Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel

I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of Best of All Worlds in January, 2025. I am always in search of books for young teens (ages 12-15) and this sounded promising. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this books for middle school readers due to sexual content, and below is the letter that I wrote to the publisher expressing my frustration with what is currently being written and marketed for young adults. This is not to say that it isn't a good story and a well-written book, it just missed its chance to be a huge hit with 7th and 8th grade readers.  Learn more about Young Teen Lit here. 

Dear Scholastic Editors,

One of the popular areas of my middle school library right now is adventure and survival, and kids are always drawn to sci fi/dystopia, so I was over the moon to hear Kenneth Oppel talk about his new book, Best of All Worlds. I could see that it checked many of the boxes for Young Teen Lit–it deals with complex topics, it’s a survival story, the main character goes from 13-16 years old, it has diverse characters, the cover is dynamite, and it’s got a great page count (not too long!). I was ready to declare this the new poster child for Young Teen Lit, but after reading it and mulling it over, I feel compelled to write to you about this book and how, regretfully, I am not going to be able to purchase or recommend it to the 7th and 8th graders for whom I think should be it’s target audience.  To be completely blunt, the very small plot issue of the main characters’ sexual encounter (described by the main character as a “hand job”) makes this a book a non-starter in middle school libraries and book fairs. If I thought this were an upper YA book I would not give it another thought–I would just accept that it’s not for my students. However, this book has all the hallmarks of a great book for young teens, and I don’t think it is quite right for older YA readers, so I’m afraid this book isn’t going to find its audience due to a couple of paragraphs. 

Although I’m a Georgia librarian, I work in a progressive school district that has not been targeted by recent book bans. I purchase books that reflect all my students, including LGBTQ+ books and books about race and identity. My collection includes Heartstopper, Dear Martin, They Both Die at the End and many other books that can be controversial in middle schools.  All that to say that I think I am more courageous in my purchasing than many middle school librarians so my feedback isn’t rooted in fear of censorship. 

I know it’s probably too late to give this book the small edit it would need to be considered Young Teen Lit, but I was hoping you could pass this feedback onto others at Scholastic who might be interested in publishing more Young Teen Lit books in the future. Middle librarians and students are clamoring for books like Best of All Worlds–just dialed down one notch.