2020 - Best Teen Fiction

A curated list from Basalt Regional Library.

Showing 1 - 20 of 37  There are a total of 38 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "All the stars and teeth"
Star rating for All the stars and teeth
Series:
Description:
"As princess of the island kingdom Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer--the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for Amora, it's never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy's dangerous soul magic. When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he'll...
Book cover for "The ballad of songbirds and snakes"
Star rating for The ballad of songbirds and snakes
Series:
Hunger Games trilogy volume prequel.
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He's been given...
Book cover for "Beyond the break"
Star rating for Beyond the break
Description:
For fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han, Beyond the Break is a funny and gorgeous debut about a girl experiencing her first love. Well, second, if you count her faith...and that's where things may get complicated. Seventeen-year-old Lovette has two rules in life. One: no surfing. Not after her brother's accident. Two: absolutely, no dating. And going into her junior year of high school, she's pretty happy with that arrangement. She has friends, her...
Book cover for "Cemetery boys"
Star rating for Cemetery boys
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school's bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family. "Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can't get rid of him. When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend, Maritza, he performs...
Book cover for "Chain of gold"
Star rating for Chain of gold
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Cordelia Carstairs, a Shadowhunter trained to battle demons, travels with her brother to London where they reconnect with childhood friends but soon must face devastating demon attacks in the quarantined city. Edwardian London, a time of electric lights and long shadows-- with demons waiting in the dark. For years there has been peace in the Shadowhunter world. James and Lucie Herondale have listened to stories of good defeating evil and love conquering...
Book cover for "Children of virtue and vengeance"
Star rating for Children of virtue and vengeance
Series:
Legacy of Orisha volume 0002
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"After Zélie and Amari bring magic back to the land of Orïsha, the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, forcing Zélie to fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath." -- Zélie and Amari have succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha, but the ritual was more powerful than they could've imagined. It has reignited the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with...
Book cover for "Cinderella is dead"
Star rating for Cinderella is dead
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"Queer black girls team up to overthrow the patriarchy in the former kingdom of Cinderella"-- Two hundred years after Cinderella found her prince, the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl's display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again. Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend,...
Book cover for "Clap when you land"
Star rating for Clap when you land
Average Rating:
2 stars
Description:
"Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people... In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance--and Papi's secrets--the two girls are forced to face...
Book cover for "Darius the Great is not okay"
Star rating for Darius the Great is not okay
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life. "Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's a Fractional Persian -- half, his mom's side -- and his first ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. Darius has never really fit in at home, and he's sure...
Book cover for "Everything sad is untrue"
Star rating for Everything sad is untrue
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family...
Book cover for "The extraordinaries"
Star rating for The extraordinaries
Author:
Series:
Extraordinaries volume 1.
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Nick would rather write fanfiction about the feats of heroism and romantic entaglements he imagines for the very real superheroes who inhabit his city. When he meets Nova City's biggest hero (and his biggest crush), however, he resolves to become a superhero himself. If being the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom was a superpower, Nick Bell would be a hero. Instead he's just a fanboy with ADHD, posting online. After a chance...

12. Fable

Book cover for "Fable"
Star rating for Fable
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home Fable has ever known. Four years ago she watched her mother drown during a storm-- and the next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she kept to herself, learned to trust no one and relied on the unique skills her mother taught her. Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the...
Book cover for "Felix ever after"
Star rating for Felix ever after
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Felix Love has never been in love, painful irony that it is. He desperately wants to know why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. He is proud of his identity, but fears that he's one marginalization too many -- Black, queer, and transgender. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages-- after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned-- Felix comes up with a plan for revenge....

14. Furia

Book cover for "Furia"
Star rating for Furia
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Seventeen-year-old Camila Hassan, a rising soccer star in Rosario, Argentina, dreams of playing professionally, in defiance of her fathers' wishes and at the risk of her budding romance with Diego. In Rosario, Argentina, Camila Hassan leads a double life. At home, she is a careful daughter, living within her mother's narrow expectations, in the shadow of her soccer-star brother, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father. On the field,...
Book cover for "The girl on the train"
Star rating for The girl on the train
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning, flashing past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stopping at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. Their life, as she sees it, is perfect ... until she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but now everything is changed. Rachel goes to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in the lives of everyone involved....
Book cover for "The gravity of us"
Star rating for The gravity of us
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
When his volatile father is picked to become an astronaut for NASA's mission to Mars, seventeen-year-old Cal, an aspiring journalist, reluctantly moves from Brooklyn to Houston, Texas, and looks for a story to report, finding an ally (and crush) in Leon, the son of another astronaut. Cal Lewis's volatile father has been picked to become an astronaut for NASA's mission to Mars. This means leaving Brooklyn-- and Cal's career plans as an aspiring journalist--...

17. Grown

Book cover for "Grown"
Star rating for Grown
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"When legendary R&B artist Korey Fields spots 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. Who killed Korey Fields? Before there was a dead body, Enchanted's dreams had turned into a nightmare. Because behind Korey's charm and star power was a controlling dark side. Now he's dead, the police are at the door, and all signs point...
Book cover for "The hand on the wall"
Star rating for The hand on the wall
Series:
Truly Devious volume 3.
Description:
At Ellingham Academy, three people are now dead. One, a victim of either a prank gone wrong or a murder. Another, dead by misadventure. And now, an accident in Burlington has claimed another life. Stevie Bell knows who Truly Devious is-- or thinks she does. But David disappeared of his own free will and is up to something. The missing Alice Ellingham and the missing David Eastman. Somewhere in this place of riddles and puzzles there must be answers....
Book cover for "The henna wars"
Star rating for The henna wars
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Nishat doesn't want to lose her family, but she also doesn't want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat decide to showcase their talent as henna artists. In a fight to prove who is the best, their lives become more tangled--but...
Book cover for "The Kingdom of Back"
Star rating for The Kingdom of Back
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"Desperate to be forever remembered for her music, Nannerl Mozart makes a dangerous pact with a mysterious stranger from a magical land, which may cost her everything"-- Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish: to be remembered forever. She delights audiences with her masterful playing, but has little hope she'll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in 18th century Europe, and that means composing...