YA Book Lists 5
Books to read after
Tyler Johnson was here - Marvin decides to tag along with his twin brother Tyler to a party—and it ends with Tyler dead, shot and killed by the police. As their mother unravels and his brother becomes immortalized as just another hashtag, Marvin struggles to figure out what justice and freedom really mean
All American Boys - This dual narrative story follows Rashad, a black kid attacked by a cop for buying chips, and Quinn, a white kid who watches as his best friend’s older brother beats the daylights out of his classmate Rashad. As the school, and then the nation, begins to comment on the incident, the fight begins to understand what happened—and to realize that prejudice is systemic in their own community.
The Silence of our Friends - In 1960s Texas, a white family from a notoriously racist neighborhood and a black family from its poorest ward cross Houston's color line, overcoming humiliation, degradation, and violence to win the freedom of five black college students unjustly charged with the murder of a policeman.
Love Hate & Other Filters - 17-year-old Maya Aziz, from an Indian-American Muslim family, confronts the ugliness of Islamophobia. She finds herself torn between her dream life, studying film in New York, and reality, where she is expected to fulfill her parents' wishes of marrying an educated Muslim boy.
Rebels Like Us - Forced to move to a small southern town halfway through her senior year, mixed-race teen Agnes struggles with culture shock and endeavors to keep her head down before discovering that town she’s learning to like has an insidious undercurrent of racism and her high school holds segregated proms.
How it went down - Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, shot by Jack Franklin. Tariq is black. Jack is white. And everybody has somebody to say about it.
Dear Martin - There was no reason for Justyce to be arrested, but it happened. In the aftermath, this perfect student starts a journal, penning letters to Martin Luther King, Jr., trying to sort out what happened and how it impacted his own beliefs and values.
Rest in Power - Trayvon Martin's parents take readers beyond the news cycle with an account only they could give: the intimate story of a tragically foreshortened life and the rise of a movement.
The Day Tajon Got Shot - Tajon is sixteen and black. He's tall and skinny, and he has dreadlocks. Tajon works hard and tries his best to be good. He does O.K. in school. He has plans. He's determined. He's the kind of kid who dreams big dreams to get himself and those he loves up and out of the hood. Tajon is the one who got shot
The Truth of Right Now - In twenty-first-century New York City, the fact that Lily is white and Dari is black shouldn't matter that much, but nothing's as simple as it seems. Both come from different backgrounds and different worlds, and strive to find a connection through their differences as they fight against their own individual pasts.
Rest in Power - Trayvon Martin's parents take readers beyond the news cycle with an account only they could give: the intimate story of a tragically foreshortened life and the rise of a movement.
Anger is a gift - Treated like a criminal in his own high school, Moss and his friends are subjected to locker searches, attacks, and intimidation from the Oakland Police Department—the same police force that murdered his father as a child. But fighting back is harder than any of them could have imagined.
I am not your Perfect Mexican Daughter - Julia is a young woman growing up in a Mexican-American home, struggling to understand the constraints of her culture and the societal standards that she is expected to abide by amidst the poverty, racism, and neighborhood violence that affect many families.
11-7-18
More YA Books
on Mental Health
Life Inside My Mind - Thirty-one young adult authors share their own struggles with mental illness, ranging from such topics as neurodiversity and addiction to OCD and PTSD.
100 Days of Cake - For the past two years, Molly’s been struggling with depression. Her shrink, Dr. Brooks isn’t helping much, and neither is her mom who is convinced that baking the perfect cake will cure Molly of her depression. When she finds out that the exotic fishstore she works at is closing down, her whole life starts to crumble.
When We Collided - Can seventeen-year-old Jonah save his family restaurant from ruin, his mother from her depression, and his danger-seeking girlfriend Vivi, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, from herself?
Other Broken Things - Forced to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, where she bonds with a much older man, seventeen-year-old Natalie, a recovering alcoholic, confronts issues in her family and life as she tries to turn her life around.
Madness -Brooke Danvers is pretending to be fine. She's gotten so good at pretending that they're letting her leave inpatient therapy. Now she just has to fake it long enough for her parents and teachers to let their guard down. This time, when she's ready to end her life, there won't be anyone around to stop her. Then Brooke meets Derek. Derek is the only person who really gets what Brooke is going through, because he's going through it too. As they start spending more time together, Brooke suddenly finds herself having something to look forward to every day and maybe even happiness.
All the Bright Places - Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the "natural wonders" of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries.
Little & Lion - Suzette returns home to Los Angeles from boarding school and grapples with her bisexual identity when she and her brother Lionel fall in love with the same girl, pushing Lionel's bipolar disorder to spin out of control and forcing Suzette to confront her own demons
Release - Adam Thorn doesn't know it yet, but today will change his life. Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam's life is falling apart. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend and his best friend, Angela. But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam's life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.
Placebo Junkies - Teenager Audie pushes her mind and body to the breaking point when she participates in a series of clinical drug trials for cash.
Obsessed: a memoir of my life with OCD - After awakening from a vivid nightmare in which she was diagnosed with brain cancer, 15-year-old Allison Britzshe was convinced the dream had been a warning. Allison believed that she must do something to stop the cancer in her dream from becoming a reality. It started with avoiding sidewalk cracks and quickly grew to counting steps as loudly as possible. Unable to act "normal, " the once-popular Allison became an outcast. This Memoir details how Allison was ultimately diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The Freak Observer - Suffering from a crippling case of post-traumatic stress disorder, sixteen-year-old Loa Lindgren tries to use her problem solving skills, sharpened in physics and computer programming, to cure herself.
A World Without You - After the unexpected loss of his girlfriend, a boy suffering from delusions believes he can travel through time to save her.
10-13-18
Zombie books for teens
Zombies vs Unicorns - This anthology includes short stories about zombies and unicorns, they both depicted as good and evil, seriously and hilariously.
Rot & Ruin - In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the Unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.
Allison Hewitt is Trapped - Allison Hewitt and her five colleagues at the Brooks and Peabody Bookstore are trapped together when the zombie outbreak hits. Allison reaches out for help through her blog, writing on her laptop and utilizing the military's emergency wireless network (SNET). It may also be her only chance to reach her mother. But as the reality of their situation sinks in, Allison's blog becomes a harrowing account of her edge-of-the-seat adventures as she and her companions fight their way through ravenous zombies and sometimes even more dangerous humans.
Dark Inside - After tremendous earthquakes destroy the Earth's major cities, an ancient evil emerges, turning ordinary people into hunters, killers, and insane monsters but a small group of teens comes together in a fight for survival and safety.
The Infects - Seventeen-year-old Nero is stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an "Inward Trek." As if that weren't bad enough, his counselors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs overnight and are now chowing down on his fellow miscreants. These kids have seen zombie movies. They know the rules. Unfortunately, knowing the rules isn't going to be enough
Warm Bodies - A zombie who yearns for a better life ends up falling in love with a human, in this original debut novel. R is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He doesn't enjoy killing people; he enjoys riding escalators and listening to Frank Sinatra. He is a little different from his fellow Dead. Not just another zombie novel, this is funny, scary, and deeply moving.
The End Games - In the rural mountains of West Virginia, seventeen-year-old Michael Faris tries to protect his fragile younger brother from the horrors of the zombie apocalypse
Enclave - New York City has been decimated by war and plague. Most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters—or Freaks—who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave to the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs.
Alice in Zombieland - To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.
Eat Brains Love - New Jersey teens Jake Stephenson and Amanda Blake are turning into zombies and, having devoured half of their senior class, they are on the run, pursued by teen psychic Cass, a member of a government unit charged with killing zombies and keeping their existence secret.
Generation Dead - Teenagers are coming back from the dead. While scientists look for answers, Phobe's school attempts to be more welcoming of the “differently biotic." When Phoebe falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids, her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team, isn't happy. Adam has feelings for Phoebe that run much deeper than just friendship. But what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make Phobe happy?
10-13-18
YA Books Featuring Teens With SuperPowers
The Darkest Minds - Sixteen-year-old Ruby breaks out of a government-run 'rehabilitation camp' for teens who acquired dangerous powers after surviving a virus that wiped out most American children and bands together with other superpowered kids, searching for a safe while they have bounty hunters on their heels.
Heroine Complex - Evie Tanaka is the personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, San Francisco's most beloved superheroine. She's great at her job. Unfortunately, she's not as good at standing up for herself. Everything changes when Evie's forced to pose as her glamorous boss one night, and her darkest secret comes out: she has powers, too.
Illusive - After a vaccine accidentally creates superpowers in a small percentage of the population, seventeen-year-old Ciere, an illusionist, teams up with a group of fellow high-class, super-powered thieves to steal the vaccine's formula while staying one step ahead of mobsters and deadly government agents.
Miles Morales: Spiderman - As a student at Brooklyn Visions Academy, Miles Morales has a secret. He's actually Spider-Man. Well not THE Spider-Man but A Spider-Man. Pretty much the only Spider-Man in town now that Peter Parker is gone. Miles is doing his best to save every little old lady but it's getting to be too much. But when Miles accidentally discovers a villainous teacher's plan to turn good kids bad, he will need to come to terms with his own destiny as the new SPIDER-MAN
Shatter Me - With one touch, and Juliette Ferrars can kill. No one knows why Juliette has such incredible power. It feels like a curse, but The Reestablishment, the governmental body of her post-apocalyptic world, sees it as a gift, sees her a deadly weapon. But when she's reunited with the one person who ever cared about her, she must fight for her freedom.
Runaways - After the death of their Super Villain parents, five teenagers are on the run. Nico, Karolina, Gert, Chase and Molly are now in survival mode, hiding out in an abandoned hospital and trying to regain a sense of normalcy. But Super Heroes don't get to be normal. When the Runaways try to rescue a teenage girl from becoming a human sacrifice, their mission gets intercepted by a bunch of punks dressed up as the Pride, aka their parent's former coven.
Red Queen - Reds are commoners, ruled by superpowered Silver elite . Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.
Stranger - Many generations ago, a mutation called the Change arose, granting some people unique powers. Teenage prospector Ross Juarez's best find ever--an ancient book he doesn't know how to read--nearly costs him his life when a bounty hunter is sent to kill him and steal the book. Ross barely makes it to Las Anclas, bringing with him a precious artifact, a power no one has ever had before, and a whole lot of trouble.
Renegades - The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies--humans with extraordinary abilities--who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone...except the villains they once overthrew. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice--and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.
Not Your Sidekick - Welcome to Andover... where superpowers are common, but internships are complicated. Just ask high school nobody, Jessica Tran. Despite her heroic lineage, Jess is resigned to a life without superpowers and is merely looking to beef-up her college applications when she stumbles upon the perfect (paid!) internship--only it turns out to be for the town's most heinous supervillain.
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children - After his grandfather is murdered by a strange creature, Jacob feels compelled to explore an abandoned orphanage on an island off the coast of Wales, discovering disturbing facts about the strange children who were kept there.
Dreadnought - Danny Tozer just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world's greatest superhero. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and dies right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she's transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantel to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny's body into what she's always thought it should be. Now there's no hiding that she's a girl. It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny's first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined.
10-8-18
YA Books with religious themes
Where Things Come Back - Seventeen-year-old Cullen's summer in Lily, Arkansas, is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly - A handless teen escapes from a cult, only to find herself in juvenile detention and suspected of knowing who murdered her cult leader
The Poet X - Xiomara pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how to attend without her Mami finding out. Still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.
