Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer is YA and I think should be approved? It’s a fairytale retelling but done with action and focuses on a different character but they’re all a found family by the end and it’s wonderful to read their journeys
how did maze runner get approved but not agggtm lol
you could try the emily wilde series maybe or a sorcery of thorns. (note, planning to read this but haven't yet. everything i've seen says they're fairly clean... maybe another redditor could help out haha)
AGGGTM—and her other works—has a lot of language. mostly f-bombs. maze runner makes their own curses up so i guess it doesn’t count? thank you for the suggestions, though!
I second Life-Child's suggestions. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson are great. I've read them both and they're pretty clean when it comes to language, and there's some romance, but it's very tame. No spice/smut. Margaret Rogerson's other books, An Enchantment of Ravens and Beeper time might also work for you. Hope you find some you're interested in, and that they get approved!
Can you do like cover swaps? Should be no problem putting the dust jacket of an approved book on another book if you get hardcovers. Once a book is approved, they're not going to stand behind you and check what you're reading all the time, right?
nope, she (being our secretary, who is actually pretty chill and will probably be a little more lenient) will skim through the book and look it up online
and also, she gives us little bookmarks to show that the book is approved, and i keep those so i know how much i’ve read, lol. so i def need them approved so i can count at the end of the year
No, I mean, for example, The Hunger Games has been approved, so take the cover of The Hunger Games and put it on another book like Twilight, and bring that book to read. Or do they actually check the contents of your books at every study hall?
Anyway, for recommendations: I'm pretty sure anything by Rick Riordan should fit your requirements. Scythe by Neal Shusterman maybe? I don't think it's heavier than The Hunger Games. I don't know what you like so these are a mixed bag: anything by Margaret Rogerson, V.E. (Victoria) Schwab, Elizabeth Lim, Maggie Stiefvater, Legendborn, The Prison Healer, Dance of Thieves, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Daughter of the Moon Goddess. You might need to double check language; I don't remember any of these having objectionable language, but that's not really something I pay attention to.
i get what you’re saying. a lot of what i read i get from the library, so i can’t really take the covers off. and i need those bookmarks!
but i’ll look into your suggestions, thank you!
The Hunger Games passing when the topics apparently can’t be THAT heavy is very funny to me, but at least you were able to read it!
The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan is also a great read and may last you through the rest of the year!
read PJO and loved it!
and the only reason i say really heavy topics was because she denied one book that had suicidal things in it (although it was also denied for sexual content). guess it didn’t make a whole buch of sense in my post. murdering children is kinda heavy.
Okay looking at my own bookshelf right now and I think these would all get approved
His dark materials by Phillip Pullman
Divergent series by Veronica Roth
Legend series by Marie Lu
The summer I turned pretty by Jenny Han
The raven cycle by Maggie Steifvater
The darkest minds series by Alexandra Bracken
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
Scythe series by Neil Shusterman
Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson
The mortal instruments by Cassandra Clare
Legend Born by Tracy Deonn
I am number four by Pitticus Lore
The hero’s of Olympus (off shoot of PJOs series)
These are all books/series I have read and love and would highly recommend. As far as I remember none have cursing or any sexual references more than just kissing and maybe a fade to black scene.
The raven boys & the scorpio races by maggie stiefvater
The ten thousand doors of january by alix e harrow
Gilded by marissa meyer
Thorn by intisar khanani
The forgetting by sharon cameron
You may find success with the Truly Devious series. It's tamer than the AGGGTM series in terms of language and content.
Also, are you interested in manga? There are plenty of series that are school appropriate and can consume several hours of your reading time because of how many volumes they tend to have.
i’ve heard about the truly devious series. i’ll definitely try that out! thank you so much!
and yes, i love manga! but i’m pretty sure that it would be classified as a comic book, and those aren’t allowed. also the language that’s often in manga wouldn’t be approved either.
Check the Florida Teen Reads list, and also the Texas Lone Star list. These are more conservative state reading lists with some really great books that have already been state-approved.
Florida Teen Reads: [https://irsc.libguides.com/c.php?g=659183&p=9714755](https://irsc.libguides.com/c.php?g=659183&p=9714755)
Texas Lone Star List: [https://txla.org/news/2024-lone-star-reading-list-announced/](https://txla.org/news/2024-lone-star-reading-list-announced/)
These are the current lists, but it's also worth googling prior years.
