For Teens

YA (young adult) novels tackle the edgy issues teens struggle with, from peer pressure and romantic longing to grief and trouble at home or school, to social issues and more. Whether you’re personally grappling with any of these or are seeking vicarious thrills, teens gravitate toward subject matter that’s relatable. Be sure to check out this blog for YA bestseller lists, recommended readings lists and book reviews. We want to hear from you too – be sure to connect for your next great read. Subscribe to receive new posts directly to your inbox.

This February, Embrace Your Love of Books

Nida Shaikh For Teens blind date with a book, romance books, Teen, teen reads, valentine's day

February is here! That means Valentine’s Day will soon be upon us – a day of romance and love. To celebrate, why not head on over to Caledon Public Library to pick up a ‘Blind Date with a Book’.

What’s a ‘Blind Date with a Book’? Books will be wrapped up with clues pertaining to what’s inside. Without seeing the cover, title or even the author, signing out a book will feel like going on a blind date. You never know what book you might end up signing out… it could be your new literary love! Choose the book with the description that appeals to you most and check it out with your library card.

Check out a Blind Date book and your name will be entered in a grand prize draw! To make things sweeter this year, some of our Blind Date books will contain Golden Tickets hidden inside. Redeem your Golden Ticket to pick up a prize! Blind Date with a Book is a program that will be running all month long, from February 1^st – February 28^th. Check out the display at any Caledon Public Library branch to sign out a book today!

In the meantime, cozy up with these teen romance novels and embrace your love of reading!

Happily Ever Afters

By: Elise Bryant

Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing. When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, the words are just…gone. Fortunately, Caroline, her best friend, has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. Enter Nico, the brooding artist, who is cast as the perfect Prince Charming.

Love from A to Z

By: S.K. Ali

Eighteen-year-old Muslims Adam and Zayneb meet in Doha, Qatar, during spring break and fall in love as both struggle to find a way to live their own truths.

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

By: Crystal Maldonado

Sixteen-year-old Charlie yearned for her first kiss while her perfect best friend, Amelia, fell in love, so when she finally starts dating and learns the boy asked Amelia out first, she is devastated.

I Wish You All the Best

By: Mason Deaver

When Ben De Backer comes out to his parents as nonbinary, he’s thrown out of their house and forced to move in with his estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents’ rejection, they try to keep a low profile in a new school. But Ben’s attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan’s friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change.

Cozy Winter Reads

Nida Shaikh For Teens Holiday, Teens, winter, young adult

It’s that time of year where the temperature drops and the sun sets too early – making it the perfect time to curl up with a good book. Whether you’re looking for a thriller, fantasy, or holiday romance, there’s something here for everyone!

The Holiday Switch by Tif Marcelo

Lila Santos is ready for her last winter break of high school. The snow in her small town of Holly, New York, is plentiful, the mood is as cozy as a fuzzy Christmas sweater, and she’s earning extra cash working at the local inn–AKA the setting of the greatest film of all time, Holiday by the Lake –while moonlighting as an anonymous book blogger.

But her perfect holiday plans crash to a halt when her boss’s frustratingly cute nephew, Teddy Rivera, becomes her coworker. Lila is type A; Teddy is type “Anything but Lila’s Way,” and the two of them can’t stop butting heads over tangled icicle lights and messy gift shop merch. But when they accidentally switch phones one afternoon, they realize they’ve both been hiding things from each other. Will their secrets–and an unexpected snowstorm–bring these rivals together?

Bonechiller by Graham McNamee

Danny’s dad takes a job as caretaker at a marina on the shore of a vast, frozen lake in Harvest Cove, a tiny town tucked away in Canada’s Big Empty. If you’re looking for somewhere to hide, this is it. It’s the worst winter in years. One night, running in the dark, Danny is attacked by a creature so strange and terrifying he tries to convince himself he was hallucinating. Then he learns about Native American legends of a monster that’s haunted the lake for a thousand years. And that every generation, in the coldest winters, kids have disappeared into the night. People think they ran away. Danny knows better. Because now the beast is after him.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without.

Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

On Christmas Eve five years ago, seventeen-year-old Holly Chase was visited by three Ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she’d become. They tried to convince her to mend her ways. She didn’t. And then she died.

Now she’s stuck working for the top-secret company Project Scrooge–as their latest Ghost of Christmas Past. So far, Holly’s afterlife has been miserable. But this year’s Scrooge is different. This year’s Scrooge might change everything…

Nightfall by Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski

On Marin’s island, sunrise doesn’t come every twenty-four hours–it comes every twenty-eight years. Each sunset, the townspeople sail to the south, where they wait out the long Night. None of the adults will tell Marin, Kana, or their friend Line exactly what happens when they leave the island, but when the three are accidentally left behind in the gathering dusk, they learn the truth: at Night, their town belongs to others, and those others want them gone.

