Books Worth Reading
Discover the best books worth reading in this curated list of unforgettable young adult and juvenile fiction. From Meg Cabot's Shadowland and Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl to magical tales by Shannon Hale and Patricia A. McKillip, explore captivating stories, enchanting adventures, and timeless classics that deserve a place on your reading list.
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Enna Burning
by Shannon Hale
Enna hopes that her new knowledge of how to wield fire will help protect her good friend Isi--the Princess Anidori--and all of Bayern against their enemies, but the need to burn is uncontrollable and puts Enna and her loved ones in grave danger.
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River Secrets
by Shannon Hale
In this third book in New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale's beloved YA fantasy series Books of Bayern, Razo must become the unlikely hero his country needs. Razo has never considered himself anything but ordinary--and certainly not a great soldier. So he's sure it's out of pity that his captain asks him to join an elite mission escorting the ambassador into Tira, Bayern's greatest enemy. But when the Bayern arrive in the strange southern country, it's Razo who discovers the first dead body. He is also the only Bayern able to befriend the right people--potential allies who can provide information about the ever-increasing murders--like the beautiful Lady Dasha. If Razo can embrace his talents, he might be the only one who can get the Bayern soldiers home alive. Don't miss any of these other books from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Hale: The Books of Bayern The Goose Girl Enna Burning River Secrets Forest Born The Princess Academy trilogy Princess Academy Princess Academy: Palace of Stone Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters Book of a Thousand Days Dangerous Graphic Novels with Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale Rapunzel's Revenge Calamity Jack Illustrated by Victoria Ying Diana: Princess of the Amazons Illustrated by LeUyen Pham Real Friends Best Friends The Princess in Black series For Adults Austenland Midnight in Austenland The Actor and the Housewife
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Son of the Mob
by Gordon Korman
Seventeen-year-old Vince's life is constantly complicated by the fact that he is the son of a powerful Mafia boss, a relationship that threatens to destroy his romance with the daughter of an FBI agent.
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Letters from Rapunzel
by Sara Holmes
Once upon a time, there was a girl. Let's call her Rapunzel. A modern-day version. Abandoned. Alone. Waiting for her hair to grow and dreaming of a way to escape from her tower. She was trapped, you see. Not in the conventional fairy-tale way—this was the dreaded after-school Homework Club. A desolate place, where no gum could be chewed, and where Rapunzel sat day after day, cursing the evil spell that had been cast over her father. The doctors called it something else, but a true heroine can smell an evil spell a mile away. So when a mysterious letter addressed to P.O. Box #5667 falls into her hands, she knows she's found the pea under her mattress. But since when is finding happily ever after as simple as Just Writing Back? Winner of the Ursula Nordstrom Fiction Contest, Sara Lewis Holmes's enchanting debut novel is a breath of fresh air. Told through letters, with a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust, Rapunzel's quest for a happy ending gives every reader something to believe in.
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The Mediator #1: Shadowland
by Meg Cabot
Shadowland is the first book in the thrilling, romantic Mediator series, from the New York Times bestselling author of the Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot. Suze is a mediator—a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won't leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn't seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations. But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it's not that easy. There's a ghost with revenge on her mind...and Suze happens to be in the way. Don't miss the delightfully funny supernatural Mediator series, from New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot.
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Winter Rose
by Patricia A. McKillip
Sorrow and trouble and bitterness will hound you and yours and the children of yours… Some said the dying words of Nial Lynn, murdered by his own son, were a wicked curse. To others, it was a winter’s tale spun by firelight on cold, dark nights. But when Corbet Lynn came to rebuild his family estate, memories of his grandfather’s curse were rekindled by young and old--and rumors filled the heavy air of summer. In the woods that border Lynn Hall, free-spirited Rois Melior roams wild and barefooted. And as autumn gold fades, she is consumed with Corbet Lynn, obsessed with his secret past…
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Beauty Sleep
by Cameron Dokey
Aurore is born with a fate hanging over her but she soon learns that love is the most powerful magic of all.
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Dragon's Keep
by Janet Lee Carey
In 1145 A.D., as foretold by Merlin, fourteen-year-old Rosalind, who will be the twenty-first Pendragon Queen of Wilde Island, has much to accomplish to fulfill her destiny, while hiding from her people the dragon's claw she was born with that reflects only one of her mother's dark secrets.
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East
by Edith Pattou
A young woman journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear who is the victim of a cruel enchantment.
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Alchemist
by Michael Scott
When the legend that Nicholas Flamel lives due to his ability to make the elixir for life is discovered to be true, Dr. John Dee begins his plot to steal the Book of Abraham the Mage from him in order to rule the world, but knowing that they are the only ones with the power to stop him, Josh and Sophie quickly set their own plan in motion to do so.
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The Hollow Kingdom
by Clare B. Dunkle
In nineteenth-century England, a powerful sorcerer and King of the Goblins chooses Kate, the elder of two orphan girls recently arrived at their ancestral home, Hallow Hill, to be his bride and queen.
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Hawksong
by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
DANICA SHARDAE IS an avian shapeshifter, and the golden hawk’s form in which she takes to the sky is as natural to her as the human one that graces her on land. The only thing more familiar to her is war: It has raged between her people and the serpiente for so long, no one can remember how the fighting began. As heir to the avian throne, she’ll do anything in her power to stop this war—even accept Zane Cobriana, the terrifying leader of her kind’s greatest enemy, as her pair bond and make the two royal families one. Trust. It is all Zane asks of Danica—and all they ask of their people—but it may be more than she can give. A School Library Journal Best Books of the Year A VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror List selection
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Before Midnight
by Cameron Dokey
"ONCE UPON A TIME" IS TIMELESS Etienne de Brabant is brokenhearted. His wife has died in childbirth, leaving him alone with an infant daughter he cannot bear to name. But before he abandons her for king and court, he brings a second child to be raised alongside her, a boy whose identity he does not reveal. The girl, La Cendrillon, and the boy, Raoul, pass sixteen years in the servants' care until one day a very fine lady arrives with her two daughters. The lady has married La Cendrillon's father, and her arrival changes their lives. When an invitation to a great ball reaches the family, La Cendrillon's new stepmother will make a decision with far-reaching effects. Her choice will lead La Cendrillon and Raoul toward their destiny -- a choice that will challenge their understanding of family, test their loyalty and courage, and, ultimately, teach them who they are.
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Stargirl
by Jerry Spinelli
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A modern-day classic from Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli, this beloved celebration of individuality is now an original movie on Disney+! And don't miss the author's highly anticipated new novel, Dead Wednesday! Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’ s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first. Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love. Don’t miss the sequel, Love, Stargirl, as well as The Warden’s Daughter, a novel about another girl who can't help but stand out. “Spinelli is a poet of the prepubescent. . . . No writer guides his young characters, and his readers, past these pitfalls and challenges and toward their futures with more compassion.” —The New York Times
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A Countess Below Stairs
by Eva Ibbotson
A delicious historical romance perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs After the Russian Revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian countess, has no choice but to flee to England. penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination. Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties--not to mention her instant attraction to Rupert, the handsome Earl of Westerholme. to make matters worse, Rupert appears to be falling for her as well. As their attraction grows stronger, Anna finds it more and more difficult to keep her most dearly held secrets from unraveling. And then there's the small matter of Rupert's beautiful and nasty fiancee. . . .
