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Reading a Book

Teen Fiction

Books can mirror our lives, and we see ourselves in the characters and their experiences. They can be windows into lives that we don't know or understand. Books can also open doors that would otherwise remain closed. Check out the recommendations for books with diverse characters, science fiction, and fantasy. If these don't grab your interest, search the catalog or stop by to check out what else is on the library shelves.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Direwood

by Catherine Yu

In this velvet-clad 1990s gothic horror, Aja encounters a charming vampire who wants to lure her into the woods—just like her missing sister.

No one ever pays attention to sixteen-year-old Aja until her perfect older sister Fiona goes missing. In the days leading up to Fiona’s disappearance, Aja notices some extraordinary things: a strange fog rolling through their idyllic suburban town, a brief moment when the sky seems to rain blood, and a host of parasitic caterpillars burrowing their way through the trees. Aja’s father, the neighbors, and even her ex-friend Mary all play down this strange string of occurrences, claiming there must be some natural explanation. It seems everyone is willing to keep living in denial until other teens start to go missing too.

Aja is horrified when she meets Padraic, the vampire responsible for all the strange occurrences. His hypnotic voice lures her to the window and tells her everything she’s longed to hear—she’s beautiful and special, and he wants nothing more than for Aja to come with him. Aja knows she shouldn’t trust him, but she’s barely able to resist his enthrallment. And following him into the woods may be the only way to find Fiona, so she agrees on one condition: He must let her leave alive if she is not wooed after one week. Though Aja plans to kill him before the week is out, Padraic has his own secrets as well.

In the misty woods, Aja finds that Padraic has made his nest with another vampire in a dilapidated church infested by blood-sucking butterflies. Within its walls, the vampires are waited on and entertained by other children they’ve enthralled, but there is no sign of Fiona. Before her bargain is up, Aja must find a way to turn her classmates against their captors, find her sister, and save them all—or be forced to join the very monsters she wants to destroy.

from Goodreads

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#WeNeedDiverseBooks

The collection of books represents stories from diverse groups (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, differently-abled). The stories are written by authors from those groups, not an outsider. These books offer the chance for all teens to see characters like themselves on the pages of books. And they offer the rest of the world a more authentic view of cultures different than their own. Click the image for more details.

Escape from Reality

Open a new book. Look at the pages and see new worlds and alternate realities. This collection of fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian novels offers stories about magic, mythology, space, and more. These books also relate to the Perceptions and Reality English class. Click the image for more details.

Mystery and Horror

Crack open a spine-tingling ghost story or a nail-biting mystery. Check out these books for a suspenseful escape from reality. Hopefully, they're not too scary or mind-boggling for you.

War Stories

History is full of wars. In this collection of war stories, the stories of the winners, the losers, the forgotten, the broken, and the brave give glimpses into the war experience. The collection will complement the ELA War Stories class, but anyone can check these out.