What's Popular with Tweens and Teens

 1) Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw (2022)

Hour of the Pumpkin Queen by Megan Shepherd (2025)

The Pumpkin Queen series tells the story of Sally after she has married Jack and the movie ends with her being the Queen of Halloween Town. Each book is written by a different author, which reminds me of a lot of the middle grade books like The Babysitter's Club and the Monster High books. It's on this list because of how basing books on movies, TV shows, and even dolls encourages kids who are not big readers to pick them up based on their other interests. I found both titles on the New York Times Best Sellers List for YA. 

2) The Lake by Natasha Preston (2021)

I discovered this book a little while ago at the public library and it's been on my TBR list. I was searching for popular books to get back in touch with reading YA after having not for a while, so it's on this list because of its popularity. I've found that recommending thrillers is a safe choice when doing reader's advisory for people who want to get into reading. This book is about a lake that is holding on to the secret that two friends are trying to hide.

3) House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland (2021) 

This also stood out to me at the public library and I added it to my TBR list. Throughout this class, I've searched for new books to me for these annotations. However, for a week about what kids are really reading, I figured I'd look back at my own interests. The story is about Iris Hollow whose sister has gone missing and the only way to find her is to retrace the lost memories from her childhood. Once again, this made it on the list for its complex story line.

4) Scythe by Neal Shusterman (2021)

This next book is on my annotated list because it is written by a man and does not have a female on the cover. When I did my observation hours with Lynne Cote at Newburyport High School, she told me she tries really hard to find titles that would be appealing to the boys because so many YA books have girls on the cover and the boys aren't drawn to read them. (Also because the last two were on my own TBR lists they have female leads...). So I found this book by looking at the Libby app list of most popular YA books right now and it took a good deal of scrolling to find this one. With that, the story line sounds great: it's about how nobody dies naturally, only by way of the Scythes. Now two newly appointed teen Scythes must begin their killing spree. 

 

5) Gone by Michael Grant (2008)

I rediscovered this series when googling for books that boys actually like to read. It's a little dated at this point, but I also think underrated. It's about kids in a town with a mysterious power plant, and one day all the adults disappear and the kids must fend for themselves while also figuring out what happened to their parents. It's on this list because a non-reader in my life loved it. It also has a male protagonist.