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Recommended for Teens

Instructions for Dancing

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Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Teens

This was a cute, quick, and bittersweet read. Evie loved reading romance books, but that’s all in the past now that her parents are divorced. She no longer believes in love. One day she gets the ability to see people’s love stories once she sees them kiss and how all relationships all eventually end. In her quest to find answers she ends up at a dance studio and partnering with a boy named X.

Evie is more cautious, while X is much more free-spirited. They had lots of cute moments together as they got to know each other from dance practice and hanging out. I loved their opposite personalities and how they worked so well together.

The ending caught me off guard the most, but I’m not mad at it. Just bittersweet. Check out Instructions for Dancing in our catalog.

Snotgirl

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Snotgirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Format: Graphic Novel & eBook on Hoopla
Who’s it for?: Adults and Young Adults

Lottie Person is a self-infatuated, attention-seeking, LA fashion blogger and social media influencer. On the surface, she’s perfect. She’s glamorous. She’s the woman all her fans aspire to be, but on the inside…she’s kind of a mess. She’s actually super insecure and her so-called friends rival her vanity. She’s called “Snotgirl” not because of her outrageous hair, but because of her raging allergies. #rude. When Lottie meets Caroline, she’s super happy to try out her new, in-clinical-trials allergy medication. I mean, she doesn’t want to be known as “Snottie Lottie” by the coolest girl she’s ever met. I mean, Caroline could be her first IRL bestie in, like, forever. But when a night out turns odd, Lottie witnesses something strange…or maybe she imagined it? Are her new allergy meds playing with her head? #cliffhanger

The art is gorgeous! The fluorescent color scheme and dry humor teeter-totter with the dark moods and sinister themes. With characters you love to hate and a plot with more twists than the Pacific Coastal Highway, I highly recommend Snotigirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley. There are currently three volumes to the series with hopefully more to come. #fingerscrossed

Find Snotgirl in the library’s Catalog or for instant download on Hoopla Digital.

 

A Season on the Wind

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Title: A Season on the Wind by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Format: Book
Who’s It For: Teens and Adults

Penny Weaver remembered Ben Zook from her childhood. She met him in the meadow near his family’s farm. She taught him about birding while visiting her grandmother. Together, they traversed the countryside and spotted an eagle’s nest.  They became friends.  However, decades later, Ben did not remember Penny.

Ben Zook left Stoney Ridge and his Amish faith long ago. He had become a world-renown photographer. One day, Ben returned with his cousin Natalie to rent Penny’s guest house. And they hired Penny’s brother Micah for his keen birding skills. Micah had spotted the elusive White-winged Tern.  Ben wanted Micah to help him to spot it to photograph it. It was actually Micah’s pesky neighbor Trudy Yoder who’d seen the bird.  Could Micah find it?

Penny provided a meal daily for Ben’s father, Zeke Zook.  The poor man suffered from Alzheimer’s and, she suspected, loneliness.  He was gruff to most people, yet he trusted Penny.  Why hadn’t Ben returned home when his mother passed?  Were there unresolved issues between Ben and his father?

An Amish widower named Roy King brought flowers for Penny.  Roy liked Penny, and yet Penny couldn’t get Ben out of her heart and mind.  Micah liked Shelley, Trudy Yoder’s beautiful older sister.  And Trudy liked Micah.  What a pickle!

Penny loved birds and privately kept a collection of drawings of them in her home.  In her last church, she had been told that drawing was prideful. Penny didn’t want to draw attention to herself.  She simply loved birds.  So, when she moved to Stoney Ridge and a new church, she didn’t show her drawings to anyone.  Yet Natalie snooped and found some.  She loved them!  As an interior decorator, she knew she could sell them for Penny.  What if she just took one to look into it for Penny?

A Season on the Wind is a touching tale of wounded hearts, flawed individuals, and restoration.  I enjoyed the context of birding and Micah’s humorous birding notes.  Penny was clearly the heroine, yet the surrounding cast was personable and realistic, with their own issues to overcome too.  If you enjoy an inspirational story of love and faith and character, I recommend this book to you.  

And you can find A Season on the Wind in our catalog.

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Dragonslayer

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The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Young Adults, Adults

Jennifer Strange is acting manager of Kazam, an employment agency for sorcerers. Nearly 16 and a foundling, Jennifer spends her days arranging pizza delivery via magic carpet, overseeing rewiring of homes without ripping out walls, and completing the required paperwork for every bit of magic the sorcerers perform, intentional or not. Her Quarkbeast, a terrifying, yet relatively placid beast, tags along for these adventures. Magic has been fading for years, but recently, some of the sorcerers have noticed a surge in their power. And pre-cogs (wizards who see versions of the future) begin to have visions of the death of the last dragon at the hands of the Dragonslayer. But who is the Dragonslayer and why does the dragon have to die?

The Last Dragonslayer is the first of a four-part series, with the final installment set for release in the US in May of 2022. For fans of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men, and Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series.

Find The Last Dragonslayer in the catalog.

As Good As Dead

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As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson
Format: Audiobook
Who it’s for: Teens

The finale in the “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” series was nothing short of amazing. The third and final book takes on a much darker tone than the first two books of the series, it is definitely for more mature readers of Young Adult books. The story follows Pip, our main character months after the events of the previous book Good Girl, Bad Blood, and let’s be honest, Pip is not okay. She feels as though something, or someone is watching her and this puts her on edge. However, solving problems is her thing, whether it is for her small town or for herself, Pip will figure it out. The twists and turns of this finale makes it the favorite of my series. I cannot wait to see what Holly Jackson comes up with next.

Find As Good as Dead in our catalog.

Kaleidoscope

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Kaleidoscope by Brian Selznick
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids, Teens

“We stood side by side, holding hands. I thought about an hourglass, where the sand is pouring down from above until the top half is empty. My head felt like the top half of the hourglass, and I could feel everything pouring out – my thoughts, my memories, my past, all the books of I’d read, all the diagrams of telephones I’d memorized, my family, my dreams, my fears. I was dissolving and becoming something new.”

This collection of short stories is a magical and mysterious exploration of loss, loneliness, and longing. Each story is linked by reoccurring themes and motifs, but most notably by the connection between the narrator and his friend, James. With settings that shift over time, space, memory, and dreams, these vignettes interspersed with Selznick’s illustrations form a tapestry examining love, friendship, and the grief that follows loss.

While Kaleidoscope is suggested for young readers ages 9-12, the overarching themes and speculative writing style will also appeal to teens and adults.

Find Kaleidoscope in the catalog here!