There’s something special about summer reading when you’re a teen. Cracking open a book while at the beach or late at night in your tent while camping just can’t be beat. If you’re looking for a story to take with you on a picnic or to put in the pocket of your hiking pack, let me make a few suggestions. I read each of these this summer and I’ll say they pair very well with sunshine and a comfy patio chair!
Gather by Kenneth Cadow
I picked this book up since it’s selected as a nominee for the Soaring Eagle Award this year. Gather centers on Ian Gray, a rural teen confronting some of life’s hardest challenges. Set-in present-day Vermont, Ian and his mother live in abject poverty. Resilience is a major theme of the story and Ian must learn to be resourceful if he wants to hold on to what he loves the most. The things dearest to his heart are his family home and his dog, a former stray named Gather. When tragedy strikes, Ian’s future begins to look like something he doesn’t want and he must make a choice in order to take control of what comes next in his life. This is a story not to be missed.
Oasis by Katya De Becerra
I picked this up because the cover was pretty and I was in need of a literary palette cleanser. However, I wound up liking it enough to read it twice. The story starts off light as the main character, Alif, and her friends are on a trip to visit her father at an archaeological dig site. Their idyllic adventure quickly turns into a quest for survival and pretty soon Alef can no longer tell what’s a hallucination and what isn’t. While listed as a mystery, Oasis lies somewhere between mystery and horror, with a dash of sci-fi. Reading Oasis can feel a bit like chasing a mirage as the author’s multiple points on technology, desire, control and gratification lurk just below the surface.
The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum Ucci
I decided to turn back my internal clock to age 15This was a reread for me, having read it for the first time in Young Adult Lit. class during high school. The difference being this time instead of having the hard copy, I listened to it on the Libby App. The story was every bit as good as it was when I first cracked it open. This book tells the story of Torey Adams and his rapid descent into the bizarre when his classmate, Christopher Creed, vanishes. Torey’s search for the truth about what happened to Chris takes him on a harsh journey of self-discovery, questioning “reality” both in the literal and figurative sense. If you pick it up, pay close attention in the last pages.
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
I went even further back in time, to the year 1990, this book is considered by many to be THE prototypical young adult thriller. Janie leads your average 1990’s teenage girl life until the day she recognizes herself as the missing child on the side of a milk carton. Talk about unsettling. This book is a quick read and that’s great because if you want more of Janie’s story there are three additional books in the series.
For various reasons and due to a wide range of subject matter, I’d rate each of these books as suitable for upper high school aged teens. While Campbell County Public Library’s Young Adult department happily offers a selection of books available for younger teen readers, I didn’t personally read any this summer to include in this particular post. If anyone would like further suggestions for younger readers, feel free to stop in at the YA desk. Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your summer!
