Teen

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun – Book Recommendation

| Tasha

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: October 7, 2025

Reviewed from library copy.

ISBN: 9780593904879

Soojin has lost her mother to a car accident years ago and now has lost her older sister who was found drowned in the river. In Soojin’s family, the women have a unique gift of being able to bring small animals back from the dead. Cautioned her entire life from using her power to bring back people, Soojin’s grief leads to do the unthinkable and bring back Mirae. The two sisters must hide what Soojin has done and as time goes by, the choice she made changes them both. Mirae becomes more vengeful and deaths start happening in town. Soojin begins to sicken as the toll of using the power becomes clear. Can the two sisters survive this? Should they?

Filled with the currents of grief and loss, this book triumphs. Using the river and water as a constant rush in the reader’s ears, the book is a dark and destructive look at what grief can cause people to do and how it is impossible to move on, particularly if you are keeping the dead alive. The use of Korean traditions throughout the book strengthens the magic of the sisters and makes the horror all the more palpable on the page. Additionally, the book has themes that take on racism in their small town and women taking back power from abusive men.

A marvelous slow-burn horror novel that will carry you into the depths. Appropriate for ages 13+.

Raised by Ghosts by Briana Loewinsohn – Book Recommendation

| Tasha

Raised by Ghosts by Briana Loewinsohn 

Publisher: Fantagraphics

Publication Date: February 4, 2025 

Reviewed from library copy

ISBN: 9798875000508

Set in the early 1990s, this graphic memoir tells the story of the author’s middle school and high school years. Raised by divorced parents who could not be more different from one another and yet are both absent from her life, Briana spends much of her time alone. She eats dinner alone, draws and writes in her closet, and listens to her mother complain about her on the phone to other people. Her days are filled with time with her friends, listening to music on her mix tapes, struggles at school. The book doesn’t offer a bright ending, but rather offers space and a way forward through art and writing that Briana found.

The art in this graphic novel is not the brightly colored, poppy graphics one might expect in a YA graphic work. Rather, it is powerfully dark, stormy on the page, filled with isolation and frustration. The images echo the subject matter beautifully, creating a unique reading experience. The setting of the 1990s, speaks to the differences time brings. There are no cell phones, no ways to check in when waiting to be picked up, and adults will find themselves and their own childhoods shared here.

Deep, thoughtful and powerfully quiet. Appropriate for ages 13+.

Barnes & Noble Best Young Adult Books of 2025

| Tasha

Barnes & Noble have announced their best book lists for the year. Here are their picks for the top YA books of 2025:

An Archive of Romance by Ava Reid

The Demon and the Light by Axie Oh

Eternal Ruin by Tigest Girma

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter

Fearful by Lauren Roberts

A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim

Grim and Oro by Alex Aster

Hazelthorn by CG Drews

I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang

Oathbound by Tracy Deonn

The Rose Field by Philip Pullman

Seven Deadly Thorns by Amber Hamilton

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Wings of Starlight by Allison Saft

You’ve Found Oliver by Dustin Thao

Amazon’s Top 20 Teen & Young Adult Books of 2025

| Tasha

Amazon has announced their lists of best books for 2025. Here are their picks for the top 20 YA books of 2025:

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen

Balancing Act by Paula Chase

Bitten by Jordan Stephanie Gray

Coldwire by Chloe Gong

The Crimson Throne by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter

Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause

Hekate: The Witch by Nikita Gill

Hour of the Pumpkin Queen by Megan Shepherd

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

Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan

Nightweaver by R. M. Gray

The Rose Field by Philip Pullman

Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley

Soulmatch by Rebecca Danzenbaker

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Watch Me by Tahereh Mafi

We Fell Apart by E. Lockhart

When We Ride by Rex Ogle

Publishers Weekly Best Young Adult Books of 2025

| Tasha

Publishers Weekly has announced their list of best books for 2025. Here are the selected books in YA:

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen

A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum

Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming

The Leaving Room by Amber McBride

One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller

Reasons to Hate Me by Susan Metallo

Reasons We Break by Jesmeen Kaur Deo

Run Away with Me by Brian Selznick

Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue

Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Nicole Goux

The Tournament by Rebecca Barrow

Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr

Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire by Don Martin – Book Recommendation

| Tasha

Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire by Don Martin

Publisher: Page Street YA

Publication Date: August 5, 2025

Reviewed from library copy

ISBN: 9798890032706

Verity is a young witch in the middle of her witch training where she has left home and spends each year in a new place. She is just ending a lovely year living near a bakery when a leaf appears to beckon her to her new assignment. Foxfire is a village separated from the world since their bridge was destroyed, leaving them isolated. To make it worse, there is a creature who has laid a curse upon them, ruining their crops, leaving them hungry and desperate. It is into this village that Verity arrives. Her magic will not be trusted to be helpful and she must find ways to take on the creature ruling over the town who continues to make deals with villagers where they often never return. 

There are so many witch books, so please don’t assume this is just another one that you’ve read before. Martin has created a witch who has real power, real duties to service and a connection to the natural world that reads with such deep roots that it will echo in your bones. His story is marvelously complex both in the characters and their motivations and in the magical structures he employs. Nothing is simple for the reader or Verity in Foxfire, which is challenging and delightful. Add in a touch of romance and this is fire.

Impossible to put down, this is one of the best teen witch books out there. Appropriate for ages 12-18.

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.