Conviction - Braden's father has been accused of murder. The arrest of Braden's father, a well-known Christian radio host, has sparked national media attention. His fate lies in his son's hands; Braden is the key witness in his father's upcoming trial. Braden faces an impossible choice, one that will define him for the rest of his life, in this brutally honest debut novel about family, faith, and the ultimate test of conviction.
Heretics Anonymous - When nonbeliever Michael transfers to a Catholic school in eleventh grade, he quickly connects with a secret support group intent on exposing the school's hypocrisies one stunt at a time.
Godless - When sixteen-year-old Jason Bock and his friends create their own religion to worship the town's water tower, what started out as a joke begins to take on a power of its own.
The Chosen One - In a polygamous cult in the desert, Kyra, not yet fourteen, sees being chosen to be the seventh wife of her uncle as just punishment for having read books and kissed a boy, in violation of Prophet Childs' teachings, and is torn between facing her fate and running away from all that she knows and loves.
Coaltown Jesus - Walker shouldn’t have been so surprised to find Jesus standing in the middle of his bedroom. After all, he’d prayed for whoever was up there to help him, and to help his mom, who hadn’t stopped crying since Noah died two months ago. But as astounding as Jesus’ sudden appearance is, it’s going to take more than divine intervention for Walker to come to terms with his brother’s sudden death.
Since you Left Me - A Jewish teenager struggles to find something to believe in and keep his family together in the cultural confusion of modern-day Los Angeles
Once was Lost - Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. As a pastor's kid, it's hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the faith holding Sam together begins to unravel.
Life of Pi - Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.
There You'll find Me - Eighteen-year-old Finley, seeking God, quiet time to prepare for an audition at a prestigious music conservatory, and knowledge of the land her deceased brother loved, spends senior year in Ireland, where teen movie idol Beckett Rush, equally troubled, desires her company.
10-3-18
BOO!
YA Horror books
House of Furies - Escaping from her harsh school before finding work as a maid in an English boarding house, Louisa realizes that her mysterious employer and his staff execute cruel judgments on the guests.
Horrorstor - After strange things start happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, three employees volunteer to work an overnight shift to investigate, but what they discover is more horrifying than they could have imagined.
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein - The events of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein unfold from the perspective of Elizabeth Lavenza, who is adopted as a child by the Frankensteins as a companion for their volatile son Victor.
Survive the Night - Fresh out of rehab for oxycodone addiction, Casey and some of her friends attend an all-night rave called Survive the Night in the New York City subway, and find themselves fighting for their lives because drugs are not the only danger here--something is using the rave to attract victims, and some of them will not be coming back
#Murdertrending - Falsely accused of murdering her stepsister, seventeen-year-old Dee fights to survive paid assassins on Alcatraz 2.0, the most popular prison on social media
Anna Dressed in Blood - For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father's work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.
The Good Demon - The reverend and his son exrocised Clare's demon from her. But Clare and her demon--known simply as Her--were like sisters. Clare will do anything to get Her back, even if it means teaming up with the reverend's son and scouring every inch of her small, Southern town for answers. But if she sacrifices everything to bring back her demon, what will be left of Clare?
Ten - It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. What starts out as fun turns twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine. With a storm raging outside, the teens are cut off from the outside world . . . so when a mysterious killer begins picking them off one by one, there's no escape.
Welcome to the dark House - Seven super fans have won the trip of a lifetime to meet the master of horror, legendary film director Justin Blake. But things quickly go from delightfully dark to dangerously deadly, when the friends find themselves trapped in an abandoned amusement park. To earn a ticket out, they must face their darkest demons one ride at a time.
Amity - When Connor's family moves to Amity, a secluded house on the banks of New England's Concord River, his nights are plagued with gore-filled dreams. Dreams he kind of likes. Dreams he could make real, with Amity's help. Ten years later, Gwen's family moves to Amity. She's haunted by lurid visions, disturbing voices, and questions about her own sanity. Amity isn't just a house. She is a living force, bent on manipulating her inhabitants to her twisted will. She will use Connor and Gwen to bring about a violent end as she's done before.
