Making Pretty Author Corey Ann Haydu Builds Her Teenaged Self a Dream Bookshelf

I got unexpectedly emotional writing this post. I don’t think much about how little I read about teen girls in my actual teen life, and how inaccessible the interior lives of other teen girls were to me. I didn’t have tons of friends, I was very involved in an intense relationship, and I felt so alone in my high school years. It would have meant the world to me to see other girls struggling, slipping, messing up, trying.
I so desperately needed to know that I was not alone, but the books we read in school and the books I found in bookstores were all adult novels. Some of them were spectacular, but I think they made me feel that my feelings and struggles were small, wouldn’t matter until I was over. That the life I was living then was not Real Life, wasn’t worth digging into. I wonder how differently I would have felt about myself had I had access to incredible literature about girls like me. I wonder how differently I might have viewed my experiences. I’m so happy for girls today, to have these books. But I’m so sad for Teen Corey, for missing out.

Invincible, by Amy Reed
This brand-new book by one of my favorite authors would have meant the world to me as a teenager. Evie, the main character, spends a lot of time being angry. I was angry, too, but I didn’t know it. Invincible would have helped me see that sometimes anger exists in teen girls, and that it sometimes even makes sense.

This One Summer, by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki
It never would have occurred to me to read a graphic novel as a teenager, but I loved seeing new structures, new ways to tell stories. When I first read The House on Mango Street, my mind was blown—telling a story through vignettes opened me up to so many possibilities. I think I would have felt the same creative opening reading this gorgeous graphic novel.

The Things You Kiss Goodbye, by Leslie Connor
I was in a bad relationship as a teenager, and because YA wasn’t really a thing back then, I only saw after-school special representations of teens in bad relationships. Reading The Things You Kiss Goodbye would have been life-changing, I so desperately needed to see myself and my relationship in a book, so that I could get some perspective on what was happening to me and how fast I was fading.

The Truth About Alice, by Jennifer Mathieu
I wish I could have seen the complicated way perception, reputation, and judgment played out in this excellent, difficult novel. I don’t think I understood how common it was for reputation to mean more than reality, or how toxic the social environment of high school could be.

Althea & Oliver, by Cristina Moracho
I love this book now and I would have loved it then. I’ve always been drawn to really excellent writing, and this is one of the most beautifully written novels I’ve read. Plus there are some moments set in NYC that would have floored me and thrilled me and made me desperate to get out and find My People.

Pointe, by Brandy Colbert
I wish I could have read this book because I would have seen some of myself in Theo and I love the way her choices are complicated and heavy and uncertain. I didn’t see a lot of three-dimensional teen girl characters at that time in my life, and Theo would have given me that experience—she makes decisions that aren’t perfect but would have felt familiar to me. Plus the book itself is thrilling and uncomfortable and nerve-wracking. I would have devoured it.
Making Pretty is out May 12, and available for pre-order now.