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Teen Reads

Welcome to the Teen Reads page!

You need YA books. We have YA books. Find your next favorite.

Jump to Genre:

Adventure & Survival
Award Winners
Classics
Dystopian
Fantasy
Gentle Reads
High School Life
Historical Fiction
Horror & Paranormal
Humor
Love & Romance
Magical Realism
Middle School Life
Mystery & Thriller
Nonfiction
Quick Reads
Realistic Fiction
Science Fiction
Sports Stories
Staff Favorites
Steampunk
Urban Fiction

Obi-Wan Kenobi meme, "These are the books you're looking for."

If these are not the books you're looking for, ask a Librarian for a personal recommendation! Email the Marion Public Library, call 319-377-3412, or stop by the Information Desk and we will be happy to help.

Award Winners

Special YA Book Lists

Adventure & Survival

*Indicates that the book is also available on Hoopla!
The Lovely and the Lost*
Jennifer Barnes
Found*
Joseph Bruchac
Skyjacked
Paul Griffin
Alex Rider: Secret Weapon: Seven Untold Adventures from the Life of a Teenaged Spy
Anthony Horowitz
I Am Still Alive*
Kate Alice Marshall
Where the World Ends
Geraldine McCaughrean

Camp Valor*
Scott McEwen
Be Not Far from Me*
Mindy McGinnis
Agnes at the End of the World
Kelly McWilliams
The Safest Lies*
Megan Miranda
And the Ocean Was Our Sky*
Patrick Ness
The Loop
Ben Oliver
Girls Save the World in This One
Ash Parsons
The Echo Room*
Parker Peevyhouse
After the End by Amy Plum
After the End
Amy Plum
Wilder Girls
Rory Power
Scavenge the Stars
 

Tara Sim
Jane Anonymous
Laurie Faria Stolarz
Snowhook*
Jo Storm
Annihilation
Jeff VanderMeer

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Classics

Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
Feed
M.T. Anderson
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Ann Brashares
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
Whale Talk
Chris Crutcher
A Northern Light
Jennifer Donnelly
Copper Sun
Sharon M. Draper
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
Nancy Farmer
The First Part Last
Angela Johnson
Every Day
David Levithan
Jellicoe Road
Melina Marchetta
Sold
Patricia McCormick
Monster
Walter Dean Myers
The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman
In My Father's House
Ann Rinaldi
Esperenza Rising
Pam Muñoz Ryan
Skim
Mariko Tamaki
The Spectacular Now
Tim Tharp
The Thief
Megan Whalen Turner
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak

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Dystopian

Internment
Samira Ahmed
Munmun*
Jesse Andrews
Caster
Elsie Chapman
Verify*
Joelle Charbonneau
The Good Luck Girls
Charlotte Nicole Davis
The Cerulean*
Amy Ewing

Beware the Night*
Jessica Fleck
Eve of Man
Tom Fletcher
Rated
Melissa Grey
The Waning Age
S.E. Grove
Refraction
Naomi Hughes
A Dress for the Wicked*
Autumn Krause
The Fever King
Victoria Lee
The Grace Year
Kim Liggett
The Hive
Barry Lyga
We Set the Dark on Fire*
Tehlor Kay Mejia
Topside
J.N. Monk
The Light at the Bottom of the World*
London Shah
Dry
Neal Shusterman
Rebelwing
Andrea Tang

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Fantasy

Children of Blood and Bone
Tomi Adeyemi
The Hazel Wood
Melissa Albert
The Candle and the Flame
Nafiza Azad
The Belles
Dhonielle Clayton
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
Julie C. Dao
Wicked Saints
Emily A. Duncan
The Axe of Sundering
Mark Forman
Caraval
Stephanie Garber
Strange Grace
Tessa Gratton
Descendant of the Crane
Joan He
Everless
Sara Holland
The Afterward
E.K. Johnston
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Brigid Kemmerer
Furyborn
Claire Legrand
Reign of the Fallen
Sarah Glenn Marsh		  
Nocturna
Maya Motayne

Beasts Made of Night
Tochi Onyebuchi
The Blood Spell
C.J. Redwine
The Queen's Rising
Rebecca Ross
Song of the Current
Sarah Tolcser

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Gentle Reads

Of Poseidon
Anna Banks
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Rae Carson
The Moon and More
Sarah Dessen
The Golden Braid
Melanie Dickerson
Unclaimed Baggage
Jen Doll
Ten Miles Past Normal
Frances O'Roark Dowell
The Sierra Jensen Collection
Robin Jones Gunn
Dangerous
Shannon Hale
Forest Born
Shannon Hale
Shug
Jenny Han
There You'll Find Me
Jenny B. Jones
Anomaly
Krista McGee
Mark of the Thief
Jennifer Nielsen
Life Just Got Real
Sadie Robertson
The Wednesday Wars
Gary D. Schmidt
Dauntless
Dina L. Sleiman
Field Notes on Love
Jennifer E. Smith
Love À la Mode
Stephanie Kate Strohm
Listen to Your Heart
Kasie West
Love & Luck
Jenna Evans Welch

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High School Life

The Closest I've Come
Fred Aceves
We'll Fly Away
Bryan Bliss
The Meaning of Birds
Jaye Robin Brown
Someone to Love
Melissa de la Cruz
Heretics Anonymous
Katie Henry
We Contain Multitudes
Sarah Henstra
 
I'm Not Dying with You Tonight
Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
We Regret to Inform You
A.E. Kaplan
That's Not What Happened
Kody Keplinger
You Know Me Well
Nina LaCour and David Levithan
This Is Not a Love Scene
S.C. Megale
Famous in a Small Town
Emma Mills
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
Ben Philippe
A List of Cages
Robin Roe
Deposing Nathan
Zack Smedley
Hearts Unbroken
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Two Roads from Here
Teddy Steinkellner
Odd One Out
Nic Stone
Watch Us Rise
Renée Watson
The Art of Being Normal
Lisa Williamson

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Historical Fiction

*Indicates that the book is also available on Hoopla!
Iron River*
Daniel Acosta
The Button War
The Button War
Avi
The House of One Thousand Eyes*
Michelle Barker
Ziggy, Stardust & Me
James Brandon
In the Neighborhood of True*
Susan Kaplan Carlton
Becoming Beatriz*
Tami Charles
All Is Fair
Dee Garretson
Stage Dreams
​Melanie Gilman
The Weight of Our Sky
Alkaf Hanna
Olivia Twist*
Lorie Langdon
The Downstairs Girl*
Stacey Lee
The Liars of Mariposa Island
Jennifer Mathieu
How We Learned to Lie*
Meredith Miller
Like a Love Story*
Abdi Nazemian
Girls Like Us
Randi Pink
Rebel Spy
Veronica Rossi
The Fountains of Silence
Ruta Sepetys
What the Night Sings
Vesper Stamper
A Grain of Rice
Nhung N. Tran-Davies
Mapping the Bones
Jane Yolen

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Horror & Paranormal

*Indicates that the book is also available on Hoopla!

Heartwood Box*
Ann Aguirre
Pitch Dark
Courtney Alameda
S.T.A.G.S.
M.A. Bennett
Minor Prophets*
Jimmy Cajoleas
Five Midnights*
Ann Dávila Cardinal
Winterwood
Shea Ernshaw
Other Words for Smoke
Sarah Maria Griffin
Teeth in the Mist
Dawn Kurtagich
Sawkill Girls*
Claire Legrand
The Bone Houses
Emily Lloyd-Jones
Fractured Tide
Leslie Karen Lutz
Rules for Vanishing
Kate Alice Marshall
His Hideous Heart: Thirteen of Edgar Aleen Poe's Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined
Edgar Allen Poe and Dahlia Adler
Out of Salem*
Hal Schrieve
These Witches Don't Burn
Isabel Sterling
The Sacrifice Box
Martin J, Stewart
The Haunted
Danielle Vega
The Waking Forest
Alyssa Wees
Last Things*
Jacqueline West
Now Entering Addamsville*
Francesca Zappia

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Humor

We have a special edition of our favorite funny picks! Each book on this list can be found on the library's free Hoopla app that you can access anywhere. 
The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
M.T. Anderson
The Haters
Jesse Andrews
Suggested Reading
Dave Connis
Freaky in Fresno
Laurie Boyle Crompton
Brooding YA Hero
Carrie DiRisio
Not So Pure and Simple
Lamar Giles
 
