CCBC Choices 2024 -- Teens (ages 12 and up)

The Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison compiles a yearly list of excellent books for youth readers.

Showing 1 - 12 of 12  There are a total of 92 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for 83 days in Mariupol.
Notes:
Contemporary People, Places, and Issues;12-up
Description:
"A city ruined. In once quiet residential streets, two armies battle, driving people into cellars and basements with little food or water. No lights or heat. Dwindling medical supplies. Shells and bullets deliver cruel, random death to the young and old, men, women, and children. This is Mariupol, a Ukrainian city and early target of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bordering Russian-occupied territory, the coastal city seemed doomed to a defeat...
Book cover for Bittersweet in the hollow.
Notes:
Fiction for Young Adults;13-up
Description:
When a girl goes missing in her secluded Appalachian town, seventeen-year-old Linden, who can taste other people's emotions, recovers haunting memories of her own disappearance and explores the legend of the Moth-Wigned Man, leading her to wonder if there are some secrets best left buried.
Book cover for Cross my heart and never lie.
Notes:
Fiction for Children;9-13
Description:
★ WINNER of the 2024 Stonewall Book Award, American Library Association
Perfect for fans of The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag, HeartStopper by Alice Oseman, and Jen Wang's The Dressmaker and the Prince.

In this fresh, sensitive, diary-style graphic novel, 12-year-old Tuva's questions about becoming a teenager are confusing—so when her first crush turns out to be on another
...
Book cover for Dear Mothman.
Author:
Notes:
Fiction for Children;9-12
Description:
After the death of his best friend and the only other trans boy at school, Noah starts writing letters expressing his feelings to the humanoid creature Mothman and risks everything when he treks into the woods to prove Mothman's existence.
Book cover for The dubious pranks of Shaindy Goodman.
Author:
Notes:
Fiction for Children;9-12
Description:
Helping her popular next-door neighbor Gayil set up what she thinks are harmless pranks, 12-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl Shaindy must figure out how to stop them before she becomes the next target when the pranks escalate and turn malicious.
Book cover for Enlighten me.
Notes:
Fiction for Children;9-12
Description:
When Bình fights back against a bully who makes fun of his Vietnamese heritage, he expects to be cheered as the hero. He defeated the bad guy, right? Instead, it gets him a stern warning from his vice principal and worried parents. Now he's stuck on a family trip to a silent meditation retreat. That means no talking--and no video games!--for a whole weekend. Could things possibly get any worse? However, when a nun gathers all the kids to tell them...
Book cover for Fire From the Sky.
Notes:
Fiction for Young Adults;12-up
Description:
MICHAEL L. PRINTZ HONOR WINNER
KIRKUS BEST OF THE YEAR


From 23-year-old Sámi debut novelist and reindeer owner Moa Backe Åstot, Fire From the Sky is a queer coming-of-age story about heritage, family ties and age-old commitments to the past.

Ánte's life has been steeped in Sámi tradition. It is indisputable to him that he, an only child, will keep working...
Book cover for Fire from the sky.
Notes:
Fiction for Young Adults;12-up
Description:
Ánte's life has been steeped in Sami tradition. It is indisputable to him that he, an only child, will keep working with the reindeer. But there is something else too, something tugging at him. His feelings for his best friend Erik have changed, grown into something bigger. What would people say if they knew? And how does Erik feel? And Erik's voice just the push of a button away. Ánte couldn't answer, could he? But how could he ignore it? Fire...
Book cover for Mexikid.
Notes:
Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir;8-13
Description:
"Pedro Martin's grown up in the U.S. hearing stories about his legendary abuelito, but during a family road trip to Mexico, he connects with his grandfather and learns more about his own Mexican identity." --
Book cover for The Mona Lisa vanishes.
Notes:
Historical People, Places, and Events;10-up
Description:
"On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, 'La Joconde, c’est partie! The Mona Lisa, she’s gone!' No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting? Travel back to an extraordinary period...
Book cover for Mysterious glowing mammals.
Notes:
Science, Technology, and the Natural World;8-13
Description:
You’re probably familiar with some kinds of glowing animals. Fireflies light up summer nights. Bioluminescent jellyfish and other sea creatures fill our oceans. But some animals glow only under ultraviolet light. This is called biofluorescence The author recorded theh first ever sighting of a biofluorescent mammal. Follow along with Martin and his colleagues as they delve into the mystery of the flying squirrels and discover that they aren’t...
Book cover for Stars in their eyes.
Notes:
Fiction for Young Adults;11-up
Description:

A Stonewall Honor Book

In this lighthearted YA romance, Maisie and Ollie discover that nothing beats the feeling of falling in love for the first time.

Maisie is on her way to Fancon! She's looking forward to meeting her idol, Kara Bufano, the action hero from her favorite TV show, who has a lower-leg amputation, just like Maisie. But when Maisie and her mom arrive at the convention center, she is stopped

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