Teen

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki – Book Recommendation

| Tasha

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux

  • Publisher: Abrams Fanfare
  • Publication Date: August 19, 2025
  • Reviewed from library copy.
  • ISBN: 9781419768460

Abby is a new transfer student at Wilberton Academy, a high school boarding school for girls. She’s struggled to make friends, especially seeming to antagonize her roommate no matter what she does. In a time before cell phones, Abby spends her time listening to her walkman as she walks the crowded halls. When she sits with one of the theater girls after a school party, she picks up the script that the girl leaves behind. The next morning, that girl is found dead in the woods near the school. Abby refuses to accept that she committed suicide, becoming a target herself for others to accuse. 

A murder mystery nests with a boarding school tale nests with an ode to the 80s nests with a critical look at what being a lesbian meant in that time. This graphic novel deeply explores loneliness, queerness and abuse. It is a layered book, accomplishing so much thanks to the skill used in the graphic format, using the limitations of the time period to create isolation, and a strong main character that readers will adore.

A masterpiece of a teen graphic novel. Appropriate for ages 13-18.

I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This by Eugene Yelchin – Book Recommendation

| Tasha

I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This by Eugene Yelchin (9781536215533)

This incredible sequel to The Genius Under the Table continues Yelchin’s biographical story in graphic format. Yevgeny is living in Leningrad with his mother and grandmother in the same tiny apartment. He is now older, working on his art and doing scenery and design for theater. At an illegal art show, he first meets Lizzy, an American college student working on social justice issues. As the war in Afghanistan begins, Yevgeny is threatened with being drafted, escaping only by heading to Siberia to do theater design there. But there he finds himself institutionalized and abused. 

A grim look at Soviet Russia with a first-hand account of the atrocities that happened at the hands of the KGB and in the name of Mother Russia. Yelchin’s black and white graphic format focuses on faces and characters while Russia forms an often blurred background. It gives the feeling of an old TV with a tightly focused camera. The effect is incredibly personal and offers no way for readers to look away.

One of the best graphic memoirs for teens, this is a must read and can be read as a stand alone. Appropriate for ages 13-18.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Candlewick. 

This Moth Saw Brightness by A. A. Vacharat – Book Review

| Tasha

This Moth Saw Brightness by A. A. Vacharat (9780593698600)

‘Wayne Le is a perfectly normal high school kid, who doesn’t talk much to his father and cares deeply about his younger sister, who isn’t actually related to him. Since his mother left when he was a kid, ‘Wayne hasn’t done much to make his father proud. So when he is selected to be part of a Johns Hopkins study, he sees it as a way to impress his father and also find a way forward in his life since his grades won’t get him into college. But when he starts the study, he steadily realizes that it’s not what he was told at first. Along the way, he meets Jane, a girl from school who he’s had a crush on for years and hasn’t had the courage to speak with. He and Jane, who is also in the study, start to meet regularly to discuss what is happening. Kermit, ‘Wayne’s best friend, is convinced that it’s a vast conspiracy, but what happens when conspiracy theories might just end up being true?

Vacharat has written a multi-layered and gorgeous novel that explores what it means to change who we are and how that happens. She uses a variety of devices in her novel, including prompts from the app in the study, stilted scripts for ‘Wayne’s conversations with his father, and folded paper when Jane speaks to the reader. She has created very human characters, including ‘Wayne who finds himself changing whether due to the study or not, and Jane, who is autistic and makes origami, but is definitely not a manic pixie girl, thank you very much.

Whiplash smart and incredibly engrossing, this novel is unique, insightful and uproariously funny. Appropriate for ages 13+.

Reviewed from library copy.

Beetle & the Chimera Carnival by Aliza Layne – Book Review

| Tasha

Beetle & the Chimera Carnival by Aliza Layne (9781665907484)

This sequel to Beetle and the Hollowbones captures the same spirit as the first. In this new story, Beetle and Kat are looking forward to attending the Chimera Carnival together, an event that happens every ten years. The event draws dragons from across the world to the space. But when Kat and Beetle discover an injured dragon who is crying for their egg to be rescued, they are drawn into a dark mystery that hides behind the celebration. Meanwhile, Beetle’s magic starts to manifest physically in new ways and Kat has to deal with her parents and their expectations for her and her magic. As the threat grows, Kat and Beetle have to figure out who to trust and how to battle a force that could wipe out everyone they love.

