Sasaki and Miyano by Shou Harusono
Reading Age: 13 and up Printed Length: 132 pages It all started like a typical old-school boys’ love plotline-bad-boy senior meets adorably awkward underclassman, one of them falls in love, and so on and so forth. But although Miyano is a self-proclaimed boys’ love expert, he hasn’t quite realized…he’s in one himself. Which means it’s up to Sasaki to make sure their story has a happily ever after! |
Forsooth by Jimmy Matejek
Reading Age: 11-14 years Printed Length: 360 pages Thirteen-year-old Calvin knows he's destined to be a star...if he can just stop making embarrassing mistakes onstage, like getting stuck on a single line-"Forsooth!"- during the school play. The summer after seventh grade, he's hoping for a fresh start. All he has to do is prove himself as an actor and fix the awkwardness with his friends that started after the play. But nothing's going according to plan. His parents don't get his love of performing. His best friend is moving on without him. And he might have a crush that could change everything. Surrounded by drama on all sides, Calvin will have to go off script if he's going to be a real friend and be true to himself. |
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 416 pages On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day. |
The Lucky List by Rachael Lippincott
Reading Age: 12 & up Print Length: 320 pages Emily and her mom were always lucky. But Emily’s mom’s luck ran out three years ago when she succumbed to cancer, and nothing has felt right for Emily since. Now, the summer before her senior year, things are getting worse. Not only has Emily wrecked things with her boyfriend Matt, who her mom adored, but her dad is selling the house she grew up in and giving her mom’s belongings away. Soon, she’ll have no connections left to Mom but her lucky quarter. And with her best friend away for the summer and her other friends taking her ex’s side, the only person she has to talk to about it is Blake, the swoony new girl she barely knows. But that’s when Emily finds the list—her mom’s senior year summer bucket list—buried in a box in the back of her closet. When Blake suggests that Emily take it on as a challenge, the pair set off on a journey to tick each box and help Emily face her fears before everything changes. As they go further down the list, Emily finally begins to feel close to her mom again, but her bond with Blake starts to deepen, too, into something she wasn’t expecting. Suddenly Emily must face another fear: accepting the secret part of herself she never got a chance to share with the person who knew her best. |
She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen
Reading Age: 12-18 years Print Length: 320 pages After an embarrassing loss to her ex-girlfriend in their first basketball game of the season, seventeen-year-old Scottie Zajac gets into a fender bender with the worst possible person: her nemesis, Irene Abraham, head cheerleader for the Fighting Reindeer. Irene is as mean as she is beautiful, so Scottie makes a point to keep her distance. When the accident sends Irene’s car to the shop for weeks’ worth of repairs and the girls are forced to carpool, their rocky start only gets bumpier. But when an opportunity arises for Scottie to get back at her toxic ex―and climb her school’s social ladder―she bribes Irene into an elaborate fake- dating scheme that threatens to reveal some very real feelings. |
Queer Power! by Dom & Ink
Reading Age: 12-15 years Print Length: 160 pages An inspiring, expansive anthology that celebrates some of the LGBTQIA+ community's trailblazers, champions, and icons from across the rainbow. In a follow-up to Free to Be Me, DOM&INK returns with a collection of essays that highlight modern-day LGBTQIA+ pioneers who have changed the world -- from well-known public figures and allies to up-and-comers you'll wish you'd heard of earlier. Covering topics including coming out, gender, mental health, and activism, this book is packed full of empowering quotes, inspiring life lessons, and helpful advice that will encourage you to embrace your story and find your power. |
This Is Our Place by Victor Martins & translated by Larissa Helena
Reading Age: 12 & up Print Length: 320 pages As Ana celebrates the new millennium, she is shocked to learn that she must leave behind her childhood home, her hometown, and -- hardest of all -- her girlfriend for a new life in Rio de Janeiro. Ten years later, Greg is sent to live with his aunt -- who runs a video rental store from her garage and owns a dog named Keanu Reeves -- as his parents work out their not-so-secret divorce. And ten years after that, Beto must put his dreams of becoming a photographer on hold as the Covid-19 pandemic arrives in Brazil, forcing him to live with his overprotective mother and overachieving sister. Set in and narrated by the same house, Number 8 Sunflower Street, and in three different decades -- 2000, 2010, and 2020 respectively -- This Is Our Place is a novel about queer teens dealing with sudden life changes, family conflict, and first loves, proving that while generations change, we will always be connected to each other. |
Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan
Reading Age: 12-17 years Print Length: 336 pages Fallon is Type A, looks before she leaps, and always has a plan (and a backup plan). Chloe is happy-go-lucky, flies by the seat of her pants, and always follows her bliss. The two girls used to be best friends, but last summer they hooked up right before Chloe left for college, and after a series of misunderstandings, they aren’t even speaking to each other. A year later, Chloe’s back home from school, and Fallon is doing everything in her power to avoid her. Which is especially difficult because their moms own a business together—a gourmet ice cream truck where both girls work. When a meeting with some promising potential investors calls their parents away at the last minute, it’s up to Fallon to work a series of important food truck festivals across the country. But she can’t do it alone, and Chloe is the only one available to help. Tensions heat up again between the two girls as they face a few unexpected detours—and more than a little roadside attraction. But maybe, just maybe, the best things in life can’t always be planned. |
