For a reader who just finished
after Happy Town by Greg van Eekhout · ages 12–16
Young adult · grades 7–11 · 850L
A solid entry into magical realism for teens who find pure fantasy too fantastical; the mystery pacing keeps it moving without dragging.
Same style
by Garth Nix
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 820L · 2021
A sharply written urban-fantasy mystery with a nonbinary protagonist and queer romance; strong worldbuilding and atmospheric London magic, though the plot meanders slightly in the middle.
by Lynette Noni
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 820L · 2018
A solid magical-academy entry point for teen fantasy readers—strong premise, genuine friendships, and a protagonist who earns her confidence rather than starting with it.
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 850L
Solid YA with genuine stakes around identity and belonging; identity-exploration arc resonates, though the pacing lags in the middle.
Stretch them up
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 1050L · 2024
A genuine doorstop fantasy that respects teen readers' intelligence — ornate prose, deep worldbuilding, and a narrator whose unreliability becomes part of the pleasure.
Young adult · 1050L · 1952
The most philosophically rigorous American family saga; demands intellectual maturity but rewards it with a genuinely moral argument about choice and human nature that lands harder at 15–16 than at 12.
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 1050L
A play about mass hysteria and coerced confession that lands harder after every election cycle — teens wrestle with why good people participate in injustice, and it's the rare YA text that trusts them with that complexity.
Complementing on courage
Nonfiction · ages 9–12 · grades 4–7 · 820L · 1990
Freedman's accessible, photo-rich biography makes FDR's disability and determination feel immediate without sentimentality; kids grasp both the man and the era.
by Rick Riordan
Middle grade · ages 9–12 · grades 4–7 · 740L · 2008
The gold standard entry point for myths, quests, and kids who love witty protagonists — the ADHD/dyslexia angle feels earned, not decorative, and Riordan's voice carries slow readers through.
by Julie Berry
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 820L · 2016
A historically grounded love story about conviction and heresy that trusts teens to hold complexity—the Church isn't evil, the family's fear is rational, and Dolssa's choices carry real cost.
We'd skip — for now
by Sarah J. Maas
A step up — ages 16–18 · grades 11–12
Skip it if graphic sexual content, profanity, or sustained violence in fantasy settings are off-limits; the third act includes visceral combat and on-page intimacy.