Read to the Rhythm: Dancers in teen literature

Click here for a printable copy of the list.

	Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela DePrince TEEN BIOGRAPHY DEPRINCE Michaela DePrince lived the first few years of her live in war-torn Sierra Leone until she was adopted by an American Family. Now seventeen, she is one of the premiere ballerinas in the United States.
	Dancing in the Dark by Robin Bavati TEEN BAVATI RO TEEN BAVATI Passionate about ballet, Ditty Cohen signs up for dance class despite being forbidden to by her Orthodox Jewish parents, then must face the consequences when the two worlds collide after five and a half years of study.
	Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black TEEN BLACK Fifteen-year-old Vanessa follows her sister Margaret to an elite Manhattan ballet school, not only gaining admission but also earning the lead in a production of The Firebird, while trying to uncover why and how Margaret and other lead dancers have disappeared.
	Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton RO TEEN CHARAIPOTRA Three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet academy compete for the status of prima ballerina, with each willing to sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.
	Pointe by Brandy Colbert TEEN COLBERT Four years after Theo's best friend, Donovan, disappeared at age thirteen, he is found and brought home and Theo puts her health at risk as she decides whether to tell the truth about the abductor, knowing her revelation could end her life-long dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer.
	Panic by Sharon Draper TEEN DRAPER As rehearsals begin for the ballet version of Peter Pan, the teenaged members of an Ohio dance troupe lose their focus when one of their own goes missing.
	Bunheads by Sophie Flack TEEN FLACK Hannah Ward, nineteen, revels in the competition, intense rehearsals, and dazzling performances that come with being a member of Manhattan Ballet Company's corps de ballet, but after meeting handsome musician Jacob she begins to realize there could be more to her life.
	Before You by Amber Hart TEEN HART Faith Watters has a picture-perfect life. She's captain of the dance team, popular, happy. She even spent her junior year traveling the world before returning to Oviedo High School for senior year. But she's living a lie. Diego Alvarez hates his new life in the States, but staying in Cuba is not an option. Covered in tattoos and scars, Diego doesn't stand a chance of fitting in, and doesn't want to. His only concern is his secret past, a past, which if it were to surface, would cost him his life. Everyone knows that Faith and Diego don't belong together. But fate has its own plan. All they want is to be free. What they get is something different entirely.
	Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor RO TEEN KANTOR Zoe thought that being cut from her ballet program was the worst thing that could happen, but when her best friend Olivia is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, Zoe quickly learns that not being able to dance is the least of her problems.
	Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem RO TEEN KIEM After a harrowing defection to the United States in 1982, Russian teenager Marya and her father settle in Brooklyn, where Marya is drawn into a web of intrigue involving her gift of foresight, her mother's disappearance, and a boy she cannot bring herself to trust.
	Someday Dancer by Sarah Rubin RO TEEN RUBIN In South Carolina in 1959 Casey Quinn dreams of being a ballerina, and though she has never had the money for lessons, she follows her dream to New York City and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance.
	Various Positions by Martha Schabas RO TEEN SCHABAS When talented, dedicated fourteen-year-old Georgia Slade becomes a student in an elite Toronto ballet academy, her confusing feelings toward one of her teachers lead to disaster.
	The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma TEEN SUMA Orianna and Violet are ballet dancers and best friends, but when the ballerinas who have been harassing Violet are murdered, Orianna is accused of the crime and sent to a juvenile detention center where she meets Amber and they experience supernatural events linking the girls together.

Polar vortex-worthy reads

Since we have no choice but to endure this extreme cold (and snow), let's embrace our winter weather. I put together a list of books that will have you commiserating with the characters dealing with frigid temperatures and never ending snow.

After the Snow by S.D. Crockett
RO TEEN CROCKETT
Fifteen-year-old Willo Blake, born after the 2059 snows that ushered in a new ice age, encounters outlaws, halfmen, and an abandoned girl as he journeys in search of his family, who mysteriously disappeared from the freezing mountain that was their home.