As Far as You'll Take Me by Phil Stamper
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 336 pages Marty arrives in London with nothing but his oboe and some savings from his summer job, but he's excited to start his new life--where he's no longer the closeted, shy kid who slips under the radar and is free to explore his sexuality without his parents' disapproval. From the outside, Marty's life looks like a perfect fantasy: in the span of a few weeks, he's made new friends, he's getting closer with his first ever boyfriend, and he's even traveling around Europe. But Marty knows he can't keep up the facade. He hasn't spoken to his parents since he arrived, he's tearing through his meager savings, his homesickness and anxiety are getting worse and worse, and he hasn't even come close to landing the job of his dreams. Will Marty be able to find a place that feels like home? |
He Forgot to Say Goodbye by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Reading Age: 12 & up Print Length: 336 pages Ramiro Lopez and Jake Upthegrove don't appear to have much in common. Ram lives in the Mexican-American working-class barrio of El Paso called "Dizzy Land." His brother is sinking into a world of drugs, wreaking havoc in their household. Jake is a rich West Side white boy who has developed a problem managing his anger. An only child, he is a misfit in his mother's shallow and materialistic world. But Ram and Jake do have one thing in common: They are lost boys who have never met their fathers. This sad fact has left both of them undeniably scarred and obsessed with the men who abandoned them. As Jake and Ram overcome their suspicions of each other, they begin to move away from their loner existences and realize that they are capable of reaching out beyond their wounds and the neighborhoods that they grew up in. Their friendship becomes a healing in a world of hurt. |
Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan
Reading Age: 12-17 years Print Length: 352 pages Jubilee has it all together. She's an elite cellist, and when she's not working in her stepmom's indie comic shop, she's prepping for the biggest audition of her life. Ridley is barely holding it together. His parents own the biggest comic-store chain in the country, and Ridley can't stop disappointing them--that is, when they're even paying attention. They meet one fateful night at a comic convention prom, and the two can't help falling for each other. Too bad their parents are at each other's throats every chance they get, making a relationship between them nearly impossible . . . unless they manage to keep it a secret. Then again, the feud between their families may be the least of their problems. As Ridley's anxiety spirals, Jubilee tries to help but finds her focus torn between her fast-approaching audition and their intensifying relationship. What if love can't conquer all? What if each of them needs more than the other can give? |
All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 368 pages When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie’s house, he’s injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world’s population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it’s to be scared of what other desperate people will do . . . so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other? After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn’t adding up about Andrew’s story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He’s starting to feel something more than friendship for Andrew, adding another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey. The road ahead of them is long, and to survive, they’ll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together. Only one thing feels certain: all that’s left in their world is the undeniable pull they have toward each other. |
Golden Boys by Phil Stamper
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 384 It's the summer before senior year. Gabriel, Reese, Sal, and Heath are best friends, bonded in their small, rural town by their queerness, their good grades, and their big dreams. But they have plans for the summer, each about to embark on a new adventure. Gabriel is volunteering at an environmental nonprofit in Boston. Reese is attending design school in Paris. Sal is interning on Capitol Hill for a senator. Heath is heading to Florida, to help out at his aunt's boardwalk arcade. What will this season of world-expanding travel and life-changing experiences mean for each of them-and for their friendship? |
After Glow by Phil Stamper
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 400 pages After a life-changing summer, these four friends are finally ready for senior year. Gabriel is thrilled to create his school's first LGBTQ+ advocacy group, but his long-distance relationship is fading from summer love to something else. . . Heath feels secure for the first time in years, but with his future riding on a baseball scholarship each pitch triggers his anxiety. . . Reese is set on pursuing a career in fashion design, but his creativity takes him in an unexpected direction, he isn't yet ready to share. . . Sal wants to be in politics, specifically local politics. After a chat with his aunt, he is ready for an unlikely path . . . As graduation nears and the boys prepare to enter the real world, it feels like everything is changing so fast--including their friendships. Can they find a way to make the most of their senior year even as they eagerly look ahead to the future? |
Middletown by Sarah Moon
