2023 - 2024
Book of the Week
Ay, Mija! : my bilingual summer in Mexico by CHRISTINE SUGGS
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Sixteen-year-old Christine takes their first solo trip to Mexico to spend a few weeks with their grandparents and tía. At first, Christine struggles to connect with family they don’t yet share a language with. Seeing the places their mom grew up—the school she went to, the café where she had her first date with their father—Christine becomes more and more aware of the generational differences in their family.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection and on ebook.
THEIR VICIOUS GAMES by JOELLE WELLINGTON
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
A Black teen desperate to regain her Ivy League acceptance enters an elite competition only to discover the stakes aren’t just high, they’re deadly, in this searing thriller that’s Ace of Spades meets Squid Game with a sprinkling of The Bachelor.
GOOD TO KNOW
it's loney at the center of the earth by zoe thorogood
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Cartoonist Zoe Thorogood records 6 months of her own life as it falls apart in a desperate attempt to put it back together again in the only way she knows how.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
IMOGEN, OBVIOUSLY BY BECKY ALBERTALLI
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Imogen may be hopelessly heterosexual, but she’s got the World’s Greatest Ally title locked down. And when she visits her best friend, Lili, at college who is newly-out, newly-graduated, and newly thriving, with a cool new squad of queer college friends, no one knows that Imogen’s a raging hetero – not even Lili’s best friend, Tessa. The more time Imogen spends with chaotic, freckle-faced Tessa, the more she starts to wonder if her truth was ever all that straight to begin with.
GOOD TO KNOW
MY FATHER, THE PANDA KILLER BY JAMIE JO HOANG
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
A poignant coming-of-age story told in two alternating voices: a California teenager railing against the Vietnamese culture, juxtaposed with her father as an eleven-year-old boat person on a harrowing and traumatic refugee journey from Vietnam to the United States.
GOOD TO KNOW
the 21 BY eLIZABETH RUSCH
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Compelling and timely, award-winning author Elizabeth Rusch’s The Twenty-One tells the gripping inside story of the ongoing landmark federal climate change lawsuit, Juliana vs. United States of America.
GOOD TO KNOW
TIME IS A MOTHER BY OCEAN VUONG
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Vuong contends with the meaning of family and the cost of being the product of an American war in America. At once vivid, brave, and propulsive, these poems circle fragmented lives to find both restoration as well as the epicenter of the break.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
I MISS YOU, I HATE THIS BY SARA SAEDI
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Best friends Parisa Naficy and Gabriela Gonzales grapple with the complexities of their relationship even while they spend their senior year apart due to a pandemic that disproportionately affects young people.
GOOD TO KNOW
THE NEXT NEW SYRIAN GIRL BY REAM SHUKAIRY
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
When their worlds collide, Khadija Shami, a sheltered Syrian American high school senior with a monstrous ego, and Leene Tahir, a Syrian refugee doing her best to survive school and family pressures while battling panic attacks, become the unlikeliest of friends.
GOOD TO KNOW
AS YOU WALK ON BY BY JULIAN WINTERS
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Seventeen-year-old Theo Wright has it all figured out. His plan (well, more like his dad's plan) is a foolproof strategy that involves excelling at his magnet school, getting scouted by college recruiters, and going to Duke on athletic scholarship. But for now, all Theo wants is a perfect prom night. A YA-rom com that feels like The Breakfast Club meets Can't Hardly Wait!
GOOD TO KNOW
SHUT UP, THIS IS SERIOUS BY CAROLINA IXTA
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
An unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with messy complexities. A fierce, intimate examination of friendship, chosen family, and the generational cycles we must break to become our truest selves.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection and available on audio.
IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC by EKOW ESHUN
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
This book is an expansion on a 2022 exhibition called In the Black Fantastic from London Hayward Gallery.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
muted by tami charles
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Denver is seventeen when she and her friends get the chance to meet Sean “Mercury” Ellis, the biggest R&B star in the world. Merc gives them the opportunity to break big, but as Denver and her friends fall deeper into Merc’s world, they realize they may not be able to get out.
GOOD TO KNOW
MAYBE AN ARTIST by LIZ MONTAGUE
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Liz Montague’s graphic memoir about becoming an artist, starting with growing up post 9/11 all the way to becoming a cartoonist for the New York Times.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection, as well as in ebook.
punching the air by ibi zaboi + yusef salaam
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Young artist and poet Amal Shahid is accused of a crime he didn’t commit and found guilty, he finds himself in prison using his art to tell his truth.
