Tough Topics for Teens

All the Bright Places Movie Tie-In Edition By Jennifer Niven

This New York Times bestselling love story about two teens who find each other while standing on the edge is now a Netflix film starring Elle Fanning and Justice Smith!

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might die. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the "natural wonders" of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It's only with Violet that Finch can be himself--a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who's not such a freak after all. And it's only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink.

"A do-not-miss for fans of Eleanor & Park and The Fault in Our Stars, and basically anyone who can breathe." --Justine Magazine

"At the heart--a big one--of All the Bright Places lies a charming love story about this unlikely and endearing pair of broken teenagers." --The New York Times Book Review

"A heart-rending, stylish love story." --The Wall Street Journal

"A complex love story that will bring all the feels." --Seventeen Magazine

"Impressively layered, lived-in, and real." --Buzzfeed

A Girl in Three Parts By Suzanne Daniel

A story of sisterhood, solidarity, and finding your place in a changing world, A GIRL IN THREE PARTS is an unforgettable coming of age story set against the backdrop of the women's rights movement.

Allegra Elsom is caught in the middle. Some days she's eleven, and others she feels closer to nineteen. Some days she knows too much, and others she feels hopelessly naive. Some days she is split in three, torn between conflicting loyalties to her grandmothers, Matilde and Joy, and her father, Rick--none of whom can stand to be in a room together since the decades-old tragedy that hit their family like a wrecking ball.

Allegra struggles to make peace in her family and navigate the social gauntlet at school while asking bigger questions about her place in the world: What does it mean to be "liberated"? What is it about "becoming a woman" that earns her a slap in the face? What does it mean to do the right thing, when everyone around her defines it differently?

As the feminist movement reshapes her Sydney suburb, Allegra makes her own path--discovering firsthand the incredible ways that women can support each other, and finding strength within herself to stand up to the people she loves.

Readers will not soon forget Suzanne Daniel's poignant debut, or the spirit of sisterhood that sings out from its pages.

The Lucky Ones By Liz Lawson

For fans of Thirteen Reasons Why, This Is How It Ends, and All the Bright Places, comes a gripping novel about life after. How do you put yourself back together when it seems like you've lost it all?

May is a survivor. But she doesn't feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after the school shooting that killed her twin brother, May still doesn't know why she was the only one to walk out of the band room that day. No one gets what she went through--no one saw and heard what she did. No one can possibly understand how it feels to be her.

Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends bailed, and now he spends his time hanging out with his little sister...and the one faithful friend who stuck around. His best friend is needy and demanding, but he won't let Zach disappear into himself. Which is how Zach ends up at band practice that night. The same night May goes with her best friend to audition for a new band.

Which is how May meets Zach. And how Zach meets May. And how both might figure out that surviving could be an option after all.

A Chicago Public Library Systems selection for Best Teen Fiction 
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2020
A Texas Library Association 2021 Reading List selection

"A harrowing and beautifully told story about how far the tentacles of tragedy can reach. May's story of grief, survival, and reckoning is tenderly and honestly explored. A simply stunning debut." --Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces

"A must-read for fans of Thirteen Reasons Why and This Is How It Ends."--Paste Magazine

"Gripping, emotional, suspenseful, and ultimately hopeful" --Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying

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The Year After You By Nina de Pass

"I love this sad, beautiful, hopeful book." --Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces and How to Make Friends With the Dark

For fans of Nina LaCour and Jennifer Niven, a richly layered novel that's both uplifting and heartbreaking, about piecing yourself together after loss and the dark truths we choose to keep from each other and ourselves.

San Francisco. New Year's Eve. A tragic accident after the party of the year. Cara survives. Her best friend, G, doesn't.

Nine months later, Cara is still struggling, consumed by grief and a dark secret she'd rather forget. In the hopes of offering a fresh start, her mother sends her to boarding school in Switzerland, a place where no one knows what happened--and where they never will, if Cara can help it.

But her new classmates Ren and Hector won't let her close herself off. They are determined to break down the walls she has so carefully built up. And maybe Cara wants them to . . . especially Hector, who seems to understand her like no one else does.

The problem is that the closer Cara gets to Hector, the more G slips away. If moving on means letting go of the past--and admitting what she did that night--Cara's not sure how. But a second chance awaits, if she can only find the strength within herself.

"A poignant exploration of grief, guilt, and forgiveness." --Sophie Kinsella, New York Times bestselling author of Finding Audrey and the Shopaholic series

"Transportive and redemptive, this is a gentle story about the universality of grief, the beauty of self-forgiveness, and how new friendship can help heal old wounds."--Ashley Woodfolk, author of The Beauty That Remains and When You Were Everything

"Atmospheric....this is a delicious read."-Irish Times

"A good choice for readers who enjoyed Stephanie Perkins's Anna and the French Kiss and Gayle Forman's If I Stay."--SLJ