A Popularity Contest

To find out what books are popular with today’s teens, I spoke with the teen librarian at the Winchester Public Library. She explained that a lot of teens like to read fantasy and murder mysteries. Some of the authors she cited were Holly Jackson, Karen McManus, Tahereh Mafi, Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black, and Angie Thomas. Here is a selection of books by those authors that are actually in the library. As the librarian indicated, there were not many books by those authors actually in the library!

Black, Holly. How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2020.

This is a collection of illustrated short stories written to accompany the Folk of the Air series, told from popular character Cardan’s perspective.

The Folk of the Air series is very popular, so it makes sense that Holly Black wrote these accompanying stories for readers who want more from that world. The illustrations are beautiful. Personally, I was so excited for Lyra’s Oxford, the short book Philip Pullman wrote to accompany the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I am sure that similarly rabid fans of Black’s series will cherish this book like I did Lyra’s Oxford.

Bardugo, Leigh. Six of Crows. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2015.

In order to pull off a heist that will make him rich, Kaz Brekker assembles a team of six to work together not just to help him with thieving but to also potentially save the world.

Six of Crows is very popular and won many book awards. It also has a sequel, so if students enjoy this book, they will be encouraged to read another book. Fantasy, according to the librarian I spoke to and from what I’ve seen online, is very popular with tweens and teens, so purchasing this book for the library would be a no-brainer, regardless of its known popularity.

Mafi, Tahereh. A Very Large Expanse of Sea. New York: Harper, 2018.

Shirin, a Muslim girl living in the US in the wake of 9/11, finds herself constantly subjected to harassment, until she meets Ocean Jones, who seems to truly want to get to know her.

Two things drew me to this book. First, it’s a classic story of a girl who naturally puts up her defenses due to the world in which she lives, only to have those walls drawn into question when she meets someone interested in her. Second, I am unsure how much today’s teens understand just how awfully the Muslim community was treated in the wake of 9/11. Certainly some of that prejudice persists, but it seems to have waned somewhat in the resulting 20 years. Reading this book has the potential to open their eyes to how non-Muslim Americans turned against this community due to the events of 9/11. This can serve as a lesson about what minority groups endure and how that treatment affects them.

McManus, Kate. Two Can Keep a Secret. New York: Delacorte Press, 2019.

Ellery moves to Echo Ridge, a town where her aunt disappeared and the homecoming queen was murdered five years ago, when another girl goes missing, prompting her to examine the secrets of the community.

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again - murder mysteries are fun! Based on a content warning on Goodreads (“murder, grief, talk of substance abuse, statutory rape”), this is no sweet Hercule Poirot, but it still sounds like it will draw in readers. It was also nominated for an Agatha Award, which tells you it must be a pretty good mystery. This book has elements of family drama, which may attract those readers who tend to read more realistic fiction.

Thomas, Angie. Concrete Rose. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2021.

A prequel to The Hate U Give, Concrete Rose explores the life of Maverick as he navigates the world as the son of an incarcerated gang leader and as a new teen father.

Readers gobbled up The Hate U Give, so they will be excited to read the newest from Angie Thomas in this story of Seven’s father’s teenage years. The reviews of Concrete Rose are almost as good as those of The Hate U Give. I honestly haven’t read The Hate U Give yet, so I can’t say too much about why I think Concrete Rose would be appropriate to include in the library, but based on everything I’ve heard about The Hate U Give, this seems like an automatic buy.

No textbook? No problem.

As teachers work to supplement their curriculum with non-textbook sources, the library can work as a rich source of information for them. Here are five book that teachers can use as supplementary resources or possibly even replacements for textbooks. 

Bennett, Michael I. and Sarah Bennett. Life Sucks: How to Deal with the Way Life Is, Was, and Always Will Be Unfair. New York: Penguin Workshop, 2019.

These authors, a father and daughter team, offer solutions for managing difficult topics that often don’t have an easy solution.

Found at the Winchester Public Library in the YA nonfiction section.

Each chapter of this not-self-help book deals with a different topic: friendship, school, cultural differences, etc. They all start with a quiz to get readers thinking about how they deal with these topics. The authors give “methods for managing problems when happiness is not an option” and give readers ways to figure out how much they work to do the right thing when “good results and happiness just weren’t possible.” This book could be used in health classes to for lessons on decision making, one of the standards in the comprehensive health strand.

Fleischer, Jeff. Votes of Confidence: A Young Person’s Guide to American Elections. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Zest Books, 2020.

A guide to the complicated US election cycle, including information on recent elections, written specifically for teens.

Found at the Winchester Public Library in the YA nonfiction section.

Topics in this guide include basic government information, the role of political parties, “polls, debates, money, and ballot measures,” and how to get involved with elections and governmental decisions. The books is broken down into digestible sections. There are some photographs and explanations on weird words like “gerrymander.” This book could be used as a supplement in the government elective.

Zimmer, Marc. Solutions for a Cleaner, Greener Planet: Environmental Chemistry. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2019.

