Our teen book spotlight this week is on books that feature music!! If you are anything like me then you love music; there always has to be some sort of song or rhythm going on in the background (because when it is quiet it is so weird) so why not have that carry over to what we read? All of these titles have music woven throughout, some even with their own playlist, and we have an amazing offering of realistic, mystery, and even nonfiction so there is something for everyone. These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #yamusicalstories 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!!
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas--Sixteen-year-old Bri hopes to become a great rapper, and after her first song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, must decide whether to sell out or face eviction with her widowed mother.
The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk--Autumn was a talented artist, Shay was a twin sister who loved music, and Logan wrote songs when his love life was less than perfect. After tragedy strikes the three teens, Autumn sends messages that she knows will never be answered, Shay blogs but can't keep it together, and Logan keeps watching vlogs of his dead ex-boyfriend. It will take one band's music to show them that beauty grows in loved ones left behind.
Spin by Lamar Giles--DJ ParSec, a local music legend, is found murdered over her turntables. Two girls find her, Kya--her pre-fame best friend--and current groupie Fuse. The investigation soon slows down as the police lose interest, so Kya and Fuse, despite their intense hatred of one another, join together to figure out who killed their friend.
Solo by Kwame Alexander--17-year-old Blade Morrison is the son of rock star Rutherford Morrison whose erratic behavior has been blasted on tabloid and magazine covers for years. Blade's mother has been dead for a decade. His sister embraces the edgy lifestyle that comes with being the child of a drugged-out, bad-boy rock star. But Blade wants more. And when he learns he's actually adopted, he sees a glimmer of hope in finding his birth mother—a journey that takes him to a small village in Ghana.
Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson--During Hitler's three-year siege of Leningrad beginning in 1941, over one million of the city's citizens perished from violence and starvation. People resorted to burning their furniture and even their floorboards to keep warm during the brutal winters, unable to seek refuge outside their formerly thriving metropolis that had become a city of the dead. Award-winning author Anderson chronicles not only the horrors experienced by the citizens of Leningrad, but the compelling symphony to which the tragedy gave birth. Famed composer Dmitri Shostakovich began composing the Leningrad symphony during the bombardment and finished it in Moscow. The symphony was then performed triumphantly in Leningrad while the siege still raged, a homage to the countless lives lost and destroyed.
Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell--Because living with "modern-hippy" parents on a goat farm means fourteen-year-old Janie Gorman cannot have a normal high school life, she tries joining Jam Band, making friends with Monster, and spending time with elderly former civil rights workers.