The Recommended Reading Path: Where to Start
Because Ashley Hope Pérez writes standalone novels rather than ongoing series, you have complete freedom in how you navigate her bibliography. However, the order in which you read them can change your appreciation for how her style and thematic complexity have evolved. We recommend the following reading paths depending on what you are looking for:
- The Acclaimed Route (Highly Recommended): Start with Out of Darkness. As her most famous, award-winning, and emotionally devastating book, it represents the absolute peak of her historical storytelling and lyrical writing. Afterward, work backward to her earlier Houston-set contemporary novels to see how she developed her focus on marginalized communities and high-stakes teen choices.
- The Chronological Publication Route: If you want to experience her growth as a novelist from the beginning, read her three novels in order: What Can't Wait (2011), followed by The Knife and the Butterfly (2012), and finishing with Out of Darkness (2015).
- The Geographic/Texas Tour Route: Pérez's fiction is deeply rooted in Texas settings. You can read them by moving from the urban struggles of modern Houston in What Can't Wait and The Knife and the Butterfly to the historical segregated landscape of 1937 East Texas in Out of Darkness.
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Pérez's three young adult novels are all independent works, but they share a common thread of high emotional stakes, authentic representation of Latinx and Black youth, and a refusal to shy away from difficult realities. Here is a detailed look at the books in their order of release:
1. What Can't Wait (2011)
Published in 2011, this debut novel is set in Houston, Texas, and follows Marisa, a Mexican American teenager who is gifted in mathematics. Marisa finds herself caught in a high-pressure tug-of-war between her family's immediate needs—which include working a part-time job to help pay bills and complying with traditional household expectations—and her own dreams of attending college. The book was inspired by Pérez's time teaching English at César E. Chávez High School in Houston, where she witnessed her students navigating similar conflicts. It earned recognition on the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Best Fiction for Young Adults list in 2012.
2. The Knife and the Butterfly (2012)
Released in 2012, this gritty contemporary YA novel was inspired by a real-life gang clash that occurred in a Houston park in 2006. The story is told from the perspective of Azael, a Salvadoran teenager associated with MS-13, who wakes up in a locked observation room that serves as a kind of purgatory. To discover how he got there and what happened during a fatal street brawl, Azael is forced to watch the memories of Lexi, a girl from a rival group who has a talent for art and poetry. The novel uses a non-linear format to explore themes of violence, trauma, and redemption. It was selected for the YALSA Popular Paperbacks list in 2015.
3. Out of Darkness (2015)
Though the local database lists a 2016 publication year, Out of Darkness was originally published in late 2015 by Carolrhoda Lab (Lerner Publishing Group). The novel is a work of historical fiction set in 1937 in New London, East Texas, leading up to the historic school explosion that claimed the lives of nearly 300 children. The narrative centers on the forbidden romance between Naomi Vargas, a Mexican American teenager who has moved to the segregated town with her younger siblings under the custody of her abusive white stepfather, and Wash Fuller, a Black teenager navigating the dangerous boundaries of the Jim Crow South. The novel is widely considered her magnum opus, earning a 2016 Printz Honor, the Tomás Rivera Book Award, and the Américas Award. It has also been the subject of extensive censorship challenges in the United States since 2021.
Publication Order of Anthologies and Contributions
In addition to her novels, Pérez has contributed to and edited collaborative volumes that focus on representation and advocacy. Here is how to read her anthology work:
1. Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America (2020)
Pérez contributed a short story titled "What Home Is" to this 2020 anthology, which was edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter. The collection aims to dismantle stereotypes about rural areas by showcasing the diversity of small-town life. Pérez's story draws on her own childhood growing up in East Texas to explore the complex feeling of belonging to a place that is politically or socially conservative while still carrying personal, ancestral meaning.
2. Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights (2025)
Having experienced firsthand what it is like to be one of the most challenged and banned authors in the United States due to the content in Out of Darkness, Pérez edited this young adult anthology. Illustrated by Debbie Fong, Banned Together compiles fiction, poetry, essays, and graphic novel segments from fifteen diverse authors who have faced censorship. The book is not only a literary collection but also a practical manual, offering resources for teen advocacy, guides on writing to library boards, and steps for supporting local intellectual freedom.
Academic and Non-Fiction Works
Pérez is also a professor of comparative studies at The Ohio State University. For adult readers or students of literature who want to understand her intellectual framework, her scholarly writing is a fascinating companion to her creative work:
Deformative Fictions: Cruelty and Narrative Ethics in Twentieth-Century Latin American Literature (2024)
Published in 2024 by the Ohio State University Press, this academic monograph explores how twentieth-century Latin American writers—such as Silvina Ocampo and Roberto Bolaño—use narratives of cruelty. Pérez argues that these "difficult" texts intentionally disrupt reader comfort and expectations to build a deeper, more active ethical awareness. The book was awarded the 2024 Matei Calinescu Prize by the Modern Language Association (MLA).
What to Know Before You Start: Tone and Themes
Pérez's books are highly emotional and, at times, difficult to read. Before opening one of her novels, keep the following in mind:
- Mature Themes: Her books deal directly with heavy topics including systemic racism, physical and sexual abuse, gang violence, grief, and historical tragedies. Parental guidance or reader preparation is recommended, especially for younger teens.
- Fidelity to History and Experience: Pérez conducts exhaustive research for her works. Out of Darkness is grounded in historical accounts of the 1937 New London disaster and the racial hierarchy of East Texas. The Knife and the Butterfly is closely modeled on actual court cases and gang dynamics in Houston.
- Banning and Censorship: Out of Darkness became one of the most frequently challenged books in the United States starting in 2021. The challenges focused on its depictions of abuse and racial trauma, but the book continues to be celebrated by educators, civil rights groups, and librarians for its literary merit and honest portrayal of history.