“Safe” Young Adult Books

June 24, 2016June 30, 2016 otakutwins1

Recently, I was at Barnes and Nobles and I’ve been noticing a lot of parent’s telling their kids that they have to read *insert book name here* first to make sure it’s safe for them to read. This has been happening a lot in the YA section where I typically stop by and it got me thinking, what are some “safe” Young Adult books?

Here’s what I mean by safe…

Books that aren’t very violent, suspenseful/thrilling, books that don’t have a lot of swearing or sexual scenes.

So I asked around and decided to compile a list of books that fit his description in case anyone is searching for safe YA :). SIDE NOTE: I haven’t read all of these books, most of these were recommended for this list. But I trust these people, feel free to click the books title and it’ll take you to goodreads to check it out yourself. OR if it is an author it will take you to their goodreads page where you can see their books 🙂 since they are deemed safe.

ANOTHER NOTE: Some of these are Middle Grade! *

SIDE NOTE #3: These are NOT the ONLY safe YA books out there, there are more that aren’t on this list yet. If you think of some, let me know and I will add them. Thank you!

Books

Authors

10 thoughts on ““Safe” Young Adult Books”

Briana says:

June 24, 2016 at 7:39 am

I have to admit, when I first saw this post I thought it might be an argument that children shouldn’t have their books censored for them. :p And while of course I believe in exposing people to new ideas, I also believe parents have the right to put some limits on what their children read. And, frankly, this makes sense to me particularly with YA because it’s such a broad age range, encompassing 12-18 year old readers. (And even younger readers who like books above their stated age level.) So the books really range from “safe” middle grade-ish reads to things like A Court of Thorns and Roses, which I think could have been published as adult instead of YA.

I actually get asked for “safe” recommendations a lot by teacher friends and such, so this is a really useful list. (Because of course a lot of schools have reservations about handing books about sex/drugs/swear words/whatever to students, even if the parents of said students wouldn’t have a problem with it.)

LikeLike

Reply
1. otakutwins1 says:
  
  June 24, 2016 at 2:28 pm
  
  No, I wasn’t writing against parents censoring the book their children read, I just wanted to make an easy to access list for parents/people who might be searching for that kind of book 🙂 So it’s easier to find a book that will fit their requirements and all that, but the kid/person can still enjoy a good read. And I am SO glad it’s useful to you 😀 if you have any other books I should add, please let me know!
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply
  1. Briana says:
    
    June 24, 2016 at 7:40 pm
    
    I just answered a discussion question recently that was basically “Should young teens read Fifty Shades of Gray?” and there were a surprising amount of people arguing that essentially we shouldn’t be allowed to “hide” content from readers, so when I saw title of your post, I thought it might be going in that direction. 😉 But I agree what kids should read really depends on the kid and what the parent wants. Some kids are ok with some content that would really traumatize others.
    
    LikeLike
iloveheartlandx says:

June 25, 2016 at 9:59 pm

I have read some of these books and agree that they would be suitable for younger readers, although personally (and this is just my personal opinion), I would have hated it if my parents had told me what was “safe” for me to read when I was younger, I reckon kids know what they are ready to read. But this is definitely a really useful list if readers of any age (not just young teens or adults with young teens) are looking for clean books.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
Pingback: June 2016 Wrap Up Fun! – Fables Library
thejedilibrarian says:

June 30, 2016 at 5:25 pm

Avalon High, Mediator, and Gallagher Girls are not MG. I’ve read the Cabot ones and they are definitely YA, but do fit your definition of “safe”. Cabot does right MG, those books are Allie Frankel’s Rules for Girls and From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess. There are some more MG Star Wars ones, you can find reviews of them on my blog. They should be tagged MG.

LikeLike

Reply
1. otakutwins1 says:
  
  June 30, 2016 at 9:05 pm
  
  Oh, thank you for pointing that out to me! I thought they ere MG D: I’ll go fix that now. Thank you 🙂 and also, thank you for stopping by 🙂
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply
  1. thejedilibrarian says:
    
    July 1, 2016 at 1:56 pm
    
    You’re welcome. 🙂 I should also point out that the most recent Mediator book (#7) is adult. With the 11 year publishing gap, Cabot aged up the characters since all the original fans are now my age. 🙂 If you girls need any other recommendations, you know where to find me.
    
    LikeLike
beloveddaughters24 says:

October 6, 2016 at 8:26 pm

Of the authors on your list, the only authors that I’ve read are Kiera Cass and Melanie Dickerson.
I actually did a book review this week on Melanie Dickerson’s first YA novel.
https://beloveddaughters.wordpress.com/2016/10/05/book-review-2/
I think it’s appealing to anyone who has an interest in classic fairy tales that are reimagined for new audiences.
I’m currently shopping for new YA authors. Are there any particular authors/books that you recommend?

LikeLike

Reply
1. otakutwins1 says:
  
  October 16, 2016 at 9:23 am
  
  Oh thank you for sharing! I’ve never read Melanie Dickerson, but I have read Kiera Cass. What did you think of them? I really enjoy Sarah J. Maas, James Dashner, Kimberly Karalius, Brandon Sanderson… and book wise, I loved Illuminae, Throne of Glass, The Impostor Queen. Mostly anything fantasy 🙂 what are some books you like?
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply