Young Adult (ages 14-18)

Material appropriate for young adults

Slog’s Dad

The ineffable nature of grieving and belief inspires a tender, gritty, and breathtaking work of graphic storytelling from the creators of The Savage. “Slogger, man,” I said. “Your dad’s dead.” “I know that, Davie. But it’s him. He’s come back again, like he said he would.” Do you believe in life after death? Slog does. He believes that the scruffy man on a bench outside the butcher shop is his dad, returned to visit him one last time. Slog’s friend Davie isn’t so sure. Can it be that some mysteries are never meant to be solved? And that belief, at times, is its own reward? The acclaimed creators of The Savage reunite for a feat of graphic storytelling that defies categorization. Eerie, poignant, and masterful, Slog’s Dad is a tale of astonishing power and complexity.

Closer

Closer to victory…or closer to death? An army of darkness is on the march: Who won’t escape with their life? The fourth book in the New York Times Bestselling TUNNELS series! At long last reunited with his dad, Will now spends his days exploring the “land of the second sun,” decoding the cryptic glyphs carved into its three mysterious temples–or eyeing the wild animals with renegade girl Elliott. Chester, meanwhile, has finally returned Topsoil, where his homecoming is rapidly becoming a horror show. But an army of darkness is on the march. And the ruthless Rebeccas have once more cheated death. With a corps of cold-blooded Limiters at their command, they’re determined to hunt Will to the bitter innards of the earth. This time, who WON’T escape with their life?

Consumed

The thrilling sequel to POSSESSED finds 16-year-old Rayne still entwined in the creepy history of Morton’s Keep — and about to discover that she’s the only one who can stop the evil lurking there. Rayne’s countryside escape has proven to be anything but — the remote mansion house where she lives and works holds terrible secrets, and she feels trapped there. And when a new manager shows up, things take an even more sinister turn. Rayne doesn’t know who to trust — even the ghosts of Morton’s Keep seem to be warning her. It’s up to Rayne to overcome the ancient evil lurking here — but how?

The Chaos

The curse of the NUM8ERS continues in Rachel Ward’s CHA0T1C, earth-shattering sequel! Adam has more than inherited his mother’s curse: When he looks in someone’s eyes, he not only sees the date of their death…he feels the searing, shocking pain of it. Since Jem died, Adam has lived by the sea with his great-grandmother, Val. But when rising tides flood the coast, they return to London. The city is an alien, exciting, frightening place. Most disturbing of all, Adam can’t help but clock how many people’s numbers are in January 2027; how many are on New Year’s Day. What chaos awaits the world? Can he and Sarah stop a catastrophe? Or are they, too, counted among the “twenty-sevens”?

Wonderland

She’s back. Jude’s childhood friend sexy, daring Stella returns to their stifling hometown, and life will never be the same again. Sixteen-year-old Jude has to get out of tiny Churchtown. She has to escape her outcast status and her pathetic dad, who hasn’t gotten past her mother’s death. The one bright light is drama, her way out, if only she can get into the Lab, a prestigious program in London. Then Stella, Jude’s childhood best friend, swaggers in after years away. With bold and magnetic Stella by her side, Jude knows she’s capable of anything. But Stella’s influence extends well beyond the theater. Soon Stella’s wild and dangerous streak begins to cause trouble for Jude yet Jude can’t bring herself to abandon Stella and the attention she’s always craved. And besides, now that Stella’s back, there’s no stopping her. In Jude’s dark and tangled story, British author Joanna Nadin plumbs the aftermath of loss and the consequences of becoming the person you always wished you were.

The Children of the Lost

Cast out of the city of Agora where they were left at the end of The Midnight Charter, Mark and Lily must now survive in a dense forest. The strange villages, terrifying nightmares, and powerful witches they find there are even more frightening than Agora with all its slums and secrets. In an adventure that expands with every turn of the page, David Whitley delivers a novel as thrilling and horrifying as his characters’ darkest dreams.

Human.4

Humanity, like computers, can be upgraded. And old versions disappear. At some unspecified point in the future, when technology is as advanced as possible and we are a race of super beings, some old audio tapes are discovered. On the tapes is the story of fourteen-year-old Kyle Straker. Hypnotized, Kyle missed the upgrade of humanity to 1.0. He isn’t compatible with the new technology. And through the recording, he narrates what the upgrades really mean. And it’s absolutely terrifying. Sci-fi futuristic and technological apocalypse in the style of War of the Worlds, I am Legend and The X-Files.

A Sword In Her Hand

A feast of a medieval adventure with a thoroughly modern heroine. As the murmur of prayers fills the icy room, mother and baby seem doomed. When the newborn finally struggles into the world, the Count of Flanders flees in a rage. The child is not the expected male heir — but a girl. Growing up under the disapproving eye of her heartless father, the strong-willed Marguerite instinctively learns to survive in the fierce and violent male world of the Middle Ages, with its pagan rituals and bloody fights to the death. When her father demands that she wed a man she detests, the young countess uses all her cunning to stop the marriage. The only thing she cannot conquer is the plague, which marches across the land killing thousands, including the man she loves. Based on a real character, this colorful story is told with sharp humor and is filled with dramatic intensity. The final scene in the book, in which Marguerite and her father engage in a savage sword fight, will remain engrained in readers’ memories.

Digging for Troy

It started as a legend told to each new generation about a war between the Greeks and the Trojans, with heroes battling over a beauty named Helen. While some question if this war and even the city of Troy itself existed, the tales have enticed people to look for clues in order to elicit fact from fiction and in some cases, to gain their own glory. Jill Rubalcaba and Eric H. Cline dig into many archeological expeditions at Hisarlik, the modern-day site believed to have been ancient Troy. The recount Heinrich Schliemann’s quest for renown, Wilhelm Drpfeld’s meticulous digs, Carl Blegen’s timeline of Troy’s layers from 2900 BCE to 550 CE, and Manfred Korfmann’s controversial picture of Troy as a political entity with Anatolian-not Aegean-ties.

A Good Long Way

“Stop it. The two of you, stop it!” Roelito howls at his father and older brother as their heated argument turns into a shoving match. Beto has again come home way past curfew, smelling like a cantina.When Beto Sr. tells his son that he either needs to follow the rules or leave, the boyza senior in high schoolzdecides to leave, right then, in the middle of the night. Once he has walked away, though, he realizes he has nowhere to go. Maybe his best friend Jessy can help.The story of Betozs decision to run away and drop out of school is told from shifting perspectives in which the conflicted lives of Roel, Beto, and Jessy are revealed in short scenes that reflect teen-age life along the Texas-Mexico border. Each one has a good long way to go in growing up. Roel fights the teachersz assumptions that hezs like Beto. Unlike his brother, Roel actually enjoys school. Jessy is smart too, but most of her teachers canzt see beyond her tough-girl façade. Her parents are so busy fighting with each other that they donzt notice her, even if shezs packing a suitcase to leave. And Beto z somewhere along the way he quit caring about school. And his teachers have noticed and given up too.René Saldana, Jr. once again writes a fast-paced, thought-provoking novel that will engage young adults in questions about their own lives and responsibilities to family, friends, and most of all, to themselves.