GOOD TO KNOW
WOLFSONG by T.J. KLUNE
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
This book follows Oxnard Matheson as he grows up next to the Bennetts, a family of werewolves. Over a number of years, and through one murder, Ox and Joe Bennett grow closer and heal together.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
family style by thieN pham
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Told through the lens of meaningful food and meals, this graphic memoir chronicles the author's [life], beginning with his childhood immigration to America, where food takes on new meaning as he and his family search for belonging, for happiness and for the American dream.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection and on ebook.
blood snow by dg okpik
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
dg okpik’s second collection of poems, Blood Snow, tells a continuum story of a homeland under erasure, in an ethos of erosion, in a multitude of encroaching methane, ice floe, and rising temperatures. Here, in a true Inupiaq voice, okpik’s relationship to language is an access point for understanding larger kinships between animals, peoples, traditions, histories, ancestries, and identities.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
The art thief by michael finkel
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
The true story of art thief Stéphane Breitwiser and his girlfriend, and how they managed to seize over 200 works of art--estimated to be worth $2 billion total. In an unusual twist, Breitwieser never stole for money; instead he set up secret rooms where he could display the works of art where he could admire them. His talent in thievery caused him to develop a lack of regard for consequences and risks, and ignored his loved ones' pleas for him to end his time as a thief.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
THIS WINTER: A HEART STOPPER NOVELLA BY ALICE OSEMAN
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Tori Spring and her brother, Charlie, face some difficulties during the holiday season.
GOOD TO KNOW
HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART BY JAKE MAIA ARLOW
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Snowy weather and fish fossils help bring together two Jewish college freshmen spending winter break in Washington, D.C.
GOOD TO KNOW
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis baldree
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned. Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk--so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it. What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do? Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
REZ BALL by BYRON GRAVES
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team--even though he can't help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship.
GOOD TO KNOW
BAD CREE: ÂCIMOWIN by JESSICA JOHNS
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
A young Cree woman is tormented by vivid dreams from before her sister's untimely death and wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands before returning to her rural hometown in Alberta seeking answers.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
WARRIOR GIRL UNEARTHED by ANGELINE BOULLEY
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
With the rising number of missing Indigenous women, her family's involvement in a murder investigation, and grave robbers profiting off her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry takes matters into her own hands to solve the mystery and reclaim her people's inheritance.
GOOD TO KNOW
MAN MADE MONSTERS by ANDREA L. ROGERS
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Haunting illustrations are woven throughout these horror stories that follow one extended Cherokee family across the centuries and well into the future as they encounter predators of all kinds in each time period.
GOOD TO KNOW
i FEED HER TO THE BEAST by JAMISON SHEA
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an axe to grind. Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, she will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood.
GOOD TO KNOW
MASTERS OF DEATH by OLIVIE BLAKE
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the mansion has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
This book is in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month 2023, celebrated annually September 15 - October 15.
BLACKWATER by JEANNETTE ARROYO
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Riverdale meets Stranger Things in this debut queer YA graphic novel, developed from a hit webcomic. Set in the haunted town of Blackwater, Maine, two boys fall for each other as they dig for clues to a paranormal mystery.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection, and on ebook.
This book is in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month 2023, celebrated annually September 15 - October 15.
THE WITCH OWL PARLIAMENT by DAVID BOWLES
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Resurrected by her brother using a forbidden combination of alchemy and engineering, apprentice curandera Cristina vows to protect the Republic of Santander against the lechuzas terrorizing immigrants and plaguing the country. A brilliant steampunk reimagining of Frankenstein set in colonial Mexico.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection, and on ebook.
This book is in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month 2023, celebrated annually September 15 - October 15.
lucha of the night forest by tehlor kay mejia
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
One girl caught between the freedom she always wanted and a sister she can't bear to leave behind. Under the cover of the Night Forest, will Lucha be able to step into her own power...or will she be consumed by it? This gorgeous and fast-paced fantasy novel is brimming with adventure, peril, romance, and family bonds--and asks what it means for a teen girl to become fully herself.
GOOD TO KNOW
This book is in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month 2023, celebrated annually September 15 - October 15.
BINDLE PUNK BRUJA by DESiDERIA MESA
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Hiding her supernatural and Latina identity in pursuit of owning an illegal jazz club, Rose negotiates with dangerous criminals as she climbs up Kansas City's bootlegging ladder, but when she finds herself surrounded by greed and bigotry, she must use her earth magic to save her friends and family.
GOOD TO KNOW
WHERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This book is available to check out from our physical collection.
This book is in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month 2023, celebrated annually September 15 - October 15.
the wicked bargain by gabe cole novoa
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Sixteen-year-old Mar, a transmasculine Latinx pirate hiding magical abilities, must learn to use their magic to save their papá and newfound pirate family from losing their souls to El Diablo.
GOOD TO KNOW
only this beautiful moment by abdi nazemian
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this sweeping intergenerational story, examining queer identity at the end of different decades, follows three boys in the same Iranian family as they each gain a new understanding of their history, culture--and themselves.
GOOD TO KNOW
ENTER THE BODY by JOY McCULLOUGH
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
In the room beneath a stage’s trapdoor, Shakespeare’s dead teenage girls compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives, their loves, and their fates in their own words. Bestselling author Joy McCullough offers a brilliant testament to how young women can support each other and reclaim their stories in the aftermath of trauma.
GOOD TO KNOW
