Special Collections
United States of YA
Description: Go on a vacation this summer without ever leaving your couch. Whether you choose to visit the Alaskan wilderness, the beaches of Hawaii, or the cornfields in Kansas, adventure awaits in this collection of young adult novels. Ages 13 and up. #teens
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Delirium
by Lauren OliverNinety-five days, and then I'll be safe.
I wonder whether the procedure will hurt.
I want to get it over with.
It's hard to be patient.
It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet.
Still, I worry.
They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness.
The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.
Lauren Oliver astonished readers with her stunning debut, Before I Fall. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "raw, emotional, and, at times, beautiful. An end as brave as it is heartbreaking." Her much-awaited second novel fulfills her promise as an exceptionally talented and versatile writer.
Devilish
by Maureen JohnsonThe only thing that makes St. Teresa’s Preparatory School for Girls bearable for Jane is her best friend Ally.
But when Ally changes into a whole different person literally overnight the fall of their senior year, Jane’s suddenly alone—and very confused.
Turns out, Ally has sold her soul in exchange for popularity—to a devil masquerading as a sophomore at St. Teresa’s!
Now it’s up to Jane to put it all on the line to save her friend from this ponytail-wearing, cupcake nibbling demon... without losing her own soul in the process.
This YA take on Faust in a Catholic girls’ high school is clever, fun, and full of tasty surprises
Eleanor and Park
by Rainbow RowellSet over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
When Eleanor meets Park, you'll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under.
Emergency Contact
by Mary H.K. ChoiFor Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her.
When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.
Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.
When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.
A New York Times Bestseller
Everneath
by Brodi AshtonLast spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath.
Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever.
She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything.
But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home.
Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen.
And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.
As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen.
Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.
Everybody Sees the Ants
by A. S. KingLucky Linderman didn't ask for his life. He didn't ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn't ask for a father who never got over it. He didn't ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn't ask to be the target of Nader McMillan's relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far.
But Lucky has a secret--one that helps him wade through the daily mundane torture of his life.
In his dreams, Lucky escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Laos--the prison his grandfather couldn't escape--where Lucky can be a real man, an adventurer, and a hero.
It's dangerous and wild, and it's a place where his life just might be worth living.
But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way inside?
Michael L. Printz Honor recipient A.S. King's smart, funny and boldly original writing shines in this powerful novel about learning to cope with the shrapnel life throws at you and taking a stand against it.
The Fault in Our Stars
by John GreenDespite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
Young Readers Choice Award Winner, 2015
Fire from the Rock
by Sharon M. DraperSylvia is shocked and confused when she is asked to be one of the first black students to attend Central High School, which is scheduled to be integrated in the fall of 1957, whether people like it or not.
Before Sylvia makes her final decision, smoldering racial tension in the town ignites into flame.
When the smoke clears, she sees clearly that nothing is going to stop the change from coming.
It is up to her generation to make it happen, in as many different ways as there are colors in the world.
Freaked
by J. T. DuttonAt a grateful dead concert you need:
Acid: two windowpanes taped to chest checked
Tape deck for recording shows Checked
Wad of cash Checked
PB&J sandwiches for the munchies Missing
Tickets to the show Missing
.45 handgun What?
Scotty Loveletter is in big trouble. He's about to be expelled from school, but all he cares about is getting to Freedom to see Jerry Garcia-even though he doesn't have tickets.
But if dedicating his life to Jerryism has taught him anything, Scotty knows he's got to keep on trucking and smile, smile, smile.
In a stunning debut novel, J. T. Dutton crafts a brilliant story about an unforgettable teen finding himself in the music of one of the world's most beloved bands.
Full Service
by Will WeaverThe times they are a-changin' . .
The summer that Paul turns sixteen his mother pushes him to take a job in town instead of just working on the family farm. "You need to meet the public," she says, which is saying a lot for a woman deeply committed to the tightly knit religious community to which they belong.
And meet the public Paul does: He meets Kirk, the angry gas station manager; Harry, a reclusive and kindly gangster; and a family of hippies passing in a yellow peace van to San Francisco. He also meets beautiful Peggy, a high school sensation, and dark-haired Dale, her on the- side boyfriend who is headed to Vietnam. All of them come to the station - as well as girls on summer vacation, tanned and smelling of coconut oil, and ministers from Paul's fundamentalist church, who are worried about his soul.
As the summer progresses, Paul learns the secrets of his small Minnesota town and discovers that he's ready to have a few secrets of his own.
