Five Book Recommendations for Mental Health Awareness Month
Did you know May is Mental Health Awareness Month? It has been observed in the U.S. since May 1949. It was founded by Mental Health America to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and promote mental health education.One amazing way to celebrate MHAM is to read books about teens with mental health challenges. Check out these five books below:Darius the Great is Not Okay: 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.Fitting Indian by Jyoti Chand: All Nitasha's parents want is…
Five Verse Novels for National Poetry Month
Happy National Poetry Month! Check out these five recommended novels-in-verse to read in April:*A novel-in-verse / verse novel is a hybrid literary format that tells a full-length narrative story through poetry rather than traditional prose paragraphs. I Can't Even Think Straight by Dean Atta: Kai wants to come out but stays closeted, while Matt, his best school friend who’s also queer, is afraid of repercussions from his parents, while nonbinary Vass feels Matt’s a negative influence, in a novel about identity told in verse.Sunrise Nights by Jeff Zentner: When aspiring photographer Jude…
Happy Women's History Month!
If you're in need of some book recommendations for Women's History Month (3/1-3/31), check out this list of fiction and non-fiction titles:FICTIONThe Davenports by Krystal Marquis: The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in a changing United States, their fortune made through the entrepreneurship of William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who founded the Davenport Carriage Company years ago. Now it's 1910, and the Davenports live surrounded by servants, crystal chandeliers, and endless parties, finding their way and finding love--even where they're not…
A Lunar New Year 2026 Booklist
All the Way Around the Sun by XiXi Tian: After her brother dies unexpectedly and her family is uprooted once again during her senior year, Stella Chen feels lost and alone, but a trip up the California coast to look at college possibilities with her estranged childhood friend Alan Zhao brings a spark back to Stella's life and a glance at what the future could hold.A Crane Among Wolves by Jun Hur: In a kingdom gripped by turmoil, privileged seventeen-year-old Iseul defies danger to rescue her sister Suyeon from the absolute power of tyrannical King Yeonsan, while Prince Daehyun, desperate to…
Thoughts on the Cellphone Ban at NYC Schools
As written on the NYC Schools website, "Beginning in the 2025–26 school year, students will not be able to use personal internet-enabled electronic devices on school grounds during the school day absent an approved exception. This includes, but is not limited to, cell phones."Schools give the students a pouch to keep their phones in for the day. If they lose the pouch, it costs at least $15-30 for a replacement. It used to cost $75!While I have my own mixed feelings about the ban, I wanted to know how teens at my branch, McKinley Park, feel.Melody (age 16) said the only major issue she has…
Books I Want to Reread in 2026
I find nothing cozier than rereading a book I love. I tend to return to books I've read when I'm in a reading slump. Below are five books I plan to reread in 2026.The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed: With the Rodney King riots closing in on high school senior Ashley and her family, the privileged bubble she has enjoyed, protecting her from the difficult realities most black people face, begins to crumble.Drizzle, Dreams and Lovestruck Things by Maya Prasad: When their family's Songbird Inn on dreamy, drizzly Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest is named the Most Romantic Inn in America…
Five Books to Read During Native American Heritage Month
Check out these five titles in celebration of Native American Heritage Month!Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon: Seventeen-year-old Gem Echols hides their mental health challenges and mysterious dreams in the small town of Gracie, Georgia, but when a newcomer reveals a shocking claim of being reincarnated gods together, Gem's life takes a perilous turn as they embark on a deadly adventure, where their past and present collide.Legendary Frybread Drive-in: Intertribal stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith: The road to Sandy June's Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside…
Spooky Reads with LGBTQIA+ Teens
With Halloween just a few days away, we wanted to share ten spooky book recommendations, with LGBTQIA+ characters. Check them out, if you dare...Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado: For over a year, the Bronx has been plagued by sudden disappearances that no one can explain. Sixteen-year-old Raquel does her best to ignore it. After all, the police only look for the white kids. But when her crush Charlize's cousin goes missing, Raquel starts to pay attention—especially when her own mom comes down with a mysterious illness that seems linked to the disappearances. Raquel and Charlize team up to…
Teen Fiction with Autistic Representation
Check out this booklist of teen-friendly, new books with autistic protagonists and highlighting autistic authors! All the Noise at Once by DeAndra Davis: All Aiden has ever wanted to do was play football just like his star quarterback brother, Brandon. An overstimulation meltdown gets in the way of Aiden making the team during summer tryouts, but when the school year starts and a spot unexpectedly needs to be filled, he finally gets a chance to play the game he loves. However, not every player is happy about the new addition to the team, wary of how Aiden’s autism will present itself on…
New Fall Book Releases
It's finally Fall, y'all! Are you excited too? I know it's super cliche, but it's my favorite season. I love pulling out my cozy sweaters and fuzzy scarves and curling up on the couch with a book, right beside my fur baby. Below are five new books to check out this season. Happy Reading! All the Way Around the Sun by Xixi Tian: Stella Chen’s life ground to a halt when her brother unexpectedly passed away a year ago. Raised together by their grandmother for years in the Chinese countryside before rejoining their parents in the United States, his absence destroys the connective tissue in…
Happy Lunar New Year 2025!
