11th Grade Summer Reading Recommendations – 2023

As a high school librarian, offering reading recommendations for students is one of my favorite parts of my job. These lists are for parents, educators, library workers, and teen readers. In particular, this list is aimed at current and rising eleventh graders.

Everyone is welcome to use these lists either as a whole (please credit me and let me know) or as inspiration. I always suggest providing students and teens a list of material to choose from rather than requiring all of them to read one thing. That way they can find something that meets them where they are or allows them to stretch at their own pace. The point of summer reading should be to foster a love of reading, not force every kid into the same small box.

I created these lists through an alchemy involving age of the protagonists, themes, genre, tone, complexity, reader skill/comfortability level, events and topics a student will likely encounter in their studies during the school year, and books they are unlikely to read for school. I also generally picked more recent materials. Preference to #ownvoices and marginalized authors.

All links affiliate.

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10th Grade Summer Reading Recommendations – 2023

As a high school librarian, offering reading recommendations for students is one of my favorite parts of my job. These lists are for parents, educators, library workers, and teen readers. In particular, this list is aimed at current and rising tenth graders.

Everyone is welcome to use these lists either as a whole (please credit me and let me know) or as inspiration. I always suggest providing students and teens a list of material to choose from rather than requiring all of them to read one thing. That way they can find something that meets them where they are or allows them to stretch at their own pace. The point of summer reading should be to foster a love of reading, not force every kid into the same small box.

I created these lists through an alchemy involving age of the protagonists, themes, genre, tone, complexity, reader skill/comfortability level, events and topics a student will likely encounter in their studies during the school year, and books they are unlikely to read for school. I also generally picked more recent materials. Preference to #ownvoices and marginalized authors.

All links affiliate.

Continue reading “10th Grade Summer Reading Recommendations – 2023”

9th Grade Summer Reading Recommendations – 2023

As a high school librarian, offering reading recommendations for students is one of my favorite parts of my job. These lists are for parents, educators, library workers, and teen readers. In particular, this list is aimed at current and rising ninth graders.

Everyone is welcome to use these lists either as a whole (please credit me and let me know) or as inspiration. I always suggest providing students and teens a list of material to choose from rather than requiring all of them to read one thing. That way they can find something that meets them where they are or allows them to stretch at their own pace. The point of summer reading should be to foster a love of reading, not force every kid into the same small box.

I created these lists through an alchemy involving age of the protagonists, themes, genre, tone, complexity, reader skill/comfortability level, events and topics a student will likely encounter in their studies during the school year, and books they are unlikely to read for school. I also generally picked more recent materials. Preference to #ownvoices and marginalized authors.

All links affiliate.

Continue reading “9th Grade Summer Reading Recommendations – 2023”

Review: “Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes” edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter & Rocky Callen

Release Date: April 11, 2023
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Genre: Young Adult, Anthologies

Description

Channeling their own experiences, sixteen exceptional authors subvert mental health stereotypes in a powerful and uplifting collection of fiction.

A teen activist wrestles with protest-related anxiety and PTSD. A socially anxious vampire learns he has to save his town by (gulp) working with people. As part of her teshuvah, a girl writes letters to the ex-boyfriend she still loves, revealing that her struggle with angry outbursts is related to PMDD. A boy sheds uncontrollable tears but finds that in doing so he’s helping to enable another’s healing. In this inspiring, unflinching, and hope-filled mixed-genre collection, sixteen diverse and notable authors draw on their own lived experiences with mental health conditions to create stunning works of fiction that will uplift and empower you, break your heart and stitch it back together stronger than before. Through powerful prose, verse, and graphics, the characters in this anthology defy stereotypes as they remind readers that living with a mental health condition doesn’t mean that you’re defined by it. Each story is followed by a note from its author to the reader, and comprehensive back matter includes bios for the contributors as well as a collection of relevant resources.

With contributions by:

Mercedes Acosta * Karen Jialu Bao * James Bird * Rocky Callen * Nora Shalaway Carpenter * Alechia Dow * Patrick Downes * Anna Drury * Nikki Grimes * Val Howlett * Jonathan Lenore Kastin * Sonia Patel * Marcella Pixley * Isabel Quintero * Ebony Stewart * Francisco X. Stork

Continue reading “Review: “Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes” edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter & Rocky Callen”

Review: “First-Year Orientation” by edited by Lauren Gibaldi & Eric Smith

Release Date: April 4, 2023
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Genre: Young Adult, Anthologies

Description

Sixteen acclaimed authors–including a National Book Award nominee, a New York Times best-selling novelist, and a beloved actress–join forces for a cross-genre YA anthology of linked short stories about the first days of college.

