Need a great teen book, but don’t know where to start? Our Teen Librarian, Judith, has compiled her favorite books from 2019. These books are sure to pull on your heart strings. Interested in reserving a copy? Simply click on the book title or cover to be redirected to our online catalog.
Girls Like UsIn the summer of 1972, three girls from very different backgrounds struggle to come to terms with being pregnant.
The How and the Why by Cynthia Hand
Cassandra McMurtrey has the best parents a girl could ask for; they’ve given Cass a life she wouldn’t trade for the world. She has everything she needs–but she has questions, too. Like, to know who she is. Where she came from. Questions her adoptive parents can’t answer, no matter how much they love her. But eighteen years ago, someone wrote Cass a series of letters. And they may just hold the answers Cass has been searching for.
The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert
Sixteen-year-old Dove “Birdie” Randolph’s close bond with her parents is threatened by a family secret, and by hiding her relationship with Booker, who has been in juvenile detention.
Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy
Thirteen-year-old Patricia, widely known as Sweet Pea, navigates her parents’ unconventional divorce and finds herself in the unlikely role of her town’s advice columnist.
Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds
A collection of ten short stories that all take place in the same day about kids walking home from school.
Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food and Love by Elsie Chapman
A stunning collection of short stories about the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives in teens, from bestselling and critically acclaimed authors, including Sandhya Menon, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Rin Chupeco.
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
1890, Atlanta. By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel Caroline Payne, the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for ‘the genteel Southern lady’.
There’s Something about Sweetie by Sandhya Menon
Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After being dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up.
Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death.
Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist Takei’s childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an icon in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.
Nikki on the Line by Barbara Carroll Roberts
Thirteen-year-old Nikki Doyle’s dreams of becoming a basketball great feel within reach when she’s selected to play on an elite-level club team. But in a league with taller, stronger, and faster girls, Nikki suddenly isn’t the best point guard. In fact, she’s no longer a point guard at all, which leaves her struggling to figure out who she is and how she fits in.
To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer
Avery Bloom, who’s bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who’s fearless, outgoing, and Nightoloves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and are both being raised by single, gay dads.
When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleepaway camp. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends–and possibly, one day, even sisters.
What Momma Left Me by Renee Watson
Serenity is good at keeping secrets, and she’s got a whole lifetime’s worth of them. Her mother is dead, her father is gone, and starting life over at her grandparents’ house is strange. Luckily, certain things seem to hold promise: a new friend who makes her feel connected, and a boy who makes her feel seen. But when her brother starts making poor choices, her friend is keeping her own dangerous secret, and her grandparents put all of their trust in a faith that Serenity isn’t sure she understands, it is the power of love that will repair her heart and keep her sure of just who she is.
The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake
When Sunny St. James receives a new heart, she decides to set off on a “New Life Plan”: 1) do awesome amazing things she could never do before; 2) find a new best friend; and 3) kiss a boy for the first time.
Her “New Life Plan” seems to be racing forward, but when she meets her new best friend Quinn, Sunny questions whether she really wants to kiss a boy at all. With the reemergence of her mother, Sunny begins a journey to becoming the new Sunny St. James.