GrubWrites

YAWPer Recommended: A July Reading List

YAWP Summer starts on June 27th! In celebration of summer vacation, our teen writers share the books that are lighting up their minds.

Whether you're in the mood for an epistolary novel taking place during a time war, a memoir exploring grief and heritage, or green toilet plunger-shaped aliens and WWII, there's a read for you! And if you're itching to read one of these teen picks, you can always grab a copy from our partners at Porter Square Books: Boston Edition.

		This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Time War is a queer enemies-to-lovers epistolary novel, written primarily in the form of letters between Red and Blue, two agents on opposite sides of the eponymous time war. The novel revolves around the development of their relationship and how it effects everything around them. It’s beautifully written and is one of those books that leaves you sitting on the ground for hours after you finish it, stunned and wishing you could read it for the first time again. — Phoebe Fogel, YAWPer


		Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner Zauner’s memoir is for the grievers, the rebels, and the outcasts. In her brutally honest perspective, the narrator takes us through her last months with her dying mother. Michelle Zauner regains a sense of belonging in her Korean heritage in food, experience, and love in the midst of a tragedy. She begins to understand her mother: her disconnection from her native country, her methodical routines, and her passion for cooking that stems from the heart. This book is one to be spent reading on your bathroom floor in one sitting during ungodly hours, one that resonates so deeply that it hurts and heals all in one. — Bela Kumar, YAWPer


		Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut A gripping war story involving green toilet plunger-shaped aliens and time travel, Slaughterhouse-Five is truly a whirlwind of a book. It balances the gravity and seriousness of war with sharp satire and comedy. What's more, Kurt Vonnegut adds incredible depth by weaving his own experiences as a veteran of World War II into this novel. Billy Pilgrim, an awkward soldier, miraculously survives the War against all odds; the story only gets stranger from there. It’s guaranteed that Slaughterhouse-Five will leave you pondering its themes long after you've finished the book. — Ailin Sha, YAWPer