What YA to Read Next Based on Your Favorite Kids’ Classic

If you liked The Dark is Rising sequence, by Susan Cooper, read The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater
Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence was the gateway series into Arthurian and British (particularly Welsh) myths and legends for many kids. The books follow a group of children as they gather magical artifacts and work together to defeat the forces of the Dark, including awakening the Seven Sleepers. Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle is more intimate and character-driven than Cooper’s works, but the mythical underpinnings and tone are similar. The Raven Cycle follows a group of teenagers in rural Virginia searching for the burial place of the mythical Welsh king Owen Glendower, and awaken him from an enchanted sleep. If you like magic and folklore, both these series are for you.

If you liked The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley, read Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley are a pair of high fantasy novels set in the realm of Damar, and were some of the first books featuring warrior girls as heroes I read as a kid. McKinley’s books follow Harry Crewe and Aerin Firehair, two girls destined to wield the magical Blue Sword. They lead and save their people from invasion by demonic forces through battle. Maas’s series follows a young woman named Celaena, plucked from a prison camp to serve as a king’s assassin, who has a greater destiny than even she can know. Evil forces threaten the continent of Erilea, and Celaena must accept the truth about herself and her heritage if she is to triumph. If you love badass female warriors and destiny, definitely pick up both these series!

If you liked The Iron Ring, by Lloyd Alexander, read The Star-Touched Queen, by Roshani Chokshi
Lloyd Alexander was beloved for his reimaginings of various world mythologies and folklore, from Wales to ancient China to ancient Greece and India. The Iron Ring is his novel inspired by Hindu stories and tales, wherein a young prince named Tamar sets off on a journey to a distant kingdom after losing a game of chance to a mysterious stranger. Roshani Chokshi’s The Star-Touched Queen also draws from various world stories, from the Greek Hades and Persephone myth to Indian fairytales, inspired by the author’s own background. Princess Mayavati is cursed with a horoscope foretelling a marriage with death and destruction. When Maya’s father offers her up as a sacrifice to appease the warring kingdoms around them, she takes her chance on a mysterious stranger who rides to her rescue. Fans of archetypal narratives and lush worldbuilding will love these books.

If you liked Catherine, Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman, read My Lady Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Karen Cushman’s Catherine, Called Birdy is the story of a young medieval noblewoman bound to marry the man of her father’s choosing, but who escapes each of her suitors through her wits and wiles. Told in a diary format, Catherine, Called Birdy chronicles Birdy’s misadventures in a hilarious manner, with both charming and laugh out loud anecdotes that illuminate medieval life. My Lady Jane isn’t quite so faithful to history as we know it; it purports to tell the “true” story of Lady Jane Grey, who was queen of England for nine days, and may involve a horse, lots of blackberries, and a charming Scottish pickpocket. Both are perfect for readers who like their history hilarious as well as knowledgeable.

If you liked Dragonwings, by Laurence Yep, read Outrun the Moon, by Stacey Lee
Both Dragonwings and Outrun the Moon are set around the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, one of the deadliest natural disasters in American history, and one that took an enormous toll on the Chinese population of California. In Laurence Yep’s Dragonwings, Moon Shadow is a young boy who immigrates to San Francisco to join his father, who has dreams of flying. Yep’s book was loosely inspired by Fung Joe Guey, a Chinese immigrant in California who built and flew his own airplane in 1909. Stacey Lee’s Outrun the Moon also takes a look at the lives of Chinese immigrants in early 20th-century Californi, through the eyes of Mercy Wong, a young woman striving to break free of poverty by attending a prestigious, all-white private girls school. Yep is a titan of children’s literature who writes about Chinese American experience, and Lee is well on her way to joining him. If you love historical fiction from a non-white perspective, give these writers a whirl.

If you liked Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild, read Tiny Pretty Things, by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton
Dance, dance, dance! Children’s literature is a wonderful way to get fascinating peeks and insights into another world…and not just fantastic ones. Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes is about the Fossil girls, three orphans with differing talents who attend a performing arts school to help make ends meet. Tiny Pretty Things similarly draws back the curtain on life in ballet school…while shining a light on its darker aspects. Gigi, Bette, and June are three of the top students in their elite Manhattan ballet school, but the lengths they will go to be the best might just be ruining them. If you love indulging in details about dance (especially ballet) and the lives of young performing artists, these are must-reads.

If you liked The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, read Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, by Isabel Quintero
Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street is a seminal work of Latinx fiction, chronicling the coming of age of Esperanza Cordero in lyrical vignettes as her family moves from the slums of Chicago to the titular “house on Mango Street.” Gabi, A Girl in Pieces tells the story of Mexican American Gabriella Hernandez’s senior year of high school via diary entries, chronicling all its attendant highs and lows. The language in both novels is distinct and unique; Cisneros is a poet, while Quintero channels the most authentic teen voice for Gabi. Both are heartbreaking, heartwarming, and occasionally hilarious books about teenage girls you can relate to.