Those summer holidays are going to be here soon, and it’s the perfect time to get stuck into some new books. I mean, have you considered the Summer Reading Adventure yet? We have a fresh crop of new books to add to your reading list, whether your into comics, fiction or non-fiction… or maybe all three?
Comics
Mexikid : a graphic memoir / Martin, Pedro
“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 in this moving and hilarious graphic memoir.” (Catalogue)
The Calvin and Hobbes portable compendium. Book 1 / Watterson, Bill
“Calvin and Hobbes is unquestionably one of the most popular comic strips of all time. The imaginative world of a boy and his real-only-to-him tiger first appeared in 1985 and could be read in more than 2,400 newspapers when Bill Watterson retired on January 1, 1996.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
All the lovely bad ones : a ghost story graphic novel / Peterson, Scott
“Travis and his sister, Corey, can’t resist a good trick. When they learn that their grandmother’s quiet Vermont inn, where they’re spending the summer, has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little ‘haunting’ of their own. Before long, their supernatural pranks have tourists flocking to Fox Hill Inn, and business booms. But Travis and Corey soon find out that theirs aren’t the only ghosts at Fox Hill. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Can these siblings lay to rest the troubled spirits they’ve disturbed?” (Catalogue)
Fiction
Broken hearts and zombie parts / Hussey, William
“A savagely funny gay YA romance about body image, self-acceptance and falling in love. Jesse Spark has a broken heart and in a few short weeks he’ll require major surgery to repair it – which means he only has a month to accomplish two almost-impossible tasks. 1) Shoot his epic zombie movie on a shoestring budget if he has any hope of getting into film school. 2) Fall in love before this surgery lands him with a huge scar – because how will anyone ever fancy him after that?” (Catalogue)
How to find a missing girl / Wlosok, Victoria
“Seventeen-year-old amateur sleuth Iris and her sapphic detective agency investigate the disappearance of Iris’s cheerleader ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be the creator of a notorious true-crime podcast about Iris’s missing older sister.” (Catalogue)
The scarlet veil / Mahurin, Shelby
“Six months have passed since Célie took her sacred vows and joined the ranks of the Chasseurs as their first huntswoman. With her fiancé, Jean Luc, as captain, she is determined to find her foothold in her new role and help protect Belterra. But whispers from her past still haunt her, and a new evil is rising–one that Célie herself must vanquish, unless she falls prey to the darkness.” (Catalogue)
09If you tell anyone, you’re next / Heath, Jack
“Jayden Jones is missing. Everyone thinks he ran away. His best friend, Zoe Ross, knows they’re wrong. Zoe’s search leads her to the 17-a secret group chat, used by anonymous teens to blackmail the powerless. To join, you have to put on a mask and record yourself completing a challenge. The challenges are always illegal. Sometimes dangerous. Maybe deadly. Who are the 17? What have they done to Jayden? And what will they do to silence Zoe?” (Catalogue)
Non-Fiction
Accountable : the true story of a racist social media account and the teenagers whose lives it changed / Slater, Dashka
“When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as “edgy” humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew. Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults–educators and parents–whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse. In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left asking: Where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean?” (Catalogue)
Video game of the year : a year-by-year guide to the best, boldest, and most bizarre games from every year since 1977 / Minor, Jordan
“For each of the 40 years of video game history, there is a defining game, a game that captured the zeitgeist and left a legacy for all games that followed. Through a series of entertaining, informative, and opinionated critical essays, author and tech journalist Jordan Minor investigates, in chronological order, the innovative, genre-bending, and earth-shattering games from 1977 through 2022. Minor explores development stories, critical reception, and legacy, and also looks at how gaming intersects with and eventually influences society at large while reveling in how uniquely and delightfully bizarre even the most famous games tend to be”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)
For more new books for teens in the collection, go to: https://wcl.govt.nz/whatsnew/#teens
Hooray! Wellington Pride Week starts tomorrow and goes for a full two weeks. We’ve got an amazing selection of Queer YA fiction (check out our awesome display at Central) but I think the Non Fiction needs a bit more love.