I know what you did last Summer - Four teenagers who have desperately tried to conceal their responsibility for a hit-and-run accident are pursued by a mystery figure seeking revenge.
The Dead House - Told through journal entries, a psychotherapist's notes, court records, and more, relates the tale of Carly, a teen who was institutionalized after her parents' death but released to Elmbrige High School, where she is believed to have a second personality or soul named Kaitlyn, and/or be possessed by a demon.
Slasher Girls and Monster Boys - Inspired by classic tales and films, a collection of fourteen short stories ranging from bloody horror, to psychological thrillers, to supernatural creatures, to unsettling, all-too-possible realism, by acclaimed YA authors of every genre
Sevants of the Storm - After her best friend dies in a hurricane, high schooler Dovey discovers something even more devastating--demons in her hometown of Savannah.
Wuftoom - Everyone thinks Evan is sick. But Evan knows he is actually transforming. His metamorphosis has him confined to his bed, terrified, and alone—except for visits from the Wuftoom, a wormlike creature that tells Evan he is becoming one of them. Evan makes a bargain with the Vitflies, the enemies of the Wuftoom. But when the bargain becomes blackmail and the Vitflies prepare for war, whom can Evan trust?
The Turning - A teen boy becomes the babysitter for two very peculiar children on a haunted island in this modern retelling of The Turn of the Screw
10-3-18
sciencey Non-Fiction books
for Teens
Elephants on Acid and other Bizare Experiments -Revealed here are the results of scientific trials and scores of other outrageous, amusing, and provocative experiments found in the files of modern science.
Smoking Ears and Screaming Teeth - A hilarious celebration of the great eccentrics who have performed dangerous experiments on themselves for the benefit of humankind, written with all the wit, humor and eye for the beauties of nature -- and machinery and scientific equipment
Blood, Bullets, and Bones - In this book, acclaimed author Bridget Heos uses real-life cases to tell the fascinating history of modern forensic science, from the first test for arsenic poisoning to fingerprinting, firearm and blood spatter analysis, DNA evidence, and all the important milestones in between.
The Radium Girls: the Dark Story of America's Shining Women - Durring WW2, hundreds of young women toiled away at the radium-dial factories, where they painted clock faces with a mysterious new substance called radium. Assured by their bosses that the luminous material was safe, the women themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered from head to toe with the glowing dust. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" were considered the luckiest alive--until they began to fall mysteriously ill.
In the Beginning: From Big Hair to the Big Bang, mental_floss presents a Mouthwatering Guide to the Origins of Everything - Did you know paperclips started out as proud, Nazi-fighting warriors? And that cruise control was originally conceived by a blind genius? From mullets to Silly Putty, lie detectors to karaoke, this book has the true stories behind everything.
Engineer This: 10 Amazing projects for young Mechanical Engineers - Sharpen your engineering eye with the 10 hands-on engineering projects in this book. Using recycled and easy-to-find materials, engineer your own motorcar, catapult, glider, and other completely functional machines. Explore amazing scientific concepts, such as potential, kinetic, and electrical energy; principles of flight; weights and balances; pulleys and levers; laws of motion; and more. Each project includes step-by-step instructions, full-color photos, exciting facts, safety tips, and extended engineering and science activities for further discovery.
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - If your cells suddenly lost the power to divide, how long would you survive? How dangerous is it, really, to be in a swimming pool in a thunderstorm? If we hooked turbines to people exercising in gyms, how much power could we produce? What if everyone only had one soulmate? When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British empire? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? What would happen if the moon went away? All these questions and more are answered within this book.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - This is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.
The Hungry Scientist Handbook: Electric Birthday Cakes, Edible Origami, and Other DIY Projects for Techies, Tinkerers, and Foodies - This book brings DIY technology into the kitchen and onto the plate.
