If you ask any librarian, most would probably wish they had MORE time in the day to read. Yet, collectively, the staff at MCLS member libraries some how manage to find some time each day to read hundreds of books each year covering a wide variety of genres and topics, and we love sharing our favorites from the past year. Check out our list of titles we recommend you pick up in 2026, below you will find Children and Teen Titles
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Tween and Teen Chapter books
You Are a Raccoon!
By Laurie Ann Thompson
I already knew I was a raccoon, so I felt incredibly seen by this book. Highly recommend to anyone (even those non-raccoons). –Rocky, Webster Public Library
Aurora (Graphic Novel)
by Red
Stephani loves this fantasy teen graphic novel for the characters, worldbuilding, humor, and lack of romance drama. The book starts with the god of the city of Vash incarnating to save his people from the strange beasts attacking, but their creator steals his soul. He wakes up in the home of a Life mage named Alinua and tells her that he needs to save Vash. They are both very surprised to find out that he’s not Vash anymore! She agrees to join her new friend on his journey, he picks the name Kendal. Along the way they meet Erin, the only known mage who can control all 6 elements, who carries a dark secret, and Falst, a lion-man who’s never fit in.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
by Kate DiCamillo
Coming in just shy of 200 pages, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo is a story about a very proud and vain stuffed rabbit. When the little girl who owns Edward loses him during an ocean voyage, Edward’s adventures begin. Edward learns about love, loss, joy, sorrow and what is important in life.
It’s Jeff. Jeff-verse
by Kelly Thompson
Unbecoming
by Seema Yasmin
P.S. Be Eleven
by Rita Williams-Garcia
This book (the first in a trilogy) tells the fascinating story of 3 girls in the late 60’s during a time of political activism and change. Set in 1968, it tells of Delphine and her 2 younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, who fly from Brooklyn to Oakland, California to spend the summer with their mom who walked out of their lives 7 years earlier. Mom left to make a radical difference in the world, is too busy affecting change to have time for her 3 daughters. Delphine and her sisters attend a Black Panther summer program for kids and learn that their summer, their mother and even themselves are not like anything they expected.
The War That Saved My Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
I enjoy historical fiction which is why I was drawn to the next two books. The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, takes place in WWII London. It tells the story of 2 siblings, a young boy and his disabled older sister who live in London and are relocated to the countryside to escape the blitz. Living in the country with strangers brings out fears the children have while also helping them see a world they didn’t know existed. I can’t even begin to do the story justice with this brief description. I have recommended this book to so many people and have never had anyone tell me they didn’t love the story. The best part is that the author wrote a sequel to this book entitled The War I Finally Won and I enjoyed that story as much as the first book.
The Trouble With Heroes
by Kate Messner
All The Tomorrows After
by Joanne Yi
“I may have been spotted between innings at the ballpark devouring page after page of this book trying to keep back the tears at the end (or maybe the sun was just in my eyes;)”
Peas on Earth
by Todd H Doodler