Nina LaCour Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Children's Books

Publication Order of The Apartment House on Poppy Hill Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Nina LaCour is an American author best known writing writing young adult novels. She is the former winner of the Michael L. Printz Award and a Northern California Book Award for Children’s Literature. She has also written picture books, novels for adults, and collaborated with David Levithan on You Know Me Well.

The authored was born and raised in the East Bay area of California in the United States. She ended not traveling far for university as she went to San Francisco to receive her undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University. Nina then went back to the Oakland area to Mills College where she earned her MFA in Creative Writing. Her graduate thesis was what ultimately became her first novel, Hold Still. It could be said that her thesis was a success as the book ended up received a William C. Morris honor from the American Library Association.

Throughout her life, Nina was raised with an appreciation for the arts and education. Her father was a teacher and school principal, her mother was an art teacher, and her grandmother taught china painting classes. She had teaching in her blood so it was no surprise that she tutored through college and taught English composition to undergraduate students. After her education, she went on to teach at Berkeley City College and Maybeck High School.

Nina had a daughter and took some time off in order to stay home with her, but she eventually went back to teaching at Hamline University’s MFAC program. One of her skills in teaching is in her lesson planning and lecture writing. She also enjoys classroom discussions and helping students through the drafts of their short stories and novels.

As an author, Nina has had a lot of success and been in demand. The books that she has written have been named as Junior Library Guild selections and ALA Best Books for Young Adults. She has also made numerous best books of the year list during her time as an author, making appearances on the Boston Globe, Seventeen, Booklist, and Bustle lists.

When she is not writing or teaching, Nina enjoys cooking, gardening, and traveling around Northern California. She currently makes her home in San Francisco with her wife and daughter.

Yerba Buena is the first adult novel from Nina LaCour. Sara Foster runs away from home at the age of sixteen and in doing so she leaves behind the girl she once was. Unfortunately with that girl she also left behind her capabilities of trust and intimacy. Years later she is a popular bartender in Los Angeles who is known for her brilliant cocktails and the mystery that surrounds her. In another part of the city, Emilie Dubois is stuck in a holding pattern.

She yearns for the community that her Creole grandparents cultivated, but finds herself unable to commit. She ends up taking a job arranging flowers at the Yerba Buena restaurant where she ends up in an affair with the married owner. One morning Emilie and Sara meet and they form an instant connection. The damage that the women carry and the choices that they have made ends up getting in the way of them though and pulls them apart. Sara’s old life ends up catching up with her and changes her in unexpected ways. Emilie manages to gain her own sense of purpose as well and now the two will have to decide if their love can overpower their past.

Watch Over Me is a ghost story about trauma and survival in the young adult genre. Mila is used to being alone which is why she said yes to a second chance in a remote place, but she didn’t know about the ghosts heading in. She has just graduated from high school and now finds herself out of the foster care system for the first time. She gets a job offer to teach on an isolated part of the California coast, an opportunity which seems great. She is looking to finally find herself a real home and the farm seems like it may be it. However, she soon finds that the place is haunted by the past. Now, Mila’s memories of her own past are starting to rise as well.

We Are Okay is the Michael L. Printz Award winning novel from LaCour. Marin hasn’t talked to anyone from her old life since the day that she picked up and left everything behind. Those final weeks are something that nobody knows the truth about, not even her best friend. Now, she is thousands of miles away from the California coast and making her way at college in New York. Marin can still feel the pull of the tragedy that she has tried to outrun. Months later she finds herself alone in her dorm on winter break and waiting for her best friend Mabel to come and visit. It should be an exciting time, but Marin knows that this visit will force her to face everything that has been left unsaid and confront the loneliness that makes its home in her heart.

Everything Leads to You is another coming-of-age novel about embracing your past from LaCour. Emi Price is just out of high school and already a talented young set designer finding success in the film scene of Los Angeles. She has a great artistic eye, but it has failed her in the love department. She is looking to design a love life that is more than pretend. At an estate sale she finds a mysterious letter which ends up sendong her down the rabbit hole of a movie icon’s hidden life. The search will lead her to Ava as well which allows for what’s hidden in Emi to bloom.

You Know Me Well is written by Nina LaCour and David Levithan. The book tells the story of Mark and Kate. The two sat next to each other for a year in school, but never spoke and never saw each other out of class. Then one night, miles away from home, they see each other and embark on a wild and unexpected night in the city. The two have no idea how important they are about to become to each other or how they will know each other better than anyone else in a very short time.