Recommended at the CO Teen Lit Conference.

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Sci-Fi (2025)

Truyan Saigas didn't choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.

Recommended by Barrie Kenyon, youth buyer at the Boulder Bookstore.

In this collection of short biographies, readers will see the example of thirty young trailblazers representative of a generation that values intersectional, collaborative social justice and who are working to build a world that values everyone.

Meet leaders who founded organizations for their liberation as teenagers, leaders who brought Black transgender representation to people’s television screens, and leaders who successfully advocated for access to restrooms for transgender students. Meet the first transgender athlete to compete in Division I sports, and artists advocating for inclusiveness through poetry, film, fashion, and other mediums.

Whether their work involves protesting, working with policymakers for change, or just existing in the world as their creative selves, each of these young leaders shares what brings them joy and keeps them motivated to do the work they do– even when it’s hard–and their hope for better things to come.

★"Khullar's realistic portraiture focuses on figures' faces, and spot illustrations emphasize queer symbols that underscore the history and culture conveyed via Topping's empathetic and conversational text. This lush history is a necessary addition to the literary canon for anyone invested in facilitating a radically empowered future." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

As fifteen-year-old twins Delia and Velia plan the launch of their Magic-Twin Tour with their father’s Tejano band, a sudden supernatural attack on their father derails the family. Papá is delirious with a susto, a fright so awful that it allows a mysterious supernatural being to begin slowly sucking the life out of him.

As the twins hunt down his attacker, a wider world of borderland monsters opens up to them. Each twin has her own decision to make, with her own guide from the Aztec pantheon–Quetzalcoatl guiding Velia, and Xolotl advising Delia. Soon the girls must choose: Should they follow a divine mandate to become monster hunters for the goddess of death?

Can the sisters obey the will of the gods while saving their father’s life? Anything can happen within the magical realm of the borderlands.

Simultaneously releasing in Spanish as El otoño de las luciérnagas!

★"This story inspired by Sophocles' Antigone seamlessly blends coming-of-age themes with folklore. McCall respectfully integrates well-researched Nahuatl vocabulary and Aztec mythology as she explores sisterhood, cultural identity, and blended family dynamics. . . . A rich, mythic story about selfhood and soul-deep family ties." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Recommended by Barrie Kenyon, Boulder Bookstore children's book buyer. ". I will read anything that this author writes. Their books feel like you are sitting around a fire listening to a true story teller. One of my favorite think abouts about this author is that her world building is so inclusive, anyone can feel welcome and seen.

"This book is told from a duo point of view. The girl is hiding from government officials and the boy has no meaning in his life. Its a light romance, nothing explicit. This book reminded of me of watching by brother play video games."

Recommended by Barrie Kenyon, the Boulder Bookstore children's buyer. "The author is really good at expressing different emotions, you really feel like you know the characters when you read him."

Boulder Bookstore's children's book buyer Barrie Kenyon, reports that these books fly off the shelves.

Cameron Gillespie, DPL Teen Librarian, has overheard colleagues and/or teens recommending this book.

“Lovable characters, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and an engaging mystery make this a true page-turner.”—School Library Journal, starred review

Calisto and Fawkes are drawn to each other for the first time, again, as they travel from when to when to take on a threat to all they hold dear in this lyrical and playful fantasy from award-winning author A. R. Capetta.

Could also be listed under the LBTQ+category

Recommended by Barrie Kenyon, teen book buyer for the Boulder Bookstore

Recommended by Grace Stafford book buyer at the Book Pond, Montpelier, VT.

I’m the only one left hunting the monster, the only one left with a chance of saving us all.

Raised in a town surrounded by a labyrinthian, man-eating swamp, Lili craves nothing more than to track down the monster lurking in its depths and kill it.

The American Indian Youth Literature and Morris Award-winning author of Rez Ball returns with the unforgettable story of a gifted young Ojibwe athlete learning to ride in his father’s footsteps while practicing for a skateboarding championship.

This book is recommended by Barrie Kenyon, the youth buyer for the Boulder Bookstore.

This title could also be shelved under BIPOQ.

From the celebrated author of As Long as the Lemon Tree Grows comes a poignant novel about a Syrian American girl who uses a magical sketchbook to turn her grief into art, painting miraculous murals of her mother’s life in Syria.

Recommended by Barrie Kenyon, youth buyer at the Boulder Bookstore.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the We Were Liars series comes a love story full of simmering darkness and astonishing twists, following two teenagers whose lives are shattered by a shocking transformation.

This book was recommended by Barrie Kenyon, youth book buyer at the Boulder Bookstore.

In 1976 Rosario, Argentina, brothers Daniel and Adrián Aguirre share a passion for music and a bond as best friends. However, under the authoritarian military government, artists and musicians are considered enemies of the state, even if they're just teenagers playing at home. When one of their songs unexpectedly gains popularity on the radio, Daniel and Adrián, along with their band Río Babel—comprised of children of immigrants from Spain, Palestine, and Germany—face a daunting choice.

