Young Adult

The Galesburg Public Library has books for all ages! This week, we’re sharing some of our newest children’s and YA books that have hit the shelves. Don’t forget to put one on hold if you want to check it out!

In the Young Adult section, we’ve got five new titles for you to try. The first two are part of the Walking in Two Worlds Series: Walking in Two Worlds and The Everlasting Road, both by Web Kinew. The first book introduces Bugz, a young girl caught between two worlds. In the real world, she’s a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe. Meanwhile, Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too. 

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black is another YA title fresh on the shelves. In this fantasy book, eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge. 

If you want something more spooky, try Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers. Making her YA debut, Cherokee writer Rogers takes her place as one of the most striking voices of the horror renaissance that has swept the last decade. This collection includes werewolves, vampires, and zombies—all the time-worn horror baddies are there. But so are predators of a distinctly American variety: the horrors of empire, of intimate partner violence, of dispossession. And so too the monsters of Rogers’ imagination, that draw upon long-told Cherokee stories—of Deer Woman, fantastical sea creatures, and more.

We didn’t forget about comic fans. The Winter Soldier: Cold Front by Mackenzi Lee chronicles the life of Bucky Barnes. In 1941, as World War II begins, sixteen-year-old Bucky Barnes is determined to enlist in the US army—if only the local commander will stop getting in his way. When Bucky is offered enrollment in a training program with the British Special Operations Executive—the UK’s secret service—he leaps at the chance to become a hero. But Bucky has hardly touched down in London when he finds himself running from a mysterious assassin and accompanied by an English chess champion fond of red lipstick and double crosses. She’s in possession of a secret every side is desperate to get their hands on. If only they knew what it was…

If you’re looking for something for a younger audience, we’ve got you covered. The Mirrorwood by Deva Fagan is a middle grade fantasy. Fable has been cursed by what the people of her village call the Blight, a twisted enchantment that leaves her without a face of her own. To stay alive, Fable has to steal the faces of others, making her an outcast that no one trusts. When the fierce Blighthunter Vycorax comes to kill Fable to stop her curse from spreading, Fable narrowly escapes by fleeing into the thorny woods surrounding her small village.

The kiddos have something to read here at GPL as well. The Rainbow Snail by Karin Åkesson has educational appeal, as young readers follow a brave little creature’s exciting adventure while learning the colors of the rainbow. In The Longest Journey: An Arctic Tern’s Migration by Amy Hevron, we learn about arctic terns, who in their thirty-year lifetimes, will travel nearly 1.5 million miles—enough to fly to the Moon and back three times! Meanwhile, in Stars of the Night by Caren Stelson, your children can get the perspective of the children who were rescued from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II, as Hitler’s campaign of hatred toward Jews and political dissidents took hold.

Stop by the library to grab any of these titles—and more!