The first few months of 2016 have produced some exceptional new young-adult fiction. Here’s a handful of the titles we’re most excited about—newly arrived in our system and ready for checkout.

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
Henry Denton gets abducted by aliens. Often. And they’ve given him a choice: Press a button and stop the world from being destroyed, or… don’t. Henry has to decide whether the world is worth saving.

 

 

 

 

Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura
This manga series was originally published in Japan in 2009, and it’s finally made it into an English translation. It’s light and quick, with lovely art, but Higashimura touches on a deeper theme: a group of outsiders finding like-minded friends and feeling less alone because of it. Perfect for any teen who feels like an outcast.

 

 

 

 

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
This novel’s setting—a small town in rural Tennessee, named after the founder of the KKK—is incredibly vivid, infused in the compelling story of the son of an imprisoned snake-handling preacher and his misfit friends. Their multiple perspectives switch throughout the book, letting readers into each of their heads. It's a beautiful story, painful, and raw. Move over, John Green; Zentner is coming for you.

 

 

 

Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
Dread looms over every part of this book, which takes place in Queens in summer 1977—the Summer of Sam and during the time of the wave of arson sweeping New York City. Nora Lopez has to cope with the fires and the killer on the loose, as well as some threats closer to home: her brother's unpredictable violence, her mother's helplessness, her father's indifference, and her own ambivalence about her future.

 

 

 

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle
Federle is well known as a children’s writer for his Better Nate than Ever series, but the characters in his first YA offering are dealing with grown-up problems: the death of a sibling, coming out, and much more.

 

 

 

 

The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
A story about growing up in Alaska in the 1970s, poor and cold in a very difficult and unforgiving place.

 

 

 

 

 

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Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!