Archives par étiquette : Penguin Books for Young Readers

WHO WE WERE IN THE DARK de Jessica Taylor

For fans of Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls and Genuine Fraud, this coming-of-age story with a dash of mystery/thriller asks, How do you find someone you never really knew?

WHO WE WERE IN THE DARK
by Jessica Taylor
‎ Dial/ Penguin BYR, July 2022
Age: 14+

Donner Lake is famous for its dazzling waters, dramatic mountains, and the travelers trapped there long ago who did unspeakable things to survive. But for lonely Nora Sharpe, Donner was where a girl named Grace glided into her life one night and exploded her world. After that, every summer, winter, and spring break, Nora, her brother, Wesley, the enigmatic Grace, and their friend Rand left behind their real lives and reunited at Donner Lake. There, they traded truth and lies. They fell in love. They pushed each other too far. They came to know one another better than anyone in some ways, and not at all in others. But two years later, something has happened to destroy them. Grace is missing. And Nora must find her way through the unspoken hurts and betrayals of the last two years—and find her way back to Wesley and Rand—to figure out what exactly happened to Grace, the girl she thought she knew.

Jessica Taylor is the author of the critically-acclaimed A Map for Wrecked Girls. She adores atmospheric settings, dangerous girls, and characters who sneak out late at night. She lives in Northern California with a few degrees she isn’t using, one dog, and many teetering towers of books.

EIGHT NIGHTS OF FLIRTING de Hannah Reynolds

A sixteen-year-old girl is on a mission to find the perfect boyfriend this Hanukkah, but love might not go according to plan, in this charming winter romcom from the author of The Summer of Lost Letters.

EIGHT NIGHTS OF FLIRTING
by Hannah Reynolds
‎ Razorbill/Penguin BYR, October 2022
Age: 12+

Shira Barbanel has a plan: this Hanukkah, she’s going to get a boyfriend. And she has the perfect candidate in mind—her great-uncle’s assistant, Isaac. He’s reliable, brilliant, and of course, super hot. The only problem? Shira’s an absolute disaster when it comes to flirting. Enter Tyler Nelson, Shira’s nemesis-slash-former-crush. As much as she hates to admit it, Tyler is the most charming and popular guy she knows. Which means he’s the perfect person to teach her how to win Isaac over. When Shira and Tyler get snowed in together at Golden Doors, they strike a deal—flirting lessons for Shira in exchange for career connections for Tyler. But as Shira starts to see the sweet, funny boy beneath Tyler’s playboy exterior, she realizes she actually likes hanging out with him. And that wasn’t part of the plan. Amidst a whirl of snowy adventures, hot chocolate, and candlelight, Shira must learn to trust her heart to discover if the romance she planned is really the one that will make her happiest.

Hannah Reynolds grew up outside of Boston, where she spent most of her childhood and teenage years recommending books to friends, working at a bookstore, and making chocolate desserts. She received her BA in Creative Writing and Archaeology from Ithaca College, which meant she never needed to stop telling romantic stories or playing in the dirt. After living in San Francisco, New York, and Paris, she came back to Massachusetts and now lives in Cambridge.

DOOM’S DAY CAMP de Joshua Hauke

The Last Kids on Earth meets Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children in this funny and adventurous middle-grade graphic novel set in a world where everyone has unusual abilities except for a boy named Doom . . . who just might have to save them all.

DOOM’S DAY CAMP
by Joshua Hauke
‎ Razorbill/Penguin YR, March 2022

Doom Thorax is destined for greatness! Well, maybe…His dad is, after all, the fiercest apocalyptic warrior to ever walk what’s left of the earth. Unfortunately, in a world where the remaining humans (if you can still call them that) all have extraordinary abilities, Doom is painfully ordinary. In fact, the only thing even remotely special about him is that he is the one person in their whole pack who can read.
When his dad leads the adults off to battle a mysterious new threat, Doom gets left in charge of all the other kids from his camp. The only problem is he can barely take care of himself, let alone a group of weirdos like them. What’s he supposed to feed a boy made of mud? Why is the girl with telekinesis such a headache? And how can he stop his super strong little sister from turning everyone against him? Doom has ¬ finally been given a chance to prove himself. But it may take a lot more than book smarts if he and the others are going to have any chance at surviving on their own.

