Kristina Naftzger

Teens, do I even need to remind you that summer is right around the corner? Look around the corner. See summer waiting for you, eager to sizzle you in a boiling sweat bath? Luckily, for the next few weeks we get to luxuriate in thoughts of summer (freedom, no homework, popsicles, adventures) without experiencing its fiery death grip. What better time to read an epic summer novel? Here are some YA titles you may want to add to your summer reading pile.

Full disclosure: I broke the cardinal rule of reading. I judged a book by its cover. Picture it: the tantalizing silhouette of an amusement park bathed in the glow of a purple sunset. And in the foreground? A girl in a hot dog suit.

If this description hasn’t convinced you to immediately check out the book “Hot Dog Girl” by Jennifer Dugan, allow me to elaborate. Teenager Eloise gets a job at a local theme park in the hopes of attracting the romantic attentions of Nick. There’s just one problem. Nick is cast as a dashing pirate, and Eloise, a.k.a. Lou, is assigned the role of, yes, you guessed it, a hot dog. Oh, and Nick already has a girlfriend—as luck would have it, the amusement park’s beautiful and beguiling princess. Lou hatches a cockamamie plot to win Nick over—a classic frankfurter-woos-swashbuckler scheme—and in the process, learns more about real love than she anticipated. Pass the mustard and pull down the security bar for a wacky summer love quadrilateral that redefines happy endings.

If you have a heart of stone and hate hot dogs, maybe “The Lake” by Natasha Preston is more your speed. I am quivering in my flip-flops just thinking about this book.

When seventeen-year-old friends Esme and Kayla receive letters inviting them to return to Camp Pine Lake as counselors-in-training, they’re excited but wary. Last time they were at Camp Pine Lake was eight years ago, as campers, and they were involved in something horrible they swore they would never talk about again.

Now they’re back, and mysterious messages start appearing at camp, messages that reveal someone else knows their secret…and wants revenge. What starts out as disturbing quickly turns terrifying as Esme and Kayla come face to face with their dark past. The lake never forgets…

Eeeeeek! Kiss your fingernails goodbye. This is an unsettling but hard-to-rip-your-eyes-away-from nail-biter…proceed with caution.

I didn’t want to write about two summer love stories in one article, but alas, “Love is a Revolution” by Renée Watson made me do it. Does it count as a love story when the book takes a turn from the typical girl-meets-boy romance to more of a self-love story? What’s that you say? That’s an exception to the two-love-stories-in-one-article rule? Phew! Here goes…

Nala made a list of the things she wanted to accomplish during the summer before her senior year: Find a new hairdo. Binge-watch Netflix. Oh, and find love. When her cousin Imani drags her to a talent show sponsored by Imani’s social activism group, Inspire Harlem, Nala, whose eyes typically roll at these events, catches sight of Tye and her heart immediately catches fire. It’s fine if Nala pretends to be an activist to get Tye’s attention, right? And it’s no big deal if she pretends to be a vegetarian, like he is? That’s the best strategy to make him like her, right? Right? RIGHT???

What happens when you make someone you’re really into fall for a not entirely real version of you? Check out this body-positive, entirely relatable summer tale to find out.

And there you have it. A short list to get your summer reading started off right. And don’t forget to join A.K. Smiley Public Library’s Dig Deeper Summer Reading Program this summer. It starts June 15 and there will be prizes specifically for teens which you will not want to miss. Unfortunately, no hot dog suits.

Teens, it’s 2021!

I’m not sure if this calls for exclamation points or just an extra-large sigh of relief, but either way, I’d like to start by flinging on you a fistful of the glittery hope that automatically accompanies the start of a brand new year.

Nice! You look…shiny. Please, take a moment to glow in the light (fingers crossed) of 2021.

Now that we have that out of the way, I must make a confession: I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. But I WILL take any excuse for a little ol’ fashioned introspection and self-improvement, and the following books are great for that kind of thing. Since you’re already covered in hope/glitter, it seems like a good time to tell you about them, but I’d also totally understand if you’d rather comfort-read Harry Potter for the tenth time instead. If 2021 has you feeling ambitious, here are some new-year, new-you YA books to consider.

Teens, look me in the eye. Do you dread public speaking? When your teacher announces an oral presentation do you grow a pit in your stomach the size of…well, a podium? “Thank You for Coming to My TED Talk: A Teen Guide to Great Public Speaking” by Chris Anderson, one of the brains behind the TED idea-sharing series, may be just what you need to transform your speech-making cold feet into confidence. Anderson provides readers a blueprint for how to deliver effective and engaging communication, whether you’re on stage or in an interview chair. In order to be a slicker speaker in 2021, you have to start somewhere…and I humbly suggest chapter one of this book.

