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Teen Book Spotlight--Elyse's Favorites (Part 1)!!!!

Our teen book spotlight this week is on books that are some of my all time favorites!!! These are the books that kept me reading till 3:00 in the morning (we have all been there before), left me speechless and filled with emotions (including some crying on the couch), wanting to talk about it with someone instantly, and then telling everyone else they have to read it!  Some of these books are standalone titles while a few start a series; this was such a hard list to make.  These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #elyse’sfavorites as well as on Libby and Hoopla.  Check back next week for a new teen book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds--As Will, fifteen, sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys--In 1941, during WWII and Joseph Stalin's reign, Soviet officers arrest a gifted artist, 15-year-old Lina and her family. While her father faces the death camp, Lina, her mother and younger brother get shoved onto a crowded, dirty boxcar and are deported to a Siberian work camp. Lina and her fellow prisoners must endure many difficulties -- the harsh climate, unsanitary conditions, disease and hunger. At great risk, Lina documents her experiences through her meticulous drawings and passes them along to other deportees, hoping they'll reach her father in his Soviet prison.

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson--Princess Lia is the First Daughter of a kingdom where she is expected to have the gift of sight. She does not. Her royal parents have perpetuated the sham that she does, long enough to secure an advantageous marriage to a prince Lia has never met. On the morning of her wedding, Lia and her friend Pauline flee to a coastal city where she takes on the identity of a barmaid. Two handsome men show up, Rafe and Kaden, to whom Lia feels instant attraction. What she doesn't know is that one is the prince she has jilted and the other is an assassin sent to kill her.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare--Suddenly able to see demons and the Shadowhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into a bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka--A graphic novel memoir by author and illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka who describes growing up with an addict mother, a missing father, and two opinionated grandparents who raised him. Describes how Krosoczka relied on his art to express himself and to survive the ups and downs of life.

The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candace Fleming--First human to cross the Atlantic via airplane; one of the first American media sensations; Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite; loner whose baby was kidnapped and murdered; champion of Eugenics, the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding; tireless environmentalist. Charles Lindbergh was all of the above and more. Here is a rich, multi-faceted, utterly spellbinding biography about an American hero who was also a deeply flawed man.