Best Teen Fiction of 2025Unpublished

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“Both parts a ghost story and a love story, this is a book about community and friendship, growth, and learning that you can be more than you thought you could be.”

Elysia (Library Assistant, White River Branch)

"It's a story about how language can change what we know about ourselves and others with great fantasy elements."

Anna (Circulation Assistant, Franklin Branch)

"Five years in the foster system has taught Lucy to be cautious and smart. But she wants to believe Mr. Jameson and his “friend-not-friend,” a tall and fierce-looking woman who say they want to look after her. They also tell Lucy the truth her father hid from her: She is Ojibwe; she has – had – a sister, and more siblings; a grandmother who’d look after her and a home where she would be loved. But Lucy is being followed. The past has destroyed any chance of normal she has had, and now the secrets she’s hiding will swallow her whole and take away the future she always dreamed of."

Katie (Reference Assistant, White River Branch)

"Yulieta is accustomed to playing various roles: the diligent daughter, the honorable hija, the good girl who serves everyone else before serving herself. But as the fire of Yuli's rage spreads and lights her up, she can no longer be silent. Determined to find a way to fight back against the school board banning books and her theatre director refusing to cast Black actors as leads, Yuli and her friends start a guerilla theatre club which stirs things up and gets people talking. And finally, Yuli steps into the role she was always meant to play. This is a novel in verse, so it is a quick read, but it packs a punch."

Katie (Reference Assistant, White River Branch)

"This highly anticipated prequel blew expectations out of the water, telling us the ins and outs of the tragic story of Haymitch Abernathy. Collins once again delivered an impactful and topical novel, all while enriching the books she has already written." 

Ollie (Circulation Assistant, Franklin Branch)

"Alternating between lockdown in 2020, Berlin in the 80s, and WWII Germany, this story is about a big cast of teens who each find their own ways to resist against the political movements trying to keep them down. I recommended this book to pretty much everyone I know when I finished it."

Katie (Reference Assistant, White River Branch)