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2017 Staff Picks: Teens

Our expert readers advisory staff take a look back at the year and share their favorite titles.

  • The Hate U Give

    2017 by Angie Thomas

    "This is the YA novel that everyone should read this year."

    Recommended by Denise.

    "By age 16, Starr Carter has witnessed the senseless gunshot deaths of two childhood friends. Angie Thomas’s first novel is a terrific, heartbreakingly moving story with memorable characters and a timely theme. I was totally engaged from beginning to end; it definitely has the wow effect."

    Recommended by Sharon.

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  • Landscape with Invisible Hand

    2017 by M. T. Anderson

    "Aliens who come in peace and bring with them cures to all diseases and advanced technology sounds like an ideal scenario. As Adam and other humans soon find out, gifts like these come with dramatic consequences. As a huge fan of Feed by this author (go read it. I'll wait), I love any time he explores the impact of technology on our lives and the gap between the haves and the have-nots."

    Recommended by Lynnanne.

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  • The Librarian of Auschwitz

    2017 by Antonio Iturbe

    "Ranks right up there with Night and Diary of Anne Frank—a fictional retelling of a true story (14-year-old Dita Kraus). Dr. Mengele and other notorious Nazis play roles in this haunting mesmerizing story. Strongly recommend for grades 8 to adult."

    Recommended by Mary.

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  • My Lady Jane

    2016 by Cynthia Hand

    "This is a fun twisty historical fantasy about Lady Jane Grey with laugh out loud dialogue and a very satisfying, if not entirely true, account of events surrounding a queen for nine days."

    Recommended by Sharon.

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  • We Are Okay

    2017 by Nina LaCour

    "When Marin decides to stay behind alone in an empty dorm during winter break midway through her freshman year at an east coast college, she is visited by a high school friend who begs her to return home. But, Marin wants nothing to do with life in California where she suffered multiple traumas and pain the previous year. Lacour's book is as beautiful as lightning hitting a tree on the edge of a thawing lake. It is sensitively written, a carefully crafted investigation into Marin's past that's full of love, friendship, and hope in the end."

    Recommended by Jarrett.

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  • The Upside of Unrequited

    2017 by Becky Albertalli

    "While Molly believes her weight is an issue in the fact that she has 26 unrequited crushes, we realize as readers that there is much more to Molly than her size. YA novels like this title do a great job of taking a subject like being overweight and finding ways to make sure the story is not about their size, but about them. "

    Recommended by Denise.

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  • When Dimple Met Rishi

    2017 by Sandhya Menon

    It’s a sweet love story, but also a family story. It’s about a young woman who’s really into coding, who’s driven to be successful, and is going to college. She wants nothing to do with dating or boys. Only problem is, her mom thinks she should be focusing on dating and marriage, not academics or a career. Menon’s book shows the tension between wanting to be an independent strong female in the world, but also feeling torn by the desire for a relationship. I felt like I could relate to both characters and I can understand the pressures of what family wants for you vs. trying to figure out who you really are.

    Recommended by Jenny.

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  • Long Way Down

    2017 by Jason Reynolds

    This book takes place in an elevator over the course of 60 seconds as a young teen boy intent on avenging his dead brother’s murder meets the ghosts of his dead family who enter the elevator one after the other to force him to consider the pointlessness and horror of the violence he’s about to commit. This one hit me where it hurts: in the heart. It had me thinking about young lives close to me that have been lost to violence. Brilliant, poetic, and inventive. Jason Reynolds never fails to astound me.

    Recommended by Jarrett.

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  • I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

    2017 by Erika L Sánchez

    Set on Chicago’s south side, this was one debut book I couldn’t put down. Julia is everything a perfect Mexican daughter is not (according to her mother): determined to attend college in New York City, desperate to flee her family, uncensored in her every angry thought. And when her sister Olga, (who was “perfect” through and through) dies in a freak accident, the rift between Julia and her parents, driven by soul-rending grief, gets so deep it nearly swallows them whole. This book constantly surprised me—it made me laugh, it took me on a beautiful, yet scary journey out of Chicago to Mexico, and it filled me with empathy. It even works in heartbreaking mystery and realistic romance.

    Recommended by Jarrett.

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  • Piecing Me Together

    2017 by Renée Watson

    High school junior Jade is a high-achiever at her mostly white, elite private school and she's looking forward to studying abroad so she can see the wider world. But, when her school counselor instead enrolls her in a mentor program for at-risk girls, she runs smack up against society's biased expectations of her. What's worse, her mentor isn't dependable and seems aloof to Jade's needs. How is this supposed to help? Renee Watson's beautiful book is the story of one girl who learns to stand up for herself and demand respect for her individuality. It rings true from beginning to end.

    Recommended by Jarrett.

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  • American Street

    2017 by Ibi Zoboi

    This brilliant, timely book, another wondrous YA debut in a year full of them, masterfully combines realism, romance, and the spirit world unlike any other YA book I’ve read. When Fabiola’s mom is detained by ICE upon their attempted emigration from Haiti, she must travel on to Detroit to begin life with incredibly boisterous, even intimidating, cousins she hardly knows, navigate a new school, and maybe stop an abusive drug dealer in their midst. A Haitian spirit figure in the form of a homeless man speaks to her through song at night and guides her as she struggles to rescue her mother from immigration prison and begins to fall in love. The novel builds to a furious pitch at the end. I found it haunting my dreams.

    Recommended by Jarrett.

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  • Allegedly : A Novel

    2017 by Tiffany D Jackson

    After spending six years in "baby jail" for allegedly killing a white child when she was only nine years old, Mary now lives in a violent, often chaotic group home. When she becomes pregnant, she envisions a new life for herself, her boyfriend, and her baby, and becomes determined to go to college. But her conniving, unstable housemates, her disturbed mother who manipulates her psychologically, and the bureaucratic state she's trapped in conspire to destroy her chances at a better life. Tiffany D. Jackson's debut YA novel masterfully reveals the details of Mary's crime through the hazy gloss of traumatic memories. This is a raw, scary, urgent book that's hard to forget.

    Recommended by Jarrett.

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