New Books

Check out these new books in the Tween section and the YA corner. Click on the title for more information or to place a hold.

For Tweens:

Bea is for Blended by Lindsey Stoddard
Soon after her mother marries a man with three sons, sixth-grader Bea Embers fights to form a girls’ soccer team at school, despite discrimination and setbacks.

Unsettled by Reem Faruqi
Young Nurah reluctantly moves with her family from Karachi, Pakistan, to Peachtree City, Georgia, but, after some ups and downs, begins to feel at home.

The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga
Estranged from the best friend whose brother killed her sister in a school shooting, a grieving Cora receives a message on her twelfth birthday from her friend, asking for her help with creating a time portal to prevent the tragedy.

The Kate in Between by Claire Swinarski
Twelve-year-old Kate becomes the face of an anti-bullying movement after a heroic act goes viral, but her world is turned upside-down when the truth about her involvement is revealed.

For Teens:

We Are Inevitable by Gayle Forman
After losing his brother, mom, and most of his friends, Aaron Stein is left with his shambolic father alone in their moldering secondhand bookstore, but just when he considers selling the store he meets new people and takes on new challenges, helping him come to terms with what he has lost and who he wants to be.

Where Secrets Lie by Eva V. Gibson
Sixteen-year-old Amy, her cousin Ben, and Teddy, longtime friends until the previous summer, must put aside their differences and confront truths that tie their families to tragedy when Teddy’s sister disappears in River Run, Kentucky.

The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff
At the house on the beach, everything is always the same. Summer unspools in days of sticky heat and lazy beach walks, the family only reconvening for lantern-lit suppers in the garden with the sea a constant roar in the background. Predictable, familiar – and easy. But everything changes with the arrival of the Godden brothers: Kit, magnetic and lazily seductive, and Hugo, intense and unknowable. By the end of summer, nothing will be the same. 

Guerilla Green: An Urban Gardening Survival Guide by Cookie Kalkair & Ophélie
Damblé (Graphic Novel)

Ophélie is a thirty years old city-dweller who’s joined the guerilla gardening movement fighting for decades to bring more green back into cities – and now she’s putting the guerillas’ motto into action by reviving the true spirit of her city and showing everyone the true nature of their world!

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean (Tokyo Ever After, Book One)
When Izumi Tanaka discovers her father is the Crown Prince of Japan, it means irreverent Izzy is literally a princess. She travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew– and discovers being a princess isn’t all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hungry press, a scowling bodyguard, and thousands of years of tradition and customs to learn practically overnight.

Teen SRP Origami Stars Video

Watch a video demonstration of the Teen SRP Origami Stars craft.

A Librarian Reads…

Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy

When Faith learned her two best friends were going away for the summer, she expected to be bored beyond belief. She most certainly did not expect to be conned into volunteering for a procedure that gave her a 50/50 chance of ending up either dead or a superhero. Now she can fly, but that doesn’t keep her life from being challenging. She navigates life with her grandmother (her parents died years ago), her best friends Matt and Ches, work at an animal shelter, and journalism class. Things get even stranger when Faith’s favorite TV show relocates to her hometown and she meets and befriends her biggest TV crush, Dakota Ash. Add in missing pets and people, a new drug circulating around town, and her grandmother’s declining health, and Faith feels like anything but a superhero.

This novel does a great job at normalizing body differences. Faith is fat and that is just who she is. It doesn’t stop her from being a normal teen or having people love and like her. This is less of a superhero story and more a story about how everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Recommended for readers in high school and up.

Teen SRP Tie-Dye Masks

Tweens and teens ages 11 to 18 can make their own tie-dyed face masks. Register online and pick up a kit starting June 21. A video demonstration will be available on the Moline Library Teen Blog starting June 30. Register to attend a live program through Zoom on Monday, June 28 at 6:30 pm.

New Books

Check out these new books in the Tween section and the YA corner. Click on the title for more information or to place a hold.

For Tweens:

The Rule of Threes by Marcy Campbell
Future interior designer Maggie, a sixth-grader, focuses on an upcoming design contest to cope with friendship and family troubles, including having Tony, a half-brother she never knew existed, move in.

