Cary Library's Best Books of 2023 - For Teens

"The gripping inside story of the ongoing landmark lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, brought against the US government by twenty-one young people"--

"A young adult graphic novel that captures the complexities of the war in Ukraine, focusing on the siege of Mariupol (Feb '22 - May '22) and the brave people who stayed to defend their city against Russian forces as well as the resulting effects on global politics"-- A story of senseless destruction, patriotism, and grit against all odds focuses on the people of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol who stayed to defend their home against Russian forces,...

"Sixteen-year-old Amina Conteh has always believed in using her words as her weapon--even when it gets her into trouble. After cursing at a classmate, her father forces her to volunteer at their church with Pastor Johnson. But Pastor Johnson isn't the holy man everyone thinks he is. The same voice Amina uses to fight falls quiet the night she is sexually assaulted by Pastor Johnson. After that, her life starts to unravel: Her father is frustrated...

Sixteen-year-old Mirae, crown princess of her kingdom and fated to destroy an enemy of the gods, must embark on a dark journey to save her brother when her coronation ceremony goes terribly wrong. Mirae was meant to save her queendom, but the ceremony before her coronation ends in terror and death. It unlocks a strange new power within her, and foretells the return of a monster even the gods fear. Amid the chaos, Mirae's beloved older brother is...

"Since Shelbi enrolled at Windward Academy as a senior and won't be there very long, she hasn't bothered making friends. What her classmates don't know about her can't be used to hurt her--you know, like it did at her last school. Andy Criddle is not okay. At all. He's had far too much to drink. Again. Which is bad. And things are about to get worse. When Shelbi sees Andy at his lowest, she can relate. So she doesn't resist reaching out. And there's...

Seventeen-year-old Chinese-Filipina Chloe's father sets her up on a marathon of arranged dates in hopes of convincing her to stay close to their Manila home for college. "When Chloe Liang is officially off the wait list for USC, she's one step closer to realizing her dream of becoming an animator in the United States. Her auntie insists on planning a traditional debut for Chloe's eighteenth birthday, and it would be the perfect send-off-- if her...

Follows Marguerite de Pruitt and her canine pal, Daisy, as they embark on a journey to save the world. I'm gonna tell you a story, and I'm gonna ask that you let me finish before you say anything. Here's the deal--on midnight of January 1st, 2000, the world ended. But it wasn't technology that killed it: It was magic. Now, years later, the Earth has transformed. Magic works (sort of). People are happy (sort of). But this new world isn't stable, and...

After the death of his best friend and the only other trans boy at school, Noah starts writing letters expressing his feelings to the humanoid creature Mothman and risks everything when he treks into the woods to prove Mothman's existence.

"Moving and evocative, this YA memoir-in-verse follows author Jiordan Castle's coming-of-age as her family reckons with the aftershocks of her father's imprisonment"--

"Thien's first memory isn't a sight or a sound. It's the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish. It's the taste of the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam. After the Pham family arrives at a refugee camp in Thailand, they struggle to survive. Things don't get much easier once they resettle in California. And through each chapter of their lives, food takes on a new meaning. Strawberries come to signify struggle as...