Foster Community Library

Tag: YA

  • “Piglettes” by Clémentine Beauvais

    Audrey recommends: Piglettes by Clémentine Beauvais

    Genre: Contemporary fiction

    Reading level: YA

    Summary: Three teenagers, brought together by an “ugliest girl in school” contest, make a plan to bike across the country and gate-crash the President of France’s garden party.

    Audrey says: The eponymous “three little piglettes,” Mireille, Astrid, and Hakima, are unexpectedly brought together by their classmate’s unofficial “ugliest girl in school” poll. The girls become fast friends, and quickly learn that they each have a reason to disrupt the Bastille Day garden party in Paris. They retrofit an old pickup into a bike-powered food truck and fund their trip by selling homemade sausages on the way. The character interactions are fantastic, the situations are hilarious, and the development that each girl goes through to reach Paris is full of heart. Mireille is the most sarcastic unreliable narrator of all time and it makes an already great story even better.

    This title is available at Foster Public Library.

  • “Bull” by David Elliott

    Audrey recommends: Bull by David Elliott

    Genre: Novel in verse

    Reading level: YA

    Summary: The Ancient Greek myth of Theseus, retold from the perspective of the Minotaur at the center of the labyrinth.

    Audrey says: David Elliott’s poetry sets a high bar for all other novels in verse. An ancient story finds a modern voice as he playfully mixes archaic vocabulary with modern colloquialisms. Elliott is inspired by established poetic forms, but plays with their execution. He further complicates the story by giving the “monster” a voice. This version of the story truly humanizes these abstract characters, which is ironic to say about a tale of gods and bull-men. Each is the hero in their own version of events.

    Greek myth retellings are everywhere now (think Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe, and Ariadne by Jennifer Saint) but none I’ve read have packed such an effective punch as this one.

  • “Amber and Clay” by Laura Amy Schlitz

    Audrey recommends: Amber and Clay by Laura Amy Schlitz

    Genre: Historical fiction novel in verse

    Reading level: YA

    Summary: In Ancient Greece, a stable-boy-turned-philosophy-student and a devotee to the wild goddess Artemis cross paths in the most unexpected way.

    Audrey says: “Hermes here. The Greek god — No. Don’t put down the book — I’m talking to you. If the lines look like poetry, relax. This book is shorter than it looks.”

    This book is truly a work of art. This hybrid novel combines poetry, prose, and artwork to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The book freely traverses between history and fantasy: we hear from real ancient philosopher Socrates, but also from the perspective of various gods of the Greek pantheon. The living world and the ghostly afterlife are treated with equal weight. Hermes quotes contemporary literary criticism. We read modern museum labels of historical artifacts, and then read Schlitz’s imagined provenance and what their significance might have been. This is genuinely the most unique book I’ve ever read.

    “This is their story. When it’s over, if you like, you can tell me what it means.”

  • “Divine Rivals” by Rebecca Ross

    Kylie recommends: Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

    Genre: Historical romantasy

    Reading level: YA

    Summary: This enchanting historical war-time romantasy story starts with “anonymous” epistolary letters between the main characters, paralleled with their rival positions at the local newspaper, before focusing more on the grittiness and realities of war.

    Kylie says: I loved the characters and their romance but found the plot to be a bit slow. The way Ross writes is encapsulating and feels like a breath of fresh air. The ending leaves you on a major cliffhanger, so get ready to pick up book #2 in this duology.

  • “Check & Mate” by Ali Hazelwood

    Kylie recommends: Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

    Genre: Contemporary romance

    Reading level: YA

    Summary: This is an effortless and delightful young adult read about an older sibling taking on a lot of financial struggles for her family by playing in a chess tournament.

    Kylie says: There is great banter and angst in this rivals-to-lovers story. If you like The Queen’s Gambit TV show and Ali Hazelwood’s writing, this one’s for you.

  • “Bellweather Rhapsody” by Kate Racculia

    Audrey recommends: Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia

    Genre: Mystery

    Reading level: YA to adult

    Summary: All the brightest music students in the state are snowed in at a (possibly) haunted hotel, where a mysterious wedding-night murder occurred 15 years ago.

    Audrey says: File this under “books I wish I could read again for the first time.” This novel pulls double duty as a whodunnit and a coming-of-age story. Each chapter flips between an equally captivating perspective, from the eccentric orchestra conductor to the wallflower bassoon prodigy to the elderly butler who was working the night of the murder. So many geniuses trapped under one haunted roof is a recipe for catastrophe, but the coming implosion is necessary for the teens to understand who they are and what they truly want out of life. I don’t know how Kate Racculia managed to write a dark mystery that’s also a feel-good novel about growing up, but I’m grateful she did.

  • “Divine Rivals” by Rebecca Ross

    Joanne recommends: Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

    Genre: Fantasy/historical fiction

    Reading level: Young adult

    Summary: The gods are at war, yet love is in the air.

    Joanne says: This book has it all! Great characters, great plot, enemies to lovers troupe, and my high school book club LOVED it too!

  • “A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins

    Kylie recommends: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

    Genre: Dystopian

    Reading Level: YA

    Summary: This is a prequel to The Hunger Games following President’s Snow origin story and the 10th Hunger Games.

    Kylie says: This was a really interesting read. It was quite long and I was not really sure were it was going even though you know that Snow ends up as President Snow. I liked to see Snow’s backstory and how the war lead to the creation of the Hunger Games.

    Snow throughout the book but especially at the end gave me psychopath, anti-hero, and vibes of Joe from You by Caroline Kepnes and June from Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. These stories are very deep to me and I like to see how their minds work even though they do terrible things, and you know as the reader that they are wrong but how they rationalize their perspective.

    The ending was so good, I could not stop reading for the last like 20% of the book!

    This title is available at Foster Public Library.

  • “Shiver” by Maggie Stiefvater

    Cathy recommends: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

    Genre: Paranormal romance

    Reading Level: YA

    Summary: If you’re like me and think Bella chose the wrong one in Twilight…

    Cathy says: Concise story about an independent student with overly preoccupied parents; all too often the case in recent times. She has to find her own way, with the help of a few good friends. Some say she has an obsession with wolves, but there’s a reason. Plenty of interesting action which quickly moves the plot along. Read it in a day.

    This title is available at Tyler Free Library.

  • “None of the Above” by I. W. Gregorio

    Kylie recommends: None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio

    Genre: Contemporary

    Reading Level: YA

    Summary: A teenage girl finds out she was born intersex and everything she knew about herself changes in an instant.

    Kylie says: This was an eye-opening story about a intersex person and how that diagnosis impacts her relationships in high school.