Chicago Teens' Favorite Books of 2021Like this list

20 items

• Ace of Spades

  Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah,

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  Devon and Chiamaka are the only black students at the prestigious Niveous Private Academy. Their worlds are turned upside down when an anonymous texter, Aces, unearths their most devastating secrets. A thriller filled with shocking twists and deadly…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Concrete Rose

  Thomas, Angie,

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  Seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter thinks he’s doing pretty well. He’s making money for local gang the King Lords like his father and helping out his mom. But when he finds out he’s a father, he takes the opportunity to reevaluate everything in his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Counting Down With You

  Bhuiyan, Tashie,

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  When her parents leave to visit family in Bangladesh for a month, Karina hopes for a break from their high expectations of her going to medical school. Instead, when she starts tutoring good-looking and popular Ace, sparks fly and Karina must find a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Firekeeper's Daughter

  Boulley, Angeline,

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  18-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and in the nearby Ojibwe reservation. After witnessing a murder that hits too close to home, however, Daunis must put her internal conflicts aside and use her extensive…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry

  the Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement

  Yoo, Paula,

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  In this heartbreaking true story, Yoo details the brutal 1982 murder of 27-year-old Chinese-American Vincent Chin in Detroit. The controversial trial, which resulted in Vincent’s killers only getting three years’ probation, inspired the American…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating

  Jaigirdar, Adiba,

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  Although Hani and Ishu are the only Bengali students in their high school in Ireland, antisocial Ishu and gregarious Hani don’t really know each other until Hani comes out to her friends as bisexual and pretends that Ishu is her girlfriend. Ishu…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Happily Ever Afters

  Bryant, Elise,

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  Tessa Johnson is admitted into a prestigious conservatory for the arts, but as a writer of romance stories, she doesn’t think she’s good enough and loses her ability to write. She comes up with a plan with her best friend, Caroline, to write again -…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Instructions for Dancing

  Yoon, Nicola,

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  Whenever Evie sees a couple kiss, she gets a vision of their entire relationship, including the ending heartbreak. When she starts having feelings for her dance partner, she is unsure if love is ever worth the pain if it will always eventually end.

• Last Night at the Telegraph Club

  Lo, Malinda,

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  San Francisco’s Chinatown in the Red Scare is an incredibly dangerous place for two girls to fall in love. Amidst the homophobia and racism in the 1950s, Lily and Kath risk everything as they begin to frequent the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Luck of the Titanic

  Lee, Stacey (Stacey Heather),

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  Valora Luck, a Chinese British young woman, needs to get on the Titanic to reunite with her twin brother James, impress a Ringling Brothers investor, and start a new life in America as a circus performer, but the Chinese Exclusion Act prevents her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Meet Cute Diary

  Lee, Emery,

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  In this entertaining rom-com, trans teen Noah Ramirez loses the loyal readers of his popular blog “Meet Cute Diary” when a troll calls him out for making up the romantic stories featured on it. Will fake dating his friend Drew save his blog and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Mirror Season

  McLemore, Anna-Marie,

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  Queer Mexican American teen, Graciela, discovers that she and the new boy at school were sexually assaulted at the same party. Haunted by her knowledge of that traumatic night, she loses her magical gift for making pan dulce while keeping her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Muted

  Charles, Tami,

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  After 17-year-old Denver is discovered by her music icon Sean “Mercury” Ellis, she believes that her life has changed for the better -- she’ll leave her small, white hometown and begin her life as a singer-songwriter. In this novel written entirely…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• No Planet B

  a Teen Vogue Guide to Climate Justice

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  Planet B gives teens the vocabulary and information to actively help the planet in the best ways they can. Divided into three sections reporting, activism, and intersectionality, each article adds value and connects a young audience to one of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• One Great Lie

  Caletti, Deb,

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  When high school senior Charlotte is invited to spend a summer as the prodigy of her favorite author at his Italian villa, she knows that she’ll finally have a chance to begin her career as a writer. Slowly, though, she uncovers Bruni’s dark side in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Perfectly Parvin

  Abtahi, Olivia,

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  Focusing on the awkward transition from 8th grade to high school, Perfectly Parvin uses humor and relatability to connect readers. As the story begins, Parvin an Iranian-American girl navigates band, boys, and the effects of the Muslim ban on her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Sitting in St. James

  Williams-Garcia, Rita,

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  Madame Sylvie Guilbert, the matriarch of a once-thriving Louisiana plantation, agrees to sit for an oil portrait in a last-ditch effort to cement her status in high planter society. Set in the antebellum era, a depraved son values hedonism over…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Some Girls Do

  Dugan, Jennifer,

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  When elite track runner Morgan has to transfer from her homophobic private school late in her senior year to continue running, the only thing keeping her going is her pride in being out as a lesbian. But then, she meets reluctant pageant queen and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Wynd. Book One, The Flight of the Prince

  Tynion, James, IV,

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  Born with magic in a world where magic is considered evil, Wynd has to keep his magical heritage a secret in order to not be caught by authorities or possibly even killed. Danger arrives when the Bandage Man shows up to hunt all the magic users in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Yolk

  Choi, Mary H. K.,

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  Following two Korean-American sisters coping with their individual illnesses, this story is about sisterhood and identity. Jayne is not close with her family, including her older sister, June, even though they live in the same city. Everything…Read moreRead more of this annotation