Reading Age: 12-18 years Print Length: 288 Thirteen-year-old Eli likes baggy clothes, baseball caps, and one girl in particular. Her seventeen-year-old sister Anna is more traditionally feminine; she loves boys and staying out late. They are sisters, and they are also the only family each can count on. Their dad has long been out of the picture, and their mom lives at the mercy of her next drink. When their mom lands herself in enforced rehab, Anna and Eli are left to fend for themselves. With no legal guardian to keep them out of foster care, they take matters into their own hands: Anna masquerades as Aunt Lisa, and together she and Eli hoard whatever money they can find. But their plans begin to unravel as quickly as they were made, and they are always way too close to getting caught. Eli and Anna have each gotten used to telling lies as a means of survival, but as they navigate a world without their mother, they must learn how to accept help, and let other people in. |
The Electric Heir by Victoria Lee
Reading Age: 12-18 years Print Length: 479 pages Six months after Noam Álvaro helped overthrow the despotic government of Carolinia, the Atlantians have gained citizenship, and Lehrer is chancellor. But despite Lehrer’s image as a progressive humanitarian leader, Noam has finally remembered the truth that Lehrer forced him to forget―that Lehrer is responsible for the deadly magic infection that ravaged Carolinia. Now that Noam remembers the full extent of Lehrer’s crimes, he’s determined to use his influence with Lehrer to bring him down for good. If Lehrer realizes Noam has evaded his control―and that Noam is plotting against him―Noam’s dead. So he must keep playing the role of Lehrer’s protégé until he can steal enough vaccine to stop the virus. Meanwhile Dara Shirazi returns to Carolinia, his magic stripped by the same vaccine that saved his life. But Dara’s attempts to ally himself with Noam prove that their methods for defeating Lehrer are violently misaligned. Dara fears Noam has only gotten himself more deeply entangled in Lehrer’s web. Sooner or later, playing double agent might cost Noam his life. |
The Fever King by Victoria Lee
Reading Age: 12-18 years Print Length: 384 pages In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia. The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks―refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son―cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful―and the way forward becomes less clear. Caught between his purpose and his heart, Noam must decide who he can trust and how far he’s willing to go in pursuit of the greater good. |
Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler
Reading Age: 13-18 years Print Length: 336 Pages Natalya Fox has twenty-four hours to make the biggest choice of her life: stay home in NYC for the summer with her dad (and finally screw up the courage to talk to the girl she's been crushing on), or spend it with her basically estranged mom in LA (knowing this is the best chance she has to fix their relationship, if she even wants to.) (Does she want to?) How's a girl supposed to choose? She can't, and so both summers play out in alternating timelines - one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the girl she's always wanted. And one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the guy she never saw coming. |
Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan
Reading Age: 12-17 years Print Length: 336 pages Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:
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Cafe Con Lychee by Emery Lee
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 320 pages Theo Mori and Gabriel Moreno have always been at odds. Their parents own rival businesses—an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery—and Gabi’s lack of coordination has cost their soccer team too many games to count. Stuck in the closet and scared to pursue his own dreams, Gabi sees his family’s shop as his future. Stuck under the weight of his parents’ expectations, Theo’s best shot at leaving Vermont means first ensuring his parents’ livelihood is secure. When a new fusion café threatens both shops, Theo and Gabi realize an unfortunate truth—they can only achieve their goals by working together to cook up an underground snack operation and win back their customers. But can they put aside their differences long enough to save their parents’ shops, or will the new feelings between them boil over? |
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reading Age: 13 & up Print Length: 224 pages Charlie charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up. |
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 384 pages Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood-but secretly, she pours her dreams and frustrations on the pages of her notebook like prayers. When she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, Xiomara doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her religious Mami finding out. But even so, in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent. |
Mooncakes written by Suzanne Walker; Illustrated by Wendy Xu
Reading Age: 13-16 years Print Length: 256 pages A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft. Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any townhome. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery. |
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Reading Age: 13 & up Print Length: 544 pages After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack, her very first night on campus. A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates. She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight. |
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Reading Age: 13-18 years Print Length: 320 pages Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone. But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won't be able to see past it. Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It's that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love? |
Every Day by David Levithan
Reading Age: 12 & up Print Length: 400 pages Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day. |
Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 416 pages It's 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl's display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again. Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella's mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her stepsisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all--and in the process, they learn that there's more to Cinderella's story than they ever knew. |
Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan
Reading Age: 12-17 years Print Length: 352 pages Morgan, an elite track athlete, is forced to transfer high schools late in her senior year after it turns out being queer is against her private Catholic school's code of conduct. There, she meets Ruby, who has two hobbies: tinkering with her baby blue 1970 Ford Torino and competing in local beauty pageants, the latter to live out the dreams of her overbearing mother. The two are drawn to each other and can't deny their growing feelings. But while Morgan--out, proud, and determined to have a fresh start--doesn't want to have to keep their budding relationship a secret. Ruby isn't ready to come out yet. With each girl on a different path toward living her truth, can they go the distance together? |
The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
Reading Age: 13-17 Print Length: 336 pages Cal wants to be a journalist, and he's already well underway with almost half a million followers on his FlashFame app and an upcoming internship at Buzzfeed. But his plans are derailed when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars. Within days, Cal and his parents leave Brooklyn for hot and humid Houston. With the entire nation desperate for any new information about the astronauts, Cal finds himself thrust in the middle of a media circus. Suddenly his life is more like a reality TV show, with his constantly bickering parents struggling with their roles as the "perfect American family." And then Cal meets Leon, whose mother is another astronaut on the mission, and he finds himself falling head over heels--and fast. They become an oasis for each other amid the craziness of this whole experience. As their relationship grows, so does the frenzy surrounding the Mars mission, and when secrets are revealed about ulterior motives of the program, Cal must find a way to get to the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him. |
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
Reading Age: 12-18 years Print Length: 336 pages Liz Lighty has always believed she's too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it's okay, Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor. When the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen. There's nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she's willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington. The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She's smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true? |
You Don't Have to Be Everything Edited by Diana Whitney
Reading Age: 12-18 years Print Length: 176 pages Created and compiled just for young women, You Don’t Have to Be Everything is filled with works by a wide range of poets who are honest, unafraid, and skilled at addressing the complex feelings of coming-of-age, from loneliness to joy, longing to solace, attitude to humor. These unintimidating poems offer girls a message of self-acceptance and strength, giving them permission to let go of shame and perfectionism. The cast of 68 poets is extraordinary: Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate, who read at Joe Biden's inauguration; bestselling authors like Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Acevedo, Sharon Olds, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Mary Oliver; Instagram-famous poets including Kate Baer, Melody Lee, and Andrea Gibson; poets who are LGBTQ, poets of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, poets who sing of human experience in ways that are free from conventional ideas of femininity. |
The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
Reading Age: 12 & up Print Length: 256 pages Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can't wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. She's desperate to finish high school and escape her sad divorced mom, her volatile little brother, and worst of all, her great group of friends...who don't understand Morgan at all. Because really, Morgan's biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl. Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn't seem so stifling anymore. But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they're each trying to hide will find its way to the surface...whether Morgan is ready or not. |
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Reading Age: 12-17 years Print Length: 224 pages This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance. When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right. |
Ash by Malinda Lo
Reading Age: 13 & up Print Length: 304 pages In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted. The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Their friendship, as delicate as a new bloom, reawakens Ash's capacity for love--and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love. |
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by Benjamin Alire Saenz Reading Age: 12 & up Print Length: 368 pages Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be. |
Nimona by ND Stevenson
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 272 pages Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are. |
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Reading Age: 12-16 years Print Length: 528 pages Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he'll be safe. Simon can't even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can't stop worrying about the evil git. Plus, there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you're the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything. |
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Reading Age: 13-18 years Print Length: 352 pages When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school's resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He's determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave. |