With richly developed characters and a flair for arresting imagery, Will Weaver tells the story of the end of one boy's innocence, unfolding at a time when the country as a whole is undergoing a difficult, deeply disturbing coming-of-age.
The Girls of No Return
by Erin SaldinCut meets Hatchet in this lacerating debut about girls, knives, and redemption.The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area stretches across two million acres in northern Idaho. In its heart sits the Alice Marshall School, where fifty teenage girls come to escape their histories and themselves. Lida Wallace has tried to negate herself in every way possible. At Alice Marshall, she meets Elsa Boone, a fierce native Idahoan; Jules, who seems too healthy to belong at the school; and Gia Longchamps, whose glamour entrances the entire camp. As the girls prepare for a wilderness trek, Lida is both thrilled and terrified to be chosen as Gia's friend. But everyone has their secrets--their "Things" they try to protect; and when those come out, the knives do as well. The Girls of No Return is a bold and powerful debut.
Go Big or Go Home
by Will HobbsA meteorite is hurtling toward the Black Hills of South Dakota. . . .
Brady Steele's love for all things extreme is given a boost when a fireball crashes through the roof of his house. It turns out that Brady's space rock is one of the rarest meteorites ever found.
In fact, a professor from a nearby museum wants to study it in search of extraterrestrial bacteria, hoping to discover the first proof of life beyond Earth.
During a wild week of extreme bicycling, fishing, and caving, Brady discovers he's able to do strange and wonderful feats that shouldn't be possible.
At the same time, he's developing some frightening symptoms.
Could he be infected with long-dormant microbes from space? Is his meteorite a prize . . . or a menace?
God of Beer
by Garret KeizerHigh school kids in Salmon Falls are much the same as high school kids anywhere else: bored.
In the far reaches of Ira County, Vermont, in the dead of winter, it seems there's nothing to do.
But when eighteen-year-old Kyle Nelson and a handful of friends decide to challenge the status quo with an act of civil disobedience, they discover that there's more to do than they ever bargained for.
Garret Keizer's gripping novel about young men and women desperate for change bears witness to the dangerous force of ideas and the searing power of friendship.
Here is a novel that looks truth squarely in the eye, and dares to keep on looking.
Hairstyles of the Damned
by Joe MenoThe debut novel from Akashic's new imprint, PUNK PLANET BOOKS! Included in MTV.com's "These 17 Music-Themed YA Books Could Be Your Life" A selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program. "Meno gives his proverbial coming-of-age tale a punk-rock edge, as seventeen-year-old Chicagoan Brian Oswald tries to land his first girlfriend...Meno ably explores Brian's emotional uncertainty and his poignant youthful search for meaning...His gabby, heartfelt, and utterly believable take on adolescence strikes a winning chord." --Publishers Weekly "A funny, hard-rocking first-person tale of teenage angst and discovery." --Booklist "Captures the loose, fun, recklessness of midwestern punk." --MTV.com "Captures both the sweetness and sting of adolescence with unflinching honesty." --Entertainment Weekly "Joe Meno writes with the energy, honesty, and emotional impact of the best punk rock. From the opening sentence to the very last word, Hairstyles of the Damned held me in his grip." --Jim DeRogatis, pop music critic, Chicago Sun-Times "The most authentic young voice since J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield...A darn good book." --Daily Southtown "Sensitive, well-observed, often laugh-out-loud funny...You won't regret a moment of the journey." --Chicago Tribune "Meno is a romantic at heart. Not the greeting card kind, or the Harlequin paperback version, but the type who thinks, deep down, that things matter, that art can change lives." --Elgin Courier News "Funny and charming and sad and real. The adults are sparingly yet poignantly drawn, especially the fathers, who slip through without saying much but make a profound impression." --Chicago Journal "Underneath his angst, Brian, the narrator of Hairstyles of the Damned, possesses a disarming sense of compassion which allows him to worm his way into the reader's heart. It is this simple contradiction that makes Meno's portrait of adolescence so convincing: He has dug up and displayed for us the secret paradox of the teenage years, the desire to belong pitted against the need for individuality--a constant clash of hate and love." --NewPages.com "Joe Meno knows Chicago's south side the way Jane Goodall knew chimps and apes--which is to say, he really knows it. He also knows about the early '90s, punk rock, and awkward adolescence. Best of all, he knows the value of entertainment. Hairstyles of the Damned is proof positive." --John McNally, author of The Book of Ralph "Filled with references to dozens of bands and mix-tape set lists, the book's heart and soul is driven by a teenager's life-changing discovery of punk's social and political message...Meno's alter ego, Brian Oswald, is a modern-day Holden Caulfield...It's a funny, sweet, and, at times, hard-hitting story with a punk vibe." --Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times "Meno's language is rhythmic and honest, expressing things proper English never could. And you've got to hand it to the author, who pulled off a very good trick: The book is punk rock. It's not just punk rock. It's not just about punk rock; it embodies the idea of punk rock; it embodies the idea of punk--it's pissed off at authority, it won't groom itself properly, and it irritates. Yet its rebellious spirit is inspiring and right on the mark." --SF Weekly Hairstyles of the Damned is the debut novel of our Punk Planet Books imprint, which originates from Punk Planet magazine. Hairstyles of the Damned is an honest, true-life depiction of growing up punk on Chicago's south side: a study in the demons of racial intolerance, Catholic school conformism, and class repression. It is the story of the riotous exploits of Brian, a high school burnout, and his best friend, Gretchen, a punk rock girl fond of brawling. Based on the actual events surrounding a Chicago high school's segregated prom, this work of fiction unflinchingly pursues the truth in discovering what it means to be your own person.
