What to Read After "13 Reasons Why"
May 18, 2017
Netflix's new hit series 13 Reasons Why has been in the news a lot recently due to its popularity with viewers and a bit of controversy. The show, based on the 2007 young adult novel by Jay Asher, follows a a teenager named Clay who receives a box of cassette tapes from his classmate, Hannah, detailing what led up to her suicide.
The show has been criticized by some who claim the show (and book) glorify suicide, though it has garnered great reviews and has been popular with both teen and adult viewers alike. The series was recently renewed for a second season, which will air on Netflix in 2018.
If you're a fan of the book or the series, here is a list of 13 other YA novels that will also captivate your attention, just like Thirteen Reasons Why:
"I WAS HERE"
In an attempt to understand why her best friend committed suicide, eighteen-year-old Cody Reynolds retraces her dead friend's footsteps and makes some startling discoveries.
"PLAYLIST FOR THE DEAD"
After his best friend, Hayden, commits, suicide, fifteen-year-old Sam is determined to find out why--using the clues in the playlist Hayden left for him.
"HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME"
Secrets are revealed as OCD-afflicted teen Griffin grieves for his first love, Theo, who recently died in a drowning accident.
"BEFORE I FALL"
After she dies in a car crash, teenaged Samantha relives the day of her death over and over again until, on the seventh day, she finally discovers a way to save herself.
"BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS I'LL BE DEAD"
High school student Daelyn Rice, who has been bullied throughout her school career and has more than once attempted suicide, again makes plans to kill herself, in spite of the persistent attempts of an unusual boy to draw her out.
"ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES"
Told in alternating voices, Theodore Finch and Violet Markey meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, both teetering on the edge. It's the beginning of an unlikely relationship and two teens' desperate desire to heal and save one another.
"THE 39 DEATHS OF ADAM STRAND"
A bored, self-absorbed teenager commits suicide and later wakes up alive, physically unharmed--thirty-nine times.
"THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE"
After her younger brother, Tyler, commits suicide, Lex struggles to work through her grief in the face of a family that has fallen apart, the sudden distance between her and her friends, and memories of Tyler that still feel all too real.
"KETCHUP CLOUDS"
Zoe, a teenager in Bath, England, writes letters to a death-row inmate in Texas, hoping to find comfort in sharing her guilty secret over the death of a friend with someone who can never tell her family.
"34 PIECES OF YOU"
After Ellie dies of a drug overdose, her brother, her best friend, and her best friend's sister face painful secrets of their own when they try to uncover the truth about Ellie's death.
"I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN"
Fraternal twins Jude and Noah are both artist and inseperable. But three years later, they are no longer speaking due to a mysterious event that both see in a different light.
"IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY"
A humorous account of a New York City teenager's battle with depression and his time spent in a psychiatric hospital.
"WINTERGIRLS"
Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder.
Dan Richter / Library Marketing Specialist