Our teen book spotlight this week is all about Tales That Woke!! A Woke Book is defined as a book that seeks to challenge social norms, give voice to the voiceless, provide information about groups that have been disenfranchised, disrupt the status quo, and share perspectives from underrepresented or oppressed groups. These books feature characters that have not been traditionally featured in books but need to be because everyone needs to see themselves in a book while also providing an opportunity to readers to gain insights into the lives of others! This week we have some fiction and nonfiction, realistic and historical! These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #yawoke as well as on Libby and Hoopla.
The 2021 Summer Reading Program takes place from June 5th-August 11th with a new theme and badge activities every week. Make sure to watch the Teen Book Spotlight book talk video for this week as it counts towards your badge activities for the week; if you read one of the titles featured or on the tagged list, that counts as another activity as well!!! Earn the weekly themed badges to get your virtual tickets which can be turned into opportunities to win prizes! For more information--such as to sign up or to sign in to your account in order to track your books and activities--visit our Summer Reading page and click “LOG IN NOW”.
Check back next week for a new teen book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Yes, No, Maybe So by Becky Albertalli--Childhood friends Maya Rehman, a Pakistani American Muslim, and Jamie Goldberg, a white Jewish boy, both seventeen, are thrust together while canvassing door-to-door for a progressive Senate candidate. As the two realize they may have feelings for each other, they face not only challenges at home but also a political bill that calls for "a partial ban on head and facial coverings while participating in certain public activities."
Marcelo In the Real World by Francisco X. Stork--Narrating Stork's stunning novel is Marcelo Sandoval, a bright, high-functioning autistic 17-year-old boy who has the uncanny ability to hear music internally. Marcelo's differences go unchallenged at the special school he attends, but this changes when Marcelo's lawyer father decides that Marcelo needs some real world experience. Becoming a mailroom worker at his father's law firm, Marcelo faces new obstacles and learns about life's dilemmas, from romance and desire to competition and injustice.
The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg--It is summer in Phoenix, and seventeen-year-old Maximo offers to help Jordan, a fellow student in high school, with the food truck that belonged to Jordan's deceased father, and which may be the only thing standing between homelessness for Jordan and his mom; the boys are strongly attracted to each other, but as their romance develops it is threatened by the secrets they are hiding--and by the racism and homophobia of those around them.
Stamped by Jason Reynolds--This adaptation of Ibram X. Kendi's "Stamped From the Beginning" explores the history of racist ideas in America by examining the lives of notable historical figures, from Cotton Mather and Thomas Jefferson to W.E.B. Du Bois and Angela Davis. Discusses how racist ideas spread and how they are also discredited.
Girl In Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow--Seventeen-year-old Charlie is hospitalized because she suffers from a self-injury disorder—she's a cutter. When she's released prematurely, Charlie has to find her own way out of the dark place she's in after suffering tremendous loss and abuse. And her will to survive may be her only hope in overcoming the cruel hand life has dealt her.
Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac--Six-year-old Ned Begay leaves his Navajo home for boarding school where he learns the English language and American ways. At 16, he enlists in the Marines during World War II and is trained as a code taker, using his native language to radio battlefield information and commands in a code that was kept secret until 1969. Ned tells of his experiences in Hawaii, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The book, addressed to Ned's grandchildren, ends with an author's note about the code talkers as well as lengthy acknowledgments and a bibliography.