Summer Reading Ideas

During a furious storm a young woman's destiny is revealed . . . and her life is changed forever. After the Rain is a graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's short story "On the Road." The drama takes place in a small Nigerian town during a violent and unexpected storm. A Nigerian-American woman named Chioma answers a knock at her door and is horrified to see a boy with a severe head wound standing at her doorstep. He reaches for her, and his touch burns like fire. Something is very wrong. Haunted and hunted, Chioma must embrace her heritage in order to survive.

For as long as she can remember, it's been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn't always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation, Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn't understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn't fit in with her new stepfamily, and worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to--her mother. But when Robin joins a local comic drawing class, it opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined.

Bucky Orson is a bit gloomy, but who isn't at fifteen? His best friend left him to hang out with way cooler friends, his dad is the town sheriff, and wait for it--he lives in Blackwell, a town where all the girls are witches. But when his little sister is kidnapped because of her extraordinary power, Bucky has to get out of his own head and go on a strange journey to investigate the small town that gives him so much grief. And in the process he uncovers the town's painful history and a conspiracy that will change it forever.

With the same limitless scope asStar Wars, and the social-political explorations of A Handmaid's Tale, LittleBird tells the story of a young resistance fighter battling against an oppressive American Empire while searching for her own identity in a world on fire. A gorgeously illustrated epic where one girl risks everything to save her people, their land, and the freedom they so desperately deserve.

Will's older brother, Shawn, has been shot. Dead. Will feels a sadness so great, he can't explain it. But in his neighborhood, there are THE RULES: No. 1: Crying. Don't. No matter what. No. 2: Snitching Don't. No matter what. No. 3: Revenge Do. No matter what. But bullets miss. You can get the wrong guy. And there's always someone else who knows to follow the rules...

Real life isn't a fairytale. But Tié̂n still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tié̂n, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through? Is there a way to tell them he's gay? The Magic Fish tackles tough subjects in a way that accessible with readers of all ages, and teaches us that no matter what-we can all have our own happy endings.

If you want to understand the Marvel Comics Universe in all its complex glory, The Marvel Book is the only book you need. Meticulously researched and expertly written, The Marvel Book is packed with vivid, carefully sourced artwork, illuminating infographics, and incisive, specially curated essays that shed new light on the myriad wonders of the Marvel Comics universe. The book's content is divided into key subject areas-The Multiverse, Science and Technology, War and Peace, Cosmic Forces, Magic and the Supernatural, and Alternate Realities-that form the foundations of Marvel Comics.

In the year 2024, and the country is marred by unattended environmental and economic crises that lead to social chaos. Lauren Olamina, a preacher's daughter living in Los Angeles, is protected from danger by the walls of her gated community. However, in a night of fire and death, what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny . . . and the birth of a new faith.

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends. Every autumn, all through high school, they've worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they're reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different--Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye. Josiah's ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn't ready to let him. She's got a plan: What if--instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut--they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he's been mooning over for three years . . . What if their last shift was an adventure?

Ten years after the horrific murders at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza that ripped their town apart, Charlie -- whose father owned the restaurant -- and her childhood friends reunite on the anniversary of the tragedy and find themselves at the old pizza place which had been locked up and abandoned for years. After they discover a way inside, they realize that things are not as they used to be. The four adult-sized animatronic mascots that once entertained patrons have changed. They now have a dark secret... and a murderous agenda.