Reading Young Adult Books This Summer

Summer is approaching quickly and school is winding down, so everyone will finally have a chance to rest, relax and, most importantly, read! With that in mind, here are some of my favourite young adult books you can get from your library!

If you like fantasy novels Kelley Armstrong is famous for her Women of the Underworld books, but she also writes a loosely connected series titled the Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising. The first follows Chloe Saunders as she gets shipped off to a home for “troubled” teens because she’s seeing ghosts. Much to her surprise, the group is housing much more than those who have issues and this new discovery sends her into the world of the supernatural. The Darkness Rising series follows Maya and her friends who live in an incredibly small town. When she and her friends start gaining new abilities and mountain lions start following Maya, they start to question if their town is as normal as they thought.

If you’re looking for books about Faeries, look no further than Holly Black, the queen of all Faerie related fiction! Her series The Modern Faerie Tales which includes Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside, were the first books of hers I read, but her newest trilogy that starts with The Cruel Prince was so good that I stayed up all night reading it. The main character Jude, and her twin Taryn are forced to live in the Faerie world with their half-sister’s family, attending school as humans with other faeries. Jude is rebellious and attracts the attention of Cardan the youngest and most wicked prince and his friends. Without giving anything away, I’ll let you know that the second book The Wicked King was ever better than the first book, and I’m waiting with bated breath for the final book, The Queen of Nothing which comes out Nov 2019 (and will hopefully be at the library soon after!)

I know I’m a little late to the game, but after finally reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas I can one-hundred percent understand why it’s been receiving so much praise. Starr Carter is a teenager whose world is turned upside down when her friend Khalil is shot and killed by a police officer while unarmed. When the media picks up the story a conversation is opened about police shootings and Starr must decide whether she wants use her voice to help her community – or remain silent. Don’t forget we have an online teen book club starting in July based on this book! Email teens@tbpl.ca to join the community. August’s book will be chosen by our club but new members are always welcome.

Another contemporary young adult novel I read this year was Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. Much like Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, this is a story about the romance between an American and a Royal. More specifically, First Son of the United States and the Prince of Wales who start off with a rather rocky relationship – starting a fight that ends in them destroying a cake and accidentally starting an international feud between their countries! Their families force them to act as best friends for the sake of the media and their image and, as we all know, the two eventually realize they might not be so different and begin to fall in love. As my co-worker said “It has the right amount of cheesiness” and I couldn’t agree more.

These are only some of the great books we have at the library. If you want to see what new young adult books the library has you can check out www.tbpl.ca/teens which is updated monthly. That link, as well as @tbplteens on Instagram, can keep you up to date on all of the free programs running for teen and tweens and any volunteer opportunities!

Come visit us and don’t be afraid to ask us for suggestions — Some of us love reading young adult books as much as you do!

Nicole – www.tbpl.ca. If you have a comment about today’s column, we would love to hear from you. Please comment below!