My Plain Jane
Cynthia Hand
Rebel Belle
Rachel Hawkins
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza
Shaun David Hutchinson
Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel
Catherine Jinks

This Is Not the End
Jesse Jordan
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy
Mackenzie Lee
Ship It
Britta Lundin
Autonomous
Andy Marino
Scream All Night
Derek Milman
The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Patrick Ness
Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir
Liz Prince
Jacked Up
Erica Sage
How You Ruined My Life
Jeff Strand
We Should Hang Out Sometime
Josh Sundquist

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Love & Romance

What If It's Us
Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Yes No Maybe So
Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed
Love from A to Z
S. K. Ali
A Taxonomy of Love
Rachael Allen
Lovely, Dark, and Deep
Justina Chen
Emergency Contact
Mary H.K. Choi
All Our Broken Pieces
L.D. Crichton
I Believe in a Thing Called Love
Maurene Goo
Somewhere Only We Know
Maurene Goo
Comics Will Break Your Heart
Faith Erin Hicks
Color Outside the Lines
Edited by Sangu Mandanna
Save the Date
Morgan Matson
Only a Breath Apart
Katie McGarry
There's Something About Sweetie
Sandhya Menon
Sick Kids in Love
Hannah Moskowitz
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
Junauda Petrus
Again, But Better
Christine Riccio
When My Heart Joins the Thousand
A.J. Steiger
Jackpot
Nic Stone
Night Music
Jenn Marie Thorne

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Magical Realism

The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik
David Arnold
The Deepest Roots
Miranda Asebedo
Last Bus to Everland
Sophie Cameron
Storm-Wake
Lucy Christopher
Spellbook of the Lost and Found
Moïra Fowley-Doyle
We Are the Ants
Shaun David Hutchinson
Dig
A.S. King

I Crawl Through It
A.S. King
The Secret of a Heart Note
Stacey Lee
You Must not Miss
Katrina Leno
Blanca & Roja
Anna-Marie McLemore
When the Moon Was Ours
Anna-Marie McLemore
Wild Beauty
Anna-Marie McLemore
The Art of Starving
Sam J. Miller
The Disappearances
Emily Bain Murphy
The Astonishing Color of After
Emily X.R. Pan
All the Crooked Saints
Maggie Stiefvater
A Room Away from the Wolves
Nova Ren Suma
 
The Walls Around Us
Nova Ren Suma
A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares
Krystal Sutherland

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Middle School Life

*Indicates that the book is also available on Hoopla!
The Next Great Paulie Fink
Ali Benjamin
The Usual Suspects*
Maurice Broaddus
Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish
Pablo Cartaya
The Only Black Girls in Town
Brandy Colbert
Let Me Fix That for You
Janice Erlbaum
Itch
Polly Farquhar
Redwood and Ponytail*
K.A. Holt
Music for Tigers
Michelle Kadarusman
We Dream of Space
Erin Entrada Kelly
Positively Izzy*
Terri Libenson
Emmy in the Key of Code
Aimee Lucido
What Lane?
Torrey Maldonado
Chirp
Kate Messner
Dear Sweet Pea*
Julie Murphy
No Fixed Address
Susin Nielsen-Fernlund
The Best At It
Maulik Pancholy
Something to Say
Lisa Moore Ramée
Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks
Jason Reynolds
And They Stopped Talking to Me: Making Sense of Middle School
Judith Warner
The Prettiest
Brigit Young

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Mystery & Thriller

Zenobia July
Lisa Bunker
Time Bomb
Joelle Charbonneau
Overturned
L.R. Giles
Count All Her Bones
April Henry
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
The Revenge
Hannah Jayne
Truly Devious
Maureen Johnson
The Vanishing Stair
Maureen Johnson
Genuine Fraud
E. Lockhart
The Color of Lies
CJ Lyons
The Best Lies
Sarah Lyu		  
Losing Brave
Bailee Madison
People Like Us
Dana Mele
Swipe Right for Murder
Derek Milman
Come Find Me
Megan Miranda
The Arsonist
Stephanie Oakes
The Echo Room
Parker Peevyhouse
13 Minutes
Sarah Pinborough
The Mystery of Hollow Places
Rebecca Podos
As Red As Blood
Sallah Simukka
Sadie
Courtney Summers

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Nonfiction

The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs
America's Test Kitchen
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide
Carol Anderson
Shout: A Poetry Memoir
Laurie Halse Anderson
The Enlightened College Applicant: A New Approach to the Search and Admissions Process
Andrew Belasco
Trans Mission: My Quest to Get a Beard
Alex Bertie
Let's Be Real: Living Life as an Open and Honest You
Michaela DePrince
The Book of No Worries: A Survival Guide for Growing Up
Lizzie Cox
Preparing for Your Hunting Trip
Elizabeth Dee
Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love
Heather Demetrios
Your Brain Needs a Hug: Life, Love, Mental Health, and Sandwiches
Rae Earl
I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir
Malaka Gharib
Glimmer of Hope: How Tragedy Sparked a Movement
March for Our Lives
 
Debunk It!: How to Stay Sane in a World of Information
John Grant
The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler
John Hendrix
(Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health
Kelly Jensen
Teen Guide to Student Activism
Stuart A. Kallen
The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat & Fierce
Angie Manfredi
Almost Adulting: All You Need to Know to Get It Together (Sort of)
Arden Rose
The 57 Bus
Dashka Slater
Guts
Raina Telgemeier

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Quick Reads

We have a special edition of our favorite quick reads! Each book and series on this list can be found on the library's free Hoopla app that you can access anywhere. 
The Same Blood 
M. Azmitia
Taken Away
Cyn Bermudez
The Usual Suspects
Maurice Broaddus
Dodger Boy
Sarah Ellis
Some Girls Bind
Rory James
Beast Rider
Tony Johnston
Locked Out Series
Patrick Jones
Support and Defend Series
Patrick Jones
The Way Back from Broken
Amber Keyser
Faerie
Eisha Marjara
What I Leave Behind
Allison McGhee
The Same Blood 
M. Azmitia
Taken Away
Cyn Bermudez
The Usual Suspects
Maurice Broaddus
Dodger Boy
Sarah Ellis
Some Girls Bind
Rory James
Beast Rider
Tony Johnston
Locked Out Series
Patrick Jones
Support and Defend Series
Patrick Jones
The Way Back from Broken
Amber Keyser
Faerie
Eisha Marjara
What I Leave Behind
Allison McGhee
Cap Central Series
Leslie McGill
The Swoop List Series
Stephanie Perry Moore
Girls Like Me
Nina Packebush
Urban Underground Series
Anne Schraff

The Red Zone Series
 
Girls Like Me
Lola St. Vil
Surviving Southside Series
 
Secrets of the Casa Rosada
Alex Temblador
 
A Small Madness
Dianne Touchell

 

Realistic Fiction

Clap When Your Land
Elizabeth Acevedo
We Didn't Ask for This
Adi Alsaid
The Black Flamingo
Dean Atta
Summer Bird Blue
Akemi Dawn Bowman
American Panda
Gloria Chao
Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution
E.E. Charlton-Trujillo
All-American Muslim Girl
Nadine Jolie Courtney
Road Tripped
Pete Hautman
You Should See Me in a Crown
Leah Johnson
The Music of What Happens
Bill Konigsberg
What I Carry
Jennifer Longo
Light It Up
Kekla Magoon
 
Learning to Breathe
Janice Lynn Mather
Stay Gold
Tobly McSmith
This Is Not a Love Scene
S.C. Meagle

By Any Means Necessary
Candice Montgomery
Slay
Brittney Morris
Who Put This Song on?
Morgan Parker
Go with the Flow
Lily Williams
As Many Nows As I Can Get
Shana Youngdahl

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Science Fiction
Girl Gone Viral
Arvin Ahmadi
The Weight of the Stars
K. Ancrum
Sky Without Stars
Jessica Brody
Honor Among Thieves
Rachel Caine
Once & Future
Amy Rose Capetta
 
Defy the Stars
Claudia Gray

 

