Teens

A stellar debut about ignorance and privilege and the abuse of it that resonates beyond the final page.

Recommended for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stranger Things, and Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s The Inheritance Games who relish conspiracy theories, weird phenomena, slow-burn romances, and tearful family reunions.

For avid YA romance readers or casual readers with an interest in LGBTQIA+ experiences, this book provides a heartwarming and relatable overview of a teenager’s life.

A tour de force trilogy for all collections. This final installment of the “Little Thieves” trilogy makes every page count as Vanja’s character arc comes to a close, grappling with forgiveness and restitution.

A good purchase for libraries looking for more romance with physical disability and queer rep.

A profoundly beautiful, strange, and introspective love story, at turns soothing and scalding. Recommended for every collection.Bayerl, Katie. What Comes After. 416p. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen. Apr. 2025. Tr $21.99. ISBN 9780399545283. Gr 9 Up–Waking up dead is shocking enough, but this version of the afterlife—with its forced positivity, kale chips, and yoga—proves to be even more unsettling. All Mari, 16, wants is to make peace with her mother (who is also in purgatory), move on, and reunite with her beloved grandparents. If she could remember how she died that would be great, too, but something sinister is lurking beneath the surface of Paradise Gates. Souls are disappearing, mysterious agencies are scheming, and then there’s Jethro

A book that gets readers in its clutches and refuses to let them go; many will want to consume it in one sitting.

A surreal fantasy like this will do well in collections for teens who enjoy reading about serious themes in magical settings.

Emezi’s latest novel will help readers see beauty in the void. Fans of their work or Nnedi Okorafor’s “Nsibidi Script” series will doubtlessly gravitate to this one.