The best teen books of the year, as selected by Los Angeles Public Library staff. Perfect for holiday gift-giving! More books for young adults are at LAPL Teen Web.
In the third book of The Lunar Chronicles series, the character of Rapunzel is added to the growing group of fairy tale-based heroes introduced in Cinder and Scarlet. While published as a YA series, it is really a 21st-century version of the grand space operas of classic science fiction, and a marvelous read for anyone who enjoys this sub-genre!
In this epic conclusion to Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy you will find yourself caught up in the final battle between the Angels and the Monsters. Karou and Akiva’s dream of having a life together seems hopeless; both sides are intent on vengeance. (That’s right, the angels are the bad guys and the monsters are the good guys in this fantasy novel.) What happens when the battle spills over to Earth?
This is Gabi Hernandez's diary from her senior year of high school in a Southern California town close to the border. Gabi is smart, loyal, opinionated, self-deprecating, witty and observant. She's also overweight, loves to snack, write poetry, and dreams of (hopefully) getting into Berkeley and then also that her mother will actually allow her to go. Over the course of the year, she learns about the person she is and the woman she hopes to be while living in a traditional Catholic, Mexican-American community.
As her high school graduation draws near, Glory O'Brien begins having powerful and terrifying visions of the future as she struggles with her long-buried grief over her mother's suicide.
Also available for download as an e-book
Also available for download as an e-audiobook
The world of Austin Szerba comes to an end when he unleashes an apocalyptic plague that turns humans into 6ft man-eating praying mantises. While catastrophe ensues, Austin has to keep his hormones in check directed at his best friend Robby and girlfriend Shann.
Jude and Noah are twins who are opposites in personality - beautiful Jude is popular and a daredevil; Noah is a quiet and sensitive artist. Yet, at the age of thirteen, the two are close, sharing even their own secret language. Three years later, the twins are no longer speaking to each other. The gap that has grown between them seems unbridgeable. Can they come to terms with the tragedy that has struck their family or will they be forever torn apart by their loss? If you love John Green and Rainbow Rowell, you’ll be sure to love this heart-wrenchingly beautiful novel by Jandy Nelson.
It doesn’t matter that Clare makes good grades and never gets into trouble. Most of the time she feels like the only thing people care about is her brother, Luke, a criminal who has been in and out of jail for most of Clare's life. This honest and powerful novel follows Clare’s journey as she struggles to remain loyal to her family, even when their actions threaten her future.
Devorah and Jax have grown up in the same New York neighborhood but come from families that couldn’t be more different – hers, Hasidic Jewish and fiercely close-knit; his, West Indian and urban. When a storm rages across New York, cutting power and trapping them alone in a hospital elevator, they’re thrown together in a way that will change both of their lives forever. This modern-day Romeo and Juliet tale in Brooklyn will grab your heart and not let it go.
Locke and Key has some of the most original and inventive magic we’ve ever seen in a graphic novel. In this, the final volume, the villain (Dodge) is hidden from the Lockes in their family home and willing to do anything to get what he wants.
A teenager with a terminal illness decides to cryo-freeze his head in hopes that in the future he can be brought back in a healthier body. To his surprise, he wakes up five years later with his head attached to a new body and has to deal with just enough time having passed to screw up his whole life: his best friend is back in the closet, and his girlfriend is now with someone else. A great tale of identity, self-acceptance, and teen angst.
There’s not much to do in Carp, a small dead-end town in New York state. To deal with their boredom, the local high schoolers start a game called Panic, played only by graduating seniors. A combination of Survivor and Fear Factor, the large monetary payoff makes this game compelling for young people, despite its danger. This book tells the story of Heather and Dodge, two players with very different motives for braving Panic.
Set in 1930s Munich, 17-year-old Gretchen is her Uncle Dolf’s favorite. But with the help of a young Jewish reporter who’s asking questions about her father’s death years ago (while he was protecting his comrade Adolf Hitler), Gretchen begins to see her family, her party, and her Uncle Dolf in a new light.
Continuing the poignantly funny point of view that she began in Smile, Telgemeier tells the story of her tumultuous relationship with her sister and how it affects their family dynamic.
Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava - in all other ways a normal girl - is born with the wings of a bird. In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naive to the twisted motives of others. This generation-spanning magical realism tale of love and loss is so beautifully written you will want to re-read it immediately.
When a sleazy reality tv show called For Art's Sake starts filming at their high school, four teens write a subversive epic poem inspired by Ezra Pound's Cantos as a protest against it. But when one of their own winds up being cast in the show, the others are left feeling betrayed. Fans of John Green will love this funny book filled with eccentric characters, brave gerbils, art, and big ideas.
Set in Brooklyn, fifteen-year-old Ali and his two best friends, brothers Needles and Noodles, learn about themselves and each other after they get caught up in a dangerous situation that tests their friendship.