Larson (DEFY), Erin Sumerhill (CLASH OF KINGDOMS), and Kathyrn Purdie (BURNING GLASS), also all released trilogies into the latter half of the decade. This decade saw the beginning of the careers of fantasy authors Emily R. King, Tricia Levenseller, and Caitlin Sangster.

In middle grade, we have the husband-and-wife team of Chad Morris and Shelley Brown, who won the AML Middle Grade award for SQUINT in 2018. Also Elaine Vickers and Liesl Shurtliff consistently showing up with quality work. We’ll have to see where the next decade takes them.

Looking into the future of Mormon-written youth fiction

Nationwide the YA market is contracting dramatically. Last year several YA publishing imprints were closed. The boom is over. Many people broke into the market under the assumption that it was an easy route to traditional publishing. As the market shifts away from the emphasis on YA, many past career-making opportunities will disappear and fade.  I see authors turning to middle grade to find a good traditional publishing career. I think that the next few years, at the very least, we will find Mormon writers experimenting in that space. But I honestly don’t see a path for us to churn out dozens of bestselling YA authors the same way we did this decade. Achievements will be smaller. Many of the trends old authors cut their teeth on are gone. Less paranormal, less dystopian (maybe), more diverse, more graphic novels. People are predicting more author collaborations a la SPIRIT ANIMALS. I guess we’ll see.

Emily Debenham graduated from BYU with a double degree in Latin and History teaching. She taught high school Latin for two years in Houston, Texas. She helped her husband launch seven indie titles, the most popular of which was Wolfhound. She is a three-time finalist in the Mormon Lit Blitz. She maintained a book review blog, Gamila’s Review, for five years. She launched the LDS Picture Book Project, where she spotlighted and sometimes interviewed LDS authors of picture books.