Biblio File

NYPL Recommends: New YA

Our Best Books for Teens committee has been busy reading and reviewing 2016 titles. Below are a few of their favorite new comics and graphic novels. For more of their 2016 favorites, see YA Fiction Vol. 1, & Vol. 2 and YA Comics & Graphic novels Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

Realistic Fiction

Breakfast with Neruda
Girl in Pieces
Mirror in the Sky
The Haters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Leaving
The Passion of Dolssa
When We Collided

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast with Neruda by Laura Moe
It’s 1982 and Michael is living in a station wagon performing his mandatory community service when he meets Shelly.
Character-driven, funny, lyrical

Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow
Charlotte is homeless and cutting herself to feel something other than the pain of her sexual abuse.
Character-driven, emotionally intense

Mirror in the Sky by Aditi Khorana
Tara, an Indian-American, straight A student at a Connecticut prep school is the only person of color. Inexplicably she is pulled into the popular circle. Meanwhile, NASA discovers an alternate Earth and as the mirror planet grows people start to react in unexpected ways. 
Culturally diverse, science fiction

The Haters by Jesse Andrews
Three teens escape from jazz camp for a road trip adventure.
Funny

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando
One night in Fort Myers, Florida, six kindergarteners are abducted. Eleven years later, five return.
Multiple perspectives, mystery

The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
Set in mid-thirteenth century Provence, Dolssa is condemned in the Inquisition and hunted by a Friar. Botille is a matchmaker trying to protect her sisters from a witch-hunt. When Botille finds Dolssa near death, she feels compelled to protect her.
Historical fiction, magic realism, multiple perspectives, suspenseful

When We Collided by Emery Lord
Seventeen-year-old Jake contends with a depressed mother and a bi-polar girlfriend.
Love stories, multiple perspectives, character-driven, emotionally intense

Dystopian, Paranormal, Magical, and Science Fiction

Flawed
How to Hang a Witch
Places No One Knows
Shallow Graves

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Forbidden Wish
Two Summers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
In a future world, “imperfect” people are branded for life and ostracized from society.
Dystopian fiction, science fiction, culturally diverse

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather
Fifteen-year-old Samantha Mather moves from New York to Salem, Mass. Unfortunately, Sam is related to Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for the Salem witch trials. The descendants of the “witches” are not welcoming.
Paranormal, creepy, intricately plotted

Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff
Waverly is a perfectionist who cannot sleep. One night she manages to drift off and dreams herself into the bedroom of Marshall Holt, a stoner and slacker with a complicated home life.
Magical realism, multiple perspectives, character-driven

Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace
Breezy Lin was murdered and thrown into a shallow grave. Imagine her surprise when she wakes up a year later and claws her way out.
Paranormal, culturally diverse, LGBTQ, suspenseful

The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury
A romantic retelling of Arabian Knights in which Zahra, the jinni, is released after 500 years imprisonment in a magic lamp.
Historical, fairy tales, romantic

Two Summers by Aimee Friedman
A Sliding Doors story in which Summer spends one summer in Provence with her father and the other upstate with her mother.
Alternate realities, romance

Nonfiction

Being Jazz
Being Jazz

 

Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings
Jazz Jennings has been in the public eye since her family agreed to let her transition at a very young age. Here she relays her experiences in a candid and inspiring memoir.
Biography & memoir

The V-Word True Stories About First-time Sex edited by Amber J. Keyser
A collection of essays by women about loosing their virginity.
Essays & short stories

Comics & Graphic Novels

Forget Me Not
I Am a Hero
 Out of Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forget Me Not. 1 by Mag Hsu
Yusuke wakes up in the hospital after a scooter accident caused by the sight of a mysterious woman from his past.
Mystery, romance

I Am a Hero. Omnibus 1 by Kengo Hanazawa
A manga artist, who possesses a rare thing in Japan, a gun, witnesses the beginning of a zombie apocalypse and must fight to save his city.
Horror, zombies

Lumberjanes Vol. 4: Out of Time by Noelle Stevenson & Shannon Watters
A blizzard hits camp and Jen is separated from the girls. When she finds herself in trouble a mysterious stranger swoops in to save her.
Paranormal, adventure

 Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

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!