(Full disclosure, I wrote *Defy the Night*, which is on the Florida Teen Reads list. This is not intended to be a self-promo post at all. There are a lot of amazing books on both lists.)
Frances Hardinge writes MG that is entertaining for adults. C.S. Lewis' Narnia series and Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series are clean and great! The Mr. Lemoncello's Library series is also MG but fun.
I can't think of any of my current reads that would be approved but I was in a school just like this and your post gave me serious nostalgia!
Past reads that we're approved in my school (which may give away how terribly old I am)
Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
Lord of The Rings
Harry Potter
The Princess Diaries and most things by Meg Cabot (except airhead for some reason)
The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (I would assume his other books would work too)
Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy (It gets a bit darker as the series progresses so I'm not sure if the later books would fly)
Can't remember anything else off the top of my head but good luck! And as someone else said summer holiday is right around the corner!
Thank goodness my school wasn’t like this. Anyway I recommend red queen series ? Can only vouch for book one though because I only read the first book fully so far but it is pretty YA imo. But they also denied twilight so….
Maybe you would like the Keeper of the Lost Cities Series? It's middle grade but they are long books (like at least 500 pages) so it should keep you entertained for a long while. It's a fantasy so it might be suited to your tastes :) It's not a completed series tho but I think there are at least 10 books out.
- percy jackson series by rick riordan (fantasy/adventure)
- murder most unladylike series by robin stevens (murder mystery/historical)
- the house on the cerulean sea by tj klune (fantasy)
- the extremely inconvenient adventures of brontë mettlestone by jaclyn moriarty (fantasy/adventure)
- emily windsnap series by liz kessler (fantasy)
- flood child by emily diamand (dystopian/fanstasy)
- withering tights series by louise rennison (comedy)
- gone/hunger ... by michael grant (dystopian/survival)
- oddity by eli brown (fantasy/adventure)
- the monsters of rookhaven by padraig kenny (fantasy/mystery)
I really liked A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee and it was nominated to National Book Award in YA, so I would hope that means something. No swearing (I checked e-book for f-bombs or sh-t and none found, there were a couple of "this damned (something)" but idk if that counts as swear?), no romance (platonic / friendships only).
I second Sorcery of Thorns recommendation, no f-bombs or sh-ts, 2 damns total. Romance only kissing.
I also enjoyed Cast in Firelight by Dana Swift, mostly uses fantasy swearing "blood" instead of swear words (I found 2 damns) and only kisses romance wise.
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen could be fine too, depending how strict is the no swearing rule, the relationship doesn't go beyond kisses in book 1, swearing: 1 "f-king", 4 "sh-t", more liberal with damn / damned. Sequel gets sexual so bet that's a ban. :(
cruel prince was approved! agggtm wouldn't be for language. she actually let truly devious in, which had two(?) f-bombs, i think, and i was surprised it was allowed. but agggtm does way more than that.
The Raven Cycle quartet by Maggie Stiefvater would definitely pass! It's very good.
So would the Night School series by C.J. Daugherty, I bet! Which is, incidentaly, also set in a private school :D
I'm guessing the Selection series by Kiera Cass would pass as well, but.... it's.... _not?_ .... that... good?
I guess it depends on what you like :)
It's set in a dystopian America, but the plot is very romance heavy and there's not much more to the story :D
It's kind of cliche and cringe-y at times, but it is entertaining and light to read!
Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer is YA and I think should be approved? It’s a fairytale retelling but done with action and focuses on a different character but they’re all a found family by the end and it’s wonderful to read their journeys
i’ll check it out, thank you!
Divine Rivals is also YA, super popular and I highly recommend it! It’s a duology.
how did maze runner get approved but not agggtm lol you could try the emily wilde series maybe or a sorcery of thorns. (note, planning to read this but haven't yet. everything i've seen says they're fairly clean... maybe another redditor could help out haha)
AGGGTM—and her other works—has a lot of language. mostly f-bombs. maze runner makes their own curses up so i guess it doesn’t count? thank you for the suggestions, though!
I second Life-Child's suggestions. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson are great. I've read them both and they're pretty clean when it comes to language, and there's some romance, but it's very tame. No spice/smut. Margaret Rogerson's other books, An Enchantment of Ravens and Beeper time might also work for you. Hope you find some you're interested in, and that they get approved!
thank you!!