Fleeing through the now-alien landscape that used to be their home, the three confront shocking transformations and uncomfortable truths about themselves. They are challenged to trust one another or perish. Marin, Kana, and Line must find their way off the island . . . before the Night finds them.

Remembrance Day – YA Recommended Reads

Nida Shaikh For Teens Fiction, remembrance day, teen reads, ya reads

Canada’s involvement in the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, and Canada’s efforts during military operations and peace efforts has always been fueled by a commitment to protect the rights of others and to foster peace and freedom.

Every year on November 11, Canadians pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace.

November 11th marks the signing of the armistice (peace agreement) between the Allies and Germany in France. The armistice took effect at eleven o’clock in the morning – the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”

For more information about Remembrance Day, visit: https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/a-day-of-remembrance

Check out the following YA books available in our collection at CPL.

The Emperor of Any Place

By: Tim Wynne-Jones

When Evan’s father dies suddenly, Evan finds a hand-bound yellow book on his desk – a book his dad had been reading when he passed away. The book is the diary of a Japanese soldier stranded on a small Pacific island in WWII. Why was his father reading it? What is in this account that Evan’s grandfather, whom Evan has never met before, fears so much that he will do anything to prevent its being seen? And what could this possibly mean for Evan? In a pulse-quickening mystery evoking the elusiveness of truth and the endurance of wars passed from father to son, this engrossing novel is a suspenseful, at times terrifying read from award-winning author Tim Wynne-Jones.

Between Shades of Gray

By: Ruta Sepetys

In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author’s family, includes a historical note.

Code Name Verity

By: Elizabeth Wein

In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.

Front Lines

By: Grant Michael

World War II, 1942. A court decision makes women subject to the draft and eligible for service. The unproven American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled, the armed forces of Nazi Germany.

Three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, girls with dreams and aspirations, at the start of their lives, at the start of their loves. Each has her own reasons for volunteering: Rio fights to honor her sister; Frangie needs money for her family; Rainy wants to kill Germans. For the first time they leave behind their homes and families–to go to war.

These three daring young women will play their parts in the war to defeat evil and save the human race. As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, they will discover the roles that define them on the front lines. They will fight the greatest war the world has ever known.

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All

By: Laura Ruby

When Frankie’s mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary—just long enough for him to get back on his feet and be able to provide for them once again. That’s why Frankie’s not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket.

Now Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other orphans—two young, unwanted women doing everything they can to survive. And as the embers of the Great Depression are kindled into the fires of World War II, and the shadows of injustice, poverty, and death walk the streets in broad daylight, it will be up to Frankie to find something worth holding on to in the ruins of this shattered America—every minute of every day spent wondering if the life she’s able to carve out will be enough.

Spooktacular YA Reads

Nida Shaikh For Teens Halloween, teentober, young adult

Looking for a good Booooook? Check out these ghost stories! From romance to horror, there’s something for everyone!

Don’t forget to join our month long challenge to celebrate #Teentober with the Beanstack Tracker!

Complete a wide variety of activities from reading an autumn themed book to checking out a board game from the library and you’ll earn raffle tickets that you can put towards some awesome gift card prizes.

Download the Beanstack Tracker app – from the Apple Store or Google Play

Taproot by Keezy Young

Blue has been living as a ghost for a year when he meets Hamal, a beautiful and sweet gardener who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Together, their friendship develops into something more, but being a ghost, Blue can never truly be connected with Hamal.

When Blue realizes Hamal’s strange ability may be putting him in danger, Blue has to find a way to protect him–even if it means leaving him.

When All The Girls Are Sleeping by Emily Arsenault

Windham-Farnswood Academy is beautiful, prestigious, historic–the perfect place for girls to prep for college. But every student knows all is not as it seems. Each January, the Winter Girl comes knocking. She’s the spirit who haunts the old senior dorm, and this year is no exception.

For Haley, the timing couldn’t be worse. This month marks the one-year anniversary of the death of her ex-best friend, Taylor. When a disturbing video of Taylor surfaces, new questions about her death emerge. And it actually looks like Taylor was murdered.

Now, as Haley digs into what really happened last year, her search keeps bringing her back to the Winter Girl. Haley wants to believe ghosts aren’t real, but the clues–and the dark school history she begins to undercover–say otherwise. Now it’s up to her to solve the mystery before history has a chance to repeat itself and another life is taken.

Rules For Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her–and who won’t make it out of the woods?

It’s been exactly one year since Sara’s sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn’t know whether her former friends no longer like her…or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to “play the game” and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca–before she’s lost forever. And even though she’s hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends–and their cameras–following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.

The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco

A dead girl walks the streets.

She hunts murderers. Child killers, much like the man who threw her body down a well three hundred years ago.

And when a strange boy bearing stranger tattoos moves into the neighborhood so, she discovers, does something else. And soon both will be drawn into the world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan.