Simon B. Rhymin’ by Dwayne Reed with Ellien Holi 
Chicago fifth-grader Simon, an aspiring rapper who lacks self-confidence, uses his rhymes to help bring his community together.

Not All Heroes by Josephine Cameron
Moving halfway across the country did not help eleven-year-old Zinnia deal with her little brother’s death, but joining her neighbors and aunt as a Real Life Super Hero does that and more.

That Thing about Bollywood by Supriya Kelkar
Sonali cannot bring herself to share her feelings, but when she wakes up one day and begins to involuntarily burst into Bollywood song and dance routines that showcase her emotions, she realizes she has to find her voice and share her feelings.

The Nightmare Thief by Nicole Lesperance
When Maren breaks the strict rules of her family’s dream shop to help her comatose sister, she is caught and blackmailed by a woman with evil plans for the town of Rockpool Bay.

War and Millie McGonigle by Karen Cushman
Millie McGonigle’s life should be perfect–but times are tough. Hitler is attacking Europe and it looks like the United States may be going to war. Food is rationed and money is tight. And Millie’s sickly little sister gets all the attention and couldn’t be more of a pain if she tried.  Will Millie be able to find her way in her family, and keep her balance as the world around her loses its own?

For Teens:

Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass
Presents a romantic, mesmerizing story of first love and second chances, all to the tunes of sweet soca music.

The Hill by Ali Bryan
In the near future, a group of girls survive by their own wits and follow the laws of the Manual on the Hill, a reclaimed garbage dump they call home. The cardinal rule? Men and boys spell danger.

A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia
In 1860 Louisiana, eighty-year-old Madame Sylvie decides to sit for a portrait, as horrific stories that span generations from the big house and the fields are revealed.

Summer Spirit by Elizabeth Holleville (Graphic Novel)
Summer for Louise means sand, surf, and … the supernatural. Louise spends every summer at her grandma’s house with her older sister, cousins, and Rodin the dog. But, this year, her plans to relax and read comics on the beach are about to be turned upside down by a mischievous ghost, bored with being forced to haunt the same house. While the other girls are wrapped up in romance and teenage problems, Louise takes refuge with her new paranormal BFF, determined to escape the drama and just enjoy her summer break, something that is proving to be a lot harder than she anticipated.

Pura Belpré Award

The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), divisions of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate. 

2021 Young Adult Author Award Winner
Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez
Furia brings us a story about Camila “La Furia” Hassan, a young Argentine girl and fútbol player with monumental talent. Living in a household that considers fútbol a boys’ sport and a society fighting for gender equality, Camila goes against all odds to follow her dreams and her heart. 

2021 Young Adult Author Honor Books
Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera
In Never Look Back, Lilliam Rivera depicts the diverse culture of the Bronx and its people through the nascent romance of Eury and Pheus. This retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice evokes the smooth sounds of bachata, joys of Caribbean heritage, and the trauma caused by grief and loss.

We Are Not from Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez
We Are Not from Here is a compelling and realistic story of teenage friends, Pulga, Pequeña and Chico, forced to leave their homes in Guatemala and embark upon a dangerous and uncertain journey to the U.S. hoping for safety. An eye-opening and timely read.

2021 Children’s Author Award Winner  
Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros
Efrén Divided brings us the story of twelve-year-old Efrén, whose world flips when his mother is deported to Mexico, but whose determination to reunite his family never wavers. Ernesto Cisneros’s debut novel adeptly balances hope and heart break in this timely story of undocumented individuals working to build a better life.

2021 Children’s Author Honor Books
The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas
Army kid Nestor Lopez knows the drill: new deployment, new town, don’t settle in, no real friends. But his new posting has a mystery: animals are disappearing and afraid (they told him themselves), and Abuela is acting suspicious. To rescue the town, Nestor may have to break his own rules. 