Hear the Crickets
by Bj SheldonSkyy's a freak. She'll tell you so herself.
Her past - a mystery.
Her future - uncertain.
Having spent most of her life avoiding humans in an effort to conceal her wings, she wants nothing more than to end it all, leaving behind the solitary life she's been forced to live.
But numerous attempts to die have proven immortality is both a curse and a nuisance.
She now lives out her days in self-imposed seclusion to stay hidden from the world.
But that quiet way of life is shattered when mysterious siblings arrive and reveal a destiny which sends her running for the hills.
When an earth shattering discovery is made in the Badlands, history and science collide furthering the mystery behind Skyy's past - and her future.
Skyy will need to embrace her fate and confront an evil so ancient, only a miracle can keep the world from ceasing to be.
He Said, She Said
by Kwame AlexanderSparks will fly in this hip-hop-hot teen novel that mixes social protest and star-crossed romance He Said, She Said is perfect for fans of Walter Dean Myers and Rachel Vail alike.
He says: Omar "T-Diddy" Smalls has got it made--a full football ride to UMiami, hero-worship status at school, and pick of any girl at West Charleston High.
She says: Football, shmootball.
Heres what Claudia Clarke cares about: Harvard, the poor, the disenfranchised, the hungry, the staggering teen pregnancy rate, investigative journalism . . . the list goes on. She does not have a minute to waste on Mr. T-Diddy Smalls and his harem of bimbos.
He Said, She Said is a fun and fresh novel from Kwame Alexander that throws these two high school seniors together when they unexpectedly end up leading the biggest social protest this side of the Mississippi--with a lot of help from Facebook and Twitter.
The stakes are high, the romance is hot, and when these worlds collide, watch out
Hostage!
by Edward MyersWhile hiking with a group of other teens in the Utah desert, Alyssa and Rob attempt to foil the plans of a fossil-stealing kidnapper.
How to Save a Life
by Sara ZarrJill MacSweeny just wishes everything could go back to normal. But ever since her dad died, she's been isolating herself from her boyfriend, her best friends--everyone who wants to support her. And when her mom decides to adopt a baby, it feels like she's somehow trying to replace a lost family member with a new one.
Mandy Kalinowski understands what it's like to grow up unwanted--to be raised by a mother who never intended to have a child. So when Mandy becomes pregnant, one thing she's sure of is that she wants a better life for her baby. It's harder to be sure of herself. Will she ever find someone to care for her, too?
As their worlds change around them, Jill and Mandy must learn to both let go and hold on, and that nothing is as easy--or as difficult--as it seems.
Critically acclaimed author and National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr delivers a heart-wrenching story, told from dual perspectives, about the many roads that can lead us home.
