Every year, Denver Public Schools publishes a list of their recommended titles for elementary, middle, and high schools. Here are this year's 25 picks for teens - check out the full list of 50 here.
To gain the power he needs to save his friend from a cursed spirit, Yuji Itadori swallows a piece of a demon, only to find himself caught in the midst of a horrific war of the supernatural! Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of jujutsu sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural. The final battle between Itadori and Sukuna reaches its climax! Itadori attacks the seam between Sukuna's soul and Fushiguro's in an attempt to separate them. Will his last-ditch effort bring an end to this stunning fight? Find out in this final volume of Jujutsu Kaisen!
A social media celebrity, a wife and mother who sells her fantasy pioneer lifestyle of sourdough and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of followers, suddenly wakes up cold, dirty, and hungry in the year 1805 and must uncover the nature of her terrifying new existence in this sensational debut novel. Has she become the unwitting star of a brutal reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible. A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening.
With sparkling wit and humor (and lots of fun pop culture references) digital content creator Taylor Cassidy takes readers on a journey through the Black history that she wishes she was taught in school. Weaving together research and personal anecdotes that illuminate each trailblazer's impact on her own life, Taylor paints a vibrant picture of twelve figures from Black history whose groundbreaking contributions shaped America as we know it today. From activists like Claudette Colvin and Marsha P. Johnson to literary giants Zora Neale Hurston and Maya Angelou, fashion designer Patrick Kelly, Olympic Gold medalist Tommie Smith, and more, this one-of-a-kind collection makes Black history relatable, relevant, and inspiring, so modern readers can recognize themselves within its pages.
Since 99.9% of all species that have lived are extinct, it's bound to be our turn eventually, right? So what's most likely to kill us? A well-timed asteroid? Some new robot overlords? With wit and dry humor, debut graphic novelist Katy Doughty blends science and history to explore our chances of surviving disasters such as plagues, global warming, and alien invasion. Drawing on interviews with experts in fields like infectious diseases, AI, and interplanetary exploration, she combines cutting-edge research with compelling visuals: mugshots of the deadliest microbes, graphs of the winners and losers of mass extinction events, and a whole lot of dinosaur drawings. For apocalypse aficionados, the morbidly curious, and the just plain curious, this is your antidote to existential dread: a timely, imaginative, and ultimately hopeful take on humankind's ability to survive the odds.
An enthralling and heartrending novel in verse about first love, hidden cultures, and ancestral connections that follows a teen's journey to uncover her late grandmother's roots. Evamar has arrived in Cuba with her abuela's ashes and her mother's warnings: don't talk politics, boil the tap water before you drink, y por favor absolutamente, don't fall in love. But then she meets Rio, a captivating drummer whose music and presence she can't ignore. Rio bears his own scars, separated from his family in the United States. As their bond deepens, Evamar discovers an ancestral treasure that could change her future - and the lives of millions of Caribbeans.
Emile, a promising rookie in the high-stakes world of battle skating, learns the reigning champion Radu's secret, and must decide whether use it to take his rival down, all the while getting closer and closer to him. Based on the Webtoon hit comic, this irresistible story is full of heart-pounding romance, breathtaking skate battles, and secrets both good and bad!
Written over the past two decades, Louise Erdrich's story collection features a range of characters. A tribal newsletter editor whose son tells her a story that nothing in her experience can encompass. Immigrant farmers whose tenuous hold on the earth (and their sanity) is challenged. A man is confronted with a folk-singing thief. A woman enters a corporately owned afterlife to seek revenge on her father. Accompanied by specially commissioned artwork by Aza Erdrich Abe, this is an intimate collaboration between mother and daughter.
How did Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, convince more than 900 of his followers to commit "revolutionary suicide" by drinking cyanide-laced punch? From a master of narrative nonfiction comes a chilling chronicle of one of the most notorious cults in American history. Using riveting first-person accounts, award-winning author Candace Fleming reveals the makings of a monster: from Jones's humble origins as a child of the Depression, to his founding of a group whose idealistic promises of equality and justice attracted thousands of followers, to his transformation of Peoples Temple into a nefarious experiment in mind-control.
