Harry Potter was a smash hit about a boy discovering he’s a wizard and going to school in a magical world full of wonder and adventure. Twilight didn’t hit quite that high a note, but the story of a teenage girl who learns her classmate is a vampire and falls in love with him did quite well. The Hunger Games popularized the dystopian genre with a bow wielding teenager stepping up to survive death games, have angsty romances, and fight the power.
As far as I can tell, nothing has quite hit that same kind of high since and it may be awhile until the next truly big wave. But if it were up to you, what would the next big thing be about?
In theory, a YA book series like that would rock.
In practice, I don’t see how any current YA author is not going to screw it up by making it one more piece of divisive politics: ie here’s the villain, oh look, they’re exactly like the stereotype the average liberal has of the average conservative! Star Trek was able to tread that line of being political but in a universal way, showing characters deal with serious moral questions but not turning into culture wars IN SPACE. From what I’ve seen of recent YA fic dealing with political issues, I don’t see them producing something as universally inspiring as Star Trek anytime soon. I’d love to be proven wrong on this, though.