The Astonishing Color of After
After her mother’s suicide, grief-stricken Leigh Sanders travels to Taiwan to stay with grandparents she never met, determined to find her mother who she believes turned into a bird.
No matter what you spend your time doing during the summer, check out some great teen reads at the Library!
While these lists are curated for summer reading, they also make for great reads all year long.
After her mother’s suicide, grief-stricken Leigh Sanders travels to Taiwan to stay with grandparents she never met, determined to find her mother who she believes turned into a bird.
A collection of short stories explore what it is like to be young and black, centering on the experiences of black teenagers and emphasizing that one person’s experiences, reality, and personal identity are different than someone else’s. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby, as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on Hoopla.
Piano-prodigy Isabella, eleven, whose black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
When a popular student encourages her to join the soccer team, Faith signs up even though she has never played the game, and learns about loyalty and friendship.
Steeped in Hispanic folklore since childhood, middle schooler Charlie Hernández learns the stories are true when, shortly after his parents disappearance, he grows horns and feathers and finds himself at the heart of a battle to save the world.
Seventeen-year-old Zélie, her older brother Tzain, and rogue princess Amari fight to restore magic to the land and activate a new generation of magi, but they are ruthlessly pursued by the crown prince, who believes the return of magic will mean the end of the monarchy. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby, as eBook on Overdrive/Libby, or as eAudio on Hoopla.
Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
This summer brings big changes for Melly: her parents split up, her best friend ditches her, and Melly finds herself falling for a girl at camp named Adeline. To top it off, Melly’s not sure she has what it takes to be a real rock n’ roll drummer. Will she be able to make music from all the noise in her heart? You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Seventeen-year-olds Stella and Will, both suffering from cystic fibrosis, realize the only way to stay alive is to stay apart, but their love for each other is slowly pushing the boundaries of physical and emotional safety.
Jason Reynolds shares this letter-poem, written several years ago, in the hope that it will encourage readers to continue reaching for their own dreams. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
The story of a dystopic United States where Muslim-Americans are forced into internment camps.
With prom and graduation around the corner, a high school senior struggles when her group of friends start fighting.
Merci Suárez begins the sixth grade with lots of changes going on in her life, including her grandfather acting strangely, not fitting in at her private school, and dealing with Edna Santos’ jealousy.
After saving his friend from a villain, Izuku Midoriya is bestowed with his own superpower, or “quirk,” and admitted to a high school that cultivates the next generation of heroes.
Instead of sending Jordan to the arts school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics. Jordan turns out to be one of the few kids of color in his entire grade and struggles to find balance between his home life in Washington Heights and his new upscale academy. You can also check out this title as eBook on Hoopla, as eAudio on Hoopla, as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As Mia, the newest member, gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. When Mia grows close to her new friends, she reveals her true purpose for joining their ship.
When sixteen-year-old Bri, an aspiring rapper, pours her anger and frustration into her first song, she finds herself at the center of a controversy. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby, as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on Hoopla.
Eleven-year-old Alex Petroski, along with his dog, Carl Sagan, makes big discoveries about his family on a road trip and he records it all on a golden iPod he intends to launch into space. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
When two best friends are reunited after a summer apart, their friendship threatens to combust from the pressure of secrets, middle school, and looming auditions for a potentially life-changing new talented-and-gifted program. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Hoopla.
Amy lives on a colony in deep space, but when her father loses his job the family moves back to Earth, where she has to adapt to heavier gravity, a new school, and a strange boy with no flavor.
When Stevie Bell, an amateur detective, begins her first year at a famous private school in Vermont, she sets a plan to solve the cold case involving the kidnapping of the founder’s wife and daughter shortly after the school opened.
Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn’t so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind?
When Jilly’s sister is born deaf, Jilly worries about how the world will treat her. She connects with a fellow fantasy reader online who is Deaf and Black to find out more about his experience and learns lessons in communication and friendship. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on Hoopla.