The Complete Manuel of Things That Might Kill You - Hypochondriacs have long had to satisfy their needs for self-diagnosis with medical reference materials written for the masses, but this revolutionary book is dedicated entirely to the hypochondriac's unique perspective on health. The world's worst maladies, conveniently organized by symptom (real or imagined), will ignite even the mildest hypochondriac's fantasy life. We're all going to die of something--why not choose an ailment that's rare and hard to pronounce?
Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects - In this darkly comical look at the sinister side of our relationship with the natural world, Stewart has tracked down over one hundred of our worst entomological foes—creatures that infest, infect, and generally wreak havoc on human affairs.
9-28-18
Geeks and Nerds Unite!
(More Books with
Geeky and nerdy MC's)
All the Feels - When uber-fan Liv's favorite sci-fi movie character is killed off, she and her best friend Xander, an aspiring actor and Steampunk enthusiast, launch a campaign to bring him back from the dead
Scarlett Epstein Hates it here - When Scarlett's beloved TV show is canceled and her longtime crush, Gideon, is sucked out of her orbit and into the dark and distant world of Populars, Scarlett turns to the fanfic message boards for comfort. This time, though, her subjects aren't the swoon-worthy stars of her fave series -- they're the real-life kids from her high school.
Analee in Real Life - Anxious, awkward Analee Echevarria only feels confident playing her favorite online game, but with a potential real-world romance and her father's remarriage looming, she begins to rediscover herself.
The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love - Graham Posner is trying to get his best friend, Roxana, to fall in love with him by planning the perfect weekend for her at Comic-Con.
Geekerella - Geek girl Ellie hopes to go to ExcelsiCon Cosplay to meet the actor (closet nerd Darien) scheduled to play Federation Prince Carmindor in a reboot of the movie Starfield.
An Abundance of Katherines - Having been recently dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, recent high school graduate and former child prodigy Colin sets off on a road trip with his best friend to try to find some new direction in life while also trying to create a mathematical formula to explain his relationships.
Draw the Line - Adrian Piper may be a talented artist, a sci-fi geek, and gay, but at his Texas high school those traits would only bring him the worst kind of attention. In fact, the only place he feels free to express himself is at his drawing table, crafting a secret world through his own Renaissance-art-inspired superhero, Graphite. But when a shocking hate crime occurs, Adrian must decide what kind of person he wants to be.
We Regret to Inform You - Mischa Abramavicius is a walking, talking, top-scoring, perfectly well-rounded college application in human form. When she is rejected from every college she applies to, she teams up with a group of hacker girls to find who altered her transcript and set things right.
The Improbable Theory of Ana & Zak - Ana is an honor student obsessed with being successful at everything academic, Clayton is her thirteen-year-old genius brother, the youngest student in their high school, and Zak is gamer who is forced to join the quiz team by his teacher--but when Clayton sneaks off to a science fiction convention in Seattle while they are all there for a quiz bowl tournament, Ana is forced to rely on the unreliable Zak to find him.
Final Draft - Eighteen-year-old Laila Piedra is a biracial aspiring author whose creative writing teacher always told her she has a special talent, so when he suddenly dies and is replaced by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman's approval.
Cure for the Common Universe - Jaxon meets the girl of his dreams on the same day that his father ships him off to video game rehab. Now he must earn 1 million therapy points in a week, if he wants to be released from rehab in time for his date
Romancing the Nerd - Dan Garrett was just another live-action role-playing nerd on the lowest rung of the social ladder until a massive growth spurt. But going from high school zero to basketball hero cost Dan the secret girl of his dorky dreams. A band geek with an eclectic fashion sense, Zelda Potts's "coolness" stat is about minus forty-two. Dan turning his back on her and the rest of nerd-dom was brutal enough, but when he humiliates her at school, Zelda decides it's time for a little revenge--dork style.
The Pros of Cons - Three girls become fast friends when brought together by a random mix-up in the hotel lobby playing host to three separate conventions.
Enter Title Here - High school senior Reshma Kapoor will stop at nothing to gain admission to Stanford, including writing a novel.
