8 Short YA Books to Read During Your NaNoWriMo Breaks

Through the Woods, by Emily Carroll
208 pages
Got a story that draws on folklore or fairy tale? Take a dark ride through the five graphic (in more ways than one) stories here, which feature all the things destined to unsettle you—like murder and ghosts and dreams and, of course, those dark, dangerous woods. Give your eyeballs a rest from text and treat them to Carroll’s chilling yet lushly drawn illustrations.

March: Book One, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
128 pages
The March graphic novels chronicle Rep. John Lewis’ lifelong commitment to fighting for civil rights and social justice. Book One focuses on Lewis’ youth through his meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the battle against segregation in the Jim Crow South. It puts a moving, affecting spotlight on America’s very recent past, and you’ll be compelled to read it in one sitting.

American Ace, by Marilyn Nelson
128 pages
A novel in verse, American Ace presents a quest to sixteen-year-old Connor Bianchini. When Connor’s Italian American grandmother dies, she leaves a note for his father, revealing that the man who raised him was not his birth father. With his own father hospitalized after a stroke, Connor undertakes the mission to uncover his grandfather’s identity, which he eventually traces back to the Tuskegee Airmen, the group of African American aviators in World War II.

The Children and the Wolves, by Adam Rapp
160 pages
Okay, this may not be the book to read if you’re looking for rest and relaxation. Without a doubt, though, it will get your creative juices flowing. A trio of teenagers—led by the mean girl to end them all, Bounce—kidnap a four-year-old girl in part of a complicated and beyond disturbing plot against a poet. The narrative is astonishingly bleak but gripping, and the characters are good ones to dissect for budding novelists.

Black Helicopters, by Blythe Woolston
176 pages
Once again, not necessarily a novel to buoy your spirits, but Black Helicopters is a harrowing and swift piece of storytelling. Valkyrie White is a suicide bomber, raised and trained in paramilitary skills in a survivalist camp in alt-future Montana. In this taut thriller, the reality of Valkyrie’s life is revealed through chapters that alternate between her troubling past and her present desire to send a deadly message to the outside world.

After Tupac and D Foster, by Jacqueline Woodson
192 pages
The title of this slim novel refers to two people who open the eyes of our unnamed narrator, growing up in Queens in the mid-’90s. When D Foster turns up in the neighborhood, she brings with her life experiences the narrator and her friend Neeka have never known firsthand—experiences reflected in the lyrics of Tupac Shakur. Not only does the book showcase the power of music, but also the ripple effect a single person or moment in time can have.

Boy Proof, by Cecil Castellucci
208 pages
If you’re working on a YA novel for NaNoWriMo, your story and characters are likely grappling with issues of identity and the constant struggle to find a place in the world. Enter Egg, whose given name is Victoria Jurgen, a girl who knows what she wants and has little time for anything else. She has renamed herself Egg, after the heroine of her favorite sci-fi movie, shaved her head, and all but renounced high school society—until she finds herself enamored with new boy Max.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
208 pages
A little romance does the mind good, and this whirlwind modern classic can cure what ails you. Told in the alternating perspectives of the titular Nick and Norah, the story takes place on an all-night first date–turned–musical odyssey across New York City. The frenetic pace makes this adventurous oddball love story a perfect fit for a quick reading break.