Young Adult Newsletter September 2026

All county buildings, including the Library, will be closed on
Monday, September 7, in observance of Labor Day.

The Teen Librarians are reading...

Red Star Rebels by Amie Kaufman

Teen Collection Development Librarian Rachel is reading...

Red Star Rebels

Amie Kaufman

In 2067, stranded on Mars after an emergency evacuation, seventeen-year-old stowaway Cleo and rich-kid Hunter team up to stop a deadly explosion orchestrated by mercenaries, while battling their growing feelings for each other as they race against the clock.

Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean

Youth Programming and Outreach Librarian Sierra is reading...

Love Me Tomorrow

Emiko Jean

While attending the Japanese festival of Tanabata, she makes a wish for evidence that lasting love exists. Soon afterward, she begins receiving letters from an individual who claims to be her future romantic partner. As the letters continue and contain personal information known only to her, Emma attempts to determine the writer's identity while navigating relationships with several classmates.

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

Youth Marketing Librarian

Lily is reading...

The Weight of Blood

Tiffany D. Jackson

An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she's dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept secret: Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington. After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High's racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their image: host the school's first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it's possible to have a normal life. But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddy still has another secret... one that will cost them all their lives.

Upcoming Events

Teen Advisory Board

Tuesday, September 1 | 4:00pm-5:30pm

Hotpick Meeting Room


Want to make your voice heard? Join Teen Advisory Board, where you'll partner with the Teen Librarians to learn more about the Library, offer suggestions on the young adult book collection, and help decide on future programs and activities.


Learn more.

Teen Advisory Board
polyhedral dice

Dungeons & Dragons

Saturday, September 5, 19 | 3:30pm-5:30pm
Library Lab


Whether you're a fan of fantasy, gaming, acting, or some combination of the three, Dungeons & Dragons is here to fill your weekends with whimsy and magic. No experience necessary—all adventurers welcome.


Learn more.

Journaling Jam

Tuesday, September 8 | 4:00pm-5:30pm

Hotpick Meeting Room


Explore different methods of keeping a journal in a relaxed, self-driven environment. We'll provide a journal or sketchbook and decorative materials; you'll bring the creativity, whether you prefer to write or make art.


Learn more.

Journaling Jam
Blue Lock 1 by Muneyuki Kaneshiro

Manga Book Club

Friday, September 11 | 4:00pm-5:30pm
Dunaway Community Room


Join us for snacks, activities, and all things manga! This month, we'll be discussing Blue Lock Vol. 1 and 2 by Muneyuki Kaneshiro.


Learn more.

Book Thieves Book Club

Tuesday, September 15 | 4:00pm-5:30pm

Hotpick Meeting Room


At our first meeting of the 2026-27 school year, we'll distribute our first book, learn about each others' reading preferences, and begin selecting books for future meetings! Books are available on a first-come, first-served basis.


Learn more.

raccoon reading a book
Back-to-School Movie Night

Back-to-School Movie Night & Friendship Bracelets

Tuesday, September 22 | 4:00pm-6:00pm
Dunaway Community Room


Join us for specialty movie nights paired with popcorn, drinks, and a themed craft.


Our back-to-school movie will be selected by the Teen Advisory Board and announced soon. While we watch, we'll make friendship bracelets!


Learn more.

Mario Kart World Competition

Tuesday, September 29| 4:00pm-6:00pm

Dunaway Community Room


Put the pedal to the metal and prove your skills in this Mario Kart World competition! While you wait for your turn, enjoy snacks, spectate, and play board games. No experience is necessary. 


Learn more.

mario kart world game cover

Young Adult Recommended Reads

BROWSE THE YOUNG ADULT NEW BOOK COLLECTION

Every month, we highlight stories with a different genre or theme in the

Teen Area. If you've always wished your homework was a little more mystical, these stories about magical schools are for you!

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

The Rithmatist

Brandon Sanderson

More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.


As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates by Hanna Alkaf

The Grimoire of Grave Fates

created by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen

Professor of Magical History Septimius Dropwort has just been murdered, and now everyone at the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a suspect.


A prestigious school for young magicians, the Galileo Academy has recently undergone a comprehensive overhaul, reinventing itself as a roaming academy in which students of all cultures and identities are celebrated. In this new Galileo, every pupil is welcome—but there are some who aren't so happy with the recent changes. That includes everyone's least favorite professor, Septimius Dropwort, a stodgy old man known for his harsh rules and harsher punishments. But when the professor's body is discovered on school grounds with a mysterious note clenched in his lifeless hand, the Academy's students must solve the murder themselves, because everyone's a suspect.


Told from more than a dozen alternating and diverse perspectives, The Grimoire of Grave Fates follows Galileo's best and brightest young magicians as they race to discover the truth behind Dropwort's mysterious death. Each one of them is confident that only they have the skills needed to unravel the web of secrets hidden within Galileo's halls. But they're about to discover that even for straight-A students, magic doesn't always play by the rules...

A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon by Hannah Reynolds

A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon

Hannah Reynolds

As a scholarship student at the magical Lyceum, Naomi would rather focus on deciphering ancient scrolls than dating. Especially since the only boys asking her out are less interested in a night in Naomi’s company than an introduction to her influential aunt.


So Naomi devises an excuse to turn down her persistent suitors: She claims to be betrothed to a demon.

Her story works perfectly. Until she arrives home one night and finds the demon Daziel lounging in her rooms, insisting he’s her betrothed. Naomi knows he’s lying—after all, the betrothal was never real—but the gorgeous and infuriating demon is surprisingly resistant to her banishing spells. And with his penchant for baking and home décor, it’s not so bad having him around.


Besides, she has bigger worries—like the ancient scroll she’s trying to translate, and the way the city’s magic has become suddenly unstable. But the more Naomi learns about the scroll, and the more she gets to know Daziel, the more it seems like she might be at the center of something bigger than she could have imagined.

Immortal Consequences: A Good Morning America YA Book Club Pick by I. V. Marie

Immortal Consequences

I.V. Marie

Welcome to Blackwood Academy: the legendary school located at the fringes of the afterlife, where students are fated to spend the rest of eternity shepherding lost souls. Once a pupil enters the school’s arched gates, there is no way out…except for the Decennial, a once-in-a-decade celebration that rewards nominees who pass its trials with a choice: formally graduate and join Blackwood’s magical elite, or venture into the unknown and cross over to the mysterious Other Side.


Wren Loughty is certain that this Decennial, she has what it takes to earn the nomination—unless, that is, her academic archrival Augustine Hughes steals her spot.


Irene Manette Bamford has never cared about playing by the rules. She’s willing to break whatever (and whoever) stands between her and getting the hell out of Blackwood, including her best and only friend, Masika Sallow.


Olivier Dupont gave up on securing the nomination ages ago. But after he meets Blackwood’s newest student, Emilio Córdova, he’ll do anything to keep Emilio from leaving him and crossing over to the Other Side—even if it means claiming the victory for himself.


All of them are determined to be Blackwood’s chosen candidate–and all of them would do anything to win. But none of them are prepared for what’s to come. Because this Decennial will be different. This time, the Decennial isn’t a celebration…it’s a competition. And there can only be one victor.


Six nominees. Four trials. Untold danger. Wren, August, Irene, Masika, Olivier and Emilio are about to learn: there are some fates worse than death.

The School for Good and Evil: Movie Tie-In Edition: Now a Netflix Originals Movie by Soman Chainani

The School for Good and Evil

Soman Chainani

The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.


This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.


But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?

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Pitkin County Library
120 North Mill Street, Aspen, Colorado 81611
970-429-1900 | pitcolib.org