I think it’s safe to say that all beings who experienced 2020 could benefit from reading my next recommendation: “Rewire Your Anxious Brain for Teens: Using CBT [Cognitive Behavior Therapy], Neuroscience and Mindfulness to Help You End Anxiety, Panic and Worry” by Debra Kissen. Not only does this book provide actionable strategies and exercises for understanding and reducing anxiety, but its tone feels genuinely supportive. It’s almost like your best friend—who knows and adores you inside and out—is secretly a psychology prodigy and wrote a book just for you. I especially love how the book explains the biology of anxiety, demystifying it in a way that takes away some of its power.

If you’re itching to reclaim your life and allow anxiety to move through you rather than define you (I LEARNED THAT FROM THE BOOK!), “Rewire Your Anxious Brain for Teens” is ready to help.

This next title goes out to the tweens. Written by Matthew Syed, England’s former number-one table-tennis player, “You Are Awesome: Find Your Confidence and Dare to be Brilliant at (Almost) Anything” is a book that breaks down the process of, well, becoming awesome at stuff. Because of his own experience being an average-kid-turned-ping-pong-wiz, Syed doesn’t buy into the “natural talent” hype. Instead, he shares his strategies for training your mind and self for greatness. While this includes practice, resilience, grit, and exploiting your neuroplasticity (wait…I’m giving away too much…read the book!), Syed maintains the results are worth it, even if you don’t “succeed” in the ways you originally imagined.

So there you have it, a trio of YA titles to help you ring in the New Year, self-actualization style…you party animal! And sorry about the glitter. Even if you don’t check out any of these books in 2021, I am wishing you fistfuls of optimism and silver linings (of the non-glitter variety), and happy reading in the days ahead.

All three of these YA titles are available using A.K. Smiley Public Library’s Books to Go Program. Details for placing your requests are available at www.akspl.org, or call 909-798-7565.

Teens, with an intense national election just days away, I’m in the mood to talk about democracy. And not just about the facts you learn in American Gov. Let’s talk about the nitty gritty messy stuff. The kind of stuff that threatens to undermine our representative government, subverting the will of the people and leaving our influence diluted.

Wait. Do you know about the nitty gritty messy stuff? Many of you probably do. I thought I did too, but I didn’t totally get it until I read Elizabeth Rusch’s “You Call This Democracy? How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People.”

While the first part of the title sounds cynical, the contents are anything but. Rusch systematically unpacks the reasons American democracy is in peril, including problematic issues with the electoral college, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and more, and instead of just pointing out problems, Rusch provides readers—specifically teen readers— starting points for actively working towards solutions.

You may find it hard to believe that a non-partisan book about politics is riveting, but this one is. Using real-life examples, easy-to-understand graphs and charts, and compelling data, Rusch helps readers develop a nuanced understanding of a complicated topic, sometimes getting our blood boiling as we realize the real sources of power in our current electoral system. You may walk away from reading this book vexed. But you will also be energized, informed, and well-positioned to take concrete steps towards activism if that is your thing.

After you put down “You Call This Democracy?,” you will more than likely be ready for some fiction, but your political juices will still be flowing. No problem. Your next read may have to be Brandy Colbert’s new YA novel “The Voting Booth.” When idealist, die-hard activist, and first-time voter Marva Sheridan sees fellow teen Duke Crenshaw turned away at the polls, she can’t let it go. What follows is a wild election day filled with mad dashes between precincts and a series of rejections, experiences that give Marva and Duke a civics lesson they may not have anticipated. Did I mention there’s also a splash of romance? You should have seen that coming. I mean, is there anything more passion-inducing than working together to realize your democratic duty?

I know in my last mullet-inspired article I promised you a literary man-bun next, but this time I delivered more of an 18th-century powdered wig (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s a long story…you may be better off not knowing). Before you go powder your own wig, I want to direct any first-time voters, or even second or third time voters, to the Teens page of the AKSPL website: www.akspl.org/teens/. There you will find a link to a Young Voter’s Guide to Social Media and the News compiled by Common Sense Media. This resource is designed to help you cut through the election hype and get to the facts. If you haven’t voted yet, be sure to check it out. And if you’re not old enough to vote yet, get a head start, check it out anyway, and turn yourself into an election fact-finding guru. And of course, if you’re 18 or older, VOTE.