Young Adult

Fractionally Persian, Darius has his spirit crushed on a daily basis by the Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy at Chapel Hill High School. When he’s dragged to Iran to be with his sick grandfather, he expects to be a misfit in a whole other culture. And he is—but at the same time he isn’t. Darius is so painfully lovable that I couldn’t wait for the other characters in this story to discover his lovableness too. When a genuine breakthrough comes, it is undeniably earned, and it gave me an afterglow of warmth for all humans. Ages 13 and up. - Tera

The rough and tumble lives of the five Dunbar brothers include a house without a father or mother, a pet mule named Achilles, and daily tests of brute strength and will that end in bloody feet and black eyes. Still, the love between brothers is something no one can come between—until a figure from their past returns to break one brother apart from the rest. Markus Zusak, acclaimed author of The Book Thief, spins a heartbreaking tale of boys and men, mothers and fathers, pain and the space for forgiveness. Ages 14 and up. - Tera

This graphic novel biography of photographer Graciela Iturbide is so mesmerizing and rich that it is an artwork in itself, and you don’t need to know anything about her to be enthralled. Already the winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book award, Photographic shows us how Iturbide captured the soul of people and objects and revolutionary Mexico with her lens. It is a fascinating peak into the passionate life of an artist, guaranteed to light a spark in every creative mind. Grades 7 and up. - Tera

Adeyemi has created a gorgeously rendered world inspired by West African culture and mythology, full of ancient magic, love and heartbreak, betrayal and redemption. Her characters are superbly drawn and very human: brave, charismatic, at times afraid and unsure, but always willing to rise to the challenges Adeyemi throws their way. - Stuart

Atkins chose to write this searing biographical novel as a window into the difficult life of neoclassicist sculptor Edmonia Lewis. A woman of African-Haitian and Ojibwe descent, she attended Oberlin College in 1862, was expelled on trumped-up charges and, while working as a housekeeper in Boston, apprenticed to a sculptor. She studied in Italy and tenaciously worked toward artistic perfection in stone. Ages 13 and up. - Ga

Sasha loves Russia, languages that don’t contain binary genders, and the way their skirt feels against their legs. Richard just got back from a juvenile residential program in Redding. He says he never got a childhood, so he’s always making jokes, pulling pranks. His friends and mentors think he might be the one to get out of their rough neighborhood in Oakland. Between their lives runs the 57 bus and a brief encounter that will make their actions erupt onto the world’s screen. The 57 Bus reads like a gorgeous young adult novel—one of the best books I’ve read this year—but it’s based on a true story, heartbreaking, eye opening and, surprisingly, filled with hope. Ages 12 and up. - Tera

Oh, this book. Where should I start? Maybe with the characters—complex and mysterious, frightened and flawed, brave and miraculous. Maybe with the music—a celebration of pirate radio and 1960s songs. Maybe with the light—bright miracles that make you reconsider what you most fear; or with the dark—dangerous miracles that question what you most need. Maybe with the miracles themselves, torn from heart and soul, urging you to embrace the darkness we each hold inside. Certainly with the glorious writing that marks any Maggie Stiefvater novel, and this is the most Stiefvater of them all, with every word steeped in such magic it leaks from the page. Ages 13 and up. - Flannery

Everyone knows who Vincent Van Gogh is. But do they? Or do you have to know his brother Theo to know Vincent? With delicate strokes, National Book Award winner Heiligman paints the picture of the closeness of two brothers and the making of an artist. An evocative story for art lovers and readers of finely tuned biographies. Ages 13 and up. - Tera

During winter break her college freshman year, alone in upstate New York (instead of home in San Francisco), our hero muses and slowly, gently reveals her past. Here is an exploration of grief, betrayal and, most importantly, reconciliation. Exquisitely written and, for me, one of the year’s most deeply affecting YA novels. Grades 8 and up. - Ga

Funny and raunchy and hip-hop and tragic—can you say a Greek myth is timely? My gods, is it! This retelling of the minotaur story has the sea god Poseidon as our derisive, manipulative, gleeful narrator. But our sympathies lie with the physically deformed Asterion (our bull-headed boy) whose sensitivity, intelligence, and hope are over years eroded until, trapped in a maze, isolated, he falls into despair and violence. Expertly written, cleverly paced, and so effective. Ages 14 and up. - Ga