Teen Scene
July 2026
Recent Releases
The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer
The Escape Game
by Marissa Meyer

Despite the fact that a contestant died on the fourth season of reality show The Escape Game, ruthless producers have greenlit a fifth season. Sierra joins the cast to solve high-stakes escape rooms...and find out who murdered her sister. Fans of puzzle-filled mysteries will devour this exhilarating thriller.
 
I Could Give You the Moon by Ann Liang
I Could Give You the Moon
by Ann Liang

New York Times bestselling author Ann Liang returns to the world of her acclaimed debut, If You Could See the Sun, as a picture-perfect influencer teams up with the bad boy after they share a vision of future.Everyone loves Chanel Cao--except Ares Yin.While Chanel has spent her entire life curating a picture-perfect social media personality--from her body to her hair to her camera-ready smile--Ares has spent his trying to hide in the shadows. But Ares's brother is missing, and Chanel's parents have secretly separated, and their only hope is each other.Ares is willing to do whatever it takes to find his brother, and Chanel will do anything to keep her parents' secret. When the two meet and share a vision of the future--where Ares's brother appears, as Chanel's house burns to the ground--they are determined to use each other. Ares believes Chanel is the key to finding his brother, but Chanel is convinced if she gets Ares to fall in love with her, she'll save her family house--and her parents' crumbling marriage.But Ares isn't interested in the fake personality that Chanel has used her entire life to get affection and adoration. If she's going to save her reputation, she's going to have to let Ares get to know the real her--and risk real feelings.
In the Country I Love by Alaa Al-Barkawi
In the Country I Love
by Alaa Al-Barkawi

Told in multiple voices, two Iraqi American best friends, a struggling teen father and the communitys golden boy, see their forbidden friendship ignite a chain of events that exposes family secrets and forces them to confront questions of identity, faith, racism, and justice.
Shards of Silence by Brian Lee Young
Shards of Silence
by Brian Lee Young

A scholarship to an elite boarding school is a huge opportunity for Derrick, who grew up in Navajo Nation. While rocked by culture shock and academic pressure, he learns more about his beloved great-grandmother’s experience at a brutal residential school. This authentic coming-of-age story traces an engaging search for truth.
The Heirs by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
The Heirs
by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Billionaire Leontes Button sought to prove geniuses are made, not born, by adopting orphans and molding them into superstars. When he’s found murdered, his now-teenage children, any of whom might have cracked under the extreme pressure of their upbringing, must clear their names. Read-alikes: Jennifer Barnes’ The Inheritance Games; Katie Zhao’s How We Fall Apart.
The Saw Mouth by Cale Plett
The Saw Mouth
by Cale Plett

For fans of The Last Bookstore on Earth and Compound Fracture, a heart-pounding rural horror following a genderqueer teen who survives a near-apocalypse, only to be hunted by a mysterious monster whose very existence is entwined with their own. From a breathtaking new voice in YA, this story is for anyone haunted by the sins of past generations--and fighting to right them. When Cedar was a child, fragmented, tortured souls woke up in the world's most complex machines, destroying them and pushing technology back decades. A fall. The Fall, some said, and they called it Autumn. Ten years later, following a family tragedy, Cedar moves to the nowhere town of Sawblade Lake only to find something hunting them. A long, bent shadow that reeks like rot and has the mouth of a deep crevice. It's after Cedar, and it's willing to go to any lengths to break them, including preying on Cedar's new queer family. The closer it circles, the more it seems to weave through Cedar's whole life. It might stretch back to their mother's gruesome, inexplicable death, to the murk of their missing family, to the house they grew up in. Back and back and back to the first day of Autumn. Cedar thought they understood how their world had changed, but they're far from dredging the bottom.
The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh
The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue
by Zoulfa Katouh

Following her mother’s death, Jihad sees everything in shades of gray. Further dismayed by her new school’s bullies and Islamophobes, Jihad begins using her mother’s sketchbook, which might be the key to restoring hope and color to her world. This unflinching novel uses magical realism to explore injustice and identity.
Change of Plans by Sarah Dessen
Change of Plans
by Sarah Dessen

Finley’s annual visit with her mom unexpectedly turns into a stay at a lake house with estranged family members. As Finley gets a job, makes new friends, and bonds with new-to-her family, she finds her whole outlook shifting. Fans of author Sarah Dessen’s big-hearted novels will appreciate this moving story.
Holloway by Elana K. Arnold
Holloway
by Elana K. Arnold

In August 2021, Nora, an autistic Jewish teen, travels to France with the remains of her mother, who died of COVID-19. There, Nora time travels to 1946, where she begins to understand the connections between the post-World War II era and contemporary times. This poignant novel explores complex family dynamics.
Contact your librarian for great books for age 14 and up!
Auburn Public Library
49 Spring St.
Auburn, Maine 04210
207-333-6640

www.auburnpubliclibrary.org/