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  • General Recommendations
  • Staff-Created List

Best Teen Nonfiction of 2023

Chicago Public Library recommends these titles as the very best nonfiction published in 2023 for teens.

Chicago Public Library

8 items

  • In his signature style, using dynamic linework and quotes taken from interviews, Don Brown describes the 83-day-long Siege of Mariupol that opened the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Facts are relayed via text and everything in a speech…
    Book
  • Accountable

    the True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed

    Slater, Dashka,
    When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought it was “edgy” humor, but once the BIPOC girls who were the butt of his jokes found out, everything…
    Book
  • America Redux

    Visual Stories From Our Dynamic History

    Aberg-Riger, Ariel,
    Filled with full-color mixed media artwork, this nontraditional history book tells stories about America that you probably haven’t heard before. Instead of a linear timeline, the author uses visual storytelling to point out the causes and…
    Book
  • Impossible Escape

    a True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe

    Sheinkin, Steve,
    When Rudi Vrba decides to escape from Auschwitz in 1944, the 19-year-old has already defied death many times. So, he figures, why not try again? After surviving two years of daily unspeakable horrors, Rudi has gleaned crucial information…
    Book
  • What does it mean to be forever in between? Growing up in suburban New Jersey, author and illustrator Deb JJ (Jung-Jin) Lee realizes they left behind more than their home country when their family immigrated to the US from South Korea as a…
    Paperback
  • Killing the Wittigo

    Indigenous Culture-based Approaches to Waking Up, Taking Action, and Doing the Work of Healing : a Book for Young Adults

    Methot, Suzanne, 1968-
    Learn how to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma and how colonialism affects Indigenous families. Grief, anger, stress, disease and more are covered in this informative self-help book.
    Paperback
  • Monstrous

    a Transracial Adoption Story

    Myer, Sarah,
    After her German American parents adopt her from Korea, Sara grows up in Maryland and hates school because her classmates bully her relentlessly about her race. To cope with her anger, Sarah constantly draws pictures and becomes obsessed…
    Paperback
  • A Quantum Life

    My Unlikely Journey From the Street to the Stars

    Oluseyi, Hakeem M. (Hakeem Muata),
    In this gripping memoir, Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi describes his journey from a kid growing up in rough areas of New Orleans, L.A., and Houston to an acclaimed astrophysicist working for NASA. Along the way, he sold weed for his dad, became a…
    Book