Teen Books: Contemporary | Book List

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  Teen Books: Contemporary  
A Constellation of Minor Bears

Jen Ferguson - Heartdrum
Format: Hardcover

Award-winning author Jen Ferguson has written a powerful story about teens grappling with balancing resentment with enduring friendship - and how to move forward with a life that's not what they'd imagined. Before that awful Saturday, Molly used to be inseparable from her brother,...
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With Love, Miss Americanah

Jane Igharo - Feiwel & Friends
Format: Hardcover

With Love, Miss Americanah -- the Young Adult contemporary romance debut from Jane Igharo -- sees a teenager move from Nigeria to America and navigate her senior year with the help of classic teen movies and a new crush, all while working through grief and the rigid expectations of her mother.....
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Made Glorious

Lindsay Eagar - Candlewick
Format: Hardcover

In a vicious, delicious contemporary novel inspired by Shakespeare's Richard III, thelauded author of The Family Fortuna lifts the curtain on a high school thespian who'll stop at nothing to land the lead.. Rory is an antihero for the ages. Like Shakespeare's Richard III, she confides...
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Ariel Crashes a Train

Olivia A. Cole - Labyrinth Road
Format: Hardcover

"A gorgeously kind, wonderfully gentle, and unfailingly compassionate depiction of OCD...bursting with light." - Ashley Woodfolk, critically acclaimed author of NOTHING BURNS AS BRIGHT AS YOU. Exploring the harsh reality of OCD and violent intrusive thoughts in stunning, lyrical...
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There Is a Door in this Darkness

Kristin Cashore - Dutton Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

A magic-tinged contemporary YA about grief and hope from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of the Graceling Realm novels. Wilhelmina Hart is part of the infamous class of 2020. Her high school years began with the election of Donald Trump and they ended with COVID. Now Wilhelmina,...
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Shut Up, This Is Serious

Carolina Ixta - Quill Tree Books
Format: Hardcover

An unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with messy complexities, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Erika L. Sánchez.Belén Dolores Itzel del Toro wants the normal stuff: to experience love or maybe...
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This Is Me Trying

Racquel Marie - Feiwel & Friends
Format: Hardcover

Perfect for fans of Nina LaCour, This is Me Trying is a profound and tender YA contemporary novel exploring grief, love, and guilt from author Racquel Marie. Growing up, Bryce, Beatriz, and Santiago were inseparable. But when Santiago moved away before high school, their friendship crumbled....
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Forever Is Now

Mariama J. Lockington - Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Format: Hardcover

A poignant and lyrical young adult novel-in-verse about a Black teen coming of age in an anxiety-inducing world, from the author of For Black Girls Like Me and In the Key of Us.. I'm safe here.. That's how Sadie feels, on a perfect summer day, wrapped in her girlfriend's arms....
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Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim

Patricia Park - Crown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

A multicultural teen struggles to fit into her elite prep school, her diverse Queens neighborhood, and even her own home. A hilarious, poignant, and powerful YA novel from the award-winning author of Re Jane. "Simply brilliant!" - David Yoon, New York Times best-selling author...
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Dear Wendy

Ann Zhao - Square Fish
Format: Paperback

An Instant Indie Bestseller! "The platonic love story of my dreams!" -- Alice Oseman, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Heartstopper. Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual college students, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends...
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The Boyfriend Wish

Swati Teerdhala - Katherine Tegen Books
Format: Hardcover

A charming romantic comedy about a South Indian American teen girl who makes a wish upon a flower for her perfect boyfriend ... and then a new boy moves in right next door. With love triangles, prank wars, and a sizzling sweet romance - this is perfect for fans of Sandhya Menon and Jenny...
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Kween

Vichet Chum - Quill Tree Books
Format: Hardcover

A searing, joyful YA debut about a queer Cambodian American teen's journey to find her voice and step into her legacy, perfect for fans of Ibi Zoboi and Elizabeth Acevedo.Soma Kear's verses have gone viral. Trouble is, she didn't exactly think her slam poetry video through....
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House Party

justin a. reynolds - Joy Revolution
Format: Hardcover

Ten bestselling, critically acclaimed authors deliver a fresh novel of interconnected stories that follows a group of young adults over the course of a few wild, transformative hours at an epic house party!. The biggest event of the year is happening, and you're invited! Join us for Florence...
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No Boy Summer

Amy Spalding - Amulet Books
Format: Hardcover

Lydia and her younger sister Penny make a pact to avoid boy drama for the summer - but Lydia can't help looking for a loophole when she falls for a cute girl. Lydia Jones and her younger sister Penny have had it with boy drama. Last year was marred by relationship disasters for both...
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Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution

KACEN CALLENDER - Amulet Books
Format: Hardcover

From National Book Award-winner Kacen Callender, a contemporary YA that follows Lark's journey to speak the truth and discover how their own self-love can be a revolution Lark Winters wants to be a writer, and for now that means posting on their social media accounts--anything to build...
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Love & Resistance

