Recommended Reads for Teens: Best of 2022

A novel in verse about an Asante boy who is captured and taken from his village during the 19th century. The first in a planned trilogy.

When Harper Proulx and her newfound sibiling travel to Hawaii to track down their sperm donor father, the man she discovers--a deep-sea diver obsessed with solving the mystery of a shipwreck--forces Harper to face some even bigger questions.

When a girl who's never longed for adventure is hit with a curse that begins to transform her into a demon, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life, but along the way is forced to confront her true power within.

When 17-year-old Avery moves to rural Georgia to live with her ailing grandmother, she encounters decade-old family secrets and a mystery surrounding the town's racist past.

It is 1937, and Laura Ann Langston lives in an America divided - between those who work the mystical arts and those who do not. Ever since catatastrophic Great Rust, the country has been rebuilding for a better future. And everyone knows the future is industry and technology - not the traditional mystical arts. Laura disagrees. As she sets off on her first mission into the heart of the country's oldest and most mysterious Blight, she discovers the work of mages not encountered since the darkest period in America's past, when Black mages were killed for their power--work that could threaten Laura's life and everything she’s worked for.

When Springville residents are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation . . . Maddy did it. Besides being a target for bullies, Madison Washington also has a secret: she's biracial and has been passing for white. After a viral bullying video, the school plans it's first integrated prom. The popular white class president convinces her Black quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date. But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddy still has another secret . . . one that will cost them all their lives.

After 17-year-olds Chloe and Shara, Chloe's rival for valedictorian, kiss, Shara vanishes leaving Chloe to follow the trail of clues she left behind. During the search, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to Shara and her small Alabama town than she thought.

A smash-up of art and text that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America--right now.

In a country governed by isolation, fear, and a tyrannical dictator, 17-year-old Cristian Florescu is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer, but he decides to use his position to try to outwit his handler, undermine the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country.

In this prequel to “They Both Die at the End,” it's the night before Death-Cast goes live. But Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die, or is it just an elaborate hoax? Orion Pagan has a serious heart condition. Valentino Prince has a long and promising future ahead, but registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident. Orion and Valentino cross paths in Times Square and immediately feel a deep connection. Then one boy receives a call. They know they want to spend their last day together...even if that means their goodbye will be heartbreaking.

Misbah is a dreamer, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States from Paksistan and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, Misbah and Toufiz’s son Salahudin and his best friend Noor understand each other better than anyone. But as Misbah's health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism, Sal scrambles to run the family motel himself. When his attempts at saving the business spin out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what it takes to break free from the past.

During the medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium and raised their fists to protest racial injustice. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism. In this graphic novel-style memoir, Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest..