Young Adult Staff Picks

Seventeen-year-old Aziza El-Amin, the only hedge witch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts, teams up with a cursed boy looking for answers and a young necromancer in order to eradicate a new threat in the woods and take back her hometown.

When Amir's city in Syria is bombed as civil war erupts, his father makes a fateful decision. Amir soon finds himself on a perilous journey by land and sea, with little hope of reaching his destination. Milly is still reeling from the aftermath of earthquakes in her home city of Christchurch. Her only reprieve is the sea, surfing in Sumner and paddleboarding to her refuge at Boulder Bay. Out on the water one morning she sees something that forces her to risk her life for a complete stranger. Here Upon the Tide is a stunning debut novel about two grieving teenagers who find new ways to be happy in the most unlikely of places.

Wen Zhou is the daughter and only child of Chinese immigrants whose move to the lucky country has proven to be not so lucky. Wen and her friend, Henry Xiao - whose mum and dad are also poor immigrants - both dream of escape from their unhappy circumstances, and they form a plan to sit an entrance exam to a selective high school far from home. But when tragedy strikes, it will take all of Wen's resilience and resourcefulness to get herself and Henry through the storm that follows. Tiger Daughter is a novel that will grab hold of you and not let go.

'Do you trust me?' An instant bestseller, A Map of Days launched readers into the previously unexplored world of American peculiars, one bursting with new questions, new allies, and new adversaries. Now, with enemies behind him and the unknown ahead, Jacob Portman's story continues as he takes a brave leap forward into The Conference of the Birds, the next instalment of the beloved, bestselling Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series.

Aang and friends must join together once again as the four nations' tenuous peace is threatened by an impasse between Fire Lord Zuko and Earth King Kuei! As the world heads toward another devastating war, Aang's friendship with Zuko throws him into the middle of the conflict!

Marion teams up with her hunting-mad son, Jason, and young Kiwi hunters to present an exciting collection of sporting and adventure stories, poems and ‘a million things hunters should know’ ... Each yarn might be true or partly true, or totally made up. There’s a bit of fishing – like the great snapper story – and the tragedy of the hunting brothers who, like their grandfather, ‘pass it on’. Even an unusual myth relating to an ornamental pig, and a boy who plucks possum fur for money. You’ll love the story-poem of Papahee as he races out with his father to catch a boar that his killing the farmer’s lambs, leaving behind only their snowy-white skins. Most exciting and fresh are stories straight from the pens of our young huntsmen, each one with a photograph of them with their quarry.

Have you ever noticed that there are unwritten rules that tell boys how to act, think, and feel? Nobody knows where they came from, but one day--BAM!--you suddenly feel these invisible forces pushing you to follow the rules of masculinity, even if they don't make you happy. This get-real guidebook isn't about learning the rules of the Boys' Club--it's about UNLEARNING them and figuring out how to be brave...smart...cool...confident...strong.

With recurring appearances on the Food Network and millions of followers of his cooking Tik Tok channel under the belt, culinary prodigy Matthew Merril knows a thing or two about baking; accordingly, young bakers looking to learn indispensable skills in the kitchen will be wowed by what Teen Baking Bootcamp has to offer. Featuring tempting recipe after tempting recipe, this book has everything to help precocious readers grasp the fundamentals of baking, while churning out all the donuts, cakes, cookies and more they've always wanted to master. 

Styron's stirring call for resistance and citizen activism will be clearly heard by young people who want to make sure everybody gets an equal piece of the American pie, and who know that the future of the planet is now. She dives into several key issues: climate change, racial justice, women's rights, LGBTQIA rights, immigration, religious understanding, and intersectionality. Each chapter includes a summary of key questions, interviews with movers and shakers, and spotlights on progressive organizations. The book's final section is packed with how-to advice on ways to engage, from organizing, marching, rallying, and petitioning to individual actions like voting with your wallet, and using social activism to get out a progressive message.

One man's campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia: in 1993 Greg Mortenson was an American mountain-climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan's Karakoram. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of a Pakistani village, he promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time--Mortenson's one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban. In a region where Americans are often feared and hated, he has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself--at last count, his Central Asia Institute had built fifty-five schools.