Recently I asked one of our teen volunteers what they were reading and what they'd like to see a display of in the teen area. The reply was "cozy fantasy." If you've not come across it before, cozy fantasy is a newish sub-genre of fantasy - imagine a warm fire, a comfy chair, a cup of cocoa that never grows cold, a plate of your favorite cookies, and a generally happy book with a magical narrative. Often cozy fantasy has a fairy tale or folk tale inspired setting and/or story line. In December I put up a cozy fantasy display in the teen area, which has since been replaced by a display of thriller novels (a swing of the pendulum here). But, in case you missed it shared below (with links to the catalog) are 13 of the titles that were in the display. I highly recommend both A Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking, and The Goblin Emperor, if you want to try cozy fantasy. And, there are reasons why the Redwall series, and Howl's Moving Castle have not gone out of print since 1986, and are still in the teen collection, so if you've not already read them you might start with one of them (there are 24 books in the Redwall series).
Enchanted, by Alethea Kontis, 2012. When Sunday Woodcutter, the youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week, kisses an enchanted frog, he transforms back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland--a man Sunday's family despises.
And, it's a wrap for 2023. Fantasy and Romance genres were favorites last year. Realistic/Contemporary fiction ran a close second. Two Biographical Fiction titles placed high in the top 16 checkouts this year. Not too surprising as one of them won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Do you need a book for your Independent Reading assignment? This list has some great titles. Come browse or put one on hold. May you have happy reading adventures in 2024!
In 2022 speculative fiction (fantasy and science fiction) held the lead for the most checkouts from the Library's teen fiction collection. The favorites in the top 12 also tended to be fast paced and suspenseful. If there's something you'd like to read click the number to go to the record in our catalog and place a hold.
The Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award is the only award in the Bay State that
invites students in grades 7-12 to vote for their top new books. Voting is open to all teens across Massachusetts, and will be open from September 1-23, 2022. There is no minimum number of nominated books that must be read - you may vote even if you have only read one!
The list of current nominees has been curated by a committee of public librarians, school library media specialists and educators. The top teen choices will be announced in October 2022 at the Massachusetts Library System’s Teen Summit.
Read more about the nominees here.
How many of the nominated titles have you read? I've read 5 of them. Would you like to read one of the nominated books that you haven't read? Click on a book cover shown below to go to the Library's catalog where you may place a hold.
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Possibly the cart with self-help books in the teen area may be of use or interest. Even if you have not been thinking about goals for the new year you may want to proactively browse the self-help cart as the year progresses.
Shown below are some of the newer self-help titles available in the Young Adult nonfiction collection. Clicking on a book cover will take you to the Library's catalog where you can read a description about the book and place a hold. Or, stop by the Library and browse the cart.
This summer the teen challenge on our Beanstack platform focuses on comics. Whether you are a comics reading fan or new to reading them, Oceans of Comics invites you to dive in for a swim this summer: to log any book you read; to explore different types of comics; to write reviews; and to attend one or more of the teen summer programs at the Library. There are 27 badges. Earn at least 14 to complete the challenge. The more badges you earn, the more entries you will have in the Library's weekly summer prize drawings. One badge equals one entry, but you must earn at least one badge each week to be entered in that week's drawing. Earn the completion badge and you will be entered in the drawing for a goody bag and book bundle.
Magic, Vol. 1, by Jed MacKay, 2021. Across the vast Multiverse, those gifted with a 'spark' can tap into the raw power of Magic and travel across realms: they are Planeswalkers, and they are being targeted. When coordinated assassination attempts on Guildmasters Ral Zarek, Vraska, and Kaya rock the city of Ravnica leaving Jace Beleren's life hanging in the balance, a fuse is lit that threatens not just these three Guilds, but the entire plane of Ravnica.
Once & Future V. 1, The King is Undead, by Kieron Gillen, 2020. When a group of Nationalists use an ancient artifact to bring a villain from Arthurian myth back from the dead, retired monster hunter Bridgette McGuire pulls her unsuspecting grandson Duncan, a museum curator, into a world of magic and mysticism to defeat a legendary threat.
