Young Adult Newsletter August 2026

The Pitkin County Library will be closed at 12pm on Wednesday, August 12, for the remainder of the day to improve the Library. Online resources will still be available, but all in-person library services, including the book drop, will be unavailable. We will reopen at 9am on Thursday, August 13.

The Teen Librarians are reading...

Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between by L. M. Elliott

Teen Collection Development Librarian Rachel is reading...

Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between

L.M. Elliot

In 1973, the year of Watergate, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Roe v. Wade, seventeen-year-old Patty, a newly minted Congressional page, starts to question everything as she learns to think for, and rely on, herself.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Teen Programming and Outreach Librarian Lily is reading...

Elatsoe

Darcie Little Badger

Elatsoe can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect façade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family.

Upcoming Events

Cyanotype

Saturday, August 1 | 3:00pm-5:00pm

Library Lab


Make a print on cotton treated with photoreactive dye! We will have a variety of objects to design your print, but you can also bring your own objects.


Learn more.

image of cyanotype print using leaves
festive party hat dinosaur with plants and bugs

Summer Reading Closing Party

Friday, August 7 | 12:00pm-2:00pm
Dunaway Community Room


Say goodbye to the 2026 Summer Reading Program with treats, activities, and the final chance to submit raffle tickets!


Learn more.

Our back to school programming lineup starts in September! Check out what we're offering this year:

Teen Advisory Board (TAB)

First Tuesday of the Month | 3:30pm-5:00pm

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.

Journaling Jam

Second Tuesday of the Month | 3:30pm-5:00pm

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.

Book Thieves Book Club

Third Tuesday of the Month | 3:30pm-5:00pm

Hotpick Meeting Room

At Book Thieves, you assign us the homework! Come enjoy casual book conversations and help us pick future book club books of any genre from the young adult collection. Limited copies of each book available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Teen Movie Nights

Select Tuesdays | 4:00pm-6:00pm

Dunaway Community Room

Join us for specialty movie nights paired with popcorn, drinks, and a themed craft. TAB will help select movies in our meetings.

  • Tuesday, September 22: Back to School Movie & Friendship Bracelets

  • Tuesday, October 27: Halloween Movie & "Monstergami" (monster origami)

  • Tuesday, December 22: Holiday Movie & Painted Gifts

Dungeons & Dragons

First and Third Saturdays of the Month| 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.

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. If you're new to racing, stop in and we can get you road ready in no time.

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. Get weird and wacky with these off-the-wall books in August!

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Beauty Queens

Libba Bray

Weird Factor: Teen beauty queens, reality TV stars, and secret agents survive on an surreal island.

Teen beauty queens. A lost island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives deep in the heart of every girl, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror!


When a plane crash strands thirteen teen beauty contestants on a mysterious island, they struggle to survive, to get along with one another, to combat the island's other diabolical occupants, and to learn their dance numbers in case they are rescued in time for the competition.

Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly Devos

Eat Your Heart Out

Kelly deVos

Weird Factor: The campers aren't the only ones that are hungry at this weight loss camp... the zombies are too!

Vivian Ellenshaw is fat, but she knows she doesn't need to lose weight, so she's none too happy to find herself forced into a weight-loss camp's van with her ex-best friend, Allie, a meathead jock who can barely drive, and the camp owner's snobby son. And when they arrive at Camp Featherlite at the start of the worst blizzard in the history of Flagstaff, Arizona, it's clear that something isn't right.

Vee barely has a chance to meet the other members of her pod, all who seem as unhappy to be at Featherlite as she does, when a camper goes missing down by the lake. Then she spots something horrifying outside in the snow. Something...that isn't human. Plus, the camp's supposed "miracle cure" for obesity just seems fishy, and Vee and her fellow campers know they don't need to be cured. Of anything.

Even worse, it's not long before Camp Featherlite's luxurious bungalows are totally overrun with zombies. What starts out as a mission to unravel the camp's secrets turns into a desperate fight for survival--and not all of the Featherlite campers will make it out alive.

Rainbow in the Dark by Sean McGinty

Rainbow in the Dark

Sean McGinty

Weird Factor: Rainbow is stuck in some kind of otherworld, but she's not even sure it's real.

High school senior Rainbow is trapped with three other teens in a game-like world that may or may not be real. Together, they must complete quests and gain experience in order to access their own forgotten memories, decode what has happened to them, and find a portal home.
 
As Rainbow’s memories slowly return, the story of a lonely teen facing senior year as the new kid in a small town emerges.

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Grasshopper Jungle

Andrew Smith

Weird Factor: Two teens bring on the mutant bug apocalypse.

Sixteen-year-old Austin Szerba interweaves the story of his Polish legacy with the story of how he and his best friend, Robby, brought about the end of humanity and the rise of an army of unstoppable, six-foot tall praying mantises in small-town Iowa.

To make matters worse, Austin's hormones are totally oblivious; they don't care that the world is in utter chaos: Austin is in love with his girlfriend, Shann, but remains confused about his sexual orientation. He's stewing in a self-professed constant state of maximum horniness, directed at both Robby and Shann. Ultimately, it's up to Austin to save the world and propagate the species in this sci-fright journey of survival, sex, and the complex realities of the human condition.

Dispatches from Parts Unknown by Bryan Bliss

Dispatches from Parts Unknown

Bryan Bliss

Weird Factor: Julie's life is narrated by a pro wrestler.

Julie knows it’s unusual that a professional wrestler runs a constant commentary on her life that only she can hear. But grief can be awfully funny sometimes. A novel about how to tread the line between moving on and holding on.

Ever since her dad died three years ago, Julie has been surviving more than thriving. And surviving is sneaking into her parents’ closet when her mom is out, since it’s the only place that still sometimes smells like her dad. It’s roaming around the Mall of America. It’s pulling out the box of her dad’s VHS tapes, recordings of his favorite vintage professional wrestling matches.

And it’s hearing the voice of the Masked Man in her head, running a commentary of her life.

It’s embarrassing, really. Sure, he was her dad’s favorite wrestler, but that doesn’t mean she wants him in her head. And does he really have to comment on everything?

As Julie finally starts to come out of the haze of grief just as her senior year is winding down, maybe she’ll finally figure out why that voice is there, and how to let it go.

Have questions?

Call 970-429-1900

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