What to Read Next Based on Your Favorite Dearly Departed TV Show

If you miss Freaks and Geeks, read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
“I am very interested and fascinated how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each other.”
This line from Perks could be used to describe the circumstances of the teens in Freaks and Geeks as well. The one-season classic, which takes place in a Michigan High School in 1980, follows the freaks (the “bad” kids smoking cigarettes under the bleachers) and the geeks (freshman nerds) as they navigate their friendships, dating, and other high school obstacles. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which published the same year Freaks and Geeks aired, follows another awkward high school freshman, Charlie, as he befriends the cool freaks of his own high school.
The stories share both a yearning for connection and a celebration once it’s found. The characters may fight, bicker, or break each other’s hearts, but in the end everyone takes care of each other. It’s just that everyone also feels lonely. What Chbosky does with words, Freaks and Geeks does with images. I think that, as she dances to the Grateful Dead, former wallflower Lindsay Weir would understand what Charlie means when he says:
“I hope the people who wrote those songs are happy. I hope they feel it’s enough. I really do because they’ve made me happy. And I’m only one person.”

If you miss Bunheads, read I’ll Give You the Sun/The Sky Is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson
Bring back Bunheads! I loved this show, about a Vegas showgirl who, in the course of a weekend, suddenly finds herself a widow in possession of a dance studio in a small California town, and responsible for the emotional well-being of several teenaged girls. The show had the same quirky charm as writer Amy Sherman-Palladino’s much loved Gilmore Girls, but with the fun addition of genuinely moving (and sometimes silly) dance numbers. The show was funny, zany, and lovable, with just enough pathos to keep it feeling grounded. Bring back Bunheads.
Jandy Nelson’s two wonderful novels—I’ll Give You the Sun, about emotionally estranged twins, and The Sky is Everywhere, about a girl grieving for her sister—also take place in small towns on the California coast, and like Bunheads they are similarly populated with quirky older women, artistic teens, and a sense of grounded surrealism. They tackle similar themes such as grief, and the power of art to heal.
“We wish with our hands, that’s what we do as artists.“

If you miss Hannibal, read The Losing Christina Trilogy by Caroline B. Cooney
Yes, Hannibal got a three-year run. But even though each season got better and better and we hadn’t even had a chance to see what they would do when they got to the Silence of the Lambs chapter yet, through some cruel twist of fate this gorgeous, gruesome horror show was taken away from us.
The scariest thing about Hannibal isn’t that he eats people; it’s the way he plays with their minds first. The Losing Christina trilogy is still the most frightening trio of books I’ve ever read, and the majority of the fear is psychological. Christina grew up on an island off the coast of Maine so small that it doesn’t have its own high school. She and the island’s few other high-school aged residents have to board on the mainland during the school year, and Christina is placed with the Shevvingtons. Everyone loves the couple, a high-school principal and an English teacher, but Christina can feel the evil in them, the sadism they have toward girls and the pleasure they take in breaking them. The question is, will anyone believe her? Cooney captures the sneaky horror of the Shevvingtons and Christina’s wild fierce independence with as much care as Hannibal gives to his cannibalistic culinary arts.

If you miss Veronica Mars, read Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce
Veronica Mars might be the coolest teen ever. She’s got a great car and a back pocket full of sassy one-liners, and she’s basically an underage private detective. Too bad everyone at school hates her, and her best friend was murdered. High school, amirite?
One of the best parts of the show (aside from the amazing characters, the jokes, the soundtrack, and Logan) is watching Veronica use her smarts to solve mysteries. There’s nothing I like more than watching a lady kick butt with her brain (and sometimes a taser). Veronica also has a soft spot for the underdogs, the bullied, and the disenfranchised that gets her into trouble. That’s why the show is such a great pairing with Trickster’s Choice. Aly is the daughter of Alanna the Lioness, the first female knight in a century. Much to her parent’s disappointment, however, Aly takes after her father, who happens to be the spymaster to the King. When Aly is kidnapped during a quest for adventure, she finds herself on an island nation where she begins to sympathize with the political rebels. It might just be that she’s finally found people who will appreciate her knack for spycraft more than her parents do.

If you miss Selfie, read The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
I’ll admit it, I love a good makeover story. I’m especially a sucker for stories where both the made-over and the maker-over learn a little something from each other. I’m a softie like that. Selfie, a modern-day take on Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, followed this format when social media–obsessed Eliza asks uptight Henry to help her make friends IRL. Henry agrees, because her self-obsession drives him crazy, but ends up realizing she can teach him as much as he can teach her. The show got cancelled just as it was hitting its stride, and now we all have to go back to missing John Cho.
When Mia, the main character of The Princess Diaries, finds out she’s a Princess, she’s dismayed to learn that part of the deal is getting Princess Lessons with her evil Grandmother. In some ways The Princess Diaries is a failed makeover story. Yeah, Mia learns some fancy manners and gets a fancy new haircut, but when it comes to the things that matter most to her she isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, even if the behavior makes her somewhat un-princesslike. Maybe her grandmother can even learn something from her? No, probably not. She really is quite nasty.

If you miss How To Make it in America, read Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
Confession: The only people I have ever met who loved How To Make it in America were New Yorkers. Everyone else either hated it or is like, “That was a show?” So, I guess I have to be okay with the fact that it got cancelled. But I loved it both for how it embraced the New York Hustle and for the presence of underrated cutie pies Bryan Breenberg and Scott Mescudi. The show was full of sweet, realistic details that made it feel like home to me.
Lauren Graham’s Someday, Someday Maybe is another sweet story of a struggling creative type in New York City. Inspired by the actress’s own life, the book follows Franny Banks as she struggles to make a living as an actress. The writing is fresh, and the world is peppered with unique and specific moments that make it feel special.

If you miss Looking, read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
At least HBO is giving us a Looking movie to finish off the characters’ stories, but my heart was still achy when I heard about the show’s cancellation. I could have watched the confused, lonely, funny, beautiful, mean, human gay men of this show wander through the beautiful pastel San Francisco light forever.
The show always had a dreamlike quality, despite remaining grounded in thoroughly human behavior. Aristotle and Dante has a similar vibe, as well as also being a story about two young gay men looking for answers. It’s like Looking: The YA Years, as beautiful in its prose as the show is with its visuals. Sáenz writes, “to be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing,” and the words are fitting for both the book and the show.