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick
TEEN FITZPATRICK
Britt goes hiking in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming with her ex-boyfriend Calvin, but trouble arises when she is caught in a blizzard, taken hostage by fugitives, finds evidence of murders, and learns whom to trust and whom to love.

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
TEEN LET
In three intertwining short stories, several high school couples experience the trials and tribulations along with the joys of romance during a Christmas Eve snowstorm in a small town.

Survive by Alex Morel
TEEN MOREL
A troubled girl is stranded in an arctic winter terrain after a plane crash and must fight for survival with the only other boy left alive.

Trapped by Michael Northrop
TEEN NORTHROP
RO TEEN NORTHROP
Seven high school students are stranded at their New England high school during a week-long blizzard that shuts down the power and heat, freezes the pipes, and leaves them wondering if they will survive.

Blankets by Craig Thompson
TEEN GRAPHIC NOVEL THOMPSON
This is an illustrated novel loosely based on the author's life growing up in rural Wisconsin.

"It Came From the Library:" Creepy books and thrillers to read in October

Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender
When fifteen-year-old Lexi's younger sister Kasey begins behaving strangely and their old Victorian house seems to take on a life of its own, Lexi investigates and discovers some frightening facts about previous occupants of the house, leading her to believe that many lives are in danger.

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough
When Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their great Auntie Ida in an isolated village in 1958, they discover that they are in danger from a centuries-old evil and, along with village boys Roger and Peter, strive to uncover the horrifying truth before it is too late.

The Infects by Sean Beaudoin
Seventeen-year-old Nero is stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an "Inward Trek." As if that weren't bad enough, his counselors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs overnight and are now chowing down on his fellow miscreants. These kids have seen zombie movies. They know the rules. Unfortunately, knowing the rules isn't going to be enough.

Ashes by Ilsa Bick
Alex, a resourceful seventeen-year-old running from her incurable brain tumor, Tom, who has left the war in Afghanistan, and Ellie, an angry eight-year-old, join forces after an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky and kills most of the world's population, turning some of those who remain into zombies and giving the others superhuman senses. More in this series: Shadows, Monsters

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll (new)
A collection of five spine-tingling short stories.

Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror edited by R.L. Stine
A collection of thirteen scary stories by bestselling and award-winning authors.

Darkwater by Catherine Fisher
Sixteen-year-old Sarah sells her soul to reclaim her family's estate and is given 100 years to atone for their sins, but as the bargain nears its end, modern-day Tom, yearning to attend the private school that Darkwater Hall has become, gets caught up in the bargain.

The Poisoned House by Michael Ford
As the widowed master of an elegant house in Victorian-era London slips slowly into madness and his tyrannical housekeeper takes on more power, a ghostly presence distracts a teenaged maidservant with clues to a deadly secret.

The Enemy by Charlie Higson
As a disease turns everyone over sixteen into brainless, decomposing, flesh-eating creatures, a group of teenagers head to London. Ed, Jack, Bam and the other students at Rowhurst School learn more about the Disaster, and meet an adult who seems to be immune to the disease. Read more in this series: The Dead, The Fear, The Sacrifice, The Fallen

Scowler by Daniel Kraus
In the midst of a 1981 meteor shower in Iowa, a homicidal maniac escapes from prison and returns to the farm where his nineteen-year-old son, Ry, must summon three childhood toys--Mr. Furrington, Jesus Christ, and Scowler--to protect himself, his eleven-year-old sister, Sarah, and their mother.

Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge by David Lubar
A group of high school girls takes revenge on their sadistic gym teacher in the most fitting way possible. Two stowaways find themselves on a ship for the dead. An ancient predator stalks the wrong victim. Here are thirteen tales of death, murder, and revenge.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Seventeen-year-old Jazz learned all about being a serial killer from his notorious "Dear Old Dad," but believes he has a conscience that will help fight his own urges and right some of his father's wrongs, so he secretly helps the police apprehend the town's newest murderer, "The Impressionist." Read more in this series: Game

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter. Read more in this series: Dust and Decay, Flesh and Bone, Fire and Ash

The End Games by T. Michael Martin
In the rural mountains of West Virginia, seventeen-year-old Michael Faris tries to protect his fragile younger brother from the horrors of the zombie apocalypse.

