
Teen Events
Check out the teen calendar for events at your local library.

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Teen Titles
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Afrotistic
"Noa Ohunene Jenkins doesn't feel Black enough. Or autistic enough. Or cool enough. In her new town, the fifteen-year-old strives to make Dean's Merit Society, an elite honor society that she sees as her ticket to success. To make the society, she needs leadership experience, but there's one problem: Noa struggles to socialize appropriately. Desperate to make it in the society, she creates her own group consisting of autistic students from her school district and names it the 'Roaring Pebbles.' With the assistance of the Roaring Pebbles, a robot toy invention, her nonverbal brother, and a bit of classical Mozart along the way, Noa clings to her chance to make the society. And to one day, finally feel enough."--publisher's description.
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83 Days in Mariupol: a War Diary
A young adult graphic novel that captures the complexities of the war in Ukraine, focusing on the siege of Mariupol (Feb '22 - May '22) and the brave people who stayed to defend their city against Russian forces as well as the resulting effects on global politics.
A city ruined. In once quiet residential streets, two armies battle, driving people into cellars and basements with little food or water. No lights or heat. Dwindling medical supplies. Shells and bullets deliver cruel, random death to the young and old, men, women, and children.
This is Mariupol, a Ukrainian city and early target of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Bordering Russian-occupied territory, the coastal city seemed doomed to a defeat that would come within days, if not hours. Could Mariupol, and Ukraine, survive? As Russian rockets threatened the city, Ukrainians resisted, and with a heroic combination of sacrifice and bravery, the besieged city endured . . . for months. But it all came at a steep cost.
With compassion and his keen journalist's eye, Sibert Honor creator Don Brown illuminates the horrors of Mariupol and the depredations of its people not seen in the city since World War II. He also shows that outside of Mariupol, the city's agonies were mirrored by similar events occurring in towns and cities across Ukraine.
83 Days in Mariupol reminds us that the bloody defiance shown at The Alamo, Dunkirk, Leningrad, and Thermopylae isn't confined to the past but has a violent, modern presence. It is the story of senseless destruction, patriotism, and grit against long odds--a brutal battle whose consequences still reverberate across Ukraine and continue to reshape the global political landscape.
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Dragonslayer
"Successfully mixes swords, sorcery, and skullduggery with complex characters. Dumas fans will especially appreciate the faux-French setting. This is pure adventure fun with plenty for epic fantasy readers to enjoy.”—Publishers Weekly
With the dragons believed dead, the kingdom had no more need for dragonslayers.
Drunk, disgraced, and all but forgotten, Guillot has long since left his days of heroism behind him.
As forgotten places are disturbed in the quest for power, and things long dormant awaken, the kingdom finds itself in need of a dragonslayer once again, and Guillot is the only one left...
"Charming [and] entertaining. Recommended for fans of dragons and medieval settings.”—Library Journal
The Dragonslayer Trilogy:
1. Dragonslayer
2. Knight of the Silver Circle
3. Servant of the Crown -
Only This Beautiful Moment
From the Stonewall Honor-winning author of Like a Love Story comes a sweeping story of three generations of boys in the same Iranian family. Perfect for fans of Last Night at the Telegraph Club and Darius the Great Is Not Okay.
2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself.
1978. Saeed is an engineering student with a promising future ahead of him in Tehran. But when his parents discover his involvement in the country's burgeoning revolution, they send him to safety in America, a country Saeed despises. And even worse--he's forced to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed.
1939. Bobby, the son of a calculating Hollywood stage mother, lands a coveted MGM studio contract. But the fairy-tale world of glamour he's thrust into has a dark side.
Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this tale of intergenerational trauma and love is an ode to the fragile bonds of family, the hidden secrets of history, and all the beautiful moments that make us who we are today.
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I Kick and I Fly
"In I Kick and I Fly, Ruchira Gupta has given young readers an irresistible story, and also one that could save lives. This book is a gift." -- Gloria Steinem
A propulsive social justice adventure by renowned activist and award-winning documentarian Ruchira Gupta, I Kick and I Fly is an inspiring, hopeful story of triumph about a girl in Bihar, India, who escapes being sold into the sex trade when a local hostel owner helps her to understand the value of her body through kung fu.
On the outskirts of the Red Light District in Bihar, India, fourteen-year-old Heera is living on borrowed time until her father sells her into the sex trade to help feed their family and repay his loans. It is, as she's been told, the fate of the women in her community to end up here. But watching her cousin, Mira Di, live this life day in and day out is hard enough. To live it feels like the worst fate imaginable. And after a run-in with a bully leads to her expulsion from school, it feels closer than ever.
But when a local hostel owner shows up at Heera's home with the money to repay her family's debt, Heera begins to learn that fate can change. Destiny can be disrupted. Heroics can be contagious.
It's at the local hostel for at risk girls that Heera is given a transformative opportunity: learning kung fu with the other girls. Through the practice of martial arts, she starts to understand that her body isn't a an object to be commodified and preyed upon, but a vessel through which she can protect herself and those around her. And when Heera discovers the whereabouts of her missing friend, Rosy, through a kung fu pen pal in the US, she makes the decision to embark on a daring rescue mission to New York in an attempt to save her.
A triumphant, shocking account inspired by Ruchira Gupta's experience making the Emmy-award winning documentary, The Selling of Innocents, this is an unforgettable story of overcoming adversity by a life-long activist who has dedicated her life to creating a world where no child is bought or sold.
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Every Day: The Graphic Novel
A graphic novel adaptation of the groundbreaking, beloved New York Times–bestselling novel about a teen who wakes up in a different body each day and the love that eludes them.
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that—even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone they want to be with—day in, day out, day after day. But can Rhiannon love someone who is destined to change every day?
For the first time on the page, A's epic story will be brought to life as a graphic novel, with illustrations by Dion MBD. -
Accepted! 50 Successful College Admission Essays
Students will prepare powerful and successful admission essays with the tools provided in this invaluable, newly-updated resource for the college-bound.
Examples of 50 real essays are included, discussing such topics as leadership, personal obstacles, athletics, public service, special talents, and future goals.
The strengths and successes of each example are analyzed, as well as the inspirations of each writer. A comprehensive writing workshop provides tips toward selecting topics, developing stories, editing drafts, and applying finishing touches.
Further examples of 12 unsuccessful essays, a list of 25 easy mistakes to avoid, and new interviews with admissions officers are presented to help would-be entrants avoid costly blunders.
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Clara Poole and the Long Way Round
Mr. Lemoncello meets the Amazing Race in this quirky high-octane balloon-racing middle grade around-the-world adventure.
When an unintended flight over Michigan in her class science project—a lawn chair held aloft by balloons—brings her instant celebrity, Clara Poole is invited to be the spokesperson for a round-the-world adventure race. But when her overprotective father refuses, Clara forges his signature in a moment of defiance and runs away to Paris to take her place in the skies. If only she’d read the fine print first.
Partnered with a veteran aeronaut who wants nothing to do with her, Clara faces down ten treacherous stages in a race around the world—capturing flags in the perilous mountains of Nepal; being a guest of honor at a maybe-wedding in the Saharan desert; flying through rings of fire in Hong Kong—all while learning the ropes alongside a colorful cast of international competitors.
But there are more dangers ahead. Someone is trying to sabotage the competition. And surviving this race means Clara must come to terms with the tragedy that set her fleeing to the skies in the first place, and accepting that forgiving herself isn’t a process she has to undertake alone.
Gorgeous prose and winning characters combine in this quirky, often-hilarious, sometimes heart-breaking, and thoroughly captivating middle grade adventure series starter from an incredible new talent. -
Give Me a Sign
Jenny Han meets CODA in this big-hearted YA debut about first love and Deaf pride at a summer camp.
Lilah is stuck in the middle. At least, that’s what having a hearing loss seems like sometimes—when you don’t feel “deaf enough” to identify as Deaf or hearing enough to meet the world’s expectations. But this summer, Lilah is ready for a change.
