Libraries in YA Fiction

In honor of National Library Week, here's a list of books where the characters spend time in a library or a library plays a prominent part of the novel:

Bray, Libba      The Diviners   YA Fic Bray

Seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is exiled from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a rash of occult-based murders thrusts Evie and her museum curator uncle into the thick of the investigation.

Condie,  Allie   Matched  YA Fic Condie

In a society where officials decide who you love, where you work and when you die, Cassia has always trusted their choices. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen,   Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one, until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

Cremer, Andrea    Nightshade   YA Fic Cremer

Calla and Ren have been raised knowing it is their destiny to mate with one another and rule over their shape-shifting wolf pack, but when a human boy arrives and vies for Calla's heart, she is faced with a decision that could change her whole world.

Dessen, Sarah   What Happened to Goodbye    

YA Fic Dessen

Following her parents' bitter divorce as she and her father move from town to town, seventeen-year-old Mclean reinvents herself at each school she attends until she is no longer sure she knows who she is or where she belongs.

Dowell, Frances O’Roark   Ten Miles Past Normal

   YA Fic Dowell; 6-8

Because living with "modern-hippy" parents on a goat farm means fourteen-year-old Janie Gorman cannot have a normal high school life, she tries joining Jam Band, making friends with Monster, and spending time with elderly former civil rights workers.

Estep, Jennifer   Touch of Frost   YA Fic Estep

Some weird things--worse than the usual weirdness--have been going on at Mythos Academy, a school of myths and magic. After mean girl     Jasmine Ashton is murdered in the Library of Antiquities, Gwen Frost is determined to figure out what's going on, especially since she was the one the killer wanted.

Fama, Elizabeth   Monstrous Beauty      YA Fic Fama

Alternating chapters tell of the mermaid Syrenka's love for Ezra in 1872, which leads to a series of horrific murders, and present-day     Hester's encounter with a ghost that reveals her connection to the murders and to Syrenka.

Garcia, Kami & Stohl, Margaret     Beautiful Creatures   YA Fic Garcia

In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday.

George, Madeleine   The Difference Between You and Me   YA Fic George

School outsider Jesse, a lesbian, is having secret trysts with Emily, the popular student council vice president, but when they find themselves on opposite sides of a major issue and Jesse becomes more involved with a student activist, they are forced to make a difficult decision.

McCafferty, Megan   Bumped       YA Fic McCafferty

In 2036 New Jersey, when teens are expected to become fanatically religious wives and mothers or high-priced surrogates for couples made infertile by a widespread virus, sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony find in one another the courage to believe they have choices.

McQuerry, Maureen   Peculiars        YA Fic McQuerry

Eighteen-year-old Lena Mattacascar sets out for Scree, a weird place inhabited by Peculiars, seeking the father who left when she was young, but on the way she meets young librarian Jimson Quiggley and handsome marshall Thomas Saltre, who complicate her plans.

Myracle, Lauren   Shine    YA Fic Myracle

When her best friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover the culprits in her small North Carolina town.

Rowling, J. K.  Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone YA Fic Rowling

Rescued from the neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Schmidt, Gary   Okay For Now    YA Fic Schmidt; 6-8

As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him until he finds an ally in Lil Spicer--a fiery young lady. Together, they find a safe haven in the local library, inspiration in learning about the plates of John James Audubon's birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway stage.

Shulman, Polly   The Grimm Legacy    YA Fic Shulman; 6-8

New York high school student Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the "New-York     Circulating Material Repository," and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.

Stone, Tanya Lee   A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl   YA Fic Stone

Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva all get mixed up with a senior boy who can talk them into doing almost anything he wants. In a blur of high school hormones and personal doubt, each girl struggles with how much to give up and what, ultimately, to keep for herself.