Showing titles in Coming of Age

Julián Luna has a plan for his life: Graduate. Get into UCLA. And have the chance to move away from Corpus Christi, Texas, and the suffocating expectations of others that have forced Jules into an inauthentic life. Then in one reckless moment, with one impulsive tweet, his plans for a low-key nine months are thrown - literally - out the closet. The downside: the whole world knows, and Jules has to prepare for rejection. The upside: Jules now has the opportunity to be his real self. Then Mat, a cute, empathetic Twitter crush from Los Angeles, slides into Jules’s DMs.

Tilla has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica. When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him. In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise - all in the midst of an impending hurricane.

There’s one thing Jay Collier knows for sure - he’s a statistical anomaly as the only out gay kid in his small rural Washington town. While all his friends can’t stop talking about their heterosexual hookups and relationships, Jay can only dream of his own firsts, compiling a romance to-do list of all the things he hopes to one day experience - his Gay Agenda. Then, against all odds, Jay’s family moves to Seattle, and he starts his senior year at a new high school with a thriving LGBTQIA+ community. For the first time ever, Jay feels like he’s found where he truly belongs.

No one knows if Steel is dead or alive...except me. For months I kept the late night calls from Steel a secret, until he let it slip that he tracked down his villainous sister, Silver. He needs help - even if the powerful angel-shifter is too stubborn to admit it. But the Steel I find isn’t the same boy from Seraph Academy. He’s darker. Haunted. And the distance between us can’t be crossed by a simple flap of my wings. When a battle with the Forsaken goes horribly wrong, I awaken as a prisoner inside a Fallen stronghold.

Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. And now, during their junior year, she’s finally available. So when Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del’s right behind her. Though he quickly realizes he’s inadvertently signed up for a Purity Pledge. His dad thinks his wires are crossed, and his best friend, Qwan, doesn’t believe any girl is worth the long game. But Del’s not about to lose his dream girl, and that’s where fellow pledger Jameer comes in.

Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she’s gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way.

In 17th-century London, two forces rule the people: the color powers and the Stone Plague. Brown masks can manipulate wood. Black masks control the night. And red mask...well, red is the color of blood. Thomas Fawkes needs a gray mask so he can remove the stone that has invaded his body and will ultimately take his life. But when he fails his color test, his only hope is to track down his father, the infamous Guy Fawkes, and demand his color mask.

Jessica thought her Pineville, New Jersey, life was behind her. Now a young professional, she’s ready to keep moving forward - until she (literally) runs into her former boyfriend Marcus Flutie at the airport on her way to her best friend’s Caribbean wedding. Marcus and Jessica have both changed dramatically, yet their connection feels as familiar as ever. Is their reunion just a fluke? Or is this momentous collision orchestrated by fate?

Aubrey Lane Arrington boards a private jet, ready to run away. To go home. She wants to leave Eastbrooke, Branson, and their broken friendship and drama behind her. But when her newfound best friend, Johnny Fab, who is social media famous and a true nepotism baby, lands his helicopter in front of her jet and demands she come with him, she doesn't really have a choice.

Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn't an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the "wrong" side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. One day, she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann's offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the girls are brought together despite themselves - and Ryann learns her secret.

Sori has worked her whole life to become a K-pop idol, until she realizes she doesn’t want a life forever in the spotlight. But that’s not actually up to Sori—she’s caught between her exacting mother’s entertainment company and her father’s presidential aspirations. And as the pressure to keep her flawless public image grows, the last person she should be thinking about is her ex-boyfriend.

No one loves musicals more than Riley Morris—her dream is to be a Broadway director. But when the spring show is canceled, Riley has to figure out a way to bring it back. Easier said than done—she’s stuck working at her dad’s game store. The place that means more to him than his family does. Riley can't waste time at a dead-end job when her entire future is resting on making a name for herself. So she convinces her co-worker Nathan Wheeler—the floppy-haired, glasses-wearing guy she barely knows from school—to help her. In exchange, she’ll help him make his gamer-girl crush jealous.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship - the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

In A Dream of Mortals, Thorgrin and his brothers struggle to break free from the grips of the pirates, and to continue their search for Guwayne at sea. As they encounter unexpected friends and foes, magic and weaponry, dragons and men, it will change the very course of their destiny. Will they finally find Guwayne?

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi and featuring some of the most acclaimed best-selling black authors writing for teens today - Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List.

Aideen has plenty of problems she can’t solve. But when she stumbles upon overachiever Meabh Kowalska having a full-blown meltdown, she sees one that she can actually fix. Meabh is desperate to escape her crushing pile of extracurriculars. Aideen volunteers to help - by pushing her down the stairs. Problem? Solved. Meabh’s sprained ankle is the perfect excuse to ditch her overwhelming schedule. But when one of their classmates learns about their little scheme, more “clients” start asking for Aideen’s “help”.

Wu Ying saved his master from the machinations of the dark sect, but was gravely injured during the process. His body has changed, his bloodline awakened and his cultivation compromised. Physicians and healers at the Verdant Green Water can do nothing for him. Forced to travel to a new sect for healing, Wu Ying might find opportunity in his distress. But the dark sect is not done with him, or their machinations. Caught up in the winds of war, Wu Ying and his friends must continue to balance their journey to immortality against the pull of mortal politics.

In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.

Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life - at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace. He and his fellow outcast friends must try to make it through their senior year of high school without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self. Graduation will lead to new beginnings for Lydia, whose edgy fashion blog is her ticket out of their rural Tennessee town.

Juliet Milagros Palante is a self-proclaimed closeted Puerto-Rican baby dyke from the Bronx. Only, she's not so closeted anymore. Not after coming out to her family the night before flying to Portland, Oregon, to intern with her favorite feminist writer - what's sure to be a life-changing experience. And when Juliet's coming out crashes and burns, she's not sure her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan - sort of.