When Lilah becomes a counselor at a summer camp for the deaf and blind, her plan is to brush up on her ASL. Once there, she also finds a community. There are cute British lifeguards who break hearts but not rules, a YouTuber who’s just a bit desperate for clout, the campers Lilah’s responsible for (and overwhelmed by)—and then there’s Isaac, the dreamy Deaf counselor who volunteers to help Lilah with her signing.
Romance was never on the agenda, and Lilah’s not positive Isaac likes her that way. But all signs seem to point to love. Unless she’s reading them wrong? One thing’s for sure: Lilah wanted change, and things here . . . they're certainly different than what she’s used to. -
Unseelie
The start of a swoony, high-energy duology that Emily Lloyd-Jones, author of The Bone Houses, calls "reminiscent of classic fairytales yet brimming with a charm all its own."
"A world of glimmering fae that sparkles with mystery, adventure, and enchantment." --Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of Hell Followed with Us
Iselia "Seelie" Graygrove looks just like her twin, Isolde...but as an autistic changeling left in the human world by the fae as an infant, she has always known she is different. Seelie's unpredictable magic makes it hard for her to fit in--and draws her and Isolde into the hunt for a fabled treasure. In a heist gone wrong, the sisters make some unexpected allies and find themselves unraveling a mystery that has its roots in the history of humans and fae alike.
Both sisters soon discover that the secrets of the faeries may be more valuable than any pile of gold and jewels. But can Seelie harness her magic in time to protect her sister and herself?
"Housman's stunning debut is the sort of love letter only an autistic author could write. Fae canon has been waiting for this one." --H.E. Edgmon, author of The Witch King
Teen Graphic Novels
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Blackwater
Tony Price is a popular high school track star and occasional delinquent aching for his dad’s attention and approval. Eli Hirsch is a quiet boy with a chronic autoimmune disorder that has ravaged his health and social life. What happens when these two become unlikely friends (and a whole lot more . . .) in the spooky town of Blackwater, Maine? Werewolf curses, unsavory interactions with the quarterback of the football team, a ghostly fisherman haunting the harbor, and tons of high school drama.
Co-illustrated by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham, who alternate drawing chapters in their own unique and dynamic styles, Blackwater combines the spookiness of Anya's Ghost with the irreverent humor of Nimona. -
Squire
Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It's the highest military honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship. Ravaged by famine and mounting tensions, Bayt-Sajji finds itself on the brink of war once again, so Aiza can finally enlist in the competitive Squire training program.
It's not how she imagined it, though. Aiza must navigate new friendships, rivalries, and rigorous training under the unyielding General Hende, all while hiding her Ornu background. As the pressure mounts, Aiza realizes that the "greater good" that Bayt-Sajji's military promises might not include her, and that the recruits might be in greater danger than she ever imagined.
In this breathtaking and timely story, Aiza will have to choose, once and for all: loyalty to her heart and heritage, or loyalty to the Empire.
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Rick Riordan Presents Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Graphic Novel
The talented team of Robert Venditti and Olivia Stephens brings to glorious full color the novel that best-selling author Jason Reynolds called "A brilliant action adventure rooted in African American lore."
Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from the tragedy.
But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie's notebook. Tristan chases after it--is that a doll?--and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature's hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world.
Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left Black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price.
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Batman Beyond: Neo-Year
Bruce Wayne is dead! Terry McGuiness must keep the legacy of Batman alive in Gotham, even with a deadly A.I. gunning for him. With no mentor and a Gotham that’s against him, Terry must go above and beyond in this six-issue miniseries.
Bruce Wayne has died, and it’s left Terry McGuiness on his own taking on the mantle of Batman. Left with limited resources, Terry must face a new state-of-the-art A.I. that has emerged in a Neo-Gotham that has no faith in Batman. Even with all of that, Terry will have to face off against his old adversary, The Jokerz, and look to Barbara Gordon for support. Without Bruce in his ear, can Terry McGuiness become the protector that Neo-Gotham needs?
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The Sea in You
15-year-old Corinth was just trying to clean up the beach; she never expected to meet a mermaid, let alone be nearly drowned by one. It was the start of a very strange friendship!