Zimmer’s book gives an introduction to environmental chemistry, the study of Earth’s pollutants, from where they come from to the problems they cause to ways to rid our planet of them.

Found at the Winchester Public Library in the YA nonfiction section.

This book is broken into four sections: heavy metals, pesticides, fuel and energy, and nuclear energy. It includes source notes, glossary, bibliography, further information, and an index. There are lots of photos and graphics to enhance learning and subheadings to help navigate the book. This book could definitely be used in an environmental science class and maybe biology.

Ann Bausam. Viral: The Fight against AIDS in America. New York: Viking, 2019.

This book provides information on the history of the AIDS pandemic with a focus on the years 1981-1996 in the US and the politics surrounding HIV, but it also takes on the legacy of the illness both in the US and around the world.

Found at the Winchester Public Library in the YA nonfiction section.

This book contains many pictures, giving an almost pictorial account of the AIDS pandemic. It is in depth without being overwhelming and includes both the emotional toll on the gay community and the political factors affecting how the pandemic progressed. Bausam has an engaging writing style, making the book very readable. This book can be used in both health and history classes.

Currie, Stephen. Sharing Posts: The Spread of Fake News. San Diego: Reference Point Press, 2018.

This book looks at how fake news proliferated and its impact both in the US and the rest of the world.

Found at the Winchester Public Library in the YA nonfiction section.

One nice feature is that this book includes lots of quotes and real-life examples. It goes back to the history of misinformation in the 19th century and yellow journalism but includes examples that students should remember from recent election cycles. The book emphasizes the importance of sources and how even legitimate news sources sometimes make mistakes. There is a whole chapter on how to fight fake news, such as fact checking and the importance of education and critical thinking. This book has many uses including the government elective, history classes, and to help satisfy the news/media literacy standard.

Lurve

 I love a good YA love story, so looking for books this week was a ton of fun.

Kuhn, Sarah. From Little Tokyo, with Love. New York: Viking, 2021.

Rika, a biracial orphan living in LA’s Little Tokyo, learns her mother may be alive, so she sets off with a cute actor named Hank to find out the truth.

Found at the Winchester Public Library

I will readily admit that I chose this book when I ran across it at the library because it’s on my to-be-read list. The story just sounds fun; you can’t beat a mystery and a love story in one book. I would justify buying this for the library not just because of the buzz it has generated but also because it features Asian main characters and is written by a Japanese-American author.

Niven, Jennifer. Breathless. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2020.

When Claude’s parents separate, her mother moves them to an island off the Georgia coast where she meets a mysterious boy named Miah, who she falls for, despite her plan to use him just for sex.

Found at the Winchester Public Library

While the premise of this book (teen girl is determined to have sex) may not seem particularly enticing, the greater story will appear to many teens. Claude’s struggling with her parents’ divorce and a new home the summer before college. That would be traumatic for most teens, and many readers will identify with that sense of upheaval. There is, of course, the teen obsession with sex/virginity, but again, that is a theme with which many students will identify. The main characters are somewhat artsy (her a writer, he a photographer), which may appeal to library-going students. Again, seems like a fun read that still deals with serious topics.

Rivera, Lilliam. Never Look Back. New York: Bloomsbury, 2020.

Inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, this story of love features a Puerto Rican girl displaced by Hurricane Maria and the boy she meets in the Bronx.

Found at the Winchester Public Library

Sure, retellings of Greek mythology can be fun for the sake of fun, but they can also be used by literature, classics, or history teachers as a way to enrich lessons. Never Look Back is an Afro-Latinx retelling set in the Bronx. While based on mythology, it deals with the very real fallout of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Students will enjoy reading about whether these characters are doomed like Orpheus and Eurydice or whether their story ends differently. Also of note - this book was written by a Latinx author.

Talley, Robin. The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre. New York: HarperTeen, 2020.

Melody is an extremely competent stage manager, but less successful at relationships; when she meets the star of Les Mis, which her high school is producing, she hopes to turn that failure rate around.

Found at the Winchester Public Library

Not only are the main characters of this book queer, so is the author. The main love story is between two girls, although the one has dated boys in the past; therefore, both lesbian and bisexual students will find representation here. Based on the cover, this book features racially diverse characters, as well. While I was never much involved with theatre, I have been friends with many people who were, and my quick skim of the book felt true to life, making it appealing to theatre kids.

Tamani, Liara. All The Things We Never Knew. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2020.

Carli, a burned out basketball player with problems at home, meets Rex, a standout basketball player, who is looking for love, which he hopes to have found in Carli.

Found at the Winchester Public Library

Rarely do we see a love story about athletes (see above books about artistic types), so I was really excited to find this one. The characters are dealing with a lot, from parents with issues to losing the love of the game. This book explores not just romantic love but also familial love and the passion of sport. The characters are Black, as is the author, making this a good choice for diversity in the stacks.

Monsters, Real and Imagined

All of these "scary" books were found at the Kenmore branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, in the “teen zone.”

