Hi! I'm looking for new popular fiction books that teens can read that are widely accepted as clean and wholesome. I don't know if I'm asking the right subreddit, lol, but appreciate anyone that humors me.
We’ll Prescribe You A Cat is super adorable and clean for teens.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold is similar.
Good-Dragonfruit7950 on
None of these are NEW but they’re good. Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. Diana Wynne Jones is a good bet, and if manga is up their alley the Delicious in Dungeon series is great!
minteemist on
None of these are new, sorry!
The Chronicles of Narnia
Anne of Green Gables
The Little House on the Prairie
Little Women
The Princess Bride
(and basically anything by Roald Dahl)
bevwdi on
“Clean” and “wholesome” are really subjective. Does wholesome mean that it doesn’t tackle any difficult issues in life or the characters do not deal with different types of people. Does clean only mean no smut or does it also mean no romance?
My advice is to peruse the list of Newberry Award winners [here](https://abqlibrary.org/newbery/All). Those books are widely considered very high quality literature. Mark down a few that seem interesting and see what they say about the books on [common sense media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews). Then you can apply your ideas of clean and wholesome and make an informed choice.
neilc723 on
Tale of Despereaux
DavidDPerlmutter on
*The Tripods* series by the great John Christopher. It was the Gateway to SF for hundreds of thousands of young people. I remember reading it and going wow, I’m in love. I didn’t know the term “genre” or its meaning, but I knew I wanted to read stuff like this for the rest of my life.
And I have, and teach about it too!
Details: Please join the John Christopher fan club! I believe there are hundreds of thousands of us and I hope there will be more each generation.
I’ll repeat a comment I’ve made before when people were looking for “intelligent” (and clean) YA post-apoc fiction.
John Christopher (pen name for Samuel Youd) was a wonderful British writer, most active from the 1950s through the 1980s. He wrote a lot of mature science fiction (and other genres) but then in the 1960s pretty much devoted himself to Young Adult Science Fiction.
(His novel *No Blade of Grass*–Not YA!!!–is in my opinion, in the top five of classic apocalyptic/post apocalyptic fiction. It’s a tragedy that it was made into a pretty poor movie. I’d love to see a faithful adaptation.)
Anyway, the *Tripods* Trilogy (plus a prequel) was incredibly influential on almost every Hollywood movie you’ve ever seen about alien invasions.
Christopher, John. *The White Mountains.* New York: Collier Books, 1967.
Christopher, John. *The City of Gold and Lead.* New York: Collier Books, 1967.
Christopher, John. *The Pool of Fire.* New York: Collier Books, 1968.
[Prequel] Christopher, John. *When the Tripods Came.* New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.
I would like to also mention *The Prince in Waiting* Trilogy, also post-apocalyptic.
Christopher, John. *The Prince in Waiting.* New York: Collier Books, 1970.
Christopher, John. *Beyond the Burning Lands.* New York: Collier Books, 1971.
Christopher, John. *The Sword of the Spirits.* New York: Collier Books, 1972.
Both are exciting, not condescending, inventive with some deep philosophy along the ways, and occasionally dark. They are “classic YA” in the sense of being, yes, short, readable, clean, and clear. But always thoughtful and interesting as well as having driving plots to keep your attention. I still find them extremely readable and even poignant 40 years later.
dnthasslehof on
Not new but I’ll add Island of the Blue Dolphins and JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring trilogy
palex-david on
I loved the Scythe series, generally clean and newer.
tragicsandwichblogs on
Thirteen-year-olds or seventeen-year-olds?
Critical_Crow_3770 on
I think the most recent YA-ish books the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik. It’s “clean” in terms of language, sex, etc. but it is dark academia. Kind of a twisted Harry Potter with elements of horror and a malevolent school thrown in for good measure.
Tress of the Emerald Sea or The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson is not targeted YA, but I could see a fantasy-loving teen really liking them.
I’d recommend Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, even though it’s not targeted at YA. My family listened to it on a trip, and we all loved it. The movie is coming out soon.
Some recent-ish that someone in my family enjoyed:
Peter and the Star Catchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
The Adventures Wanted Series by ML Foreman
The Fablehaven and 5 Kingdoms books by Brandon Mull
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
CostumeGal on
We are enjoying the Wingfeather Saga. We’ve also liked Redwall and Green Ember, if they are into fantasy. Pretty much everything by Diana Wynne Jones or Gail Carson Levine is wholesome.
