Young Adult

Benny faces many uphill battles throughout this inspiring chapter book. His brother has autism and his father is in the hospital, but Benny focuses on helping others in order to overcome his pain. Children will learn about coping with adversity and developing inner strength.

When carefree high school student Mitty Blake waits until that last second to get started on his Advanced Bio report, he comes across some of medical books at his family’s weekend house. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they contain smallpox scabs that he may have inhaled, in this thriller that brings new meaning to the term “life-or-death” school project.

The remarkable true story of a young boy's journey from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. 

A laugh-out-loud, kick-in-the-pants self-help narrative for anyone who ever felt like they didn’t fit in or couldn’t catch a break. Gethard shows us how to get over our fear of failure and start living life on our own terms. Perfect lesson for any struggling teen.

From the pages of early-day northern newspapers comes a startling collection of accounts of the extraordinary and the unexplained: Mammoths discovered frozen whole in the icy grip of a glacier. A tropical valley hidden deep in the wilderness. Sea serpents sighted off the Bering Sea Coast. A ghostly maiden's endless search for the young miner she loved. Lost mines containing unimaginable wealth in gold. Perfect book for low-energy days in the classroom.

High school students get a kick out of this real-life tale about a bunch of M.I.T.’s math students and engineers taking up blackjack under the guidance of an eccentric mastermind. In less than two years they take some of the world’s most sophisticated casinos for more than three million dollars by counting cards. But their success also brings with it the formidable ire of casino owners and launches them into the seedy underworld of corporate Vegas with its private investigators and other violent heavies.

A comprehensive exploration of the fascinating past, difficult present, and imperiled future of the African elephant.

Having worked with thousands of high achievers, Shah noticed the shared inner struggles that thwart the ability of successful people to reach their next level. When daring to face these struggles, not only do they reach the next levels of personal and team performance but also find themselves reengaged with life. Equips readers with knowledge and power to break through their imagined limitations.

Powerfully raw and vulnerable, Union shows how life is ever-changing - presenting challenges even as it provides moments of pure joy.

This one reads like Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. On the cusp of adulthood, Vera grows up in a small town that faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. When motherhood comes for Vera, she is faced with the question: will she be able to stay and mother her beloved child, or will she disappear?

The second entry about a girls’ boarding school in Cornwall in Colgan’s charming School by the Sea series. For the second year at Downey House, it's getting harder and harder to stick to the rules.

Great writing prompt for middle school and high school teachers. Two sisters coped with the pandemic by using Wordles to inspire one-page stories that they exchanged with one another. This collection includes 104 one-page stories using the words of 52 Wordle puzzles and is a great idea for teachers seeking ways to excite students about writing.

Wonderful book that explores the complexities of living with OCD and offers the prospect of hope, happiness and healing. Perfect for teen readers looking for a happy ending.

Haunting novel set in Japan that follows a murder’s chief suspect, Lucy Fly – a young, vulnerable English girl living and working in Tokyo as a translator. As Lucy is interrogated by the police, she reveals her past to the reader, and it is a past which is dangerously ambiguous and compromising. My teenage girls especially loved this one.

Set in the near future, Johnson tells the stories of a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors fleeing violent white supremacists. Led by Da’Naisha, a young Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, they seek refuge in Jefferson’s historic plantation home in a desperate attempt to outlive the long-foretold racial and environmental unravelling within the nation.