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If your New Year’s resolution is to read more books (guilty!), you might be looking back at the 2024 picks from various celebrity book clubs (double guilty!). Celebrities like Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, and Natalie Portman have some of the best recommendations for your next read, and so we’re always excited when they drop their next book club pick.
If your teen is joining you in your New Year’s resolution, we have a lot of questions: How in the world did you score that major bonding moment?! Are you going to start your own little book club or are they asking you to “please be chill” about this? Perhaps most importantly, did you know Witherspoon recommends the some of the best books for teens?
This year, the Legally Blonde star recommended three knockout novels for her YA Book Club that can (and should!) be enjoyed by readers of all ages.
Reese’s Book Club Summer 2024 YA Pick
After a bit of a hiatus, Witherspoon brought her YA Picks back this past summer with the help of her nieces, Abby and Draper. The trio began picking YA books each season, and the inaugural one for 2024 was Twelfth Knight. The ultra-creative rom-com is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night that celebrates girls who love gaming. It’s a coming-of-age story with a delectable ’90s and early-aughts sensibility that readers couldn’t help but devour.
“My new favorite book of all time,” one happy parent wrote on Amazon. ” … Wonderful character growth without being didactic; diverse povs; and helps give the reader context and vocabulary for many aspects of patriarchy, feminism, microaggression, and sexuality without necessarily realizing it or knowing you wanted/needed it. I can’t wait to put this book in the hands of my kid when he’s a teenager.”
“Y’all I adore this book,” another reader added. “Sticking to the source material plot while making an entirely new and brilliant narrative? Chefs kiss. Mission accomplished.”
Reese’s Book Club Fall 2024 YA Pick
Witherspoon and her team admitted they were “hooked from line 1” of the Fall 2024 YA Pick, Looking for Smoke. This powerful and gripping debut novel centers around four members of the Blackfeet reservation who become people of interest after one of their peers is murdered. It’s a “high-states whodunit” that introduces readers to life on the reservation and centers around themes of betrayal and justice.
“If there’s one wish I have for this book,” Cobell said in an author spotlight, “it’s that these characters will make you feel something. Like countless Natives today, they want change. They want outrage. They want their voices heard. I hope they stick with you long after the book ends.”
“I loved this one! Thx for introducing me to this culture,” one person said. Another added, “Loved it and it kept me guessing until the end. Readers call this book, captivating, poignant, beautiful, and thrilling. And what do we call it? A must-read.
Reese’s Book Club Winter 2024 YA Pick
When Witherspoon announced that Throwback by Maurene Goo was the Winter YA Pick for Reese’s Book Club, she did so in the cutest way! The actress posted a video with herself, Goo, and her nieces all passing around the novel.
“The booklover urge to share your current read with all your besties. 👀📖,” Witherspoon captioned the post.
“[Throwback] is a blend of heart and humor in this beautiful telling of mother-daughter relationships,” the multi-hyphenate continued. “In this blast to the past, Samantha Kang is thrown back to the ’90’s, where she’s forced to help the teenage version of her mother win Homecoming Queen, or else she’ll be trapped there … FOREVER.”
Fans were obsessed with the final pick of 2024. “THIS BOOK! Impossible not to fall in love with!!!” one person commented. Another added, “A throwback to the ’90s? I’m all in! 🤗.”
“I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time to come!” yet another happy reader said. “I’ve never seen time travel done quite this way before. It was so modern and clever! All the ’90s details felt perfectly on point.”
Struggle with getting your kiddo to read? Check out these middle-grade books that might do the trick!