14 Comments
The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Chronicle of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
The Search for Wondla
We’ll Prescribe You A Cat is super adorable and clean for teens.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold is similar.
None of these are NEW but they’re good. Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. Diana Wynne Jones is a good bet, and if manga is up their alley the Delicious in Dungeon series is great!
None of these are new, sorry!
The Chronicles of Narnia
Anne of Green Gables
The Little House on the Prairie
Little Women
The Princess Bride
(and basically anything by Roald Dahl)
“Clean” and “wholesome” are really subjective. Does wholesome mean that it doesn’t tackle any difficult issues in life or the characters do not deal with different types of people. Does clean only mean no smut or does it also mean no romance?
My advice is to peruse the list of Newberry Award winners [here](https://abqlibrary.org/newbery/All). Those books are widely considered very high quality literature. Mark down a few that seem interesting and see what they say about the books on [common sense media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews). Then you can apply your ideas of clean and wholesome and make an informed choice.
Tale of Despereaux
*The Tripods* series by the great John Christopher. It was the Gateway to SF for hundreds of thousands of young people. I remember reading it and going wow, I’m in love. I didn’t know the term “genre” or its meaning, but I knew I wanted to read stuff like this for the rest of my life.
And I have, and teach about it too!
Details: Please join the John Christopher fan club! I believe there are hundreds of thousands of us and I hope there will be more each generation.
I’ll repeat a comment I’ve made before when people were looking for “intelligent” (and clean) YA post-apoc fiction.
John Christopher (pen name for Samuel Youd) was a wonderful British writer, most active from the 1950s through the 1980s. He wrote a lot of mature science fiction (and other genres) but then in the 1960s pretty much devoted himself to Young Adult Science Fiction.
(His novel *No Blade of Grass*–Not YA!!!–is in my opinion, in the top five of classic apocalyptic/post apocalyptic fiction. It’s a tragedy that it was made into a pretty poor movie. I’d love to see a faithful adaptation.)
Anyway, the *Tripods* Trilogy (plus a prequel) was incredibly influential on almost every Hollywood movie you’ve ever seen about alien invasions.
Christopher, John. *The White Mountains.* New York: Collier Books, 1967.
Christopher, John. *The City of Gold and Lead.* New York: Collier Books, 1967.
Christopher, John. *The Pool of Fire.* New York: Collier Books, 1968.
[Prequel] Christopher, John. *When the Tripods Came.* New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.
I would like to also mention *The Prince in Waiting* Trilogy, also post-apocalyptic.
Christopher, John. *The Prince in Waiting.* New York: Collier Books, 1970.
Christopher, John. *Beyond the Burning Lands.* New York: Collier Books, 1971.
Christopher, John. *The Sword of the Spirits.* New York: Collier Books, 1972.
Both are exciting, not condescending, inventive with some deep philosophy along the ways, and occasionally dark. They are “classic YA” in the sense of being, yes, short, readable, clean, and clear. But always thoughtful and interesting as well as having driving plots to keep your attention. I still find them extremely readable and even poignant 40 years later.
Not new but I’ll add Island of the Blue Dolphins and JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring trilogy
I loved the Scythe series, generally clean and newer.
Thirteen-year-olds or seventeen-year-olds?
I think the most recent YA-ish books the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik. It’s “clean” in terms of language, sex, etc. but it is dark academia. Kind of a twisted Harry Potter with elements of horror and a malevolent school thrown in for good measure.
Tress of the Emerald Sea or The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson is not targeted YA, but I could see a fantasy-loving teen really liking them.
I’d recommend Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, even though it’s not targeted at YA. My family listened to it on a trip, and we all loved it. The movie is coming out soon.
Some recent-ish that someone in my family enjoyed:
Peter and the Star Catchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
The Adventures Wanted Series by ML Foreman
The Fablehaven and 5 Kingdoms books by Brandon Mull
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
We are enjoying the Wingfeather Saga. We’ve also liked Redwall and Green Ember, if they are into fantasy. Pretty much everything by Diana Wynne Jones or Gail Carson Levine is wholesome.