Lupe Wong Won’t Dance by Donna Barba Higuera
Lupe Wong never imagined a goofy dance could hamstring her chance to meet her pitching idol and fellow Mexinese/Chinacan, Fu Li Hernandez. But taking up the cause against square dancing in gym class proves to be more challenging, and enlightening, than this opinionated dreamer expected.

Teen SRP Kool-Aid Rock Candy

Tweens and teens ages 11 to 18 can make Kool-Aid Rock Candy. Register online and pick up a kit starting June 14. A video demonstration will be available on the Moline Library Teen Blog starting June 23. Water, sugar, and a jar or glass are not included in the kit but will be available by request. Adult supervision is required for this project.

New Books

Check out these new books in the Tween section and the YA corner. Click on the title for more information or to place a hold.

For Tweens:

Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland
Discovering her ability to see ghosts when a cruel act ends her father’s life and forces her to move in with relatives in 1920s Pittsburgh, young Ophelia forges a helpful bond with a spirit whose own life ended suddenly and unjustly.

Last Gate of the Emperor by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen
Enduring an isolated existence in hardscrabble Addis Prime, a star underground augmented reality gamer finds his small family targeted by city-razing monsters waging a galaxy-spanning war.

Boy, Everywhere by A. M. Dassu
Sami loves his life in Damascus, Syria, but when war breaks out his parents decide they must flee their home for the safety of the UK.

The Last Windwitch by Jennifer Adam
Twelve-year-old Brida, an apprentice hedgewitch, discovers she is the key to saving her kingdom and must journey far from tiny Oak Hollow to confront the wicked Queen of Crows.

Sea of Kings by Melissa Hope
When their island kingdom falls under siege, royal brothers Noa and Dagan must follow a magical map and confront the legendary one-eyed pirate before evil takes over their world.

For Teens:

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney
Quinn’s journal is where she writes down everything — in list format — that she doesn’t want to admit out loud, or even face; once they’re written, she can release them and feel a little bit more at peace. When the journal goes missing and her list of biggest fears is posted online with a challenge to face each of them or else have the entire journal go public, it’s time for Quinn to move out of the realm of her mind and into real life. She’s not going quietly, however, and finds herself working to track down the blackmailer before time runs out.

Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi (Perfectly Parvin, Book One)
Fourteen-year-old Iranian-American Parvin Mohammadi sets out to win the ultimate date to homecoming in this heartfelt and outright hilarious debut.

All Kinds of Other by James Sie
Two boys are starting over at a new high school. Jules is still figuring out what it means to be gay and just how out he wants to be. Jack is reeling from a fall-out with his best friend and isn’t ready to let anyone else in just yet. When Jules and Jack meet, the sparks are undeniable. But when a video linking Jack to a pair of popular trans vloggers is leaked to the school, the revelations thrust both boys into the spotlight they’d tried to avoid.

Fix by J. Albert Mann
In the aftermath of major surgery, sixteen-year-old Eve struggles with pain, grief, and guilt while becoming increasingly dependent on pain medication, revisiting memories of her best friend, and exploring a potential romance.

Stranger Things. Science Camp (Graphic Novel)
Dustin arrives at Camp Know Where to navigate the new social hierarchy without the support of his Hawkins adventuring party. While also faced with nerdy bullies, a new menace haunts the young scientists and camp counselors. A mysterious figure with sinister intent arrives to disrupt the serene woodland scene. When camp counselors start to disappear, the solution won’t take rocket science, but Dustin will have to get on the same wavelength as Suzie and the other campers before tensions reach a boiling point.

Reading Colors Your World

Have you signed up yet for the 2021 Teen Summer Reading Program? Looking for something to read to earn those points? Here are some books with colorful titles to get you started.

In the Tween Section:

Orange for the Sunsets by Tina Athaide
In alternating voices, friends Asha and Yesofu, one Indian and one African, find their world turned upside-down when Idi Amin decides to expel Asian Indians from Uganda in 1972.

Indigo Blue by Cathy Cassidy
Eleven-year-old Indigo, her mother, and her toddler sister have to move out of their apartment because of troubles with Mum’s boyfriend, while Indie is also having best friend problems at school, leaving her stressed, confused, and lonely.

Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings
Living near the water on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and his best friends J.T. and Digger become entangled in a tragedy which tests their friendship and their ideas about right and wrong.

Violet and the Pie of Life by Debra Green
When twelve-year-old Violet’s dad walks out, she faces the aftermath the only way she knows how: with pie and math. But family and friendship turn out to have are more variables than she thought.

My Life in Pink & Green by Lisa Greenwald
When the family’s drugstore is failing, seventh-grader Lucy uses her problem solving talents to come up with solution that might resuscitate the business, along with helping the environment.

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
Reha feels disconnected from her mother, or Amma, although their names are linked-Reha means “star” and Punam means “moon”–But they are a universe apart. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is sick. Really sick. Reha, who dreams of becoming a doctor even though she can’t stomach the sight of blood, is determined to make her Amma well again. 

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Suspended unjustly from elite Middlefield Prep, Donte Ellison studies fencing with a former champion, hoping to put the racist fencing team captain in his place.

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland’s Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.

Bye-Bye, Blue Creek by Andrew Smith
Twelve-year-old Sam Abernathy, nervous about leaving Texas soon for an Oregon boarding school, has one last adventure with friends when possible vampires move into the town’s haunted house.

In the Teen Corner:

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
In a world divided by blood–those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities–seventeen-year-old Mare, a Red, discovers she has an ability of her own. To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. But Mare risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard –a growing Red rebellion–even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction.

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare
Cordelia Carstairs, a Shadowhunter trained to battle demons, travels with her brother to London where they reconnect with childhood friends but soon must face devastating demon attacks in the quarantined city.

Brown Girl Ghosted by Mintie Das
In Meadowdale, Illinois, sixteen-year-old Violet deals with mean girls, racism, murder, and being spurred by immortal Lukas to accept being an Aiedeo, a hereditary warrior queen charged with protecting the world.

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhhà Lai
In the final days of the Vịêt Nam War, H̆àng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. When Linh is ripped from her arms, H̆àng is left behind in the war-torn country. Six years later, H̆àng is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn’t know how she will find her little brother until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds
Soon after his mother’s death, Matt takes a job at a funeral home in his tough Brooklyn neighborhood and, while attending and assisting with funerals, begins to accept her death and his responsibilities as a man.

White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig
Just as Rufus is getting ready to move on, his ex-boyfriend, Sebastian turns up out of the blue, saying they need to “talk.” Then Rufus gets a call from his sister April, begging for help. He and Sebastian find her, drenched in blood and holding a knife beside the dead body of her boyfriend. April swears she didn’t kill him. Rufus knows her too well to believe she’s telling him the whole truth, but April has something he needs. Her price is his help. 

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. 

Wild Blue Wonder by Carlie Sorosiak
Following a tragic boating accident during the summer before her senior year of high school, Quinn goes through life in a daze of grief until the new boy in town, Alexander, helps her begin to understand the truth about love and loss.

White Rose by Kip Wilson
Tells the story of Sophie Scholl, a young German college student who challenges the Nazi regime during World War II as part of the White Rose, a non-violent resistance group.

A Librarian Reads…

Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer

Enola is the much (much!) younger sister of the famous Sherlock Holmes, whom she hasn’t seen since their father died years ago. And she and her mother are perfectly content to live in their estate without the interference of men. But when her mother goes missing, Enola has no choice but to contact her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft. Obviously her mother was right to keep them away, for as soon as they arrive they start talking of horrid things like boarding school! Determined to avoid that fate (and the corsets that come with it), Enola strikes out on her own, going undercover to find her mother. Along the way she searches for a missing marquess, a runaway heiress, and an abducted doctor, along with various other items in her new role as a scientific perditorian. But her brothers plague her at every step, even while she’s solving mysteries and saving lives.

This series is thoroughly delightful. You’ll root for Enola and hold your breath as she gets into one scrape after another. The late 19^th century setting is perfectly depicted, and goes the extra mile so shine a light on the often overlooked role of women in that time period.