Gloria Muñoz is the author of They Called Us Wicked, out now from Holiday House. Below, she recommends three more witchy, weird-girl YA novels.
As a speculative fiction author, I’ve never shied away from fabulism or magical realism when writing. But when my book was marketed as “witchy, weird-girl YA,” I thought, aren’t all teenage girls weird and witchy in their own way? Coming of age pushes characters into an awkward metamorphosis through which they become more firmly themselves. There are growing pains, and it’s awful a lot of the time.
When Lucero, the main character of They Called Us Wicked, meets her coven on the astral plane, she discovers what it means to have friends to be weird with. Isn’t that all we can hope for both in fiction and in our daily lives?
Here are some of my favorite recent books with witchy, weird-girl YA characters:
They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran
This coming-of-rage novel follows Noon, who is haunted by a terrible thing that happened to her. It’s a story of survival, grief, and stepping into one’s power. In the wake of a hurricane, red algae blooms appear in the waters of Mercy, Louisiana. Like the animals in the Gulf, Noon may be mutating and transforming into another version of herself.
A Wild Radiance by Maria Ingrande Mora
With an electric magic, the main character of A Wild Radiance, Josephine, is driven to question everything she once believed to be true. Following rules and believing lies that disempower her is no longer an option for Josephine. What is she willing to face to become who she’s meant to be? This novel asks how we stand up to a rigid monolith that doesn’t see us or value truth and community.
A (Dead) Thing Like Me by E.G. Young
In this paranormal coming-of-age story about friendship, two unlikely friends meet at a house party in Florida: Logan, an artist who is grieving her BFF, and Hot Dog, a ghost … the rest is history. These two quick friends have the same goal: they want to each be seen for who they are. Life is already hard and awkward enough for 18-year-old Logan, but she will do anything to help keep her new friend from a ghost eater lurking in the shadows of her house.
Swords and Spaceships
Sign up to Swords and Spaceships toreceive news and recommendations from the world of science fiction and fantasy.
(S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi
This stunning novel in verse alternates between Marisol, the daughter of a soucouyant in Brooklyn, and Genevieve, a teen whose life is overshadowed by newborn twins and a painful struggle with cystic acne. Both characters are trying to navigate teenagehood and living as girls who have never felt at home in their own skin. Rooted in Caribbean folklore, a family secret comes to light. And they discover a racial trauma and history that binds them and makes them want to fight for answers to questions they’ve held onto for a long time.
Gloria Muñoz is the author of They Called Us Wicked and of the poetry collection Danzirly, which won the Ambroggio Prize. She is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellow, a Hedgebrook Fellow, an Esperimento Sul Respiro Fellow, a Macondista, a Highlights Foundation Diverse Verse Fellow, and a part of Las Musas. Her debut novel, This Is the Year, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults title and winner of the International Literacy Association’s Young Adult Book Award, was hailed as “brilliantly layered” by Booklist in a starred review.
For more like this, sign up for the Book Riot Newsletter!
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
