Young Adult Newsletter July 2026

The Library will be closed on Saturday, July 4, in observance of Independence Day.

The Teen Librarians are reading...

Aces Wild: A Heist by Amanda DeWitt

Teen Collection Development Librarian Rachel is reading...

Aces Wild: A Heist

Amanda DeWitt

Aces Wild is a contemporary heist novel about the son of a casino mogul pulling a heist with his online asexual support group after his mother is arrested for her connections to organized crime.

In Utero by Chris Gooch

Teen Programming and Outreach Librarian Lily is reading...

In Utero

Chris Gooch

Hailey is dropped off at a summer camp at an abandoned mall, where she meets and connects with an older teen named Jen. The friends find themselves caught in a fight for their lives as two bizarre creatures emerge from the dark.

Upcoming Events

Watercolor Painting

Saturday, July 11 | 3:00pm-5:00pm

Mezzanine Deck*


Join us for a relaxed plein air watercolor session for all skill levels to paint and experiment.
*In case of inclement weather, we will meet in the Dunaway Community Room.


Learn more.

blue and green watercolor paint
books made with coptic stitch binding

Bookish Crafts: Coptic Stitch Binding

Saturday, July 18 | 3:00pm-5:00pm
Library Lab


Join us on the third Saturday of the month for a rotating lineup of literary-inspired projects. In July, learn how to make a multi-signature Coptic stitch book.


Learn more.

Americans and the Holocaust Book Discussion: The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration

Wednesday, July 22 | 4:00pm-6:00pm
Dunaway Community Room


Join us for a discussion of the book The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration.


Please contact Sierra Fransen at 970-429-1923 or sierra.fransen@pitkincounty.com to request a copy of the book prior to the event. Books are limited and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.


Learn more.

The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration edited by Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung
Americans and the Holocaust Amache Presentation and Discussion with Derek Okubo

Americans and the Holocaust: Amache Presentation and Discussion with Derek Okubo

Friday, July 24 | 4:00pm-6:00pm
Dunaway Community Room


Join us for a presentation and discussion with Derek Okubo, former president and current board member of the Amache Alliance, Colorado's society for the preservation and archaeological study of the Amache Internment Camp. Derek will be presenting on the history of Amache, discussing his family's journey from incarceration to current preservation efforts, and will be in discussion with the Pitkin County Librarians about Colorado's role in the Japanese American Internment. 


Learn more.

Dinosaur Egg Excavation

Saturday, July 25 | 3:00pm-5:00pm

Library Lab


Try your hand at archeology by excavating 
dinosaur eggs and uncovering a fossil*.
*Not real fossils.

Learn more.

dinosaur egg and a book with hammer, brush, and fossil

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. Beat midsummer boredom with tense dystopian reads this July!

Fathom Fall by Matteo L. Cerilli

Fathom Fall

Matteo L. Cerilli

Fourteen-year-old Wyatt is number three on the leaderboards for his favorite video game, Fathom Fall, but in real life, he's the “Water Baby” kid of engineers at Hydrexo, the company that supplies 75% of North America's water. He's always had easy access to water while others have to line up to pay exorbitant prices at public taps, and he's totally awkward and feels totally useless. To prove he's more than a privileged Water Baby, Wyatt is determined to win the upcoming Fathom Fall championship and finally make a name for himself.


But when the water-guzzling monsters from the game start appearing in real life, Wyatt suspects that the tournament is about more than prize money. More than ever, Wyatt wants to win, and as the tournament approaches, he starts to worry: Why won't anyone tell them what's really going on? Why would the military train kids to hunt the monsters for them? And how far is he willing to go to prove himself?

Coldwire by Chloe Gong

Coldwire

Chloe Gong

To escape rising seas and rampant epidemics, most of society lives “upcountry” in glistening virtual reality, while those who can’t afford the subscription are forced to remain in crumbling “downcountry.”

But upcountry isn’t perfect. A cold war rages between two powerful nations, Medaluo and Atahua—and no one suffers for it more than the Medan orphans in Atahua. Their enrollment at Nile Military Academy is mandatory. Either serve as a soldier or risk being labelled a spy.

Eirale graduated the academy and joined NileCorp’s private forces downcountry, exactly as she was supposed to. Then Atahua’s most wanted anarchist frames her for assassinating a government official, and she’s given a choice: cooperate with him to search for a dangerous program in Medaluo or go down for treason.

Meanwhile, Lia is finishing her last year upcountry at Nile Military Academy. Paired with her academic nemesis for their final assignment, Lia is determined to beat him for valedictorian and prove her worth. But there may be far more at stake when their task to infiltrate Medaluo and track down an Atahuan traitor goes wrong…

Though Eirale and Lia tear through Medaluo on different planes of reality, the two start to suspect they are puzzle pieces in a larger conspiracy—and the closer they get to the truth, the closer their worlds come to a shattering collision.

The Danger of Small Things by Caryl Lewis

The Danger of Small Things

Caryl Lewis

Imagine a world where honeybees have died out. It’s a patriarchal world where famines are rife. It’s a world without art, without books, without plays. Girls are sent away from home, forced to pollinate crops by hand with brushes and to marry as soon as they can. Inhabiting this world is Jess and her friends Cass, Deva, and Ruth. But even if one fourteen‑year‑old knows that brushes weren’t invented for pollinating, can she really stoke a revolution?

An Ocean Apart by Jill Tew

An Ocean Apart

Jill Tew

Eden Lowell has plenty to be frustrated about. In the flooded Marshes of former Miami, each day is about survival. Even her feelings for her best friend Henry are more complicated than they should be. Luckily, Eden knows exactly who to blame: the Cruisers, corporate elite who sail the world on massive ships instead of facing the environmental crimes they’ve committed on land.

When Eden learns that a Cruiser family is hosting a dating competition for their heir, Theo Desjardins, she seizes an opportunity. Aided by a political agitator known as the Ringmaster, she’ll infiltrate the competition, break Theo’s heart, and then steal his money for the Marshes. A perfect plan…

Until she gets to know Theo, who’s not only handsome but surprisingly kind…

As Eden drifts deeper down into the Cruisers’ world, the line separating truth and lies becomes murky. Torn between two identities, two loves, and two futures, will she choose the mission, or her heart?

The Bloody and the Damned by Becca Coffindaffer

The Bloody and the Damned

Becca Coffindaffer

On Trinity, a metal world where the privileged live in the skies and the rest fight for water below, you do what you can to survive.

18-year-old Val knows this better than anyone. They’ve sacrificed everything to provide for their younger sisters. Using their outlawed teleportation powers, they've become the most infamous assassin-for-hire on Trinity, known as the Butcher.

No one should be able to trace the Butcher to Val. But when things go horribly wrong on a routine mission and Val’s sisters are kidnapped by a gang in retaliation, it means that someone has to know the truth.

Desperate and friendless, Val has no one to turn to but their ex-childhood best friend turned vigilante thief. He broke their heart, but he owes them.

But as Val fights for the return of their sisters, they start to realize there might be something much bigger at play... something that could upend everything they’ve ever known about Trinity.

Val’s journey will take them from a maximum security prison transport to the headquarters of the most powerful gang on Trinity, and all the way to the Gate of Heaven. Each more heavily guarded than the last.

Good thing the Butcher has never blinked at an extra casualty.

Have questions?

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