A poignant coming-of-age graphic novel about an Egyptian American girl grappling with college, her family, and the political realities of her wider world. When Anisa fails her first semester, she begs her parents to let her take time off to visit Cairo and stay with her beloved grandfather. Finally free to have her own experiences, Anisa begins a journey of self-discovery and, as she bumps up against familial, societal, and religious expectations, she starts to develop her own artistic voice. When Anisa returns to the United States, many of these expectations shift, but she learns to draw on the love of friends and family - including those she's often at odds with - in order to stay true to herself.
Seventeen-year-old Marin infiltrates Huntsworth Academy to exact revenge for her cousin's death, but an attraction to a pair of dysfunctional boys coupled with her uncovering of otherworldly secrets jeopardizes her mission.
A supernatural horror about a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist, only to discover the position has consequences far greater - and more dangerous - than she ever could have imagined. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property...and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity.
A skateboarding vampire falls for a human artist as they combine their talents to create a skating brand in this lightly paranormal coming-of-age young adult graphic novel romance for fans of Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and The Girl from the Sea.
When Kevin's parents ignore his attempts to come out of the closet, he devises a plan to become more like Raymond, the popular gay kid at his high school. After all, if Kevin can do everything perfectly, too, then people will have to pay attention to him. But life under Raymond's wing isn't easy: a dress code, new things Kevin can and can't do, and even abandoning his old "uncool" friends. Perfection comes at a cost, and Kevin must decide whether it's worth the sacrifice.
A young woman poses as fortune-teller at a magical traveling carnival, where the handsome boy who once broke her heart resurfaces and warns her that carnival is more sinister than it appears.
Handsome con artist Ulises has long charmed lonely women via letters to steal their money, but money is hard to come by in 1940s Mexico. He thinks he's found a real fortune when he captivates Perla, the owner of a small-town boardinghouse. But the woman has a niece, Inés, who is as observant as she is desperate to escape her aunt's household. When Inés discovers Ulises' true intentions, she wants in on the scheme. They'll convince her aunt that Ulises is a great catch, Perla will marry him, and her money will vanish. Easy, fast and clean. But Perla is not the desperate, silly spinster Ulises imagines. Suddenly, a simple plan may become perilously complicated.
Magic is alive and well in the world, inside beings known as Majiks. By completing a Majik's trial, a Witch can gain its power. However, only women can become Witches or use magical items. All that changes one day when a young man named Ichi turns the world on its head by defeating an infamous Majik and gaining its magical powers! Ichi is a reclusive hunter who knows nothing of Witches and Majiks, but he does have a particular obsession for hunting anything that exudes bloodlust. When that instinct leads him to interfere in a battle between the great Witch Desscaras and the horrifying King Majik Uroro, against all odds, he acquires the destructive magic of Uroro, making him the only male Witch in the entire world!
From award-winning author Rex Ogle, a mixed-format middle grade novel about three boys who skip school, told in verse, prose, and comics.
In this graphic novel adaptation of the popular book, Lara Jean writes love letters to all the boys she has loved and then hides them in a hat box...until one day, those letters are accidentally sent.
A boy is trapped in a time loop - and in a girl's body - in this heartfelt and wryly humorous love story.
Rap. Rap. Rap. The eerie sound was first heard in March of 1848 at the home of the Fox family in Hydesville, New York. The family's two daughters, Kate and Maggie, soon discovered that they could communicate with the spirit that was making these uncanny noises. This strange incident, and the ones that followed, generated a media frenzy beyond anything the Fox sisters could have imagined.
While grappling with his identity as a gay Muslim, senior Ramin joins the soccer team in his final semester to meet his graduation requirements.
Sixteen-year-old Naomi Ward's family vacation in a Virginia town with a violent past turns into a terrifying ordeal when a ghost appears at her window pleading for help, starting Naomi on a chilling search for two missing girls that forces her to confront both local dangers and her own haunting memories.
New York simmers with heat and unrest as Wyeth, a painter, finds himself at an impasse in his own work. After attending a dubious show put on by a collective of careerist artists, he retreats to a bar in the West Village where he meets Keating, a former seminarian. Over the long summer, as the two get to know each another, they talk and argue about God, sex, and art. Meanwhile, at his job working for an art restorer, Wyeth begins to investigate the life and career of a forgotten, minor black artist. His search yields potential answers to questions that Wyeth is only now beginning to ask about what it means to be a black artist making black art amid the mess and beauty of life itself.
While researching an abandoned reformatory school, Hazel learns of the abuse endured by the students and attempts to bring peace to the lingering spirits.