Farmingdale Library Teens

by Mikkaka Overstreet Feb 17, 2023 Ah, young love. These Black YA romances will give you hope for the future or, at the very least, make you feel warm and fuzzy for a while. There’s something undeniably sweet about the possibilities of first love. I have a strange history with romance. As a child, I read so voraciously that even weekly visits to the library weren’t enough to keep me satisfied. Thus, when I read all my library books I would raid grandma’s book shelf. It was filled with the entire 1980-something or other set of the Encyclopedia Britannica and a vast array of Harlequin romance novels. Did I understand all of what I was reading? Thankfully, I did not. But it did inspire me to want to be a tortured writer with a string of lovers. Now, I wonder what I would’ve aspired to if I’d had Black young adult romances to read instead of books with busty blonde maidens being ravished by Fabio. (And I’m totally not yucking anybody’s yum, ’cause those are some enjoyable books. They’re ju...

  TIRZAH PRICE Feb 3, 2023 Note: All release dates were accurate as of this writing, but keep in mind that some may change. WHO OWNS THE CLOUDS?  BY MARIO BRASSARD AND GÉRARD DUBOIS (JANUARY 10) This book is the winner of Canada’s Governor General’s Award, and it’s a story of trauma and healing. When Mila was a child, she and her family fled their home and embarked on a long journey toward freedom and safety. Along the way, Mila became entranced by the clouds, and now they remind her of her years of insecurity. How can she find a way to move forward when she’s weighed down by so many memories of the past? SPECTACLE VOL. 5  BY RO SALARIAN (JANUARY 24) Anna has just discovered who killed her sister, and now she has only one thing on her mind: revenge. But her friends aren’t so eager to take on a literal god, and soon Anna finds herself on her biggest, most dangerous adventure yet to exact vengeance and find closure. HOUSE OF EL BOOK THREE: THE TREACHEROUS HOPE  BY...

  NIKKI DEMARCO Jan 26, 2023 It’s important to set an intention for a new year. I try to start my bookish year with hope and positivity and love. I know it’s just the next month on the calendar, but the new year feels different. My Goodreads shelf is back at zero, and I have an endless sea of possibilities for shaping my next reading year. There’s no genre more full of hope, positivity, and love than YA romance. First love is a feeling like no other. When my jaded, elder millennial heart needs a pick-me-up, reading a story about two people falling in love for the first time always sets me right.  This is also the wish I have for you all this new year. After the holidays and onslaught of resolutions and dark (in the Northern Hemisphere) January days, a YA romance might be just what you all need as well. I wish you hope and love in all your bookish endeavors! So, in the spirit of positive starts, I’ve compiled a list of YA romances to start 2023 off on the right foot. Let these ...