In the latest episode of Hey YA, Hannah brought up a book set in the 1970s and how that’s a time period we don’t see portrayed much in YA books. We’ve definitely seen an array of books set in the ’80s and ’90s, particularly in the last five years or so, but the ’70s have been less represented. That got my mind going, wondering what types of YA are set in the ’70s. As you’ll see below, there’s a bit, though not a whole lot. I’ve pulled a handful of 1970s-set YA books for you to dig into. Because I, too, am scratching my head thinking about what YA I’ve read set during this time period (only two or three of the below!), I’m relying on publisher descriptions to highlight these. But now I’ve got a goal for 2021, which is to read a little more YA set in the 20th century prior to the ’80s. Note that these are not YA books written in the ’70s, but written more recently. Yes—and apologies because as an early ’80s baby I know how much this hurts—these books are technically historical fiction. And no, this list isn’t comprehensive. I know some titles are missing. Check out more books set in the 1970s! Who’s to know that the Ivorian miracle is nearing its end? In the sun-warmed streets of working-class Yopougon, aka Yop City, holidays are around the corner, the open-air bars and discos are starting to fill up, and trouble of a different kind is about to raise eyebrows. At night, an empty table in the market square under the stars is all the privacy young lovers can hope for, and what happens there is soon everybody’s business. Aya tells the story of its nineteen-year-old heroine, the studious and clear-sighted Aya, her easygoing friends Adjoua and Bintou, and their meddling relatives and neighbors. It’s a breezy and wryly funny account of the desire for joy and freedom, and of the simple pleasures and private troubles of everyday life in Yop City. An unpretentious and gently humorous story of an Africa we rarely see-spirited, hopeful, and resilient. Jean: Could it be true? Instead of a summer playing handmaiden to Daphne, was I being delivered something entirely different—a summer in the spotlight? A summer starring Gil Burke and me? Summer flings and sexy romances were Daphne’s territory. Not mine. I was the one you didn’t pick. I swatted off my hope like a bumblebee, knowing it was already too late. I’d been deliriously stung. Fritz: People always joked about summer romances because they didn’t last. Summer romances were made out of ice cream and cotton candy, intensely sweet before they melted into nothing. But I’d never thought of Gil as a summer thing. Gil was my real love, my real first. We were outsiders together, we had each other, we didn’t care that we didn’t belong. Fifteen-year-old RJ Armante has never known a life outside his dead-end hometown of Arcangel, CA. The Blackjacks still rule as they have for generations, luring the poorest kids into their monopoly on petty crime. For years, they’ve left RJ alone…until now. When the Blackjacks come knocking, they want RJ to prey upon an old loner. But RJ is at his breaking point. It’s not just about the gang who rules the town. It’s about Charley, his younger brother, who is disabled. It’s about Roxanne, the girl he can’t reach. It’s about the kids in his crew who have nothing to live for. If RJ is to resist, he must fight to free Arcangel of its past. After a freezing winter, a boiling hot summer explodes with arson, a blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam, who is shooting young people on the streets seemingly at random. Not only is the city a disaster, but Nora has troubles of her own: her brother, Hector, is growing more uncontrollable by the day, her mother is helpless to stop him, and her father is so busy with his new family that he only calls on holidays. And it doesn’t stop there. The super’s after her mother to pay their overdue rent, and her teachers are pushing her to apply for college, but all Nora wants is to turn eighteen and be on her own. There is a cute guy who started working with her at the deli, but is dating even worth the risk when the killer especially likes picking off couples who stay out too late? That is, until Bobby McMann arrives. Bobby is foxy, he’s charming—and he’s also the coach of the brand-new girls’ soccer team at school and totally, 100 percent, completely off limits. But Susan decides she’s going to try out for the team to get close to him anyway. And over the course of an eventful season, she discovers that what she wants might not be what she first expected when Bobby McMann walked in the door—and that figuring out who she is means taking risks, both on and off the pitch. Four teenage girls. Four different stories. What they all have in common is that they’re dealing with unplanned pregnancies. In rural Georgia, Izella is wise beyond her years, but burdened with the responsibility of her older sister, Ola, who has found out she’s pregnant. Their young neighbor, Missippi, is also pregnant, but doesn’t fully understand the extent of her predicament. When her father sends her to Chicago to give birth, she meets the final narrator, Susan, who is white and the daughter of an anti-choice senator. It isn’t long before Ben is Zan’s favorite, and Ben starts to see Zan as more. Four very different lives are about to become entangled.