How to Repair a Mechanical Heart - 18-year-old Castaway Planet fans Brandon and Abel hate bad fan fiction—especially when it 'ships' their number-one TV crushes of all time. As co-runners of the Internet’s third most popular Castaway Planet vlog, they love to spar with the “Cadsim” fangirls. This summer, Brandon and Abel will hit the road in an RV to follow the traveling Castaway Planet convention, interview the actors, and prove that a Cadsim romance will never happen.
Grace and the Fever - Still obsessed with the boy band Fever Dream long after her friends lose interest, Grace unexpectedly meets band member Jes and embarks on an unlikely romance that leads her to confront complex truths about herself and the realities of stardom.
9-22-18
Mystery books
for teens to binge
The Truth Lies Here - Arriving for a summer in her Michigan hometown, aspiring journalist Penny learns that her father, a tabloid journalist, is missing and charred dead bodies are being found in the woods
Truly Devious - When Stevie Bell, an amateur detective, begins her first year at a famous private school in Vermont, she sets a plan to solve the cold case involving the kidnapping of the founder's wife and daughter shortly after the school opened.
We were Liars - Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer.
I am Princess X - Best friends Libby Deaton and May Harper invented Princess X when they were in fifth grade, but when the car Libby is in goes off a bridge, she is presumed dead. Three years later, Princess X is suddenly everywhere, with a whole underground culture focused on a webcomic. May believes her friend must be alive.
Jackaby - Newly arrived in 1892 New England, Abigail Rook becomes assistant to R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with the ability to see supernatural beings, and she helps him delve into a case of serial murder which, Jackaby is convinced, is due to a nonhuman creature.
Rosie Girl - Following the death of her father, seventeen-year-old Rosie Velvitt plans to escape a physically and emotionally threatening home life with her stepmother and her boyfriend by earning cash by arranging tricks for her best friend Mary to finance Rosie's search for the birth mother she believed was dead.
How to Lead a Life of Crime - A teenaged pickpocket, haunted by the ghost of his brother killed by his father, is recruited for Mandel Academy, aschool for criminals where only one student survives each semester.
The May Queen Murders - When her beloved cousin goes missing after a May Day celebration, sixteen-year-old Ivy discovers that both her cousin and her hometown in the Missouri Ozarks are as full of secrets as the woods that surround them.
This is our Story - No one knows what happened that morning at River Point. Five boys went hunting. Four came back. The boys won't say who fired the shot that killed their friend, Grant; the evidence shows it could have been any one of them.
Death by Bikini - At her father's exclusive tropical island resort, 16-year-old Aphra Behn Connolly investigates who strangled a famous rock star's girlfriend with her own bikini top.
Blink - Sixteen-year-old Josh falls in love with newcomer Chatham Claiborne, who has come to town to find her missing sister, but when Chatham suddenly disappears Josh unearths a web of lies and secrecy surrounding her life, and in doing so unwittingly discovers vital clues to the town's longest unsolved mystery.
Genuine Fraud - Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat. Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete. An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two. A bad romance, or maybe three.
White Rabbit - Rufus's ex, Sebastian, turns up out of the blue, saying they need to "talk." Then Rufus gets a call from his sister April. He and Sebastian find her, drenched in blood and holding a knife beside the dead body of her boyfriend. April swears she didn't kill him. Rufus has one night to clear his sister's name ... or die trying
Ink and Ashes - When Japanese American Claire Takata finds out that her deceased father was once a member of the yakuza, a Japanese crime syndicate, danger enters her life that could end up killing someone
Hidden Pieces - Embry Wood's biggest secret is about what happened that night at the Sea Cliff Inn. The fire. The homeless guy. Everyone thinks Embry is a hero. She's not. Embry receives an anonymous note—someone else knows the truth. Next comes a series of threatening messages.
The Second Life of Ava Rivers - Eighteen-year-old Vera, eager to start college and escape the celebrity her family has endured since her twin's disappearance twelve years earlier, finds her world turned upside-down again when Ava returns.