Onion Skin, by Edgar Camacho, 2021. Rolando's job was crushing his soul... and then it crushed his hand. Now he can barely get out of the house. Nera is a restless spirit who loves to taste everything life can offer, but sleeps in a broken-down food truck and can't see a way to make her dreams come true. When their paths cross at a rock show, the magical night seems to last forever. Together they throw caution to the wind, fix up the truck, and hit the road for a wild adventure.
Mooncakes, by Suzanne Walker, 2019. Nova knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across her childhood crush, Tam.
Clockwork Curandera: The Witch Owl Parliament, by David Bowles, 2021. Resurrected by her brother using a forbidden combination of alchemy and engineering, apprentice curandera Cristina vows to protect the Republic of Santander against the lechuzas terrorizing immigrants and plaguing the country.
Valerian: The Complete Collection. Vol. 1, by Pierre Christin, 2017. Space opera from France that juggles the mysteries of time and space through the adventures of Laureline and Valerian.
Blade Runner 2019, Vol. 1, Los Angeles, by Michael Green, Mike Johnson, and Andres Guinald, 2019. When the wife of a rich industrialist goes on the run with his daughter, Blade Runner ASHINA is called in to track her down as a favor to the woman's husband - a man, second only, in power, to Eldon Tyrell. As Ash investigates the disappearance she uncovers a deadly and shocking conspiracy,
and goes after a rogue Nexus -6 Replicant unlike any she's ever faced before.
Dune, Book 1, by Brian Herbert, 2020. Frank Herbert's epic science-fiction masterpiece set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar society, tells the story of Paul Atreides as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis. A blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism, and politics.
Last Pick, by Jason Walz, 2018. In a world where aliens have taken over Earth, abducted every human they deemed useful, and abandoned the rest, twins Sam and Wyatt struggle to start a revolution of the unwanteds.
💘Katarina Peteranderl, one of our current Y.E.L.L. (Youth Engaged in Library Leadership) volunteers, created an Enemies to Lovers book display in the teen area this month for part their community service.
I asked Katarina why they chose Enemies to Lovers as the theme:
"It's a popular storyline and there are a lot of books that have that trope, particularly in the fantasy genre. I was inspired by a TikTok video I saw about why people like different tropes and books. The one for Enemies to Lovers talked about how people are worried that other people won't like them if they see their flaws. In an Enemies to Lovers story the characters have already seen each other's flaws but they still love each other."
💘Guitar Notes, by Mary Amato. Tripp, who plays guitar only for himself, and Lyla, a cellist whose talent has already made her famous but not happy, form an unlikely friendship when they are forced to share a practice room at their high school.
💘The State of Us, by Shaun David Hutchinson. Struggling
with the
social expectations of prospective first families, the
17-year-old sons of rival Democratic and Republican presidential
candidates secretly fall in love on the sidelines of an increasingly
contentious campaign.
💘Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating, by Adiba Jaigirdar.
Hani is easy going and popular. But when she comes out to her friends
as bisexual, they invalidate her identity. Panicked, Hani blurts out
that she’s in a relationship…with a girl her friends hate—Ishu. Ishu is
the opposite of Hani. She’s an academic overachiever who hopes that
becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. Ishu agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become popular so
that she stands a chance of being elected head girl. But relationships are complicated, and some people will do
anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after.
💘You Should See Me in a Crown, by Leah Johnson. Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed mid-western high school, instead she has concentrated on her grades and her musical ability in the hopes that it will win her a scholarship to Pennington College and their famous orchestra where she plans to study medicine--but when the scholarship falls through she turns to her school's scholarship for prom king and queen, which plunges her into the gauntlet of social media and leads her to discoveries about her own identity and the value of true friendships.
💘A Pho Love Story, by Loan Le. High school seniors Bao and Linh, whose feuding families own competing Vietnamese restaurants, conceal their budding romance, as well as Linh's desire to become an artist.
💘Tweet Cute, by Emma Lord. A reimagining of You’ve Got Mail follows the unlikely romance between an overachiever from a successful family and the class clown, who exchange snarky tweets that escalate into a viral Twitter war.
💘Tell Me How You Really Feel, by Aminah Mae Safi. A tale told in alternative viewpoints and inspired by classic romantic comedies follows the unlikely on-camera romance between an overachieving cheerleader and the senior film project director who secretly hates her.
