diary format YA books

Hi,
I'm in a YA lit class and for my final paper I'm thinking of looking at YA books written in diary or letter format. They were one of my favorite types of books when I was a teen. Does anyone have any recommendations for recently published diary books? The only ones I can think of are Go Ask Alice and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but those are too old (although fantastic).
Thanks!

It's not really the same sort of YA book as those, but Sorcery and Cecilia is a fun read, written in the form of letters between two friends :)

A Brief History of Montmaray is one of my favorite recent YA books, the diary of a member of an impoverished royal family on a (fictional) island during World War II.

Probably the most famous diary (although not fiction) is Anne Frank's.

I absolutely adore Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster. There is a sequel, too, which I own and which I have read and enjoyed - but the title is not coming to me, and I'm too tired to go looking.

Off the top of my head, there's Cathy's Book and sequels which are diary-based but also include interactive elements.

A classic: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole and what I think of as the American equivalent Youth in Revolt, which I think is being made into a movie.

Oh and Tamora Pierce's Terrier is in diary format I think.

Alice, I think is written in diary format, as is Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging. Sleeping freshman never lie, while not exactly in diary format, is written as a series of pointers to the main character's soon-to-be-born younger sibling.

flemmily - How could I forget Terrier and Bloodhound? I love Tamora Pierce!

Me too! I think it's because the diary format is so unobtrusive - Its almost more like it's just written in 1st person POV. My main complaint with diary format is that it can get a little gimmicky and interfere with the story, but Pierce does it really well I think.

A few I can think of that haven't been mentioned yet are life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer (and I believe the sequels are also in diary format), Spud by John van de Ruit, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (although maybe it's not quite YA, it's still hilarious and borrowed frequently at my high school library). I think Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is in diary format as well, but it might be too old.

Hope those help, and good luck with your assignment!

Have you tried searching for tags like epistolary? Or a tagmash?

Dear Mr. Henshaw is too young for YA, I think(?).

How about Saci Lloyd's Carbon diaries 2015 and Carbon diaries 2017?

Can't believe no-one's mentioned these yet, but The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot are some of my favourite books.
In letter format, you could look at Life on the Refrigerator Door and Feeling Sorry for Celia.

For older YA - The Undertaker's Gone Bananas by Paul Zindel.

You may want to look at the Royal Diaries series. Each book is about a different historical princess or queen, and by a different author. The end of the book always includes things like portraits/pictures of the girl and her family, and the historical facts used in the book.

ETA: http://www.librarything.com/series/Royal+Diaries

Here are some YA books I've read that have been in a diary or journal format:
I capture the castle by Dodie Smith
Black Maria by Diana Wynne Jones
The Claidi Journals (starting with Wolf Tower) by Tanith Lee
The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty
Absolutely normal chaos by Sharon Creech
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

If memory serves, My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger was only published last year. It's a fantastic YA novel. Not written as a diary persay, by is certaintly epistolary. The story is told through emials, letter, newspaper clippings, instant messages, excerpts from assignments, ect. The POV of each chapter rotates between the three main characters. It was one of my favourite reads of last year.

Love, Stargirl the sequl to Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is, again, not diary entries exactly but rather unsent letter to Leo, Stargirl's ex-boyfriend. These letters are her way of keeping a diary without specifically writting, "Dear diary...". The first book, Stargirl isn't written as diary entires though, just your standard first person narrative.

You might also consider Letters from the Inside by Australian author John Marsden. Again, not a series of diary entries but rather letters send back and forth between two girls. A very good book. My favourite when I was in highschool. It may not be what you're looking for though given that it was publushed in 1991.

Another John Marsden book, So Much To Tell You IS written in diary format but was published back in 1987. Another very good book. I think it may have been Marsden's debut. I re-read it about three or four years ago and it holds up well over the years. But again, the age may be a factor to your final paper.

Good Luck!

Monster goes back and forth between a journal written in jail and a screenplay. EXTREMELY good book.

If you like paranormal books, then there are the 4 'Vampire Diaries' The Awakening, The Struggle, The Fury and Dark Reunion

They are written in part diary - part 'story'

I would say that the majoirty of The Vampire Diaries isn't in diary format. If memory serves, just a few pages a the beginning of each chapter (though I could be wrong!). It's probably still worth looking into!

Book of a Thousand Days is a good book written in diary format.

life as we knew it by susan beth pfeffer is mostly diary format. post apocolyptical young adult.

MissTeacher Who wrote Monster?

Monster by Walter Dean Myers. Hopefully both touchstones work correctly. Excellent book!

Thanks so much for all your suggestions!

Megan Mcafferty's Jessica Darling books are pretty good, especially the first: sloppy firsts

I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian! A few years old now, but excellent.

Ooh, second The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Also thought I'd mention, all of those Georgia Nicholson books are written in diary form.

4 The sequel to Daddy Long Legs (by Jean Webster) is Dear Enemy. Personally, I like Dear Enemy a lot more.

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Jervis in Daddy Long Legs really creeps me out (even more than Paul Emanuel in Villette) and I really wish Judy had smacked him one instead of marrying him. I also thought Dear Enemy had more humorous material than Daddy Long Legs. Anyway, MerryMary, I'd never heard of Jean Webster or her books until your post, so thanks much!

You're very welcome. What a lovely warm feeling to know I passed on the love!

Coming in a bit late, but there are the fantastic Carbon Diaries by Saci lloyd that are both recent and fabulous

Ditto the suggestion of the "Royal Diaries" series -- I think the authors went all out on the historical research, and they make the reader realize that people are people, even royalty who have history thrust upon them.

It may be out of print, but I adore The Diary of Trilby Frost, about a pioneer girl who befriends a Native (or half Native) boy

Also, would people consider Sold by Patricia McCormick to be diary format? It's kind of freeform poetry -- although I think it reads as prose, not poetry -- and it's all first person. I just can't remember if the chapters are dated as "entries". Lovely, sobering, beautiful, grim, uplifting book.

I didn't read all the posts, so sorry if this has already been suggested, but Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale is a great fantasy read in a diary format. It's based on the little-known Grimm Brothers' story Maid Maleen.

The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler (I think he's the Lemony Snickett guy) is written as a sort of diary/autobiography/thesis - it's an imprisoned girl's book to the world, explaining her story and her role in the events of a murder. It's told with dark humor, and the jailed girl is a very unreliable narrator, so the book is also an exercise in reception and literary theory, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

I recently read I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend, and I think the title is horribly cheesy, but the book is actually quite good. It's in diary format.