Ian's Teen Reads

Let's find your next favorite book!

[iansteenreads]

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle

Sixteen-year-old smart-ass, Quinn, has dreamt of being a famous Hollywood screenwriter for as long as he can remember. He’s also always dreamt that his sister, Annabeth, would be the one to direct his films. Everything changes when Annabeth dies in a car crash. Now, instead of writing screenplays and going to school, Quinn’s locked himself in his room doing anything he can not to look at his cellphone and the final text his sister sent him right before she ran a red light.

When summer starts, Quinn’s best friend, Geoff, insists that it’s finally time for him to come out of hiding. Geoff’s plan to get Quinn out of the house involves a long overdue haircut and taking him to his first college party. What he didn’t plan was for Quinn to fall hard and fast for a hot college guy at the party named Amir. What happens during the next week of Quinn and Amir’s life is nothing short of a story right off of the pages of a Hollywood screenplay.

“If you think I’m a confusing person, imagine actually being me.”

Quinn is a deeply relatable and well-thought-out character. He is smart, he is sarcastic, and he is a bit rough around the edges. But, above all else, he is a human being trying to handle a terrible loss and the prospect of moving and finding happiness in his story.

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“Teenaged Quinn, an aspiring screenwriter, copes with his sister's death while his best friend forces him back out into the world to face his reality.”

Federle, T. (2016). The great American whatever. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9781481404099; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

“People are complicated puzzles, always trying to piece together a complete picture, but sometimes we get it wrong and sometimes we’re left unfinished. Sometimes that’s for the best. Some pieces can’t be forced into a puzzle, or at least they shouldn’t be, because they won’t make sense.”

This, Adam Silvera’s second novel, follows Griffin, a teen New Yorker whose first love, Theo, dies in a tragic accident. When Theo moved to California to start college early, Griffin broke up with him because he didn’t want to feel like he was holding him back. Well, that’s at least what he told himself he was doing.

Even after Theo started dating Jackson a few months after arriving at Santa Monica College, Griffin always thought that they’d eventually find their way back to each other. With Theo’s untimely death, Griffin and Jackson are both left heartbroken. They soon realize that they are the only ones who fully understand each other’s grief. No matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s grief takes control and he starts losing himself in his obsessive compulsions, destructive choices, and the secrets tearing him apart.

This, Adam Silvera’s second novel, is written with a nonlinear narrative, alternating between chapters devoted to the past, “History,” and to the present, “Today.” If Griffin ever wants to move forward, he must try to put together the puzzle of his life, fitting together every heartbreaking piece of his History without neglecting the complicated pieces of Today.

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“After Theo, his first boyfriend, dies in a terrible accident, Griffin forges a friendship with Theo's ex-boyfriend Jackson.”

Silvera, A. (2017). History is all you left me. New York, NY: Soho Teen. ISBN: 9781616956929; Hardcover; $18.99.

[iansteenreads]

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

"Like him, I'm here because I don't want to be who I am anymore. I want to be so happy that bad memories aren't following me around like unwanted shadows."

In the Bronx in the near future, Aaron Soto's patient and loving girlfriend, Genevieve, is helping him cope with his father's recent suicide. While grieving, a new friend, Thomas, enters the picture. This friendship begins to awaken feelings in the teen that he doesn't quite understand and doesn't quite know how to handle. When an opportunity arises for Aaron to undergo a revolutionary memory-relief procedure at the Leteo Institute, he must choose which path will hopefully help him be More Happy Than Not.

☺ ☺ ☺ ☹

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“Struggling with memories of his impoverished youth, being abandoned by his friends and losing his father to suicide, Aaron attempts to forget his own identity through memory-altering therapy when his homosexuality affects a new friendship.”

Silvera, A. (2015). More happy than not. New York, NY: Soho Teen. ISBN: 9781616955601; Hardcover; $18.99.

[iansteenreads]

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

“This is what I want: I want to grab my brother’s hand and run back through time, losing years like coats falling from our shoulders.”

Noah and his twin sister, Jude, have always been incredibly close. When they were 13, Noah was a bit isolated, drawing constantly, and trying to make sense of his feelings for the boy next door. Jude, on the other hand, wore red-red lipstick and enjoyed jumping off of cliffs. She usually did the talking for the two of them.

Jude, and her twin brother, Noah, are now 16 and barley speaking. Something has happened that has changed both of them in different yet equally devastating ways. Things begin to change when two new people enter into Jude’s life: a charmingly complicated guy and a unpredictably mysterious mentor.

Chapters alternate between Noah telling the story of their early years and Jude telling their present day story. What we as readers quickly discover is that each of them only has half of the story that shaped them and pushed them apart. Now they must find a way to combine their halves so that they can reunite and remake their world.

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“A story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal told from different points in time, and in separate voices, by artist, Jude, and her twin brother, Noah.”

Nelson, J. (2014). I’ll give you the sun. New York, NY: Dial Books. ISBN: 9780803734968; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

“Straight people have it so much easier. They don’t understand. They can’t. There’s no such thing as openly straight.”

Rafe is a high school junior from Boulder, Colorado who has been out and proud since eighth grade. Unlike so many other gay youth, he’s never been bullied nor has he been made fun of because of his sexuality. Rafe knows how fortunate he is to live in a welcoming community and to have such an incredibly supportive family, but he’s starting to feel like the fact that he’s gay is the only thing that people really notice about him. This leaves him wishing that he could start over...

...so he decides to move across the country and attend an all-boys boarding school in Massachusetts and, most importantly, keep his sexuality a secret. Given his love of writing, Rafe is encouraged to keep a journal about his experience by one of his teachers who knows his secret. Given his love of soccer, Rafe immediately finds himself in an athletic clique and loves how his classmates think of him as jock.

Everything starts to get a bit complicated with Rafe’s experiment when he falls for one of his teammates. His teammate, Ben, is rather dreamy in how smart, articulate, and sensitive he is, but he’s straight. Or is he? The unique friendship that develops between them transcends labels, but is it all meaningless if Rafe can’t tell Ben the truth?

This book is refreshing in its approach and in how it encourages you to think about your own identity. Anyone that has ever struggled with labels, be they related to their sexuality or not, will identify with this incredible novel.

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“Tired of being known as "the gay kid", Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he comes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school—but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences.”

Konigsberg, B. (2013). Openly straight. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books. ISBN: 9780545509893; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

Victor Benucci and Madeline Falco, two very different New Jerseyan teens, have a story to tell and the Hackensack Police would really like to hear it. After all, Vic and Mad are currently being held in two separate interrogation rooms at the police station.

Their story begins with the death of Vic's father and ends with the murder of Mad's uncle. What happens in the chapters in between?

For starters:

1. Vic, who loves lists, runs away from home 2. Vic meets Mad and the other three Kids of Appetite (they live in an abandoned greenhouse; they spend hours thinking and eating and dreaming and talking... and eating) 3. Vic is in need of closure, so the Kids of Appetite help (the plan is to help him scatter his dad's ashes in specific locations based on a coded list of places) 4. Vic falls in love (hard and really frakking fast, as they say)

Moving back and forth between flashbacks and the present, with pieces of the story told in lists and letters, you too will want to be one of the Kids of Appetite as they love, grieve, and ultimately celebrate their diverse and beautiful lives.

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“Interrogated in separate rooms at a New Jersey police department, a young man with a neurological disorder characterized by facial paralysis and a beautiful punk girl explain how they found themselves wrapped up in a murder.”

Arnold, D. (2016). Kids of appetite. New York, NY: Viking Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780451470782; Hardcover; $18.99.

[iansteenreads]

Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Barzak

In a small town in Ohio lives high schooler Aiden Lockwood, an outcast who feels like he’s moving through life in a haze. Each day is no more eventful than the last until Jarrod, Aiden’s former best friend, moves back to town. Jarrod’s arrival causes Aidan’s life to take an unforgettable turn by surfacing an entirely hidden story from his past.

