Hi! My Name Is Sara.

 This week's booklist features teen books with characters named Sara (or Sarah, or Serah, etc).  Here's a few of our favorites . . . .

I Woke Up Dead at the Mall by Judy Sheehan

Sixteen-year-old Sarah wakes up dead at the Mall of America only to find she was murdered, and she must work with a group of dead teenagers to finish up the unresolved business of their former lives while preventing her murderer from killing again.

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly

Uncovering an ancient evil, Serafina, a mermaid of the Mediterranean Sea, searches for five other mermaid heroines who are scattered across the six seas, to save their hidden world.

Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi

To escape an abusive father and an arranged marriage, Sarah, dressed as a boy, leaves her Michigan home to enlist in the Union Army, and becomes a soldier on the battlefields of Virginia as well as a Union spy working in the house of Confederate sympathizer Rose O'Neal Greenhow in Washington, D.C.

More Books --

Belly Up by Eva Darrows

Burn by Patrick Ness

The Cerulean by Amy Ewing

The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian

Darkwater by Catherine Fisher

Devil, Darling, Spy by Matt Killeen

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner

Illegal by Francisco X. Stork

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

A Secret Princess by Margaret Stohl

That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger

Violet Ghosts by Leah Thomas

Top Secret! Stories of Espionage

This week, I am sharing stories of spies and espionage for teens.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . 

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.

Sleeper Code by Tom Sniegoski

Just when he has met a beautiful girl and his outlook is improving, sixteen-year-old narcoleptic Tom Lovett begins to suspect that his dreams and hallucinations of killing people may be something more real and terrifying.

Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi

To escape an abusive father and an arranged marriage, fourteen-year-old Sarah, dressed as a boy, leaves her Michigan home to enlist in the Union Army, and becomes a soldier on the battlefields of Virginia as well as a Union spy working in the house of Confederate sympathizer Rose O'Neal Greenhow in Washington, D.C.

Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel

In 1716 London, an orphaned sixteen-year-old girl from a good family impersonates a lady-in-waiting only to discover that the real girl was murdered, the court harbors a nest of spies, and the handsome young artist who is helping her solve the mystery might be a spy himself.

More Books --

Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

Also Known As by Robin Benway

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Even the Darkest Stars by Heather Fawcett

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

Love by Morning Star by Laura L. Sullivan

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

Mind Games by Kiersten White

The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson

Streams of Babel by Carol Plum-Ucci

Tempest by Julie Cross

Traitor's Kiss by Erin Beaty

Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through June 29, 2018.

Veteran's Day, Part 2

Continuing in our observance of Veteran's Day, here are some great books for teens on the war experience . . .

Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
Curzon matures from boy to man over the course of the winter with the army at Valley Forge.

Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi
To escape an abusive father and an arranged marriage, fourteen-year-old Sarah, dressed as a boy, leaves her Michigan home to enlist in the Union Army, and becomes a soldier on the battlefields of Virginia.

Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury
Following orders from the United States Army, several young Japanese American men train K-9 units to hunt Asians during World War II.

Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes
Two boys, one German and one American, are eager to join their respective armies during World War II, and their paths cross at the Battle of the Bulge.

Search and Destroy by Dean Hughes
Recent high school graduate Rick Ward, undecided about his future and eager to escape his unhappy home life, joins the army and experiences the horrors of the war in Vietnam.

Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
Robin Perry, from Harlem, is sent to Iraq in 2003 as a member of the Civilian Affairs Battalion, and his time there profoundly changes him.

Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
While recuperating in a Baghdad hospital from a traumatic brain injury sustained during the Iraq War, eighteen-year-old soldier Matt Duffy struggles to recall what happened to him and how it relates to his ten-year-old friend, Ali.