Calvert Library's Book Bites for Teens

One teenager in a skirt. One teenager with a lighter. One moment that changes both of their lives forever. If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.

As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story.

Today’s story is a fantasy about six young individuals who have been sent on a mission to pull off the greatest heist of all time. Amazon.com’s reviewer calls it “a vivid, entertaining fantasy that boldly captures the imagination and leaves an impression well after the novel’s cliff-hanger ending.”

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian—half, his mom’s side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life.

Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn’t exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they’re spending their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city’s skyline. Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

Sixteen-year-old Dove "Birdie" Randolph's close bond with her parents is threatened by a family secret, and by hiding her relationship with Booker, who has been in juvenile detention.

In today’s story, a young teen has the ability to see the date anyone will die. Using her gift as a psychic, she learns that a client’s missing son isn’t long for this world. With the help of a new friend, she must attempt to save him before his doomed date comes up.

In today’s story, a teenager faced with a boring, carless summer gets dragged into her grandmother’s plot to “kidnap” a friend from a nursing home and join her classmates at their college reunion.

Fourteen year old Sophronia Temminnick is more interested in climbing trees and dismantling clocks than becoming a proper young lady. So her mother enrolls her in the prestigious Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, where Sophronia learns the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette… and also death, diversion, and espionage.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell starts school at the prestigious Ellingham Academy, dead-set on solving a decades old murder. Told through two interwoven mysteries, Stevie discovers mystery, danger, and intrigue at the peculiar school. Truly Devious is the first novel in a trilogy.