2026 Teen Summer Reading: GROW!

Abandoned to live with his grandparents in rural Tennessee, fifteen-year-old Dan adjusts to working on the farm, starting high school, and being queer in a conservative community.

After princess Amala and warrior Kha’dasia die suddenly, they must traverse a magical forest in search of the kiss that will bring them back to life before their fates are sealed forever.

In a world devastated by humankind and forsaken by plants and animals, only witches have the power to communicate with nature. A long time ago, plants and animals lived in harmony . . . until humankind came to power and, unable to coexist with nature, destroyed and exploited both flora and fauna without a second thought. Now the world has become a barren wasteland. But witches have the power to speak to nature.

In Peña-Govea’s arresting debut, a high school senior determines to make space for herself as she grapples with racism, injustice, and financial precarity.

Seventeen-year-old Sebastian moves to a town that uses technology to prevent hate speech and bullying, only to discover this flawed system is not without its dangers.

When three estranged best friends take a road trip to see their favorite band, romantic feelings resurface.

A YA horror about a reclusive autistic boy who inherits his murdered guardian’s estate, including a sentient, carnivorous garden

The vast Umar Empire has flourished for centuries thanks to the miraculous Ohaleh rice, a sacred grain brought by the first Empress Kokun from a distant land. Resistant to all parasites, the rice has sustained peace and prosperity–until now. When a mysterious infestation strikes, famine spreads, and the empire begins to crumble.

Two Keepers, who help children’s souls move along to the afterlife, fall in love when they become entangled in the space between life and death.

Caught between cultures, relationships, and family, seventeen-year-old Japanese-American Adam finds new purpose after discovering a hundred-year-old journal written by a young woman in Nagasaki, leading him to a homestay in Japan, where he unravels the mystery of her identity and his own.

Spanning two timelines, one teen searches for her biological mother and the other copes with giving up her baby for adoption.

For as long as Marlena can remember, she has seen flowers growing on everyone she meets: personalized poppies and daisies and roses of every color that give away what their owners truly feel. Invisible to the rest of the world, the flowers have always felt too overwhelming, too much for Marlena to take in when they don’t always match what their owner shows. Until she meets Ashe, a charming transfer student who can somehow see these mysterious flowers, too.