9-22-18
YUMmy !
There's food on the cover
of these YA Books!
100 Days of Cake - For the past two years, Molly’s been struggling with depression. Her shrink, Dr. Brooks isn’t helping much, and neither is her mom who is convinced that baking the perfect cake will cure Molly of her depression. When she finds out that the exotic fishstore she works at is closing down, her whole life starts to crumble.
Forever for a Year - Two young teens, Carolina and Trevor meet on their first day of school and fall in love for the first time, but discover it might not last forever
Happy Doomsday - Welcome to the end of the world. One minute, people are going about their lives, and the next--not. In the wake of the inexplicable purge, only a handful of young misfits remains.
Apple and Rain - When her imagined perfect life with her estranged mother begins to unravel, fourteen-year-old Apple finds comfort in reading and writing poetry.
Bad Apple - Tola Riley, a high school junior, struggles to tell the truth when she and her art teacher are accused of having an affair.
The Unlikelies - Sadie Sullivan's pre-senior year summer changes for the better when she and four other teens band together to right local wrongs, but the Unlikelies and their heady new friendships soon face obstacles that could tear them apart.
Butter - Unable to control his binge eating, a morbidly obese teenager nicknamed Butter decides to make a live webcast of his last meal as he attempts to eat himself to death.
Sweethearts - After losing her soul mate, Cameron, when they were nine, Jennifer, now seventeen, transformed herself from the unpopular fat girl into the beautiful and popular Jenna, but Cameron's unexpected return dredges up memories that cause both social and emotional turmoil.
Love & Gelato - After her mother dies, Lina travels to Italy where she discovers her mother's journal and sets off on an adventure to unearth her mother's secrets
Noah can't even - Noah's dad disappeared years ago, his mother's Beyonce tribute act is an unacceptable embarrassment, and his beloved gran isn't herself anymore. He only has one friend, Harry, and school is pure HELL. Maybe if he struck up a romantic relationship with someone - maybe Sophie, who is perfect and lovely - he'd be seen in a different light? But Noah's plans for romance are derailed when Harry kisses him at a party. That's when things go from bad to worse utter chaos.
What I lost - When sixteen-year-old Elizabeth is sent to the Wallingfield Psychiatric Facility's Residential Treatment Center, she encounters girls whose problems seem much greater than her own anorexia.
Adam - Adam Freedman is sent by his parents to join his older sister Casey in New York City. It is the Summer of 2006--the year of gay marriage demonstrations and the rise of transgender rights--and Casey has thrust herself into the political scene. Many in this new crowd assume Adam is transgendered--a boy who was born a girl. Adam then meets Gillian, the girl of his dreams. A lesbian, she believes Adam is (sort of) a girl.
The Kid Table - Ingrid Bell and her five teenage cousins don't really mind sitting at the kid table - even if they have to share it with a four-year-old. But then Brianne, the oldest cousin, lands a seat at the adult table and leaves her cousins shocked and confused. What does it take to graduate from the kid table?
When life gives you Demons - Shelby Black's great-uncle Roy-- a Catholic priest-- has put her through exorcist boot camp hell, hoping to develop her talent. High school is hard enough without having to explain that you fight demons for a living, so Shelby keeps her extracurricular activity to herself. The last thing she wants is for her crush, Spencer, to find out what she does in her off time.
Eat Brains Love - New Jersey teens Jake Stephenson and Amanda Blake are turning into zombies and, having devoured half of their senior class, they are on the run, pursued by teen psychic Cass, a member of a government unit charged with killing zombies and keeping their existence secret.
Georgia Peaches and other Forbidden Fruit - Joanna Gordon has been out for years, but her radio evangelist father remarries and asks Jo to lie low for the rest of her senior year. Jo agrees reluctantly. Although it is easier for Jo to fit in as a straight girl, things get complicated when she meets Mary Carlson, the oh-so-tempting sister of her new friend at school.
9-22-18