Reading promotes critical thinking, empathy and curiosity and provides young minds with the tools to navigate the complexities of life. In a world saturated with digital distractions, a good book allows teens to connect with characters and storylines that resonate with their own experiences and emotions. Here are a few book picks for teens.
Miss. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience.
Sneakers
by Rodrigo Corral , Alex French & Howie Kahn
An absolute necessity for design devotees and sneakerheads of all ages. Sneakers is a definitive exploration of the cultural phenomenon of sneakers, now 85-billion-dollar-a-year industry. This gift-worthy book features 320 pages of photos and interviews with industry gurus, sports legends, and celebrities in a stunning package created by celebrated designer Rodrigo Corral.
We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart
A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
The Maze Runner
by James Dashner
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone. Outside the towering stone walls that surround them is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive. Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying: Remember. Survive. Run.
Variant
by Robison Wells
Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life. He was wrong. Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence, where video cameras monitor his every move—and where breaking the rules equals death. All Benson wants is to find a way out. But when he stumbles upon the real secret the school has been hiding, he realizes that escape may be impossible.
The Paper Girl of Paris
by Jordyn Taylor
Sixteen-year-old Alice is spending the summer in Paris, but she isn’t there for pastries and walks along the Seine. When her grandmother passed away two months ago, she left Alice an apartment in France that no one knew existed. An apartment that has been locked for more than 70 years. Alice is determined to find out why the apartment was abandoned. With the help of Paul, a charming Parisian student, she sets out to uncover the truth.
The Mortal Instruments Book 1: City of Bones
by Cassandra Clare
Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is introduced to the world of the Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world and back to their own.
The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
by Rick Riordan
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school…again. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really be expected to stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he’s not even sure he believes himself. Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp.
Who Moved My Cheese?
by Spencer Johnson
A group of old school friends meet to catch up. They end up discussing the unexpected, unforeseen changes to their lives, and one friend offers to tell a story about adapting to change. The story he tells involves four characters, two mice named Sniff and Scurry, and two “Littlepeople” named Hem and Haw. All of them are in a maze, looking for cheese, which they need to survive. For the “Littlepeople”, cheese also has a larger, metaphysical connotation in the sense that it also makes them happy – their Cheese is thus spelled with a capital C.