Pumpkin by Julie Murphy
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 352 pages Waylon Russell Brewer is a fat, openly gay boy stuck in the small West Texas town of Clover City. His plan is to bide his time until he can graduate, move to Austin with his twin sister, Clementine, and finally go Full Waylon so that he can live his Julie-the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music-Andrews truth. So, when Clementine deviates from their master plan right after Waylon gets dumped, he throws caution to the wind and creates an audition tape for his favorite TV drag show, Fiercest of Them All. What he doesn’t count on is the tape getting accidentally shared with the entire school. As a result, Waylon is nominated for prom queen as a joke. Clem’s girlfriend, Hannah Perez, also receives a joke nomination for prom king. Waylon and Hannah decide there’s only one thing to do: run—and leave high school with a bang. A very glittery bang. Along the way, Waylon discovers that there is a lot more to running for prom court than campaign posters and plastic crowns, especially when he has to spend so much time with the very cute and infuriating prom king nominee Tucker Watson. |
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Reading Age: 13 & up Print Length: 288 pages Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they've never met until one day when they're made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realized. Heartstopper is about love, friendship, loyalty and mental illness. It encompasses all the small stories of Nick and Charlie's lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us. |
Milo and Marcos at the End of the World by Kevin Christopher Snipes
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 384 Milo Connolly has managed to survive most of high school without any major disasters, so by his calculations, he’s well past due for some sort of Epic Teenage Catastrophe. Even so, all he wants his senior year is to fly under the radar. Everything is going exactly as planned until the dreamy and charismatic Marcos Price saunters back into his life after a three-year absence and turns his world upside down. Suddenly Milo is forced to confront the long-buried feelings that he’s kept hidden not only from himself but also from his deeply religious parents and community. To make matters worse, strange things have been happening around his sleepy Florida town ever since Marcos’s return—sinkholes, blackouts, hailstorms. Mother Nature is out of control, and the closer Milo and Marcos get, the more disasters seem to befall them. In fact, as more and more bizarre occurrences pile up, Milo and Marcos find themselves faced with the unthinkable: Is there a larger, unseen force at play, trying to keep them apart? And if so, is their love worth risking the end of the world? |
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
Reading Age: 12-18 years Print Length: 320 pages Every summer, Rose goes with her mom and dad to a lake house in Awago Beach. It's their getaway, their refuge. Rosie's friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had. But this summer is different. Rose's mom and dad won't stop fighting, and when Rose and Windy seek a distraction from the drama, they find themselves with a whole new set of problems. One of the local teens - just a couple of years older than Rose and Windy - is caught up in something bad... Something life threatening. It's a summer of secrets, and sorrow, and growing up, and it's a good thing Rose and Windy have each other. |
Dear Twin by Addie Tsai
Reading Age: 13-17 years Print Length: 222 pages Poppy wants to go to college like everyone else, but her father has other ideas. Ever since her twin sister, Lola, mysteriously vanished, Poppy's father has been depressed and forces her to stick around. She hopes she can convince Lola to come home, and perhaps also procure her freedom, by sending her twin a series of eighteen letters, on for each year of their lives. |
The Alpha's Son by Penny Jessup
Reading Age: 13-17 years Printed Length: 312 pages Max Remus couldn't care less about finding his mate-unlike the rest of his fate-obsessed pack. He totally prefers hanging with his bestie, eating his dad's steak sandwiches, and drawing in his trusty sketchbook. But all that is about to change at the Blue Moon Festival-a summer camp where Elite Pack wolves go to find their mates. The festival is a rite of passage for every teen werewolf, and this year's festival will be one to howl home about. The alpha's son, Jasper Apollo, is attending for the first time. When Max finds himself inexplicably linked with the exceptionally handsome but totally jerk-faced heir, he's forced to grapple with the unexpected feelings clawing at his soul. If Max rejects his destiny, will fate's bite be worse than its bark? |
Chasing the Alpha's Son by Penny Jessup
Reading Age: 13-17 years Printed Lenth: 292 pages It's been three months since their kiss on the beach and Max hasn't heard a whisper from Jasper. With Christmas fast approaching, and despite vowing he would chase Jasper to the ends of the world, Max is ready to give up. Until Alpha Jericho announces he's sending a select envoy of Elite Pack wolves to an allied wolf-pack stationed high in the rocky mountains, where they will bear witness to a Blood Moon. A week in a cozy ski-lodge sounds as romantic as you can get, so Max decides to give things with Jasper one last shot. But life in the mountains is rockier than expected and finding alone time with Jasper is harder than Max thought. Political unrest between the packs is galvanizing Jasper's determination to keep them apart, and new and old suitors are emerging in the pursuit of Jasper's affections. Running headfirst into snow storms, Max begins to question if the destiny he's been chasing is what he really wants. And when the Blood Moon arrives, bringing irrevocable change that no one saw coming, Max and Jasper's connection will be put to the ultimate test. Will they find the path between souls among the snow covered peaks or will the mountain roads lead them to an unexpected destiny? |