15 Books to Read Next in Your Teen Book Club

THEMES: School social systems, toxic masculinity, mental health, social status divisions

Gary Vo is a Vietnamese-American soon-to-be junior high schooler. Gary and his friend Preston have been at the bottom of the social totem pole forever, and Preston is determined that this is the summer they rise up the ranks. So when they’re approached by two popular classmates with an offer to join their group, the boys are all ears! The task is to steal a bracelet from Gloria Buenrostro (a popular, but mysterious A+ student) so the boys can add it to their collections of tokens from “the hottest girls” in school. Easy enough, no? That is until Gary Vo befriends Gloria and realizes that there’s more to her than meets the eye. Gloria Buenrostro Is Not My Girlfriend is a richly layered, relatable teen novel about what it means to be a man and how to be a good friend. Ages 12+

DISCUSSION GUIDE on Brandon Hoang’s website.

THEMES: Mortality, ethics, humanity, good vs evil

This dystopian YA book is at once chilling, thought-provoking, and compulsively readable. Set in a world where humans have conquered sickness, death, and all threats to life but now have appointed scythes to manage the population by gleaning humans periodically, this book follows two unwilling teens selected as apprentice scythes and their journey to attaining the position — or will they? Ages 12+

READING GUIDE and discussion activities on the Simon & Schuster website.

THEMES: Nepotism, privilege, conformity in Black communities, socio-economic divisions

Keeping It Real follows Marigold Johnson, daughter of the media moguls who own Flexx Unlimited. Marigold’s friend and crush, Justice, hates their private school, where both kids are part of the token number of Black kids. Marigold, on the other hand, tries to conform to white expectations and fit in with the kids, and both she and Justice quarrel about this regularly. When Justice and Marigold get into her parents’ Teen Fashion program, one girl, Kara, can’t seem to stand Marigold. Add that to the tension between Marigold and Justice, and Mari’s summer internship seems more stressful than inspiring. This is a riveting upper middle grade book about family, privilege, and conformity in the Black community. Ages 10+

DISCUSSION GUIDE: Paula has an impressive chapter-by-chapter discussion guide with character analysis and writing assessment suggestions.

THEMES: Friendships, first love, adjusting to changes, nostalgia, making and preserving memories

Best friends Agnes and Daisy have the best summer planned until Agnes’s mother announces that they’re moving. Agnes is crushed but finds relief in re-enacting a list of favorite activities from their childhood as documented in a scrapbook. Unfortunately, her plan meets a hitch when Daisy meets and falls in love with Noah and is now torn between spending time with her first love and spending the last 8 weeks of summer with Agnes. I LOVED this story. I was super invested in these girls’ friendship and found myself sympathizing with both of them as they went through pivotal moments. This is a lovely graphic novel for older middle schoolers and high schoolers about friendship, adjusting to changes, and navigating first love. The illustrations are gorgeous! 2-3 instances of strong language. Ages 13+

ACTIVITY IDEAS: Making a friendship scrapbook, point-of-view exercises, converting graphics to prose

THEMES: Capitalism, the value of emotions, community, the power of memories

Set in the year 2460, this dystopian romance follows a memory merchant and the rookie police officer set on her tail in hyper-capitalist Boston. With phenomenal worldbuilding, swoony romance, and plenty to think about in terms of valuing community and presence over capitalism, this is a fantastic pick for your dystopia (and romance) fans ages 13 and up. (Some mild language.)

DISCUSSION GUIDE: Available on Jill Tew’s website.

THEMES: Black history erasure, mother-daughter relationships, the value of research

When Noni’s mom insists on moving them to a small town in rural Virginia for historical research, she feels like her whole life has been interrupted. Still, she’s in for some major surprises as the two end up discovering life-changing family secrets. This is a fresh story (I’ve never read anything like this for teens!) that manages to weave history and mystery together beautifully. While the story has a bit of a slower start, there are so many surprising plot points to keep young readers going and the second half of this book is absolutely explosive with all the reveals–totally worth the wait. With so many nuanced side characters and an empowering narrative, this is an excellent pick for readers ages 13+

DISCUSSION GUIDE: Coming soon on the author’s website!

THEMES: Family, immigration challenges, identity, coming-of-age, inter-generational relationships

Follow four generations of Filipino men from 1930 to 2020 in Ribay’s riveting YA novel. Through daily walks, Emil, Chris, and Enzo find their way back to each other. This moving story melds historical fiction with a contemporary storyline, shedding light on the history of Filipino Americans while highlighting the challenges some teens may face in their relationships with their parents. Really liked this, despite several F-word uses. Recommended for readers ages 13+

DISCUSSION GUIDE: On the Penguin Classroom website.

