The U.S. has a robust publishing ecosystem, and while there’s still room for improvement, a significant number of the thousands of annual releases reflect the country’s broad ethnic diversity. So why is it imperative that American readers intentionally seek out the still relatively scarce works by international authors? For starters, it’s easy to generalize about entire groups of people—an undifferentiated mass may seem frightening or alien. It’s much harder to objectify people (even fictional ones) you get to know as individuals. Structural obstacles prevent many Americans from traveling internationally; the next best thing can be taking a journey of the imagination through books. In our ever more interconnected world, ignorance of those beyond our borders is a serious liability. Teens deserve better.

Secondly, books by immigrants to the U.S. and books by Americans of non-European descent filter their stories through American social and political milieux; their authors’ understanding and exploration of identity and belonging is qualitatively different from that of people writing from their homelands for an implied audience of their fellow citizens. Unless we consciously note these nuances, we may overlook the need to deliberately seek out harder-to-locate international titles.

The following books take readers around the globe, introducing them to intriguing worlds both real and imagined and presenting them with new perspectives and relatably familiar ones. They also offer YA audiences exposure to different narrative structures, storytelling styles, cultural references, and more, enriching their lives considerably.

A tearjerker from China that became a popular TV drama, Goodbye, My Princess by Fei Wo Si Cun and translated by Tianshu (Simon & Schuster, 2025) will keep readers riveted as they follow the travails of Xiaofeng, the unhappily married princess consort of a fictional historical dynasty, and the mysterious new man in her life, Gu Jian.

Award-winning Syrian author Maria Dadouch’s I Want Golden Eyes (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 2025), translated from Arabic by M. Lynx Qualey and Sawad Hussain, transports readers to a late-21^st-century Comoros Islands where opportunities are dictated by IQ. In this provocative, well-fleshed-out story, 16-year-old Diyala, who’s forced to serve the elite Goldens, uses her wits to challenge an oppressive system.

Manila-based Mae Coyiuto once again draws upon her Chinese Filipino background for her sophomore novel, Goodbye and Everything After (Feiwel & Friends, Feb. 17). This raw, heartfelt, and uplifting story of a teen struggling with familial changes in the wake of the death of her beloved father incorporates Filipino folk beliefs and will resonate widely.

Crying Wolf by James Butler (Little Island, March 10) is an Irish import set in Dublin that will appeal to fans of gritty urban storiesthat explore complex family dynamics. This fast-paced thriller told in a colloquial style introduces Joey, a teen who’s trying to find his way and is drawn back into the orbit of his criminal stepfather.

Author and artist Vicky Lyfoung, who was born near Paris to Hmong refugees, shares her family’s story, interwoven with a concise cultural and political survey, in Hmong: A Graphic History (Graphic Universe, April 7). This informative, often-heartbreaking work, which was translated from French by Kao-Ly Yang, spotlights a narrative that will be new to many readers.

Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.