Shhhh! It's a Secret!

This week we are focusing on teen books that contain plots hinging on secrets and lies . . . .

Freakling by Lana Krumwiede
After a traumatic accident removes his telekinetic ability, or psy, twelve-year-old Taemon is exiled to the "dud farm," where he is surprised to find kind, open people who enjoy using their hands but there are also mysteries at the colony and when Taemon unwittingly leaks one of the secrets he must find the courage to repair the damage, even if it means returning to the city from which he was banished.

The Miles Between by Mary Pearson
Seventeen-year-old Destiny keeps a painful childhood secret all to herself until she and three classmates from her exclusive boarding school take off on an unauthorized road trip in search of "one fair day."

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
Perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O'Neill meet online when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his pet pig, Wilbur. The two 17-year-olds strike up an e-mail relationship from opposite sides of the country and don't even know each other's first names. What's more, Ellie doesn't know Graham is a famous actor, and Graham doesn't know about the big secret in Ellie's family tree. When the relationship goes from online to in-person, they find out whether their relationship can be the real thing.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can assume human form, Seraphina, whose mother died giving birth to her, grapples with her own identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals, while she struggles to accept and develop her extraordinary musical talents.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
In small-town Australia, teens Jasper and Charlie form an unlikely friendship when one asks the other to help him cover up a murder until they can prove who is responsible.


More Secrets & Lies --
34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues
After the End by Amy Plum
Before Wings by Beth Goobie
Chime by Franny Billingsley
Crash Into You by Katie McGarry
Crushed by Laura McNeal
The Night My Sister Went Missing by Carol Plum-Ucci
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
The Safe-Keeper's Secret by Sharon Shinn
Sea Change by Aimee Friedmann
September Girls by Bennett Madison
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake
The Truth Commission by Susan Juby
V Is for Villain by Peter Moore
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

Check out these books on display through July 1, 2016.

Have You Read the Series?

Series books are always popular.  We love to read stories that just keep on going.  Here are some of my favorite series for teens . . .

(First book in series is listed.)

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
Eleven-year-old Alanna, who aspires to be a knight even though she is a girl, disguises herself as a boy to become a royal page, a learning many hard lessons along her path to high adventure.

Elemental by Antony John
In a dystopian colony of the United States where everyone is born with powers of the elements, water, wind, earth, and fire, sixteen-year-old Thomas, the first and only child born without an element seems powerless, but is he?

Freakling by Lana Krumwiede
After a traumatic accident removes his telekinetic ability, or psy, twelve-year-old Taemon is exiled to the "dud farm," where he is surprised to find kind, open people who enjoy using their hands but there are also mysteries at the colony and when Taemon unwittingly leaks one of the secrets he must find the courage to repair the damage, even if it means returning to the city from which he was banished.

Legacies by Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Thornhill
Spirit is shocked to discover that she is a Legacy -- a child of a former student at Whitehall Academy.  Even more shocking is that the school is for those who have magical powers.

Abandon by Meg Cabot
A near-death experience, a horrible incident at school, and a move from Connecticut to Florida have turned seventeen-year-old Pierce's life upside-down, but when she needs him most John Hayden is always there, helping but reminding her of her visit to the Underworld.


More Teen Series --
Crash by Lisa McMann
Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
The Enemy by Charlie Higson
Half Bad by Sally Green
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Redwall by Brian Jacques
Slathbog's Gold by M.L. Forman
William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher
Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee
Zom-B by Darren Shan

Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through May 20, 2016.

Freakling by Lana Krumwiede

Taemon's family is slowly imploding . . .

His mother is overprotective and refuses to let her sons leave the family.
His father is speaking out against the religious leaders.
His brother is falsely being groomed as the True Son, the prophesied leader of the new age.
And Taemon must hid the fact that he has lost his psi so he doesn't get exiled to live with the Powerless.


Freakling is the first book in the Psi Chronicles by Lana Krumwiede.  It is a great introduction to a new dystopian world.  Where there have been books in the past where everything is done with magic or psychic abilities, this book takes it even further.  It is fascinating to see Taemon learn how to use his hands to accomplish tasks like eating and dressing.