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Young Adult

Ouran High School Host Club

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Series Title: Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori
First Book: Ouran High School Host Club Volume 1
Who it’s for: Teens

A romantic comedy manga that had me adoring the characters and wanting to join in on their daily shenanigans. The series follows Haruhi, she’s a scholarship student at a school for rich kids. When she’s trying to find a quiet place to study, she stumbles into a music room that ends up being used by the school’s host club. In her attempt to leave she ends up breaking an expensive vase and is now indebted to the host club to pay it back by being a host. Haruhi is a very logical and no nonsense person among people that don’t tend to make much sense, especially Tamaki—the host club’s king. Haruhi soons learns that even rich kids have their issues and warms up to them and the club members begin to understand Haruhi more too. I love all of the characters in Ouran High School Host Club with my favorite being Tamaki—he’s always so over the top.

Find Ouran High School Host Club in the catalog!

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.

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!

A Head Full of Ghosts

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A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Format:  Book
Who it’s For: Teens and adults

The lives of the Barretts, an ordinary family, are torn apart when their fourteen-year-old Marjorie shows signs of acute schizophrenia. To her parents’ misery, the doctors cannot stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. Their stable home soon devolves into a house of horrors. The family grudgingly turns to a Catholic priest for assistance. Father Wanderly recommends an exorcism; he believes the helpless Marjorie is the target of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is keen to document the Barretts’ troubles. With financial troubles approaching, the family agrees to be filmed, and thus become stars of The Possession, a successful reality television show.  

Fifteen years later, Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry, agrees to be interviewed. As she reminiscences about the events that occurred when she was just eight years old, secrets and painful memories emerge that contradict what they portrayed on the reality show. This book keeps you guessing throughout, making you question what really happened. 

Find A Head Full of Ghosts in the Catalog!

 

A Song of Wraiths and Ruins

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Series Title: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
First Book: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
Who it’s for: Teens

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin is an enemies to lovers fantasy romance that is inspired by West African folklore. While I’m not much for enemies to lovers, I did enjoy reading the first book in this duology. We have Malik, our first main character that has anxiety—yes to mental health representation— and he’s traveling with his sisters to a new city so they can make some money and send it back home. Malik has a kind heart and that ends up being used against him. He ends up having to kill the princess in order to save his youngest sister, Nadia.

Then there’s Karina, she’s a strong and resilient princess that has just lost her Mom. Karina knows that she is not fit yet to rule the kingdom by herself yet so she sets out on a mission to bring her mother back to life, but in order to do that she needs a King’s heart. That’s where the Solstasia competition comes into play, as a prize, she will marry the winner of the competition.

I was definitely invested in this story wondering how these two were going to develop a relationship and can’t wait to read the second book.

Check out A Song of Wraiths and Ruin in our catalog.

The House of the Scorpion

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The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Format:  Book
Who it’s For:  Teens and Adults

Matteo Alacrán wasn’t born; he was harvested.  His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a state called Opium—poppy fields lay between the United States and land that what was once named Mexico.  Matt’s cells were divided inside a petri dish, and he was then placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued to develop from embryo to fetus to baby.  He is a boy at the present, but most see him as a monster—except for El Patrón.  El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself because Matt is himself.

As Matt fights to understand his existence, he is threatened by a menacing cast of characters, including El Patrón’s tyrannical family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards.  Escape Matt’s only chance for survival.  But escape from the Alacrán Estate is no promise of independence because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he does not recognize.

Find The House of the Scorpion in the catalog!