Joshua Hauke was lucky enough to discover that he was a weirdo at a very young age. After breaking his drawing arm three times in a row, Joshua learned that he could teach almost any part of his body to pick up a pencil, including his opposite arm and his left earlobe. Eventually, he even trained his beard to help out! Joshua is the creator of the webcomic Tales of the Brothers Three, which is inspired by his own life growing up in the Midwest. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

LOVE, DECODED de Jennifer Yen

For fans of Jenny Han and Jane Austen, a rom-com that’s equal parts hilarious and heartfelt about the unexpected consequences of one teen’s quest to help her friends find love, from the author of A Taste for Love.

LOVE, DECODED
by Jennifer Yen
‎ Razorbill/Penguin YR, March 2022

High school junior Gigi Wong strives to be the best: the top student, the perfect friend, and the ideal daughter. But it’s tough when there’s always someone who is just a little bit better. With college applications looming, she can’t help but worry that she won’t make the cut. Thankfully, her best friend Kyle never fails to find the right words—and the perfect bowl of ramen—to cheer her up.
After her teacher, Ms. Harris, announces she’ll be nominating students for an app writing contest, Gigi is determined to be picked. After all, first prize is an exclusive tech internship, sure to make her application stand out. There’s only one problem: she doesn’t have a winning program. It isn’t until transfer student Etta admits she’s struggling to fit in at Superbia that Gigi stumbles on an idea. She’ll use her coding skills—and the matchmaking experience she’s gotten from weekends with Auntie Rose—to create a friend matching app! Etta will meet new people, and Gigi will guarantee her acceptance into college. It’s foolproof.
What Gigi doesn’t expect is for her app to go viral around school. Soon, she finds herself at the center of a scandal—and at odds with both Etta and Kyle. Can Gigi fix what went wrong, or will her desire to be perfect cost her the people she cares about most?

Jennifer Yen is a Taiwanese American author who spends her days healing hearts and her nights writing about love, family, and the power of acceptance. Jennifer believes in the magic of one’s imagination, and hopes her stories will bring joy and inspiration to readers. If you find Jennifer wandering around aimlessly, please return her to the nearest milk tea shop.

LIVE, LAUGH, KIDNAP de Gabby Noone

From the author of Layoverland comes another bitingly clever, laugh-out-loud funny novel, about a group of teen girls going up against an exploitative megachurch in their small Montana town.

LIVE, LAUGH, KIDNAP
by Gabby Noone
Razorbill/Penguin YR, March 2022

The only thing Genesis, Holly and Zoe seem to have in common is being stuck in Violet, Montana. Well, that and the fact that Hope Harvest Ministries is trying to ruin their lives.
Genesis lives on a commune that is now an echo of the New Age cult it once was. She’s witnessed power couple Pastor Jay and Ree Reaps transform their sleepy small town into a haven for online Influencers, who flock to Violet, bible in one hand and Ree’s bestselling Act Like a Lady, Pray Like a Boss in the other. Now, the Reaps have decided it’s God’s Will™ that they take over Gen’s ranch.
Holly is a begrudging tourist, forced to spend the summer with her estranged father as punishment for her unsavory behavior back in LA. To Holly, Hope Harvest is nothing but a gimmicky marketing ploy, but it’s threatening to put her father’s diner out of business and, for some reason, Holly cares.
All Zoe wants is to leave Violet, working thankless shifts at the diner to scrape together enough cash to start a new life with her girlfriend. But Zoe’s mother has lost everything to the church’s multilevel marketing schemes so the little money that Zoe manages to make goes right to debt collectors.
The only solution to their problems is to scam the scammers and protect what’s theirs. It shouldn’t take much – the Reaps’ golden son, an accidental kidnapping, some light blackmail – and the Reaps’ fortune will be in the girls’ much more deserving hands. As long as everything goes according to plan…

Gabby Noone is the author of the indie bestseller Layoverland. She grew up in Abington, PA and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.