With the introduction of this story, Aidan soon realizes that he doesn’t remember large parts of his history. He and Jarrod slowly uncover his past, growing closer together as they do, only to realize that his story is much more complicated than they originally thought. They discover that his story transcends generations, time, and even worlds. Aidan’s story reveals that his family is under attack from a generations old curse and that he alone is the only one who can break it.

A coming of age story featuring magical realism, family history, adventure, and a dose of nuanced romance mixed in for good measure, this book is sure to stick with you long after you experience the wonders of Aidan’s invisible world.

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“Reuniting with longtime friend Jarrod, who has returned to their sleepy Ohio farming community, 17-year-old Aidan begins communicating with the spirit world before realizing that he has inherited a family curse and that he is falling for Jarrod, a friend he hasn't seen in five years.”

Barzak, C. (2015). Wonders of the invisible world. New York, NY: Knopf Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780385392792; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

Since she was little, Rose and her parents have spent their summers at Awago Beach. She's always had fond memories of the place—its fresh air, its sandy beaches, its predictability—but this year just feels... different.

See, Rose is on the verge of adolescence. As she becomes increasingly interested in the lives of the older teenage townies for the very first time, the summer friendship she's always shared with Windy begins to strain. As she starts crushin' on Duncan, a teen who sells them Twizzlers and rents them R-rated horror films at the town's convenience store, she has to be careful not to get caught up in the drama that surrounds him. As she's navigating all of this newness, her parents, two people she's always looked up to and relied on, are fighting after a deeply personal loss. See, Rose is going through a lot.

Since she was little, Rose and her parents have spent their summers at Awago Beach. The memories she makes This One Summer are all about fresh air, sandy beaches, and the unpredictability of growing up.

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“Rose's latest summer at a beach lake house is overshadowed by her parents' constant arguments, her younger friend's secret sorrows, and the dangerous activities of older teens.”

Tamaki, J., & Tamaki, M. (2014). This one summer. New York, NY: First Second. ISBN: 9781596437746; Paperback; $18.99.

[iansteenreads]

None of the Above I. W. Gregorio

Kristin Lattimer is the captain of her high school track team where she’s a hurdler and a damn good one at that. With a full college scholarship in her pocket, a homecoming queen crown on her head, and a boyfriend whom she loves deeply by her side, she feels like her life is really coming together.

When Kristin and her boyfriend make the decision to have sex for the first time, the perfect moment she was expecting turns out to be anything but. The romance was there but the experience was physically painful. After a trip to an OB-GYN, Kristin discovers that she is intersex which means that while she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes and boy “parts.” If her making sense of this new reality wasn’t enough, Kristin’s diagnosis is leaked to the whole school. The life she once thought was coming together is now quickly coming apart.

Written sensitively and honestly, this realistic fiction novel tells the story of a teen struggling to determine whether they identify as Male, Female, or None of the Above.

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“Kristen discovers that she is intersex and possesses male chromosomes, a diagnosis that is leaked to the whole school, throwing Kristin's entire identity into question.”

Gregorio, I. W. (2015). None of the above. New York, NY: Balzer + Bray. ISBN: 9780062335319; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

After he's handcuffed and thrown into the back of a cop car, Justyce McAllister, a Yale-bound student at a nearby prep school, tries to find meaning in what happened by writing a series of letters to his "homie" Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The more he writes, the deeper into Dr. King's teaching he goes, and the more he questions how they hold up in today's world. It isn't long before he begins to examine his early years, the rough neighborhood where he grew up, and how those from his past still ridicule him and the new direction he's chosen for himself. This new direction, while different, has its own set of unique challenges as he's in a predominately white environment where he's often told by his classmates that he's "too sensitive" about issues involving race.

"Every time I turn on the news and see another black person gunned down, I'm reminded that people look at me and see a threat instead of a human being," Jus writes in one of his "Dear Martin" letters. This becomes all too real when he and his best friend are sitting at a traffic light next to an off-duty cop with their windows down and their music way, way up. Words are exchanged, shots are fired, and lives are changed forever.

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“Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face the reality of race relations today and how they are shaping him.”