💘Today Tonight Tomorrow, by Rachel Lynn Solomon. A bitter rivalry between two overachieving high school seniors erupts after one of them is named valedictorian on a day that finds them unexpectedly teaming up and falling for each other while competing against their fellow graduates during a farewell tour of Seattle.
💘How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love With the Universe, by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland. When she takes a job as a "merch girl" on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers, Moon Fuentez, the twin sister of a social media star, questions her destiny as the unnoticed, unloved wallflower she always thought she was.
Fantasy Fiction - Enemies to Lovers
💘The Wrath and the Dawn, by Renee Ahdieh. In this reimagining of The Arabian Nights, Shahrzad plans to avenge the death of her dearest friend by volunteering to marry the murderous boy-king of Khorasan but discovers not all is as it seems within the palace.
💘Girl, Serpent, Thorn, by Melissa Bashardoust. Soraya, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch, has lived eighteen years in the shadows but as her twin brother's wedding approaches, she faces choices with unimaginable consequences.
💘The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
💘We Hunt the Flame, by Hafsah Faizal. In a world inspired by ancient Arabia, seventeen-year-old huntress Zafira must disguise herself as a man to seek a lost artifact that could return magic to her cursed world.
💘These Violent Delights, by Chloe Gong. In 1926 Shanghai, eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, heir of the Scarlet Gang, and her first love-turned-rival Roma Montagov, leader of the White Flowers, must work together when mysterious deaths threaten their city.
💘A Curse So Dark and Lonely, by Brigid Kemmerer. Eighteen for the three hundred twenty-seventh time, Prince Rhen despairs of breaking the curse that turns him into a beast at the end of each day until feisty Harper enters his life.
💘Serpent and Dove, by Shelby Mahurin. Set in a world where witches are burned at the stake, finds a young witch forced into marriage with a church huntsman, a situation that is further complicated by their growing feelings for each other.
💘Kingdom of the Wicked, by Kerri Maniscalco. Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe - witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family's renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin...desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister's killer and to seek vengeance at any cost-even if it means using dark magic that's been long forbidden.
💘Renegades, by Marissa Meyer. In a ruined world where humans with extraordinary abilities have become the world's champions of justice, a vengeance-seeking girl and a justice-seeking boy team up against a villain who has the power to destroy everything they have worked to protect.
💘Dance of Thieves, by Mary Pearson. When outlaw leader meets reformed thief, a cat-and-mouse game of false moves ensues, bringing them intimately together in a battle that may cost them their lives--and their hearts.
💘This Savage Song, by Victoria Schwab. As the heirs to opposing sides in a warring city, Kate Harker and Augustus Flynn should never have met. A Romeo and Juliet-esque fantasy about the difference between good and evil and the blurry gray area in between
💘Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception, by Maggie Stiefvater. On the day of an important music competition, talented but painfully introverted and nervous Deirdre Monaghan is helped to perform by the compelling and enigmatic Luke Dillon and finds herself inexorably drawn into the mysteries and dangers of the faerie world.
Got a suggestion for a list to add to the Teen Room?--please let me know (kclaire@hwlibrary.org). If you've never used OverDrive, download the Libby App. It's the best way to get started with OverDrive. For those of you who have been using the OverDrive app you will probably want to migrate over to Libby as OverDrive is sun-setting the OverDrive app in favor of Libby. Click here for information about that from OverDrive posted on August 9.
At the end of any year I can, mostly, name the books that went out at the highest rate. It is particularly true this year, as I re-shelved them when they came back. There were no Library Pages to help shelve (we miss them!) due to COVID. To get a true count of our top checkouts I ran a report, and Suzanne Collins' prequel to her science fiction series The Hunger Games, topped our 2020 teen fiction chart for most checkouts. This was not a surprise.
While all the books in the Hunger Games trilogy went out a lot this year due to the new prequel, other series also continued to be popular such as: Rick Riordan's Trials of Apollo series, the Maze Runner series by James Dashner, and Neal Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe series.
Dear Evan Hansen, 1984, Midnight Sun, The Hate U Give, The Ruins of Gorlan, One of Us is Lying, and Rebound were titles that were also very popular this year.
The top 3 nonfiction books in order of number of checkouts, were:
The top 10 graphic checkouts include two memoirs and one nonfiction title:
