Book Lists for Teens and Young Adults

It's August in Paris, but 17-year-old Khayyam-American, Desi, Muslim, the only child of Chicago-based academics with a summer apartment on the Ile de la Cite-is at a crossroads. Uncertain of her relationship with Zaid, the boy back home, she can't hold on to the past. Stung by her dream college's rejection of the essay she wrote to apply early, she doesn't see a clear future. Khayyam is alone in her belief that the mysterious "raven-tressed lady" in the poems of Alexandre Dumas not only inspired the paintings of Eugène Delacroix, they were based on a real person named Leila. A chance encounter with a descendant of Alexandre Dumas plunges Khayyam back into her research and the hunt for the truth. Interstitials offer a tantalizing glimpse of Leila's life as it could have been-defined by a high-wire balance of privileged status, servitude, and survival as a Muslim woman subject to European patriarchy and colonialism. As the stakes rise for both, Khayyam and Leila must ultimately wrestle with desires and expectations outside of their control to determine their own fates.

Fresh from medical school, teenage genius Saira takes a job treating childhood cancer, and must prove herself to skeptical adult coworkers while adjusting to real life-and-death stakes and falling for one of her patients.

All Beth wants is for her tight-knit circle of friends--Grace Nakamura, Brandon Lin, Sunny Chen, and Jason Tsou--to stay together. With her family splintered and her future a question mark, these friends are all she has--even if she sometimes wonders if she truly fits in with them. Besides, she's certain she'll never be able to tell Jason how she really feels about him, so friendship will have to be enough. Then Beth witnesses a private act of violence in Jason's home, and the whole group is shaken. Beth and her friends make a pact to do whatever it takes to protect Jason, no matter the sacrifice. But when even their fierce loyalty isn't enough to stop Jason from making a life-altering choice, Beth must decide how far she's willing to go for him--and how much of herself she's willing to give up.

High school seniors Bảo and Linh, whose feuding families own competing Vietnamese restaurants, conceal their budding romance, as well as Linh's desire to become an artist.

Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn't dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn't call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she's about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her. She'll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she'll do it better than anyone else. When Skye nails her audition, she's immediately swept into a whirlwind of countless practices, shocking performances, and the drama that comes with reality TV. What she doesn't count on are the highly fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean pop entertainment industry, her sudden media fame, and scrutiny, or the sparks that soon fly with her fellow competitor, Henry Cho. But Skye has her sights on becoming the world's first plus-sized K-pop star, and that means winning the competition, without losing herself.

Told in two voices, Ashish's friends Pinky and Samir pretend to date during a summer at Cape Cod to achieve their individual goals--especially to get their respective mothers off their backs.

After losing the editor-in-chief job of the student newspaper to inexperienced newcomer Len, Eliza inadvertently starts a feminist movement in her school, but amid growing tensions within the school, she begins developing feelings for Len.

Eighteen-year-old Rani, a budding photographer, grapples with first love, family boundaries, and the complications of a cross-cultural relationship.

An emotional story about a former ballerina who is thrust back into 'normal' high school after a life-changing injury, and who comes to terms with life without her passion as well as discrimination in the ballet world.

High school senior Frank Li takes a risk to go after a girl his parents would never approve of, but his plans will leave him wondering if he ever really understood love--or himself--at all.