Stone, N. (2017). Dear martin. New York, NY: Crown Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9781101939499; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

Hero by Perry Moore

Thom Creed, a teen living in a world where masked heroes and villains with extraordinary powers are common, is hiding three major secrets that embody everything his father, famous superhero Hal Creed, hates. First, he has superpowers that, when he’s unable to control them, triggers seizures. Second, he has been asked to tryout for the League, the same superhero organization that disowned his father after a catastrophic event. Third, he’s gay and struggling to make sense of his developing sexuality.

Ultimately, Thom passes the League’s tryout process and becomes one of their superheroes in training. Working alongside him is his new ragtag team of fellow trainees. There’s Scarlett, who can effortlessly control fire but not her temper, Typhoid Larry, who can make someone sick simply by touching them, and Ruth, who is a wise old woman that can see the future. They each have their own secrets, but they must find a way to trust one another after they unintentionally uncover a deadly conspiracy within the League.

Thom will face challenges he never could have imagined. In the end, in order to survive, he’ll be forced to realize that being a hero isn’t about capes and leather boots... it’s about being honest and true to who you are.

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“Thom Creed, the gay son of a disowned superhero, finds that he, too, has special powers and is asked to join the very League that rejected his father, and it is there that Thom finds other misfits whom he can finally trust.”

Moore, P. (2009). Hero. New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion. ISBN: 9781423101963; Paperback; $9.99.

[iansteenreads]

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

Vivian Carter is sick and tired of the sexist shit that's happening at her small-town high school in rural Texas. Inspired by her mom's collection of 90's Riot Grrrl zines, she decides to anonymously create and distribute her own zine, aptly titled Moxie, to try and combat the school's patriarchal structure while standing up for girls targeted by vague dress codes, degrading t-shirts, and blatant acts of sexual harassment happening openly in hallways.

The idea behind the zine quickly takes on a life of its own as Moxie's impact immediately beings reverberating through the school. "Moxie doesn't belong to me anymore," Viv says shortly after releasing Issue #2 and discovering a Moxie-inspired event has been planned by someone. "It belongs to every girl at East Rockport High who wants to be a part of it." As more girls become a part of it and a real revolution begins to take shape, students, teachers, and administrators soon realize just how true the slogan on the cover of each issue of Moxie is: "Moxie Girls Fight Back!"

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“In a small Texas town where high school football reigns supreme, Viv, sixteen, starts a feminist revolution using anonymously-written zines.”

Mathieu, J. (2017). Moxie. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press. ISBN: 9781626726352; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Solomon hasn’t left his house in exactly 3 years, 2 months, and 1 day. Since he’s agoraphobic and has regular panic attacks, this is the way he likes it.

Lisa is ambitious and desperate to get into a highly-ranked college psychology program. When she finds out about Sol, she sets out on a mission to become his friend, “fix him,” and then write about the whole experience in her college admission essay.

It doesn’t take long for Lisa to force herself into Sol’s life, bringing her boyfriend, Clark, along for the ride. The three of them begin to develop a meaningful friendship with Clark getting closer to Sol and Lisa earning Sol’s trust by revealing some of her own secrets. Their friendship is tested when Lisa’s true intentions are revealed, forcing the three of them to examine their lives, their decisions, and their behaviors as highly illogical as they may sometimes be.

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“Agoraphobic sixteen-year-old Solomon has not left his house in three years, but Lisa is determined to change that—and to write a scholarship-winning essay based on the results.”

Whaley, J. C. (2016). Highly illogical behavior. New York, NY: Dial Books. ISBN: 9780525428183; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

"Would you burn for me?," Jack, a clean-cut, popular varsity rugger, asks his best friend, August, a cigarette smoking outsider with a bit of a pyro streak. Jack isn't asking figuratively, he's asking August if he would literally burn for him.

See, Jack has started to experience vivid, visual hallucinations that have taken the form of an elaborate fantasy kingdom that's slowly edging its way into his real life. Since their parents are unreliable, their teachers are oblivious, and their friends may have ulterior motives, August decides to help Jack in the same way he always has—on his own. They both quickly begin slipping further and further into the darkness of Jack's fantasy world as August begins accepting Jack's visions as reality. This acceptance ultimately leads them on a quest toward fulfilling a dark prophecy within Jack's magically realistic world and an act of arson in August's emotionally charged real world.

