Summer Reading Picks for Teens

Top reads of the summer for adults, as recommended by the staff of the . 

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade (recommendation by Randi Carreno, Senior Teen Librarian)
In Victorian London, fourteen-year-old Modo, a shape-changing hunchback, becomes a secret agent for the Permanent Association, which strives to protect the world from the evil machinations of the Clockwork Guild.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (recommendation by Randi Carreno, Senior Teen Librarian)
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.

Heist Society by Ally Carter (recommendation by Randi Carreno, Senior Teen Librarian)
A group of teenagers uses their combined talents to re-steal several priceless paintings and save fifteen-year-old Kat Bishop's father, himself an international art thief, from a vengeful collector.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (recommendation by Randi Carreno, Senior Teen Librarian)
When Auden impulsively goes to stay with her father, stepmother, and new baby sister the summer before she starts college, all the trauma of her parents' divorce is revived, even as she is making new friends and having new experiences such as learning to ride a bike and dating.

Divergent by Veronica Roth (recommendation by Randi Carreno, Senior Teen Librarian)
In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks (recommendation by Randi Carreno, Senior Teen Librarian)
Fifteen-year-old vampire Nina has been stuck for fifty-one years in a boring support group for vampires, and nothing exciting has ever happened to them--until one of them is murdered and the others must try to solve the crime.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (recommendation by Randi Carreno, Senior Teen Librarian)
In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

Heat by Mike Lupica (recommendation by Randi Carreno, Senior Teen Librarian)
Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years old and he has no parents to offer them proof.