Kara H.L. Chen - Quill Tree Books
Format: Hardcover

Moxie meets Mary H.K. Choi in this funny, whip-smart YA debut about love, resistance, and the enduring friendships that make it all worthwhile. Seventeen-year-old Olivia Chang is at her fourth school in seven years. Her self-imposed solitude is lonely but safe. At Plainstown High, however,...
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Briarcliff Prep

Brianna Peppins - Disney-Hyperion
Format: Hardcover

Set at a luxe, aspirational boarding school inspired by the author's beloved alma mater Spelman College, this debut is a captivating celebration of the friends we choose, the family we protect, and the love we owe ourselves.It's fourteen-year-old Avielle "Avi" LeBeau's...
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Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl

Joya Goffney - HarperTeen
Format: Hardcover

Joya Goffney, author of the acclaimedExcuse Me While I Ugly Cry,delivers a powerful second novel about a preacher's daughter in small-town Texas and her journey toward loving herself and her body, filled with heart, humor, family drama, and a dynamic love triangle.Perfect for fans ofNot...
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Kings of B'more

R ERIC THOMAS - ‎Kokila
Format: Hardcover

Two Black queer best friends face their last day together with an epic journey through Baltimore in this magnetic YA debut by bestselling author of Here for It R. Eric Thomas.With junior year starting in the fall, Harrison feels like he's on the precipice of, well, everything. Standardized...
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The Chandler Legacies

Abdi Nazemian - Balzer Bray
Format: Book

A novel about the enclosed world of privilege and silence at an elite boarding school and the unlikely group of friends who dare challenge the status quo through their writing.

Beth Kramer is a “townie” who returns to her sophomore...

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TJ Powar Has Something to Prove

JESMEEN KAUR DEO - Viking Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

A charming rom-com about high school debater TJ Powar who - after becoming the subject of an ugly meme - makes a resolution to stop shaving, plucking, and waxing, and prove that she can be her hairy self and still be beautiful...but soon finds this may be her most difficult debate yet....
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Queen of the Tiles

Hanna Alkaf
Format: Hardcover

They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen's Gambit in the world of competitive Scrabble when a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.CATALYST 13 points noun:...
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Gideon Green in Black and White

Katie Henry
Format: Hardcover

Truly Devious meets Turtles All the Way Down in critically acclaimed author Katie Henry's YA contemporary comedic mystery, a hilarious send-up of the hardboiled detective genre that spotlights family, friendship, and love. Gideon's short-lived run as a locally famous boy detective...
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Running

Sylvester, Natalia - CLARION BOOKS

When fifteen-year-old Cuban American Marianna Ruiz's father runs for president, Mari starts to see him with new eyes. A novel about waking up and standing up, and what happens when you stop seeing your dad as your hero--while the whole country is watching.
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Not So Pure and Simple

Lamar Giles - Quill Tree Books
Format: Hardcover

An Indie Next List Pick!In his first contemporary teen novel, critically acclaimed author and two-time Edgar Award finalist Lamar Giles spotlights the consequences of societal pressure, confronts toxic masculinity, and explores the complexity of what it means to be a "real man."Del...
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Once Upon a Quinceaera

Monica Gomez-Hira
Format: Hardcover

"Eighteen-year-old Carmen takes on a summer internship that has her reuniting with estranged family for an over-the-top quinceanera, reluctantly reconnecting to a long-lost ex-boyfriend, and finding happiness in the chaos"--
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When You Were Everything

Woodfolk, Ashley - DELACORTE PR

For fans of Nina LaCour's We Are Okay and Adam Silvera's History Is All You Left Me, this heartfelt and ultimately uplifting novel follows one sixteen-year-old girl's friend breakup through two concurrent timelines--ultimately proving that even endings can lead to new beginnings....
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After the Shot Drops

Randy Ribay - HMH Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

A powerful novel about friendship, basketball, and one teen's mission to create a better life for his family. Written in the tradition of Jason Reynolds, Matt de la Pea, and Walter Dean Myers, After the Shot Drops now has 3 starred reviews! * "Belongs on the shelf alongside...
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Alma Presses Play

Tina Cane - Make Me a World
Format: Hardcover

Alma's life is a series of halfways: She's half-Chinese, half-Jewish; her parents spend half the time fighting, and the other half silent; and she's halfway through becoming a woman. But as long as she can listen to her Walkman, hang out with her friends on the stoops of the Village,...
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Where You See Yourself

Claire Forrest - Scholastic Press
Format: Ebook

By the time Effie Galanos starts her senior year, it feels like she’s already been thinking about college applications for an eternity―after all, finding a college that will be the perfect fit and be accessible enough for Effie to navigate in her wheelchair presents...

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