The Similars
Rebecca Hanover
Refraction
Naomi Hughes
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe
Lauren James
Queen's Shadow
E.K. Johnston
Aurora Rising
Amie Kaufman
Dragon Pearl
Yoon Ha Lee
War Girls
Tochi Onyebuchi
Heart of Iron
Ashley Poston
Dealing in Dreams
Lilliam Rivera
Skyward
Brandon Sanderson
Mind Games
Shana Silver
Shuri
Nnedi Okorafor
Cosmoknights
Hannah Templer
Last Pick
Jason Walz

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Sports

Rebound
Kwame Alexander
Running on Empty
Sonya Spreen Bates

Shiny Broken Pieces
Sona Charaipotra

Gutless
Carl Deuker
Here to Stay
Sara Farizan

Backfield Boys
John Feinstein

Broken Beautiful Hearts
Kami Garcia

See No Color
Shannon Gibney
After the Game
Abbi Glines
Under the Lights
Abbi Glines

Hooper
Geoff Herbach

The Flip Side
Shawn Johnson
Checked
Cynthia Kadohata
The Wizenard Series: Training Camp
Wesley King
Lone Stars
Mike Lupica

Heroine
Mindy McGinnis

After the Shot Drops
Randy Ribay
No More No Name
Tim Tingle
Check Please!
Ngozi Ukazu
Top Prospect
Paul Volponi

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Steampunk

Ivey and the Airship
Ivey and the Airship
Cheryl Ammeter
Etiquette & Espionage
Etiquette & Espionage
Gail Carriger
Clockwork Angel
Clockwork Angel 
Cassandra Clare
Airman
Airman
Eoin Colfer
 
Mechanica
Mechanica
Betsy Cornwell
The Inventor's Secret
The Inventor's Secret 
Andrea Cremer
 
The Girl in the Steel Corset
The Girl in the Steel Corset 
Kady Cross
Something Strange and Deadly
Something Strange and Deadly 
Susan Dennard
Incarceron
Incarceron
Catherine Fisher
The Clockwork Scarab: a Stoker & Holmes Novel
The Clockwork Scarab: a Stoker & Holmes Novel 
Colleen Gleason
Dearly, Departed
Dearly, Departed
Lia Habel
The Iron Thorn
The Iron Thorn
Caitlin Kittredge
The Friday Society
The Friday Society
Adrienne Kress
The Falconer
The Falconer 
Elizabeth May
Planesrunner
Planesrunner
Ian McDonald
The Peculiars
The Peculiars 
Maureen McQuerry
Railsea
Railsea
China Mieville
 
Starclimber
Starclimber 
Kenneth Oppel
Fever Crumb
Fever Crumb
Philip Reeve
 
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The Invention of Hugo Cabret 
Brian Selznick
The Hunchback Assignments
The Hunchback Assignments 
Arthur Slade
Ashes of Twilight
Ashes of Twilight
Kassy Tayler
The Unnaturalists
The Unnaturalists 
Tiffany Trent
Leviathan
Leviathan
Scott Westerfeld
 

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Urban Fiction

Playground
50 Cent
Crazy Love
Amir Abrams
Tap Out
Eric Devine
Girls Like Us
Gail Giles
Fake ID
Lamar R. Giles
Spin
Lamar R. Giles
I'm Just Me
M.G. Higgins
Monday's Not Coming
Tiffany D. Jackson
 Bridge
Patrick Jones
How It Went Down
Kekla Magoon
DJ Rising
Love Maia
Darius & Twig
Walter Dean Myers
Anger Is a Gift
Mark Oshiro
We Were Here
Matt de la Peña
When I Was the Greatest
Jason Reynolds
All American Boys
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
On the Come Up
Angie Thomas
This Side of Home
Renée Watson
American Street
Ibi Zoboi
Pride
Ibi Zoboi

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Staff Favorites

More YA Book Suggestions

Get even more suggestions at these great sites.

TeenReads - Reviews, reading lists, contests

No Flying No Tights - Graphic novel, comics, manga, and anime reviews

Goodreads - Book reviews, reading lists, quizzes, and trivia

Reading Rants - Out of the ordinary teen booklists

Finally, here is a link to the Marion Library Teen Staff's older YA recommendations (PDF).