Sometimes we librarians find out that a certain book rarely checks out and we think, “What a shame!”  We may know it’s a high quality, unique book, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t get its due.  Maybe the cover isn’t appealing.  Maybe no one has heard of the title.  Maybe it just needs a little nudge to get it into the hands of the right reader.  Consider this a whole-hearted nudge for these great books from our Teen Scene!

 

Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond (2000).  229 pages.

Summary: “Thirteen-year-old Kit goes to live with his grandfather in the decaying coal mining town of Stoneygate, England, and finds both the old man and the town haunted by ghosts of the past.”

Why You Should Read It: This book won the Printz Medal as the best book in the country for young adults the year it was published!

 

Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis (2009).  341 pages.

Summary: “Teens Octavia and Tali learn about strength, independence, and courage when they are forced to take a car trip with their grandmother, who tells about growing up Black in 1940s Alabama and serving in Europe during World War II as a member of the Women’s Army Corps.”

Why You Should Read It: This #OwnVoices title about African-American characters was written by an African-American author!

 

Pick-Up Game: A Full Day of Full Court edited by Marc Aronson and Charles R. Smith, Jr. (2011).  170 pages.

Summary: “A series of short stories by such authors as Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Joseph Bruchac, interspersed with poems and photographs, provides different perspectives on a game of streetball played one steamy July day at the West 4th Street court in New York City known as The Cage.”

Why You Should Read It: This collection of short stories features YA author superstars and will make a pretty quick read!

 

Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party: A Novel by Ying Chang Compestine (2007).  248 pages.

Summary: “Starting in 1972 when she is nine years old, Ling, the daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists’ Cultural Revolution, which empties stores of food, homes of appliances deemed ‘bourgeois,’ and people of laughter.”

Why You Should Read It: In another #OwnVoices title, the author draws on her own personal experience growing up in China!

 

Remember, books in our Teen Scene are not just for teens!  Lots of adults find that they enjoy them, too!  Happy reading!

 

Teresa Moulton, librarian, Youth Services specialist