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A heart in a body in the world
by Deb Caletti
The National Book Award finalist and author of Stay finds a traumatized teen fleeing to Washington, D.C., where she becomes a reluctant activist in her effort to escape the past, in a tale that touches on such themes as gun violence, rape culture and misdirected guilt
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Dragon Pearl
by Yoon Ha Lee
Min, a thirteen-year-old girl with fox-magic, stows away on a battle cruiser and impersonates a cadet in order to solve the mystery of what happened to her older brother in the Thousand World Space Forces
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| Come Find Me by Megan MirandaWhat it’s about: After surviving family-shattering tragedies, Kennedy Jones and Nolan Chandler discover new hope when they’re drawn together by an unexplained radio frequency. Investigating the source of the frequency, however, may lead them to truths they’d rather not know.
Read it for: a heart-wrenching look at grief and connection in an atmosphere of unearthly mystery. |
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| On the Come Up by Angie ThomasWhat it’s about: When her fiery performance at a rap battle goes viral, 16-year-old Bri knows that her newfound fame could be her family’s ticket to survival -- but she doesn't know how to deal with the onslaught of people trying to label her.
Book buzz: Similar to her runaway hit, The Hate U Give, this latest from Angie Thomas features powerful writing and an unforgettable heroine.
Try this next: Lamar Giles’ Spin offers another insider’s view of an underground music scene. |
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Emergency contact
by Mary H. K. Choi
"After a chance encounter, Penny and Sam become each other's emergency contacts and find themselves falling in love digitally, without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other"
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| Saints and Misfits by S.K. AliWhat it’s about: According to Janna Yusuf, there are three kinds of people: saints, like her brother's pious fiancée; monsters, like the seemingly saintly guy who assaulted Janna; and misfits, like Janna herself, a Flannery O'Connor-loving hijabi with divorced parents and a crush on a non-Muslim guy.
Read it for: Janna's authentically angsty struggle to find her place and her voice.
Award buzz: honored in 2018 by the Asian/Pacific American Literature Award. |
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| The Marrow Thieves by Cherie DimalineIn a world...where climate change has ravaged North America, Métis teen Frenchie and his fellow survivors are on the run from the Recruiters, who seek to harvest and sell Indigenous people’s bone marrow in order to restore white people’s lost ability to dream.
Read it for: gritty, vivid world-building that makes you feel like you’ve stepped into the post-apocalyptic future.
Award buzz: honored in 2018 by the American Indian Youth Literature Award (as well as several other awards). |
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| You're Welcome, Universe by Whitney GardnerWhat it’s about: After being expelled from the Kingston School for the Deaf, graffiti artist Julia Prasad is sent to a mainstream school where she finds a persistent new friend and an anonymous graffiti rival who won’t stop messing with her tags.
Art alert: When English just won’t do, Julia narrates her realistically complex story through art and drawn ASL signs.
Award buzz: winner of the 2018 Schneider Family Book Award. |
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| The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe; translated by Lilit ThwaitesWhat it is: a sophisticated, harrowing novel (based on real events) that tells the story of Dita, a 14-year-old girl who protects a collection of forbidden books in the “family camp” at Auschwitz.
Try this next: Vesper Stamper’s What the Night Sings or Elizabeth Wein’s Rose Under Fire -- both are similarly moving reads about lesser-known aspects of concentration camps.
Award buzz: winner of the 2018 Sydney Taylor Book Award. |
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| If I Was Your Girl by Meredith RussoWhat it’s about: Eighteen-year-old Amanda has survived a lot in order to live as her true self, but when she moves to small-town Tennessee, she decides to “go stealth” about her trans identity -- being the new girl in school is hard enough.
Why you might like it: new friendships, a tender romance, and a poignant father-daughter relationship add even more depth to this coming-of-age story.
Award buzz: winner of the 2017 Stonewall Book Award. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books for ages 14 and up!
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