Book Finder

Do you know who Poseidon is, or what he would look like? Maybe you want to know what a Greek god would say if he could get online and blog. If so, check out this teen-friendly guide to all of the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology.

All sixteen-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Hope arrives in the form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure — if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of Gonzo, a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf, and a yard gnome who just might be the Viking god Balder, Cam sets off on a road trip through America into the heart of what matters most.

Sixteen-year-old Florrie turns political activist when she takes notice of the changing landscape of her beloved San Antonio hometown. Upset by the loss of small independent businesses to money-hungry corporations, she first begins her grassroots campaign with her family, who own their restaurant, encouraging them to support other local businesses and to avoid the chain stores. (School Library Journal)

This well-researched book is a lively cultural history of the Western Publishing Company and their bold WWII experiment to create affordable books for children. Learn, too, about the exceptionally talented writers and illustrators who helped create such a memorable series.

Many students know of John Wilkes Booth as Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, but few know that before he committed this infamous crime, he was a member of a family of accomplished actors, including his well-known brother, Edwin.

Black twelve-year-old Shayla is a rule follower. But in junior high, it’s like all the rules have changed. Now she’s questioning who her best friends are and questioning where she fits in in the Black Lives Matter movement.

A family with a talkative grandmother comes across a hardened and extremely dangerous criminal, The Misfit. Can the grandmother convince him to leave her family alone or will they be his next victims?

An essential and accessible anthology of some of the best contemporary and classic poetry.

When a boy from an abusive home is placed in foster care with an old woman, he brings with him his troubles — an invitation to the Sinisteeds, nighttime visitors to humans who gather memories good or not so good. Tough, timely topics are handled in a straightforward telling in this compelling and credible fantasy.

Piri, now 17, resides with a Swedish family while she searches for news of family and friends who also might have survived the Nazi concentration camps. Although the Swedes accept her as their own daughter, she strives to hold on to her own identity and dreams of finding her blood relatives. The novel is dedicated to the many people who assisted the Jews in their efforts to find their families after the war.

In Katsa’s world, those with a Grace, or special talent, such as singing or storytelling, are marked by eyes that are different colors. Katsa’s Grace is killing, which she has tempered to fighting and been put to use by her manipulative uncle, one of the kings of the seven kingdoms, to torture people. Katsa despises her uncle and being forced to hurt people so she moonlights as a rescuer as part of a secret council she’s formed to promote fairness and honesty over cruelty and abuses of power.

Short ditties introduce math problems and critical thinking — and entertain as the rhymes are read. Colorful illustrations that are computer-generated add to the fun and understanding of how to approach word problems.

What keeps objects from floating out of your hand?
What if your feet drifted away from the ground?
What stops everything from floating into space?
Gravity.

As in his previous books, Redwoods, Coral Reefs, and Island, Jason Chin has taken a complex subject and made it brilliantly accessible to young readers in this unusual, innovative, and very beautiful book.

Take a humorous, green road trip with the author and his college buddy in a converted 1980’s Mercedes from Vermont to California, and learn a little about how to be more eco-friendly along the way.

Theater mice perform in a space just out of human sight in a venerable old New York theater. Alas! The leading rodent taken to Brooklyn before she performs in the final play before the theater is destroyed. Humor abounds in this satisfying tale.

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? This is Book 1 in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy.

In comic-book format, biographical and statistical information is presented about some of today’s hottest basketball stars, including Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan. The comic format conveys the action, while also making this series highly appealing to reluctant readers.

Imagine that you’re going through one of the hardest parts of your life—being a teenager—when your parents are killed in a horrific car crash. Now you, your 17-year-old sister, and your three-year-old brother are on your own. Imagine what that would be like. Then read this book and find out.

In time for the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, master storyteller Alan Gratz (Refugee) delivers a pulse-pounding and unforgettable take on history and hope, revenge and fear — and the stunning links between the past and present. Two kids. One devastating day. Nothing will ever be the same.

Dangerous work and long hours were the norm for some poor children-many of them young immigrants — who worked in Pennsylvania coal mines prior to child labor laws.

When legendary R&B artist Korey Fields spots Black seventeen-year-old Enchanted Jones at an audition, her dreams of being a famous singer take flight. Until Enchanted wakes up with blood on her hands and zero memory of the previous night. 

Two very different high school students discover a mutual appreciation for writing songs for the guitar. Tripp Broody has lost a lot; his father died and his best friend moved away and he doesn’t really connect with people. In contrast, Lyla Marks is perfect. She gets good grades, her teachers love her, and she plays the cello beautifully. Forced to share a music practice room on alternating days at school, they start a pen-pal-like exchange daily that leads to a musical collaboration that promises to change both of their lives forever. Many chapters are structured as Tripp’s and Lyla’s notes, giving readers a unique vantage point into their burgeoning friendship.

A body on the tracks. A teenage terrorist. A mysterious wish-granting machine. The world’s worst private detective. The second volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading is chock-full of mystery, intrigue, and nefarious activity.

The day after Liyana got her first real kiss, her life changed forever. Not because of the kiss, but because it was the day her father announced that the family was moving from St. Louis all the way to Palestine. Though her father grew up there, Liyana knows very little about her family’s Arab heritage. Her grandmother and the rest of her relatives who live in the West Bank are strangers, and speak a language she can’t understand. It isn’t until she meets Omer that her homesickness fades. But Omer is Jewish, and their friendship is silently forbidden in this land.