Best Teen Fiction of 2023Like this list

28 items

• An Appetite for Miracles

  Kemp, Laekan Zea,

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  A touching story written in verse explores the relationship between two high school teens Danna and Raul. Danna, whose grandfather has dementia, uses the taste of food to help him remember pieces of his life. All the while Danna’s mother fat shames…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Blood Years

  Arnold, Elana K.,

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  Based on the real life of the author's grandmother, this is a Holocaust story like no other. As WWII breaks out in Czernowitz, Romania--once considered a safe haven for Jewish people--life goes on in 13-year-old Rieke's apartment. While her mother…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bonesmith

  Pau Preto, Nicki,

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  Betrayed during her trials to become a valkyr, a ghost fighting warrior, Wren is banished to a quiet outpost by her grandmother. When one of the princes is kidnapped Wren takes a chance to earn back her families respect by entering the breach to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Chasing Pacquiao

  Pulido, Rod,

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  When bullies leave a gay slur on Bobby’s locker and steal his bike, he needs to find a way to defend himself. Inspired by his idol Manny Pacquiao, he takes boxing lessons at a gym near his home in L.A. Then Bobby sees homophobic comments made by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Daughters of Oduma

  Utomi, Moses Ose,

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  Dirt doesn't bow anymore. Or at least that is what she wanted until her sister is brutally attacked in a bowing tournament, an all-female fighting sport, by their rivals. There are only four of them left, and the other two sisters are too young to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Door in the Dark

  Reintgen, Scott,

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  Fantasy meets wilderness survival in this series opener about Ren, an ambitious nerd from humble beginnings who’s studying at a prestigious magic school. When a spell goes wrong, she and five other students find themselves stranded far from home.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Enter the Body

  McCullough, Joy,

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  Under the trap door of a theater, three of Shakespeare’s best known female characters – Juliet, Ophelia, and Cordelia – finally get a chance to talk to each other. The conversation is both funny and sobering and inspires all three women to reimagine…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Eternal Return of Clara Hart

  Finch, Louise,

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  After Spence witnesses a girl run away from a party and get tragically hit by a car, he wakes up the next morning only to realize it's the day of the party again. Caught in a horrific time loop, Spence must not only solve the mystery of what…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Gather

  Cadow, Kenneth M.,

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  In an honest and funny first-person voice, 10th-grader Ian recounts a year of his life in rural Vermont. Thanks to his affinity for nature and his mechanical skills, Ian has an incredible resilience in even the toughest circumstances. And his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Godly Heathens

  a Novel

  Edgmon, H. E.,

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  Plagued by haunting visions that feel too real to be dreams, Gem, a nonbinary Seminole teen, feels isolated and out of place in their small Southern town. They are scraping by on snarky bravado and charm until several new students arrive in town and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Her Good Side

  Weatherspoon, Rebekah,

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  Bethany is a basketball superstar from a family of women basketball stars, but she has dreams of being a chef. She’s also never dated anyone and is convinced homecoming is her chance! However, she gets turned down by her crush because of her lack of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Loved You in Another Life

  Arnold, David, 1981-

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  In this epic love story, past lives merge to tell a singular tale of soulmates meeting each other across moments in time. In this timeline, Shosh has derailed her life and her acting career, as she grieves the loss of her sister slash BFF. Evan is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Imogen, Obviously

  Albertalli, Becky,

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  When hopelessly heterosexual Imogen visits her best friend, Lili, at college, Lili admits a secret: in an attempt to seem more experienced, she told everyone that she and Imogen used to date and that Imogen is bi. Imogen agrees to go along with it,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Invisible Son

  Johnson, Kim, 1979-

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  Invisible Son is a social justice thriller set in Portland Oregon in March of 2020. This is the beginning of the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic. As Andre Jackson is just returning from a two-month stay in the Juvenile justice, he is now on house arrest.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Isles of the Gods

  Kaufman, Amie,

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  Selly is devastated when her father breaks a promise, leaving her to serve out another season as a lowly deckhand on one of his ships. Any hopes of following him are ruined when a handsome stranger comes aboard in the middle of the night with a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl

  Shrum, Brianna R.,

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  Margo, the ultimate overachiever, needs to know everything about being gay before she comes out to anyone. Abbie, who’s been out for years, aces being queer but sucks at history. They agree to help each other but when they both catch feelings for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Narrow

  Marshall, Kate Alice,

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  This spine-tingling horror novel centers on Eden, who's worked hard to keep her home life out of her school life. After a particularly horrible summer, though, the trauma follows her to her elite boarding school. There, she’s living in a new house…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Only This Beautiful Moment

  Nazemian, Abdi,

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  When Moud, an out gay teen living in Los Angeles, gets the news that his grandfather is dying, he accompanies his distant father to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Saints of the Household

  Tison, Ari,

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  Bribri American brothers Max and Jay know how to endure violence, having grown up with a physically abusive father. But when they hear a classmate in trouble, they discover their own capacity for inflicting it, and must deal with the consequences of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• She Is a Haunting

  Tran, Trang Thanh,

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  Jade has no desire to spend the summer in Vietnam, but her estranged father has promised her tuition money in exchange for five weeks helping him restore an old house. Jade plans to keep her head down and get through it, but the house has other…Read moreRead more of this annotation