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
- Table View
- List View
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.
Alligator Bayou
by Donna Jo NapoliTalullah, Louisiana. 1899.
Calogero, his uncles, and cousins are six Sicilian men living in the small town of Tallulah, Louisiana. They work hard, growing vegetables and selling them at their stand and in their grocery store.
To 14-year-old Calogero, newly arrived from Sicily, Tallulah is a lush world full of contradictions, hidden rules, and tension between the Negro and white communities.
He’s startled and thrilled by the danger of a ’gator hunt in the midnight bayou, and by his powerful feelings for Patricia, a sharpwitted, sweet-natured Negro girl.
Some people welcome the Sicilians. Most do not.
Calogero’s family is caught in the middle: the whites don’t see them as equal, but befriending Negroes is dangerous.
Every day brings Calogero and his family closer to a a terrifying, violent confrontation.
Blizzard's Wake
by Phyllis Reynolds NaylorEver since fifteen-year-old Kate Sterling's mother died four years ago, nothing has been the same.
Filled with resentment and sadness, and trying to fill the void left by her mother, Kate has shut herself off from the world and her family.
Zeke Dexter is heading home to begin a new life after completing his prison term, but he is filled with anxiety.
Will anyone in his small town be able to forget his shameful past -- or the crime he committed -- and let him start anew?
And if he's not welcomed at home, where else could he go?
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor weaves a taut, gripping story about grief, determination, and healing as the lives of the Sterling family and Zeke Dexter bind together.
Set against the actual events of the March 1941 blizzard, Naylor's touching new period novel will be welcomed by her many fans.
All the Bright Places
by Jennifer NivenTheodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.
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.
Jacob Have I Loved
by Katherine Paterson"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated . . ."
With her grandmother's taunt, Louise knew that she, like the biblical Esau, was the despised elder twin. Caroline, her selfish younger sister, was the one everyone loved.
Growing up on a tiny Chesapeake Bay island in the early 1940s, angry Louise reveals how Caroline robbed her of everything: her hopes for schooling, her friends, her mother, even her name.
While everyone pampered Caroline, Wheeze (her sister's name for her) began to learn the ways of the watermen and the secrets of the island, especially of old Captain Wallace, who had mysteriously returned after fifty years.
The war unexpectedly gave this independent girl a chance to fulfill her childish dream to work as a watermen alongside her father. But the dream did not satisfy the woman she was becoming. Alone and unsure, Louise began to fight her way to a place where Caroline could not reach.
Renowned author Katherine Paterson here chooses a little-known area off the Maryland shore as her setting for a fresh telling of the ancient story of an elder twin's lost birthright.
Newbery Medal Winner
The Beet Fields
by Gary PaulsenFor a 16-year-old boy out in the world alone for the first time, every day's an education in the hard work and boredom of migrant labor; every day teaches him something more about friendship, or hunger, or profanity, or lust--always lust.
He learns how a poker game, or hitching a ride, can turn deadly.
He discovers the secret sadness and generosity to be found on a lonely farm in the middle of nowhere.
Then he joins up with a carnival and becomes a grunt, running a ride and shilling for the geek show.
He's living the hard carny life and beginning to see the world through carny eyes.
He's tough. Cynical. By the end of the summer he's pretty sure he knows it all.
Until he meets Ruby.
Shelter
by Jayne Anne PhilipsIn a West Virginia girls camp in July 1963, a group of children experience an unexpected rite of passage.
Shelter is an astonishing portrayal of an American loss of innocence as witnessed by a drifter named Parson, two young sisters, Lenny and Alma, and a feral boy.
Like Buddy, the wide-eyed boy so at home in the natural bower of the forest, Lenny and Alma are forever transformed by violence, by family secrets, by surprising turns of love.
What they choose to remember, what they meet within and around the boundaries of the camp, will determine the rest of their lives.
In a leafy wilderness undiminished by societal rules and dilemmas, Lenny and Alma confront a terrible darkness and find in themselves a knowledge never lent them by the adult world.
Visceral, filled with suspense and surprise, Shelter is an extraordinary achievement.
Jayne Anne Phillips continues to explore family ties and generational complexities. She questions the idea of the existence of evil and brings to startling immediacy the primal divinity of the isolated, mountainous landscape of rural Appalachia. Shelter is a novel of transcendent beauty by one of the finest writers of our time.
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.
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.
The Caged Graves
by Dianne K. SalerniThe year is 1867, and seventeen-year-old Verity Boone is excited to return from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, the hometown she left when she was just a baby.
Now she will finally meet the fiancé she knows only through letters!
Soon, however, she discovers two strangely caged graves . . . and learns that one of them is her own mother's.
Verity swears she'll get to the bottom of why her mother was buried in "unhallowed ground" in this suspenseful teen mystery that swirls with rumors of witchcraft, buried gold from the days of the War of Independence, and even more shocking family secrets.
Under the Blood-Red Sun
by Graham SalisburyTomi was born in Hawaii. His grandfather and parents were born in Japan, and came to America to escape poverty.
World War II seems far away from Tomi and his friends, who are too busy playing ball on their eighth-grade team, the Rats.
But then Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese, and the United States declares war on Japan.
Japanese men are rounded up, and Tomi's father and grandfather are arrested. It's a terrifying time to be Japanese in America. But one thing doesn't change: the loyalty of Tomi's buddies, the Rats.
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls
by Julie SchumacherI'm Adrienne Haus, survivor of a mother-daughter book club.
Most of us didn't want to join.
My mother signed me up because I was stuck at home all summer, with my knee in a brace.
CeeCee's parents forced her to join after cancelling her Paris trip because she bashed up their car.
The members of "The Unbearable Book Club," CeeCee, Jill, Wallis, and I, were all going into eleventh grade A.P. English.
But we weren't friends. We were literary prisoners, sweating, reading classics, and hanging out at the pool.
If you want to find out how membership in a book club can end up with a person being dead, you can probably look us up under mother-daughter literary catastrophe.
Or open this book and read my essay, which I'll turn in when I go back to school.
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.
Caged Warrior
by Alan Lawrence SitomerMcCutcheon Daniels' life is full of bone-cracking violence.
As a star fighter in the gritty underground Mixed Martial Arts circuit in the poorest section of Detroit, McCutcheon fights under the tutelage of his volatile and violent father, not so much for himself but to survive as protector of his beloved five-year old sister, Gemma.
We get to know McCutcheon as he battles opponents who are literally trying to kill him.
Mr. Freedman, his science teacher, spots his intellectual potential, befriends him, and encourages him to enter the lottery for a scholarship to an elite charter school so he can obtain a first-class education. He is at first dead-set against the idea, and of course his tyrannical father forbids it. But the school's headmaster, Kaitlyn, a student assigned to be his guide, and Mr. Freedman continue to encourage him to consider it.
His father and the Priests, the local Mafia-like crew that run Detroit's organized crime, have other plans for McCutcheon. For them, he is simply a tool to make them money. And when that cash flow is threatened, his father hits McCutcheon where it hurts most-he hides Gemma and threatens his own son that he'll never see his beloved sister again if he doesn't play by the Priests' rules.
For the first time in his life, McCutcheon reaches out for help. Mr. Freedman turns out to have a very mysterious past and not only helps McCutcheon find his sister but also his mother who had simply disappeared on McCutcheon's 13th birthday. All seems well, but happy endings aren't really something McCutcheon feels he can rely on. And he may be right.
A ferocious novel, Caged Warrior is like a great fight movie, a tour-de-force of relentless conflict, but one that is leavened with rich characters and meaningful and loving relationships.
Stargirl
by Jerry SpinelliStargirl.
From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of "Stargirl, Stargirl."
She captures Leo Borlock' s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer.
The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first.
Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal.
In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love.Don't miss the sequel, Love, Stargirl, and Jerry Spinelli's latest novel, The Warden's Daughter, about another girl who can't help but stand out.
The Raven Boys
by Maggie StiefvaterAn all-new series from the masterful, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.
Shiver, Linger, Forever
by Maggie StiefvaterLose yourself in Maggie Stiefvater's NEW YORK TIMES bestselling Shiver series: SHIVER, LINGER, and FOREVER.
shiver
Sam's not just a normal boy -- he has a secret. During the summer he walks and talks as a human, but when the cold comes, he runs with his pack as a wolf. Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house -- but never dreamed that she would fall in love with one of them. Now that they've found each other, the clock ticks down on what could be Grace and Sam's only summer together.
linger
Can Grace and Sam last? Each will have to fight to stay together -- whether it means a reckoning with his werewolf past for Sam, or for Grace, facing a future that is less and less certain. Enter Cole, a new wolf who is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of being human. For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life is harrowing and euphoric, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But can it be enough?
forever
For Grace, Sam, and Cole, the story continues -- only now, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. It's becoming harder and harder to hold on to one another. The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment -- a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.