Medina, Meg. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2013.

Piddy Sanchez moves to a new school where a gang, led by Yaqui Delgado, harasses her.

Medina’s book won both the Pupa Belpre Award and the Cybils Award. It explores bullying because of perceived differences, here because the main character isn’t considered Latina enough for the school she goes to, something many students will have experienced in some form. It also features a teen whose father is physically abusing the boy’s mother, something that hopefully students will not have experienced but need to be aware of. 

Coles, Jay. Tyler Johnson Was Here. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 2018.

After his brother is killed by the police, Marvin Johnson looks for justice.

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this book will appeal to students who are interested in social justice issues surrounding police brutality and race relations. The book is also illustrative of how little decisions can have big consequences. Aspiring authors may be inspired by Coles who published this book at the age of 21.

Davila Cardinal, Ann. Five Midnights. New York: Tor Teen, 2019.

Vermonter Lupe Davila is in Puerto Rico, visiting her uncle, a local police chief, when people begin to get murdered; she works with Javier Utierre, whose friends are being killed, to solve the murders.

Davila Cardinal is herself both Puerto Rican and a Vermonter, so she brings her own experiences to this murder mystery. The book tackles not just the murders but also topics such as alcoholism. It is based on the folktale of El Cuco, a character similar to the bogeyman. This book explores juggling multiple heritages, with which many students in America can identify.

Burns, Laura J. and Melinda Metz. I Do Not Trust You. New York: Wednesday Books, 2018.

M and Ash work together (or do they?) to hunt for both a relic that may destroy the world and for M’s father, whom she believed was dead.

Who doesn’t love a world-traveling thriller full of family secrets, Egyptian mythology, cults, and a super smart and good-in-fights female lead?! This story honestly just looks like fun while still having a good amount of tension to keep readers on their toes.

Anderson, Natalie C. Let’s Go Swimming on Doomsday. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2019.

After being captured by the CIA because of a terrorist brother, Abdi agrees, in exchange for release, to work as a spy in his brother’s terrorist organization.

The topic of child soldiers and terrorism should strike fear into anyone’s heart. Terrorism has always part of current students’ lives, and seeing that reality and fear in a book should resonate with students. This book seems to portray the CIA as the bad guys, and it would be interesting to see how students respond to that. One review I read did say that the book doesn’t portray any of the Somalis, other than Abdi, in a positive light so this book may need to be read in full before purchasing in order to decide whether it would be offensive, especially if the school has a Somali population.

Magic and Spaceships

In putting together this list of recommended fantasy and sci-fi novels, it became clear to me that it is hard to summarize and feel truly comfortable suggesting the purchase of a book without having fully read it yourself. This is something I'll have to get more comfortable with as I progress with my career, but for this as a first exercise, I'll admit I struggled a little.

Romney, J.P. The Monster on the Road is Me. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2016.

When crows start to invade narcoleptic Koda Okita’s town, he begins to fall asleep more frequently, leading to trances, where he learns that a mountain demon plans vengeance on his town.

Found at the Kenmore branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, in the “teen zone.” It was easily identifiable with a fantasy spine label.

The Monster on the Road is Me is funny, and I believe we need more humor in contemporary fantasy novels. The plot seems original with its incorporation of Japanese folklore, even though it’s set in the modern day. Rarely do we see someone with a disability as the hero, especially something as rare as narcolepsy. The author is not Japanese but did live in Japan for a number of years, so he brings local knowledge to the story. Since manga and anime continues to be popular among teens, this book might be a good choice for students interested in Japanese culture.

 

Russell, Romina. Zodiac. New York: Razorbill, 2014.

Rhoma Grace, a student from the House of Cancer who is chosen as the next Guardian of the planet, suspects that an exiled Guardian of Zodiac has returned for vengeance, so she sets off on a quest to warn the other Guardians.

Found at the Kenmore library, in the “teen zone.” It was easily identifiable with a sci-fi spine label.

Astrology is extremely popular these days, so buying a book that ties in with that trend would interest many readers. This book also appears to be geared towards girls, which is less common than in fantasy. Also, including a book in the library’s collection with a teen, female leader shows young women that they can be powerful, no matter the situation, whether it’s on Earth or in space. Zodiac was a bestseller when it was released, so if it hasn't been purchased for a high school library, it should be.

 

Tahir, Sabaa. An Ember in the Ashes. New York: Razorbill, 2015. 

An enslaved girl infiltrates a military academy with the aid of rebels in order to rescue her brother, who was arrested for treason.

Found at the Kenmore library, in the “teen zone.” It was easily identifiable with a fantasy spine label.

This book, which was nominated for many awards, will probably appeal to many fantasy fans because it involves the common plot of a tyrannical kingdom that must be brought down. The book involves both ancient Roman history and Middle Eastern folklore, appealing to history and mythology lovers, as well. It features a female protagonist and detailed maps to make the story clearer. The author is a woman of color, which will help the diversity of the library collection.