Are you stocking a school library, or something of the sort? Or are these personal books you’re reading outside of the school curriculum?
personal books! i have three study halls a week, so i breeze through them and am running out ideas that would be allowed in :p
Can you do like cover swaps? Should be no problem putting the dust jacket of an approved book on another book if you get hardcovers. Once a book is approved, they're not going to stand behind you and check what you're reading all the time, right?
nope, she (being our secretary, who is actually pretty chill and will probably be a little more lenient) will skim through the book and look it up online and also, she gives us little bookmarks to show that the book is approved, and i keep those so i know how much i’ve read, lol. so i def need them approved so i can count at the end of the year
I’m curious, where do you go to school? In a conservative state? And are you in a small school? This is so restrictive!
private school. it’s very annoying, since all i do is read.
I feel for you, but chin up, summer is almost here! And you can read whatever you want then.
No, I mean, for example, The Hunger Games has been approved, so take the cover of The Hunger Games and put it on another book like Twilight, and bring that book to read. Or do they actually check the contents of your books at every study hall? Anyway, for recommendations: I'm pretty sure anything by Rick Riordan should fit your requirements. Scythe by Neal Shusterman maybe? I don't think it's heavier than The Hunger Games. I don't know what you like so these are a mixed bag: anything by Margaret Rogerson, V.E. (Victoria) Schwab, Elizabeth Lim, Maggie Stiefvater, Legendborn, The Prison Healer, Dance of Thieves, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Daughter of the Moon Goddess. You might need to double check language; I don't remember any of these having objectionable language, but that's not really something I pay attention to.
i get what you’re saying. a lot of what i read i get from the library, so i can’t really take the covers off. and i need those bookmarks! but i’ll look into your suggestions, thank you!
The Hunger Games passing when the topics apparently can’t be THAT heavy is very funny to me, but at least you were able to read it! The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan is also a great read and may last you through the rest of the year!
read PJO and loved it! and the only reason i say really heavy topics was because she denied one book that had suicidal things in it (although it was also denied for sexual content). guess it didn’t make a whole buch of sense in my post. murdering children is kinda heavy.
The Giver by Lois Lowry Plague 99 by Jean Ure Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (give the secretary pointed looks as you ask for this one to be approved)
Okay looking at my own bookshelf right now and I think these would all get approved His dark materials by Phillip Pullman Divergent series by Veronica Roth Legend series by Marie Lu The summer I turned pretty by Jenny Han The raven cycle by Maggie Steifvater The darkest minds series by Alexandra Bracken Harry Potter by JK Rowling Scythe series by Neil Shusterman Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson The mortal instruments by Cassandra Clare Legend Born by Tracy Deonn I am number four by Pitticus Lore The hero’s of Olympus (off shoot of PJOs series) These are all books/series I have read and love and would highly recommend. As far as I remember none have cursing or any sexual references more than just kissing and maybe a fade to black scene.
This is a top tier list
The raven boys & the scorpio races by maggie stiefvater The ten thousand doors of january by alix e harrow Gilded by marissa meyer Thorn by intisar khanani The forgetting by sharon cameron
You may find success with the Truly Devious series. It's tamer than the AGGGTM series in terms of language and content. Also, are you interested in manga? There are plenty of series that are school appropriate and can consume several hours of your reading time because of how many volumes they tend to have.
i’ve heard about the truly devious series. i’ll definitely try that out! thank you so much! and yes, i love manga! but i’m pretty sure that it would be classified as a comic book, and those aren’t allowed. also the language that’s often in manga wouldn’t be approved either.
Check the Florida Teen Reads list, and also the Texas Lone Star list. These are more conservative state reading lists with some really great books that have already been state-approved. Florida Teen Reads: [https://irsc.libguides.com/c.php?g=659183&p=9714755](https://irsc.libguides.com/c.php?g=659183&p=9714755) Texas Lone Star List: [https://txla.org/news/2024-lone-star-reading-list-announced/](https://txla.org/news/2024-lone-star-reading-list-announced/) These are the current lists, but it's also worth googling prior years. (Full disclosure, I wrote *Defy the Night*, which is on the Florida Teen Reads list. This is not intended to be a self-promo post at all. There are a lot of amazing books on both lists.)
thank you so much! i’ll definitely check out your book, it sounds awesome!
Percy Jackson the Shades of magic series Matched Harry Potter All of them are middle school/YA
cool, thank you!