Jilly cannot believe her parents keep showing up at all of her orientation events. (Except, yes, she can totally believe that.) Isaac wants to be known as someone other than the kid who does magic and has an emotional support bunny. Lilly is stuck working at the college bookstore during orientation (but maybe new friends are closer than they appear). Hira, meanwhile, just wants to retire from ghost hunting once and for all, but a spirit in the library’s romance section has other ideas. For their sophomore effort, the contributing editors behind the critically acclaimed Battle of the Bands admit us to opening day at a fictional college, with a collection that makes an ideal high school graduation gift or “summer-before” read. This colorful array of stories spans genres and moods–from humorous to heartfelt to ghostly–tackling with sensitivity, humor, and warmth what it feels like to take those first shaky steps into adulthood.

With stories by:

Adi Alsaid * Anna Birch * Bryan Bliss * Gloria Chao * Jennifer Chen * Olivia A. Cole * Dana L. Davis * Kristina Forest * Lauren Gibaldi * Kathleen Glasgow * Sam Maggs * Farah Naz Rishi * Lance Rubin * Aminah Mae Safi * Eric Smith * Phil Stamper

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John Wick: Chapter 4 Is One of the Best in the Series

Release Date: March 26, 2023
Writer: Shay Hatten, Michael Finch, Derek Kolstad
Director: Chad Stahelski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, George Georgiou, Lance Reddick, Clancy Brown, Ian McShane, Marko Zaror, Bill Skarsgård, Donnie Yen, Aimée Kwan, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Rina Sawayama

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Mini Review: “Saints of the Household” by Ari Tison

Release Date: March 28, 2023
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR
Genre: Young Adult

Description

Saints of the Household is a haunting contemporary YA about an act of violence in a small-town–beautifully told by a debut Indigenous Costa Rican-American writer–that will take your breath away.

Max and Jay have always depended on one another for their survival. Growing up with a physically abusive father, the two Bribri American brothers have learned that the only way to protect themselves and their mother is to stick to a schedule and keep their heads down.

But when they hear a classmate in trouble in the woods, instinct takes over and they intervene, breaking up a fight and beating their high school’s star soccer player to a pulp. This act of violence threatens the brothers’ dreams for the future and their beliefs about who they are. As the true details of that fateful afternoon unfold over the course of the novel, Max and Jay grapple with the weight of their actions, their shifting relationship as brothers, and the realization that they may be more like their father than they thought. They’ll have to reach back to their Bribri roots to find their way forward.

Told in alternating points of view using vignettes and poems, debut author Ari Tison crafts an emotional, slow-burning drama about brotherhood, abuse, recovery, and doing the right thing.

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Epic Fantasy on a Small Scale : The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi

Release Date: March 21, 2023
Publisher: Tordotcom
Genre: Fantasy

Description

They say there is no water in the City of Lies. They say there are no heroes in the City of Lies. They say there are no friends beyond the City of Lies. But would you believe what they say in the City of Lies?

In the City of Lies, they cut out your tongue when you turn thirteen, to appease the terrifying Ajungo Empire and make sure it continues sending water. Tutu will be thirteen in three days, but his parched mother won’t last that long. So Tutu goes to his oba and makes a deal: she provides water for his mother, and in exchange he will travel out into the desert and bring back water for the city. Thus begins Tutu’s quest for the salvation of his mother, his city, and himself.

The Lies of the Ajungo opens the curtains on a tremendous world, and begins the epic fable of the Forever Desert. With every word, Moses Ose Utomi weaves magic.

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Review of Blood Like Fate by Liselle Sambury

Release Date: August 9, 2022
Series: Blood Like Magic #2
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Description

Voya Thomas may have passed her Calling to become a full-fledged witch, but the cost was higher than she’d ever imagined.Her grandmother is gone.

Her cousin hates her.

And her family doesn’t believe that she has what it takes to lead them.What’s more, Voya can’t let go of her feelings for Luc, sponsor son of the genius billionaire Justin Tremblay–the man that Luc believes Voya killed. Consequently, Luc wants nothing to do with her. Even her own ancestors seem to have lost faith in her. Every day Voya begs for their guidance, but her calls go unanswered.As Voya struggles to convince everyone–herself included–that she can be a good Matriarch, she has a vision of a terrifying, deadly future. A vision that would spell the end of the Toronto witches. With a newfound sense of purpose, Voya must do whatever it takes to bring her shattered community together and stop what’s coming for them before it’s too late.Even if it means taking down the boy she loves–who might be the mastermind behind the coming devastation.

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10 Books to Chase Those The Last of Us Vibes

I can’t help it, I have The Last of Us on the brain! Specifically the side story of Bill and Frank living their happy little gay lives together in the post-apocalypse. But also the zombies. Because who doesn’t love stories about the end of times and parasitic possession? Here are 10 young adult and adult science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels to keep you going until season 2.

For the rest of this listicle, head over to Tor.com.