""Would you burn for me?" [...] "You already know I'll do it," August said. You already know. You fucking know."

The Wicker King is briefly discussed at 6:27 in the video above.

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“When his best friend Jack suffers from vivid hallucinations, August accepts the visions as real and follows Jack on a quest to fulfill a dark prophecy.”

Ancrum, K. (2017). The wicker king. New York, NY: Imprint. ISBN: 9781250101549; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Have you ever gotten home, sat your cellphone down somewhere, and went back later to pick it up only to find that it wasn't where you thought you left it? Is your brain playing tricks on you or do you actually have an uninvited guest in your midst that's screwing with you? If you're a student at Osborne High School and this happens to you, There's Someone Inside Your House and they're about to kill you.

When high school students in a small Nebraskan town start dying in a series of gruesome murders, each more grotesque than the last, everyone rushes to judgement to try and figure out who the murderer is and if there are any connections between the victims. Is it our main character, Makani Young, a girl haunted by the life she left behind in Hawaii? Maybe it's her crush, pink-haired outsider Ollie Larsson, who's always been a bit of a town loner? Perhaps it's someone else than no one would have suspected or someone that everyone always suspected was evil?

Who the hell was the Someone that made their way inside of so many houses to carry out such bloody, heinous crimes and why?

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“One year after moving to Nebraska to live with her grandmother, Makani Young is forced to confront dark secrets about her past in Hawaii when a serial killer begins to target her fellow high school students.”

Perkins, S. (2017). There's someone inside your house. New York, NY: Dutton Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780525426011; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

Those seven words made up the last text message Carver Briggs would ever get to send to his best friend Mars. Seconds after Mars got that text, the car he was driving with their two other best friends, Eli and Blake, would be involved in an accident that would immediately kill all three of them.

In the aftermath of the fatal car crash, Carver can't stop blaming himself for the deaths of his three best friends. Between debilitating panic attacks and the threat of a possible criminal investigation, Carver finds an unlikely ally in Blake's grandmother who asks him to spend a goodbye day with her. This goodbye day is meant as a way to share their memories of Blake and say a proper farewell. As other families begin asking for these goodbye days as well, Carver questions their motives and worries that they'll lead him straight into a complete mental breakdown if he doesn't end up in prison first.

This book is filled with so much heart that it's impossible to read Carver's story without wondering how you would spend one last day with someone you've lost. What would that Goodbye Day look like for you?

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“When his three best friends die in a car crash after the driver was texting at the wheel, Carver becomes subject to a criminal investigation and receives support from a few loving people while trying to come to terms with his guilt.”

Zentner, J. (2017). Goodbye days. New York, NY: Crown Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780553524062; Hardcover; $17.99.

[iansteenreads]

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Imagine you're 16 years old, not-so-openly gay, and carrying on a conversation with you first real crush through email. Now imagine those emails falling into the wrong hands and being used to blackmail you. What's at stake? Just your secret and the identity of your crush being exposed to your entire high school! Welcome to Simon Spier's junior year.

While he continues to fall hard and fast for "Blue" despite having never knowingly met him, Simon has to try and find a way to step outside of the box he's put himself in before he gets dragged out of it. Will he find a way to step out without alienating his friends, giving into his blackmailer's demands, disappointing himself, and/or ruining any shot he has at happiness with the greatest guy he's ever known?

Grab some Oreos and this award winning book (which just so happens to have been turned into a film that's set to be released in early 2018) to see how Simon's epic story plays out as he singlehandedly takes on the homo sapiens agenda.

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“When an email falls into the wrong hands, sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly gay Simon is blackmailed into playing wingman for a classmate or risk having his sexual identity revealed and the privacy of the boy he's been emailing compromised.”

Albertalli, B. (2015). Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda. New York, NY: Balzer + Bray. ISBN: 9780062348678; Hardcover; $17.99.