They must decide whether to pursue their dream of becoming musicians or to remain silent to protect their families. Ready to challenge the military regime, their resolve is tested when one of their own goes missing.

Nadine loves stories and her mother loves to tell them—all but one. Nadine would give anything to learn about her family's history in Armenia and Turkey—where they came from and how they came to America—but it is just too painful for her parents. All Nadine knows is that they were caught up in the Armenian genocide.

Until one day the dam bursts. And through that flood of stories and memories, and a trip back to their people's homelands, Nadine discovers a key to unlocking her own heritage and the courage to speak up when injustice rears its head again.

Told in interwoven historical, contemporary, and fantastical sequences, Armaveni is a gripping graphic novel debut and a much-needed historical document.

Asad lives in Gaza, in a tiny house, on a narrow street pocked by half-destroyed buildings, in a camp that looks shabby to him and feels claustrophobic. He walks virtually the same route every day to his summer job at a printing press, passing the prison that holds his father, for reasons that have not been fully explained to him. As the oldest son, he feels the weight of responsibility for his seven brothers, his sisters, and his Ummi, who wants him to study hard and excel in school, as all mothers do. Moody and reserved Asad has few friends, and fewer distractions. Thank goodness for Um Fawzi, a feisty, cigarette-smoking old woman, who’s the only one who seems willing to tell it like it is, sharply enough, and with a biting sense of humor that snaps him out of his fog sometimes.

There’s also Houriya, a lovely and smart girl, who brings him books to read and sometimes prompts him to think about a future that he can’t truly imagine. There seems to be no escaping. But Asad has a secret, too, a mysterious black bag that holds something important that he keeps hidden from everyone.

This rare novel by and about Palestinians showcases this boy whose life is never easy, even as it’s filled with the longing, the bruised hopes, and the frustrations of any seventeen-year-old.

Maisie: hasn't gotten her life back on track since her best friend died and she saw Owl, harbinger of ill tidings and doom.

Joel: Streaming prodigy with questionable decision-making who's been exiled to a summer of kitten fostering.

Verona: will do anything to leave their trailer park behind, even watch a house she knows is haunted.

Owl: son of Big Owl, who can't help who he is, or how much he cares about these aforementioned humans.

Their four stories intertwine with a ghost bent on justice, an adorable feline Animal Person, and a vengeful monster headed straight for them in this singular YA fantasy novel from Newbery Honor-winning Darcie Little Badger.

Ahmadjan dreams of becoming an artist, but finds few opportunities in tumultuous Afghanistan. So he leaves...and thus begins a colorful, zig-zagging path that is not just a powerful meditation on art, war, and the meaning of life...as well as a stunning collection of a myriad of different illustration forms...but a singular retelling of the legendary Persian epic The Conference of the Birds.

By the end of Papa Drew a Thousand Birds, you realize Ahmadjan and his daughter Maren are telling this story together, and their birds have flown their way into your heart.

Research by the author brings details about regular people's lives during wartime Boston to the story.

This book is recommended by Betsy at the Ridgway Library

This graphic novel is a collaboration between Maia Kobabe and Swati "Lucky" Srikumar.

Recommended by Betsy at Ridgway Library.

The technology is an ever present part of the story, which the characters have to work around and work within the bounds of as well.

Recommended by Betsy at Ridgway Library

This book has prose and verse sections, and additional historical notes at the end.

Recommended by Betsy at Ridgway Library

Recommended by Betsy at Ridgway Library.

This could also be in the Horror column. Contains discussions of death, colonialism, racism, family estrangement, abandonment, loss of home and displacement, mentions of blood, sexual harassment, and depictions of violence.

Recommended by Betsy at Ridgway Library

Butterfly Heart is a tender, heartwarming story about love, grief, and the right to define who you are.

Prompted by his ambitious cousin Daisy, Nick is encouraged to apply to the prestigious West Egg Academy to establish connections and secure his future in New York. The academy, co-founded by Jay Gatsby Sr. and Tom Buchanan, serves as a breeding ground for the elite, placing Nick directly into the path of the wealthy and powerful. As Nick becomes a confidant to Jay and a witness to the tangled romantic lives of the elite, he finds himself grappling with his own identity as a Black queer man in a society that demands he fit into narrow boxes.

The novel follows Nick’s journey as he navigates a landscape of lavish parties, old money secrets, and the crushing weight of unrequited love. Jay is desperate to reunite with Daisy, but in this reimagining, the stakes of their "reunion" are complicated by race, class, and the reality of what it means to "make it" in America. As the summer heat rises, the illusions that Nick and Jay have built around themselves begin to crack, leading to a series of events that force Nick to confront the truth about the American Dream and the cost of belonging.