I Am Number Four
by Pittacus LoreThe first book of the #1 New York Times bestselling series and the inspiration for the hit movie from Dreamworks!John Smith seems like an ordinary teenager, living a normal life with his guardian Henri in Paradise, Ohio. But for John, keeping a low profile is essential, because he is not an ordinary teenager. He's an alien from the planet Lorien, and he's on the run. A group of evil aliens from the planet Mogadore, who destroyed his world, are hunting anyone who escaped. Nine Loric children were sent to Earth to live in hiding until they grew up and developed their Legacies, powers that would help them fight back--and help them save us. Three of them are now dead. John is Number Four, and he knows he's next....Michael Bay, director of Transformers, raved: "Number Four is a hero for this generation." This epic story is perfect for fans of action-packed science fiction like The 5th Wave series by Rick Yancey, The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. The battle for Earth's survival wages on. Read all of the books: #2: The Power of Six, #3: The Rise of Nine, #4: The Fall of Five, #5: The Revenge of Seven, #6: The Fate of Ten, and #7: United as One.
I Am the Wallpaper
by Mark Peter HughesThirteen-year-old Floey Packer feels like she's always blended into the background.
After all, she's the frumpy younger sister of the Fabulous Lillian, a girl so popular and spontaneous that their house is always packed with a gaggle of admirers.
But when Lillian suddenly gets married and heads off on a month-long honeymoon, Floey decides it's her time to shine.
Armed with her trusty diary, some books on Zen philosophy, and a jar of Deep Wild Violet hair dye, Floey embarks on a self-improvement mission--with excellent results.
People are finally noticing her, especially the boy who really counts. But then disaster strikes.
Are people noticing Floey because she's so fabulous--or because her evil cousins posted her diary on the Internet? And how will Floey ever repair the damage?
If I Ever Get Out of Here
by Eric Gansworth"A heart-healing, mocs-on-the-ground story of music, family and friendship." -- Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Tantalize and Rain is Not My Indian Name.Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he's not used to is white kids being nice to him -- kids like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family's poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan's side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis's home -- will he still be his friend? Acclaimed adult author Eric Gansworth makes his YA debut with this wry and powerful novel about friendship, memory, and the joy of rock 'n' roll.
If I Stay
by Gayle FormanThe critically acclaimed, bestselling novel from Gayle Forman, author of Where She Went, Just One Day, and Just One Year.
Soon to be a major motion picture, starring Chloe Moretz!
In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck.
Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make.
Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. Now a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.
The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak
by Brian KatcherThe Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak is Stonewall Award-winning author Brian Katcher's hilarious he said/she said romance about two teens discovering themselves on an out-of-this-world accidental first date at a sci-fi convention.
When Ana Watson's brother ditches a high school trip to run wild at Washingcon, type-A Ana knows that she must find him or risk her last shot at freedom from her extra-controlling parents.
In her desperation, she's forced to enlist the last person she'd ever want to spend time with--slacker Zak Duquette--to help find her brother before morning comes.
But over the course of the night, while being chased by hordes of costumed Vikings and zombies, Ana and Zak begin to open up to each other.
Soon, what starts as the most insane nerdfighter manhunt transforms into so much more. . . .
The Indigo Girl
by Natasha Boyd and Saskia MaarleveldA deeply-researched and powerfully-written work of historical fiction, based on the untold story of Eliza Lucas, an extraordinary sixteen-year-old girl in Colonial-era South Carolina, whose actions were before their time: the story of the indigo girl.
In 1739, bright and determined sixteen-year-old Eliza Lucas is charged with keeping her family’s struggling plantations afloat, in her father’s absence.
Learning of the high value of indigo, Eliza becomes determined to learn the secret of growing the enigmatic crop, believing it to be her family’s salvation, but everyone tells Eliza growing indigo in the region is impossible.
Thwarted at nearly every turn, even by her own family, Eliza finds her only allies in an aging horticulturalist, an older and married gentleman lawyer, and a slave with whom she strikes a dangerous deal: teach her the intricate thousand-year-old secret process of making indigo dye and in return—against the laws of the day—she will teach the slaves to read.
So develops an incredible story of romance, intrigue, hidden friendships, threats, ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice, based on historical documents and Eliza Lucas’ own letters.
The Islands at the End of the World
by Austin AslanIn this fast-paced survival story set in Hawaii, electronics fail worldwide, the islands become completely isolated, and a strange starscape fills the sky. Leilani and her father embark on a nightmare odyssey from Oahu to their home on the Big Island. Leilani's epilepsy holds a clue to the disaster, if only they can survive as the islands revert to earlier ways.
A powerful story enriched by fascinating elements of Hawaiian ecology, culture, and warfare, this captivating and dramatic debut from Austin Aslan is the first of two novels. The author has a master's degree in tropical conservation biology from the University of Hawaii at Hilo.