Seattle Staff Faves 2025: Teens
Every year, we ask staff members around the library system what their favorite reads published in this year were. 2025 is no different, and we have a stellar lineup of fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels.
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(S)kin
For a contemporary urban fantasy, look no further than Ibi Zoboi’s latest, (S)kin, which follows two girls. Their lives intersect as one follows her mother’s path as a soucouyant, a shape-shifting witch who feeds on others’ life force, and the other as she learns her true heritage when the other girl’s mother comes to her home as the new nanny to her baby siblings.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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When Devils Sing
In Xan Kaur’s gothic horror novel When Devils Sing, four teens explore the disappearance of another teen in a small Georgian town named Carrion, which coincides with the re-emergence of cicadas after thirteen years. As they uncover terrifying secrets about the town, the true nature of the cycle becomes all too clear.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Augmented
The science fiction novel Augmented, by Kenechi Udogu, follows Akaego as she steps up to become augmented, using mind control and tech implants to help her grow new plants and trees in a devastated future London. An outside group warns her against getting augmented, leaving her to rely on her instincts to see the right path forward.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe
In Mahogany L. Browne’s novel A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe, six youths from Brooklyn tell interconnected stories of their lives during COVID. Sometimes poetry, sometimes prose, the novel captures the experience of living on the margins during this worldwide emergency.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Candle Island
Usually known for her evocative historical fiction, Lauren Wolk has crafted a contemporary novel full of secrets called Candle Island. After her father dies in a car crash, young Lucretia and her famous artist mother leave the big city and move to a farmhouse on Candle Island where Lucretia finds and nurses a baby osprey, navigates new friendships and a difficult peer, and discovers a secret room within her own room, one that holds the works of an unknown poet.
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Daughter of Doom
Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem’s novel Daughter of Doom transports readers to 870 AD and a Viking village in Denmark. Yrsa, a Viking girl born with a crooked foot, cannot move easily, which leaves her to spend much of her time with the newly captured slave, a nun named Job. When Job is attacked by one of the villagers and Yrsa and she kill him in self-defense, the two young women must flee the village forever.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Eliza, From Scratch
Sophia Lee’s debut novel, Eliza, from Scratch, follows Eliza Park as she plans her perfect senior year in high school. When she is somehow enrolled in Culinary Arts class, her lack of knowledge and ability to cook leaves her foundering. The presence of Thai-American Wesley, whose abilities are both awe-inspiring and annoying, drives her to compete for the midterm cooking contest win, bringing her and Wesley closer together than she likes.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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On Again, Awkward Again
Erin Entrada Kelly’s new novel, On Again, Awkward Again, follows two high school freshmen, Pacy and Cecil, as they meet and fall in love at first sight. Because both are quite shy around the other person, they rely on the questionable advice of ignorant friends, dysfunctional family members, and the Internet before they realize their connection might be best if they just learn to be themselves.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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I Can't Even Think Straight
Dean Atta’s novel in verse, I Can’t Even Think Straight, follows Kai and Matt as they navigate their queer identities. Kai wants to come out at school, but Matt fears his parents’ reaction if they find out he (Matt) is gay, so he pressures Kai to stay closeted.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Death in the Jungle
Known for other explorations of crime and mystery, the author here chronicles the rise and fall of Jim Jones, who led over 900 followers of his cult to commit mass suicide in 1978.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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