Because the boy has a terrifying secret – one that would just kill to get out.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Imagine an America very similar to our own. It’s got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream.

There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day.

Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect facade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family.

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness.

But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets.

In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing.

Truth & Reconciliation – YA Reads

Nida Shaikh For Teens Indigenous books, reading recommendations, young adult

Each year, September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation & Orange Shirt Day.

The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.

Orange Shirt Day is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day intended to raise awareness of the individual, family and community inter-generational impacts of residential schools, and to promote the concept of “Every Child Matters”. The orange shirt is a symbol of the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations.

To learn more about Orange Shirt Day visit: https://www.orangeshirtday.org/

To learn more about National Day for Truth and Reconciliation visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html

For more Truth and Reconciliation resources visit: https://caledon.library.on.ca/truth-reconciliation/

Check out the following reads to learn more and get the conversation started.

Residential Schools: The Devastating Impact on Canada’s Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Findings and Calls for Action

This book outlines the history and impact of Canada’s residential schools and summarizes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s ninety-four calls to action. Includes links to video clips and other online resources.

#NotYourPrincess

A collection of powerful voices of Indigenous women across North America.

If I Go Missing

A graphic novel about the subject of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Combining fiction and non-fiction, this young adult graphic novel looks into one of the unique dangers of being an Indigenous teen in Canada today. The text of the book is derived from excerpts of a letter written to the Winnipeg Chief of Police by fourteen-year-old Brianna Jonnie–a letter that went viral and in which, Jonnie calls out the authorities for neglecting to immediately investigate and involve the public in the search for missing Indigenous people, and urges them to “not treat me as the Indigenous person I am proud to be” if she were to be reported missing.

Sugar Falls

Tells the story of Native Canadian Betty Ross who was taken away to a residential school.

The Marrow Thieves

Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive after the world is nearly destroyed by global warming and the Indigenous people of North America become hunted once it’s discovered that they are the only people who have retained the ability to dream and that their bone marrow can provide a cure.

YA Graphic Novels for Pride!

Natalie Spaan For Teens Pride, Teens, YA graphic novels

Our graphic novel collection at Caledon Public Library is one of my favourites! It’s also the most popular collection amongst our teen readers! Given the recent popularity surrounding the Netflix adaptation of Heartstopper, I figured what better way to celebrate Pride than by highlighting some of the other awesome 2SLGBTQ+ focused graphic novels available at CPL!

The Girl From the Sea

Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can’t wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn’t seem so stifling anymore. But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they’re each trying to hide will find its way to the surface…whether Morgan is ready or not.

Be Gay, Do Comics!

This anthology is filled with dozens of comics about LGBTQIA experiences, ranging from personal stories to queer history to cutting satire about pronoun panic and brands desperate to co-opt pride. I learned so much from reading this book, and delighted in the wide variety of stories and experiences being told in the comic format!

Boys Run the Riot

A transgender teen named Ryo finds an escape from the expectations and anxieties of his daily life in the world of street fashion. This personal, heartfelt, fictional story from a transgender manga creator made waves in Japan and will inspire readers all over the world!

My Love Mix-Up

In this warmhearted romantic comedy, mistaken identity leads to a blossoming romance between two boys.

Aoki has a crush on Hashimoto, the girl in the seat next to him in class. But he despairs when he borrows her eraser and sees she’s written the name of another boy—Ida—on it. To make matters more confusing, Ida sees Aoki holding that very eraser and thinks Aoki has a crush on him!

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms

Annie is a smart, antisocial lesbian starting her senior year of high school who’s under pressure to join the cheerleader squad to make friends and round out her college applications. Her former friend Bebe is a people-pleaser–a trans girl who must keep her parents happy with her grades and social life to keep their support of her transition. Through the rigors of squad training and amped up social pressures (not to mention micro aggressions and other queer youth problems), the two girls rekindle a friendship they thought they’d lost and discover there may be other, sweeter feelings springing up between them.

Chef’s Kiss

While this graphic novel is technically in our adult collection, teens will find a lot to relate to in this sweet story about trying to find the right career path, and falling in love. Ben, a newly graduated English major, is starting to feel a little panicky. He’s gone on 17 interviews for various writing, editing, and blogging positions with no takers, and his graduation money is almost gone. Spotting a “help wanted” sign in the window of restaurant, Ben applies and is hired on the spot—provided he can complete four cooking challenges, that is. With the help and encouragement of Liam, the super cute sous chef , Ben starts to really love working in the kitchen. As long as his parents don’t find out that he’s not working as a writer, everything should be just fine…..

Looking for even more 2SLGBTQ+ graphic novel suggestions? Check out this list through our online catalogue!

search test

For Teens

This February, Embrace Your Love of Books

Cozy Winter Reads

Remembrance Day – YA Recommended Reads

Spooktacular YA Reads

Truth & Reconciliation – YA Reads

YA Graphic Novels for Pride!

About CPL: