SBPL Teen Services Staff Picks

 I combed through my list of books read and pulled out my favorites from this past year.  They may not all be new, but they were new to me when I read them.  Here are my picks....in no particular order I borrowed this expecting it to be just another hyped up ghost/horror story but found something unexpected and awesome.  Here we have the trope of a group of students going into a haunted area and having something terrible happen that no one talks about and then they return and face what happened .....and Kemp keeps readers guessing by constantly flipping between then and now.  What made this book awesome was the twist ending, which shows that sometimes a good ending will absolutely make (or break) a book. I enjoyed the character explorations as well as the steady rise in intensity for those in the current day but the ending?  *chef's kiss*  Can't explain without giving it away....but definitely give it a try. The Corruption of Hollis Brown was another w...

  This is the winner of the 2025 Printz (top honor a teen book can have).  I'll be posting this article in both the graphic novel and the teen reads blogs as it deserves all the hype.  The story definitely deserves the awards it got!  On the surface, it's a story of a girl getting to know her estranged father after never having met him in her 14 years of life.  However, there is more than that....Almudena has never known her heritage, being raised by her very blonde, white mother.  She doesn't speak Spanish either.  Her summer is being spent with her Guatemalan father who doesn't speak much English, surrounded by those who prefer to speak Spanish and helping her father fix up a brownstone to help those who are being displaced due to the gentrification of the neighborhood.  She is trying to learn who she is, how she fits in and also how her upbringing has influenced her opinions.  I don't want to explain more as the journey is half the fun, bu...

 Hi, here are some interesting books I read this summer (you'll find more on our Manga/Comics blog as well).   =)   Saleena This is an amazing book, featuring a 7th grade boy who has been through a lot, and just wants to be "normal" and blend in at his new school.  His family moved to a National Quiet Zone in Nebraska (with a funny name that escapes me now).  What is a Quiet Zone?  It's a place where internet, microwaves, radios and televisions are not allowed.....and Simon and his family like it that way.  Why?  Well, you'll find out as the story progresses....but I don't want to spoil it.  Suffice to say, he has good reasons.  As the school year progresses, Simon makes friends, his family deals with professional and personal issues and he learns that maybe, just maybe, it's okay to stand out......but only if you choose to.....and it's also okay to say no and hide from the world with your friends.   Erin Bow has writ...

 I have decided to share some old & new stories full of adventure in order to encourage you (teens) to read more and perhaps join your library's teen summer reading program (I know ours is pretty awesome, you should try it). Here we go: This is still a favorite of mine, due to its unique combination of short story format and a magical mystery to solve.  In each story, a person is trying to figure out who killed the terrible, awful, racist, (he hates everyone really, but especially minorities, and gays, and girls, and anyone disabled....you get it). No one liked him, but each character longs to solve the mystery and prove themselves to be "the chosen one" for their own reasons.  In between the stories are small notes/clues/extras for the reader to join the stories together but also to spill more light onto the truth.  This is an amazing book, and I really wish there were more like it.   This is a space story (and a love story) that is truly unique; as yo...

  I read A Drop of Venom because I was sucked in by the cover (it IS very entrancing!) but was even more excited to read it once I read the blurb about the content.  Patel's story combines Indian fables & folk tale elements along with her own exploration of the story of Medusa.  The combination of Naga (snake people) and Medusa (snake hair) ideas seems so....obvious that it seemed like someone should have written this; and I'm so glad Sajni Patel did. I must warn you, this is a dark and intense story, even if there is a love story attached to it.  Manisha and Pratyush have not had good lives, and even if their story is sweet; it quickly takes a terrible turn.  This story was so well done and is so full of adventure that I loved it, but I did cry at the tragic parts.  This is a new book, just out this year and you should definitely try it; but you probably should be in high school due to the content. This isn't a new book, but I re-read it for a book clu...

  This cool, creepy cover DEMANDED to be read, and I'm so glad I grabbed it.  Jackson writes a creepy thriller about a young man who is given asylum from false charges (which no one believes are false) and offered a fresh start at an exclusive boarding school.  The catch?  Well, things are weird...like Douglas keeps hearing the forest talking to him, and things like that....but the tipping point is when someone dies, he sees them die...and suddenly no one remembers that the dead person ever existed.  Douglas teams up with the groundskeeper's son, Everett in an effort to figure out and stop whatever is happening....but the odds are stacked against them. I love the way Jackson plays out the plot, seasoning it with little creepy bits of history, tiny acknowledgements of racism, classism, and homophobia to make things seem even more insurmountable, then showing how Douglas handles it and rises.  This is a really good horror/thriller story with terrible, warped ...