In recent years, Young Adult books have been getting some great treatment, whether this is through getting adapted into the big screen or the small screen. In 2018 alone there has already been Love, Simon based on Becky Albertalli’s award-winning novel Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Darkest Minds based on a book of the same name by Alexandra Bracken, and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before based on a book of the same name by Jenny Han.

In terms of shows, Shadowhunters based off of Cassandra Clare’s book has garnered huge popularity, along with the controversial Netflix series 13 Reasons Why based on Jay Asher’s novel of the same name.

I’m sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg. With the Young Adult genre becoming increasingly more popular and diversifying in terms of its authors and the characters it represents, I’m sure more and more adaptations are around the corner. Here are a few books that I think would make fantastic adaptations:

 

When Dimple Met Rishi | Sandhya Menon

Dimple Shah is not interested in the things her traditional Indian parents want for her, like setting her up with an Indian boy. What Dimple wants is to go to a summer programme for aspiring developers. Rishi Patel, on the other hand, is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that he’s going to a summer camp to meet his future wife, he’s totally down. So when Dimple and Rishi meet, things don’t go exactly as expected for either of these teens. When Dimple Met Rishi is a smart, funny, and heartfelt romantic comedy that can totally follow in the footsteps of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and Love, Simon. It features Dimple, a whipsmart programmer, and Rishi, a tradition-bound artist, trying to figure out where they fit in not only with each other, but also at the intersection between being Indian and American.

 

The Summer of Jordi Perez | Amy Spalding

Here is another Young Adult romantic comedy that will leave you smiling. Abby Ives has just been hired as an intern at her favourite fashion boutique. There, she meets fellow intern, Jordi Perez who she must compete for an end of summer job. But Abby isn’t simply competing with Jordi, she’s also kind of falling for her. The Summer of Jordi Perez is a perfect summer romance about two girls trying to find their own in the world of fashion, and with each other!

 

If I Was Your Girl | Meredith Russo

Amanda Hardy has just moved into town. She’s determined to try and keep people away, afraid that they won’t accept her when they find out her secret: that she is trans. But when she meets Grant, Amanda can’t help her feelings. She slowly becomes settled into her new life, letting herself trust her new boyfriend and friends. But Amanda is afraid of what her new friends will say when they finally find out her secret. If I Was Your Girl is a moving novel about love, acceptance, and being true to who you are.

 

Love, Hate, and Other Filters | Samira Ahmed

Maya Aziz lives between two worlds. One is her Indian-American Muslim parents’ traditional world who expect her to be a good Indian daughter. The other is what she wants: to go to film school in New York and be with the boy she has been crushing on for years. When it seems like Maya might finally be merging these two worlds together, a tragedy occurs. A terror attack by a man with the same last name as Maya changes the community she has known her whole life. Suddenly, Maya and her family are the targets of hate. Love, Hate, and Other Filters is an important book in this day and age, and tackles Islamophobia head-on.

Saints and Misfits | S. K. Ali

Janna Yusuf is harrowed by the monster in her life – her friend’s cousin who is revered in the community for becoming a hafiz. Nobody can see who he truly is, except Janna. As she tries to navigate her life, from friends, family, and her non-Muslim crush, Janna is weighed down by this secret. She doesn’t know whether she should reveal it or not. She also doesn’t know what the consequences of the truth might be on her small, Muslim community. Saints and Misfits is a brilliant, and important, novel about sexual assault. Not only is it timely because of the current conversation around #metoo but it also intersects that with conversations around faith and the Muslim community in particular. Plus, S. K. Ali has actually done all the work with a pitch deck to make the book into a Netflix series so it’s basically ready to go.