Hey everyone! It's been so fun writing for this blog, but I will be taking a break from it for a while. This will be my last post until I return! Below are ten books to read in honor of Lunar New Year, which starts tomorrow, January 29th. Age 16 by Rosena Fung: Sixteen-year-old Roz is preoccupied with normal teenage stuff: navigating high school friendships, worrying about college, and figuring out what to wear to prom. When her estranged Por Por abruptly arrives for a seemingly indefinite visit, the already delicate relationship between Roz and her mother is upended. With three…
In Honor of MLK Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement
Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the U.S. Below are ten books about his life as well as the Civil Rights Movement. A Long Time Coming : a lyrical biography of race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama by Ray Anthony Shepard: Meticulously researched and drawn from numerous primary sources, this biography-in-verse tells the story of racism in the U.S. through six important Black Americans from different eras who struggled for justice, chronicling how much - and how little - racism has changed since our country's founding.All You Have to Do by Autumn Allen: In April 1968, in…
A New Teen Graphic Novel Virtual Book Club
If you love reading graphic novels like I do, I'd love for you to join my new teen virtual book club! We will meet on the last Thursday of each month. Our first club meeting is on January 30th at 4pm on Zoom and we will discuss Huda Fahmy's hilarous graphic novel, Huda F Are You?, the first in a series!"Huda and her family just moved to Dearborn, Michigan, a small town with a big Muslim population. In her old town, Huda knew exactly who she was: She was the hijabi girl. But in Dearborn, everyone is the hijabi girl. Huda is lost in a sea of hijabis, and she can't rely on her hijab to define…
January 2025 Teen Book Releases
After Life by Gayle Forman: Amber bikes home one spring, seven years after she died after being hit by a car while riding that bike, and her return impacts those around her as she struggles to learn how and why she got a second chance.Better than Revenge by Kasie West: When seventeen-year-old Finley discovers her boyfriend Jensen used her pitch for their school's podcast team, she plots revenge while unexpectedly discovering her talent for football and a deeper connection with Jensen's rival, Theo.Bingsu for Two by Sujin Witherspoon: River Langston-Lee dumps his girlfriend, quits his job at…
Books I'd Like to Reread in 2025
We often get excited for the books that are coming out. It's easy to forget the books we've read and loved before. While my TBR is a mile long, I also want to re-read these ten titles below!Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo: Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people. In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane…
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays! Below are ten books to read during this holiday season.Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park: Chloe Kwon can't stand Peter Li. It's always been that way. Their families don't get along either: their parents operate rival restaurants in the Riverwood Mall food court--Korean food for the Kwons and Chinese food for the Lis. Now it's the holiday season and Chloe's the photographer at the mall's Santa Land, and Peter works at the virtual reality North Pole experience right across the atrium. It's all Chloe can do to avoid Peter's smug, incredibly photogenic face. But it turns out the…
It's Disability December!
It's Disability December! What is it, might you ask? A reading challenge to promote books with disability representation. Below are ten books to consider reading!1. Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester: Veronica, a Peruvian American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body. 2. Darius the Great is not Okay by Adib Khorram: Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet…
December 2024 YA Manga Releases
Do you love manga? Check out these new and upcoming releases!Akane-banashi, Vol. 10 by Yuki Suenaga: Shinta Arakawa wants nothing more than to pass his shin’uchi exam—the test that would make him a top-rank headliner and master storyteller in the traditional Japanese art of rakugo. Akane Osaki, his daughter and biggest fan, spies on him while he practices and learns his routines for herself. When rakugo master Issho Arakawa expels everyone after the exam with no explanation, a fire is lit inside Akane. From that day forth, she has had one goal—to avenge her father and prove his art was worthy…
December 2024 Teen Book Releases
Better Than Revenge by Kasie West: Seventeen-year-old Finley has only ever had one goal: to become a famous podcaster. This includes coming up with the perfect pitch to land her on her school's podcast team. But when her football-obsessed boyfriend, Jensen, decides to also try out—and uses her idea—she's left confused and betrayed. Determined to get back at him, Finley and her friends try to find the perfect revenge scheme, but quickly discover that Jensen is almost-impossible to best. Keyword, almost. Includes an author Q&A! By chance, Finley discovers a knack for kicking and…
Five Books I’m Grateful For
In honor of this Thanksgiving season, I wanted to share five books I'm grateful to have read. These five books are ones I not only really enjoyed, but have stuck with me. They have helped change the way I understand myself, or the world. I have either already reread them, or I plan to next year. Share below what books you are grateful for!Gender Queer: a memoir by Maia Kobabe: In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with…