Layne does such an amazing job of creating a graphic novel that is both an adventure through a magical realm and also an exploration of the two main characters and their love. This second book explores the world more fully, including Beetle’s goblin magic and a new underground realm. It also has the characters coming out to loved ones and developing their connection to be even closer. The art is filled with purples, oranges and greens, bringing the world, the carnival and the characters to life with color and action.

A dynamic and loving second book in a great graphic novel series. Appropriate for ages 12+.

Reviewed from copy provided by Atheneum.

2025 Locus Award Winners

| Tasha

The winners of the 2025 Locus Awards have been announced. They are the best in science fiction and fantasy and each category has ten finalists that were announced in May. Here is the winner and finalists for the Best Young Adult Novel:

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL WINNER

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee

FINALISTS

Blood Justice by Terry J. Benton-Walker

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White

Fall of the Iron Gods by Olivia Chadha

The Feast Makers by H. A. Clarke

The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko

Rest in Peaches by Alex Brown

Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger

Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

2024 Bram Stoker Award Winners

| Tasha

The winners of the 2024 Stoker Awards have been announced by the Horror Writers Association. Here are the winners in the Middle Grade and YA categories. You can head to Locus to see the winners in all categories.

WINNER SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A MIDDLE GRADE NOVEL (TIE)

The Creepening of Dogwood House by Eden Royce

There’s Something Sinister in Center Field by Robert P. Ottone

FINALISTS

The Curse of Eelgrass Bog by Mary Averling

The No-Brainer’s Guide to Decomposition by Adrianna Cuevas

The Witch in the Woods by Michaelbrent Collings

WINNER SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo by Adam Cesare

FINALISTS

The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington

Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C. Parker

The Losting Fountain by Lora Senf

A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat

2025 YA Book Prize Shortlist

| Tasha

The Bookseller has announced the shortlist for the 2025 YA Book Prize that they run along with the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The award celebrates the best YA fiction from the UK and Ireland. Here are the shorlisted titles:

Apocalypse Cow by O. R. Sorrel

The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle (Available in US)

The End Crowns All by Bea Fitzgerald

Four Eids and a Funeral by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar (Available in US)

Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald

If My Words Had Wings by Danielle Jawando

Lover Birds by Leanne Egan (Available in US)

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson (Available in US)

Songlight by Moira Buffini (Available in US)

Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan (Available in US)

Hat tip to LoveReading4Kids.

All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson – Book Review

| Tasha

All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson (9781547605897)

Sage’s entire life changed on her thirteenth birthday. It was the day her best friend was killed by a drunk driver as she walked to Sage’s house. Now Sage is lost in her grief and ashamed of the way she treated her friend on the day she died. Sage has joined a counseling group at school with other girls who have experienced recent deaths of loved ones. As Sage and the other girls process their grief together, there are moments of sadness, anger and somehow friendship manages to grow too.

This is one of the best and most piercing depictions of grief for teens that I have ever read. I appreciate that that book moves beyond blame, shame and anger to also show healing and good things happening. Newbery Honor winning author, Watson, has written this book in a dynamic mixture of prose and verse, allowing real feelings to be shown bare and honest on the page. All of the processing of grief and healing feels organic and true as readers see the various shades of blue that grief entails.

One of the best teen novels about grief, get this one in your collection. Appropriate for ages 12+.

Reviewed from library copy.

I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins – Book Review

| Tasha

I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins (9780593623862)

Nell knows that her magic is going to appear soon since woman in her family gets their magic at age fifteen. Each woman’s is unique to them. Her mother changes ages constantly, her grandmother can feel every room in the house she is in, her aunt’s hair whispers secrets to her. Perhaps the worst of them is Nell’s sister, Mora, who bleeds music and who uses razor blades to release it from her body. Mora is now in the hospital to get help, and Nell fears what her own magic will do to her. When her magic arrives as insects that reveal the emotions that Nell is unable to feel, Nell doesn’t know what to do. The blue stick insects are her sadness, the ladybugs are her creativity, but worst are the wasps that are her rage. Can Nell manage to lock away her emotions deep inside to keep the wasps from coming again? Or can she find a way to feel these dangers emotions somehow?

This verse novel is simply incredible. Chewins writes a book of raw and edgy verse that demands that we see beyond the magic to the truth of each person’s experience. The verse lays bare Nell’s experience, including the abuse that she refuses to acknowledge and the trauma of her family because and despite the magic they have. The use of insects adds a creepy beauty to the book, enough to make your skin itch but also be in awe of the spectacle.

Furious, beautiful and dangerous, this verse novel insists on being heard. Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from library copy.