4 Top YA Blog Spots
YA readers come together at YA blogging sites to see what’s new on the book market, read reviews, browse through author interviews, and study spotlights on the prevalent themes in YA literature.
YA writers come with a similar bent, but also seek reviewers for their upcoming novels or to boost readership of previous titles or commit to a blog tour. Blog book tours is similar to a traditional book tour where authors stopped at bookstores. In this case all of their stops are virtual.
Where can YA readers and writers go? According to Adam Singer of The Future Buzz, there are over 200 million blogs available online. That’s a huge mess of information to wade through. Since many of these blogs are for and about teen literature, they are a wonderful informal way to reach teen readers and connect them to the books they crave.
Here YA readers will find 4 active blogs relevant to YA readers and writers:
Big Al and his crew of Pals review books for kids and adults. The Pals rank their reviews with 5 stars for excellent to 1 star for very poor.
The reviews are divided into sections. The Pals provide a brief author bio, book description, and appraisal. A unique section gives readers personal information regarding content that may offend, have sexual content, or extreme violence. Since the Pals will review self-published books, they also include a section in their reviews regarding the book format or typo issues.
Big Al’s Books & Pals will participate in blog tours and guest posts.
Blogging since 2011.
Jason actively reviews several YA books every month. At the end of the month he’ll show his favorite and explain why. His site also reveals a list of recommended books in categories like Realistic YA, Fantasy, and Science Fiction.
Jason predominantly reviews YA fiction like sci-fi, fantasy, or historical fiction. He conducts author interviews, displays book news, and lists articles relevant to YA literature.
Blogging since 2008.
Monica provides a plethora of YA genre for her readers to pour through from children’s books, Read-Aloud, Sci-Fi, History, and more. Books are even categorized by age group starting at 5 years through adult. She rates her books through a rating system—G= clean, PG = mostly clean…through R= books containing violence, profanity, or sexual content.
Monica is the mother of four children. She started her website to fill a vacuum—a place where she could find more information about the books she would want her children to read. Since she couldn’t find one, she’s doing it herself. Her reviews summarizes each book she reads, and then she provides her “two cents”.
Blogging since 2009.
Hosts Shelley and Kathryn review and discuss hot topics related to books. Their interests lean toward all things paranormal and prefer YA and adult paranormal romance. They also review urban fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian novels. Shelley and Kathryn interview authors and or their leading characters.
Shelley Bunnell is a single bookworm from Salem, Oregon. She’s the sergeant-at-arms—the one who approves all the books reviewed for the site.
Kathryn Grimes is a mom and teacher from Alabama. She loves to connect with others through reading.
Using Tsk, Tsk as their venue, the two ladies bring their passion for books to their readers.
Blogging since 2012.
There are thousands of YA blog spots on the Internet, however, unlike Big Al’s Books & Pals and Tsk, Tsk, What to Read? many of those blogs are abandoned. With that in mind, good luck on your quest for entertaining YA reading and the blogs that show us more about what those books are about.
I think Michael Thal’s blog is the best.
Thanks, Joe!