Knights of the Hill Country
by Tim TharpIn a small Oklahoma town, one star linebacker must decide what kind of man he wants to be--both on and off the field.
Welcome to Kennisaw--where Friday night high school football ranks right up there with God and country, and sometimes even comes in first.
This year, the Kennisaw Knights are going for their fifth straight undefeated season, and if they succeed, they'll be more than the best high school team in the eastern Oklahoma hill country--they'll be legends.
But the Knights' legacy is a heavy weight to carry for Hampton, linebacker and star of the team.
On the field, he's so in control you'd think he was able to stop time. But his life off the field is a different story. His father walked out on him and his mom years ago, and now his mom has a new boyfriend every week.
He's drawn to a smart, quirky girl at school--the type a star athlete just isn't supposed to associate with. And meanwhile, his best friend and teammate Blaine--the true friend who first introduced Hampton to football back when he had nothing else--is becoming uncomfortably competitive, and he's demanding Hampton's loyalty even as Hampton thinks he's going too far.
This unforgettable novel is the story of a boy whose choices will decide the kind of man he becomes, and raises powerful questions about sportsmanship, loyalty, and the deceptiveness of legends.
Marked By Fire
by Joyce Carol ThomasAs tornado hits and drives Abby's family apart, a mad neighbor targets her for a campaign of ruthless terror. Abby emerges clearly as a young woman who faces pain and joy with the dignity of her heritage and the determination of spirit.
Love and Leftovers
by Sarah TregayMy wish is to fall cranium over Converse in dizzy daydream-worthy love.
If only it were that easy.
Marcie has been dragged away from home for the summer-from Idaho to a family summerhouse in New Hampshire. She's left behind her friends, a group of freaks and geeks called the Leftovers, including her emo-rocker boyfriend, and her father.
By the time Labor Day rolls around, Marcie suspects this "summer vacation" has become permanent. She has to start at a new school, and there she leaves behind her Leftover status when a cute boy brings her breakfast and a new romance heats up. But understanding love, especially when you've watched your parents' affections end, is elusive. What does it feel like, really? Can you even know it until you've lost it?
Love & Leftovers is a beautifully written story of one girl's journey navigating family, friends, and love, and a compelling and sexy read that teens will gobble up whole.
Beauty of the Broken
by Tawni WatersIn this lyrical, heartwrenching story about a forbidden first love, a teen seeks the courage to care for another girl despite her small town's bigotry and her father's violent threats.
Growing up in conservative small-town New Mexico, fifteen-year-old Mara was never given the choice to be different. Her parents--an abusive, close-minded father and a detached alcoholic mother--raised Mara to be like all the other girls in Barnaby: God-fearing, churchgoing, and straight.
Mara wants nothing to do with any of it. She feels most at home with her best friend and older brother, Iggy, but Iggy hasn't been the same since their father beat him and put him in the hospital with a concussion.
As Mara's mother feeds her denial with bourbon and Iggy struggles with his own demons, Mara finds an escape with her classmate Xylia. A San Francisco transplant, Xylia is everything Mara dreams of being: free-spirited, open, wild.
The closer Mara and Xylia become, the more Mara feels for her--even though their growing relationship is very much forbidden in Barnaby. Just as Mara begins to live a life she's only imagined, the girls' secret is threatened with exposure and Mara's world is thrown into chaos.
Mara knows she can't live without Xylia, but can she live with an entire town who believes she is an abomination worse than the gravest sin?
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.
Noggin
by John Corey WhaleyListen - Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn't.
Now he's alive again.
Simple as that.
The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but Travis can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado.
Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy's body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he's still sixteen, but everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she's not his girlfriend anymore? That's a bit fuzzy too.
If the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, it looks like there's going to be a few more scars.
Where Things Come Back
by John Corey WhaleyIn the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter’s senior year of high school, he is forced to examine everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town.
His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears.
Meanwhile, the crisis of faith spawned by a young missionary’s disillusion in Africa prompts a frantic search for meaning that has far-reaching consequences.
As distant as the two stories initially seem, they are woven together through masterful plotting and merge in a surprising and harrowing climax.
Winner of the Michael L. Printz award