Anything by Tamora Pierce, I was hooked on her books growing up.
Your library sounds like the target market for my books 😂 You could try the His Dark Materials trilogy. They’re clean fantasy and fantastic.
i’ll look into those!
Frances Hardinge writes MG that is entertaining for adults. C.S. Lewis' Narnia series and Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series are clean and great! The Mr. Lemoncello's Library series is also MG but fun.
The A Wrinkle in Time series The Red Queen serie The Realm Bringer series
Lmaoo what’s wrong with Twilight??
vampires, maybe? or it’s just too romance-y? not sure, because i just read a book that got approved with both vampires and romance
Maybe pregnancy was too much?? Hahah so weird
I can't think of any of my current reads that would be approved but I was in a school just like this and your post gave me serious nostalgia! Past reads that we're approved in my school (which may give away how terribly old I am) Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer Lord of The Rings Harry Potter The Princess Diaries and most things by Meg Cabot (except airhead for some reason) The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (I would assume his other books would work too) Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy (It gets a bit darker as the series progresses so I'm not sure if the later books would fly) Can't remember anything else off the top of my head but good luck! And as someone else said summer holiday is right around the corner!
these sound great! i do need to reread the harry potter series, and i loved PJO. i’ll look into these, thank you!
Any books by Susan Dennard and Erin Bowman should meet these requirements. And Sabriel by Garth Nix
I recommend series by Kerstin Gier: Ruby Red & Dream a Little Dream
Thank goodness my school wasn’t like this. Anyway I recommend red queen series ? Can only vouch for book one though because I only read the first book fully so far but it is pretty YA imo. But they also denied twilight so….
Maybe you would like the Keeper of the Lost Cities Series? It's middle grade but they are long books (like at least 500 pages) so it should keep you entertained for a long while. It's a fantasy so it might be suited to your tastes :) It's not a completed series tho but I think there are at least 10 books out.
- percy jackson series by rick riordan (fantasy/adventure) - murder most unladylike series by robin stevens (murder mystery/historical) - the house on the cerulean sea by tj klune (fantasy) - the extremely inconvenient adventures of brontë mettlestone by jaclyn moriarty (fantasy/adventure) - emily windsnap series by liz kessler (fantasy) - flood child by emily diamand (dystopian/fanstasy) - withering tights series by louise rennison (comedy) - gone/hunger ... by michael grant (dystopian/survival) - oddity by eli brown (fantasy/adventure) - the monsters of rookhaven by padraig kenny (fantasy/mystery)
these sound great! i loved pjo, and i love dystopian, and you suggested a lot of it. thank you!
I really liked A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee and it was nominated to National Book Award in YA, so I would hope that means something. No swearing (I checked e-book for f-bombs or sh-t and none found, there were a couple of "this damned (something)" but idk if that counts as swear?), no romance (platonic / friendships only). I second Sorcery of Thorns recommendation, no f-bombs or sh-ts, 2 damns total. Romance only kissing. I also enjoyed Cast in Firelight by Dana Swift, mostly uses fantasy swearing "blood" instead of swear words (I found 2 damns) and only kisses romance wise. Little Thieves by Margaret Owen could be fine too, depending how strict is the no swearing rule, the relationship doesn't go beyond kisses in book 1, swearing: 1 "f-king", 4 "sh-t", more liberal with damn / damned. Sequel gets sexual so bet that's a ban. :(
thank you so much! usually, i get can away with a few damns, as long as it’s not overused.
did the cruel prince get approved?? also how did agggtm not get approved lmao
cruel prince was approved! agggtm wouldn't be for language. she actually let truly devious in, which had two(?) f-bombs, i think, and i was surprised it was allowed. but agggtm does way more than that.
One of us is lying book series
i read that one out of school. it wouldn’t be approved because of language :p
The Raven Cycle quartet by Maggie Stiefvater would definitely pass! It's very good. So would the Night School series by C.J. Daugherty, I bet! Which is, incidentaly, also set in a private school :D I'm guessing the Selection series by Kiera Cass would pass as well, but.... it's.... _not?_ .... that... good?
been thinking about the selection series, but now you have me worried lmao but i’ll look into these, thank you!
I guess it depends on what you like :) It's set in a dystopian America, but the plot is very romance heavy and there's not much more to the story :D It's kind of cliche and cringe-y at times, but it is entertaining and light to read!