THEMES: WWII, overcoming prejudice, friendship

Leo, Elsa, and Max are three friends in 1930s Vienna, Austria when Hitler’s reign begins to spread through Europe. Elsa’s family flees to Prague, Leo’s family remains in Austria, and Max and his Nazi-supporting father move to Munich. Told from all three perspectives, we follow the three teens in this heartwrenching story as they navigate these turbulent times and attempt to find a way back to each other. Ages 12+

ACTIVITY IDEAS: Learn about the challenges faced during the Nazi regime in Germany

THEMES: Class, feminism, the broken justice system, and the “boys will be boys” mentality

Five private school teen boys go target shooting, and one of them ends up dead, shot by his own gun — with the fingerprints of all four friends on the gun. All the boys claim they don’t know what happened. The story is told from two perspectives: that of the unknown killer and that of a schoolmate in the new public school the boys attend. Kate also happened to be regularly texting the boy who was killed and works at the DA’s office, where she’s helping the DA with his investigation since he has very poor eyesight. As things progress, it seems nothing is as it seems, both with Kate and with the boys in question, and Kate gets more involved as the stakes get higher in finding the killer. This is a gripping mystery for fans of McManus’s One of Us Is Lying that tackles pressing contemporary issues.

ACTIVITY IDEAS: Character analysis, plenty to debate about ethics and loyalty

THEMES: Black history, racism, activism, colorism, secrets

When Calvin and his parents move from Chicago to the Levittown suburbs in Pennsylvania, he’s torn between leaving his culture and older brother behind in the black neighborhoods and assimilating into the all-white neighborhood. Meeting and falling for the new black girl in his town doesn’t help as he finds himself caught up in organizing to get more Black teens into his school. But things quickly turn dangerous for him and his friends as loyalties are tested across the board. Ages 12+

DISCUSSION GUIDE: On the Random House website.

THEMES: Indigenous culture, Missing Indigenous women, sibling bonds, cultural identity, drug abuse

This young adult thriller for fans of McManus’s One of Us is Lying follows four Native teenagers under suspicion for the murder of a classmate. It integrates the Missing Indigenous Women issue with other challenges of Native Americans, one of the teens is half Native, and another one is raising his sister because his drug-addict father has abandoned them. I loved seeing the way this mystery came together, and the reveal was definitely worth waiting for. Ages 12+

DISCUSSION GUIDE: On K.A. Cobell’s website

THEMES: Grief, immigration, family, love stories, American high school experience, Nigerian culture

I loved this coming-of-age YA story by adult romance writer Jane Igharo. It’s all about Enore whose mother and sister have moved with her to the US after her father’s death. Terrified of all the new changes, Enore watches over 50 American teen movies to prepare her for high school but soon realizes that real life isn’t like the movies. This one is angsty, swoony, heartfelt, and feel-good, with many nods to classic and contemporary teen movies, plenty of Broadway love, and authentic insight into Nigerian culture. There is a fair amount of language in this one, so I’d say ages 13+

ACTIVITY IDEAS: Watching American teen movies Enore watches and discussing

THEMES: Luck, socio-economic differences, mental illness, being biracial, money and friendships

17-year-old Rico has a lot on her plate. She works the afternoon shift at the Gas n Go and spends the rest of her free time looking after her little brother and trying to cushion the effects of her mom’s poor financial decisions on their family. But when the owner of a winning lottery ticket purchased from her doesn’t show up to claim the prize, Rico is forced to partner with her wealthy (and wildly attractive) classmate Zan to track the woman down and maybe get her to split her wins with Rico.

DISCUSSION GUIDE: From Penguin Random House

THEMES: Perfectionism, overambition, romance, traditions, family

Grace is an overachiever because she feels like being smart is all she has. She doesn’t seem too good at social situations and can’t figure out fashion and styling like her friends. So she holds on to book smarts and finds worth in her grades — and in competing with her former best friend, Jonah. Their friendship exploded after his dad’s sudden illness and death. Now, it’s the end of 8th grade, and Jonah’s won the coveted top scholar spot, leaving Grace with no raison d’etre. She decides to compete in a half marathon, for which she finds out Jonah is training, so she has one last chance to beat him. She ends up learning a lot about what really matters in life. Keeping Pace is a swoony middle grade romance about battling perfectionism and overambition and balancing relationships with goals.

DISCUSSION GUIDE: My teammate, Evelyn, and I made a discussion guide for this book. It’s on the author’s website.

THEMES: Identity, self-worth, belonging, family, pursuit of perfection

Jenna Chen is tired of living in her perfect cousin Jessica’s life and when Jessica gets into Havard and Jenna doesn’t, Jenna wishes she could be Jessica. In an insane twist, she wakes up in Jessica’s body. Worse still, Jenna’s body has ceased to exist. As she begins anew in Jessica’s body, Jenna quickly realizes that the grass isn’t greener on the other side, but can she get her life back? This book is chilling, relatable, and thought-provoking. Heads up for infrequent language. Grades 7+

ACTIVITY IDEA: Writing what readers think life is for someone else they admire