After Skylla, the deadly fanged mermaid, mysteriously lets Corinth live, they grow closer through a cautious exchange of stories, gifts, jokes, and sign language. Mermaids, it turns out, eat people, but however terrifying Skylla may look, she's a little younger, a little smaller, and perhaps a little too soft for all that. Bewitched by Corinth and their growing bond, she learns about all the best things in life on land: books, burgers, donuts, and this strange chattering human sound called laughter. But a storm is brewing - both at sea and in Corinth's increasingly dangerous relationship with her obsessively jealous boyfriend - and a magical bargain may be the only thing that can save her, at a tremendous cost.
A whimsical dark fantasy retelling of "The Little Mermaid," The Sea in You upends everything you thought you knew about magical creatures of the deep, on a whirlwind journey to a whole new world you've only dreamed of before!
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Project Nought
For fans of Kiss Number 8 and On a Sunbeam, this debut graphic novel is a fast-paced time travel adventure with a hint of romance that has garnered 1.5 million views as a Tapas webcomic.
Ren Mittal's last memory in the year 1996 is getting on a bus to visit his mystery pen pal Georgia. When he wakes up in 2122, he thinks he might be hallucinating...he's not!
Tech conglomerate Chronotech sponsors a time-travel program to help students in 2122 learn what history was really like...from real-life subjects who've been transported into the future...and Ren is one of them.
In 2122, Ren's life in the 1990s is practically ancient history--and Ren's not sure how to feel about that. On top of it all, he learns that his memory will be wiped of all things 2122 before he's sent back to the '90s. Adding to Ren's complicated feels, he's forming a crush on his student guide, Mars.
And when he crosses paths with the absolute last person he expected to see in the future, he has a bigger problem on his hands: What if Chronotech isn't the benevolent organization they claim to be, and he and his fellow subjects are in great danger?
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Sunbeams in the Sky, Vol. 1
"Himari Akeno can't wait to start high school! Even though she's parting ways with her twin sister, Mio, Himari's enthusiasm to start this new chapter of her life is palpable--that is, until a traumatic incident sends her home to hide in her room... watching Himari's dreams shatter is more than Mio can bear, especially when her sister still longs for an ordinary student life. Determined to see her twin get back out into the world, Mio "catches a cold" and convinces her sister to fill in until she "recovers." As long as the shy, introverted Himari can pull off impersonating the bubbly, energetic Mio, nothing could go wrong... right?"--Provided by publisher.
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The Librarian of Auschwitz: The Graphic Novel
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this graphic novel tells the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.
Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.
Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope. -
Pardalita
A beautiful slice-of-life story that is This One Summer meets Ursula K. Le Guin's Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, told in flashbacks
16-year-old Raquel lives in a small town in Portugal, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else's business. Her parents are divorced and she's just been suspended for cursing out a school aide asking about her father's new marriage. She has two best friends, Luísa and Fred, but wants something more. Then, from afar, she sees Pardalita, a senior and a gifted artist who's moving to Lisbon to study in the fall. The two girls get to know each other while working on a play. And Raquel falls in love.
Using a gorgeous blend of prose poems, illustrations, and graphic novel format, author and artist Joana Estrela captures the feeling of being a teenager in a way that feels gentle, joyful, and real.
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Fairest of All
Disney’s New York Times best-selling Villains series comes to life in this graphic novel adaptation of the book that started it all in this tragic tale of love and loss, the untold story of Snow White’s Wicked Queen.
The tale of the young princess, Snow White, and her evil stepmother, the Wicked Queen, is widely known—the Queen was jealous of the girl’s beauty, and this jealousy culminated in the Queen’s attempt on the sweet, naive girl’s life.
But what caused the Queen to become so, well, wicked? Perhaps the Queen hated her stepdaughter for her resemblance to the King’s first wife. Perhaps she resented the girl for her beauty. Could the Queen simply have been born that cruel? Or does it have to do with a mysterious mirror, gifted to her upon her wedding and swirling with dark magic?
And who is the man in the mirror? Is he the reason for the Queen’s downfall?
This tragic tale of love and loss is the untold story of the Wicked Queen, a woman who just wanted to be the fairest of all...