Amity by Micol Ostow (new)
Two teens narrate the terrifying days and nights they spend living in a house of horrors.

Witch World by Christopher Pike
On a high school graduation road trip to Las Vegas, Jessie, still in love with ex-boyfriend Jimmy, discovers that she possesses extraordinary powers and the ability to exist in both the real world and an alternate one.

The Turning by Francine Prose
A teen boy becomes the babysitter for two very peculiar children on a haunted island in this modern retelling of The Turn of the Screw.

Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall
After her mother dies, sixteen-year-old Kara and her father move to Japan, where he teaches and she attends school, but she is haunted by a series of frightening nightmares and deaths that might be revenge--or something worse. Read more in this series: Spirits of the Noh

The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
When a mysterious threat reenters the lives of twins Ben and Sheere, separated as babies and reunited as teenagers in 1930s Calcutta, the siblings must confront an unspeakable terror, with the help of their secret society of fellow orphans.

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
Dr. Moreau's daughter, Juliet, travels to her estranged father's island, only to encounter murder, medical horrors, and a love triangle. Read more in this series: Her Dark Curiosity

The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman
After a series of suicide-killings and a deadly storm, the residents of the town of Oleander, Kansas, start acting even more strangely than would be expected. Only the five witnesses of the murders retain their sound minds, and must band together to save the town from whatever has come over it.

The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones
After a disturbing freshman year at New York University, Mimi is happy to get away to her father's remote Canadian cottage only to discover a stranger living there who has never heard of her or her father and who is convinced that Mimi is responsible for leaving sinister tokens around the property.

If you like books by John Green: Book recommendations

On the current display in the teen area, you'll find recommended books for fans of The Fault in Our Stars and author John Green. I previously posted a Fault in Our Stars readalikes list, and now here is part two. If you've read books by John Green and enjoy his realistic dialogue, humor, and authentic characters, check out these titles. (Find an easy-to-print version here.)

	The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet. Emma just got her first computer and Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.
	Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.
	Beauty Queens by Libba Bray When a plane crash strands thirteen teen beauty contestants on a mysterious island, they struggle to survive, to get along with one another, to combat the island's other diabolical occupants, and to learn their dance numbers in case they are rescued in time for the competition.
	Going Bovine by Libba Bray Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld-Jakob's (aka mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.
	Swim the Fly by Don Calame Fifteen-year-old Matt Gratton and his two best friends, Coop and Sean, always set themselves a summertime goal. This year's? To see a real-live naked girl for the first time--quite a challenge, given that none of the guys has the nerve to even ask a girl out on a date. But catching a girl in the buff starts to look easy compared to Matt's other summertime aspiration: to swim the 100-yard butterfly (the hardest stroke known to God or man) as a way to impress Kelly West, the sizzling new star of the swim team. First book in a series.
	Beat the Band by Don Calame Paired with the infamous "Hot Dog" Helen for a health class presentation on safe sex, tenth-grader Coop tries to regain his "cool" by entering his musically challenged rock group in the "Battle of the Bands" competition. Second book in the series.
	Call the Shots by Don Calame Coop is cooking up another sure-misfire scheme (big surprise), and this time the comedy plays out from Sean's point of view. Third book in the series.
	The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Most people think 15-year-old Charlie is a freak. The only friend he had killed himself, forcing him to face high school alone. But then seniors Patrick and his beautiful stepsister Sam take Charlie under their wings and introduce him to their eclectic, open-minded, hard-partying friends. It is from these older kids that Charlie learns to live and love, until a repressed secret from his past threatens to destroy his newfound happiness.
	Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan When her mother dies, sixteen-year-old Molly moves from Indiana to California, to live with her newly discovered father, a Hollywood megastar, and his pampered teenaged daughter.
	Messy by Heather Cocks Brooke wants to start a blog revealing the inner workings of Hollywood in order to be in the spotlight but has no time to write one, so she enlists the help of a ghost-writer, seventeen-year-old Max McCormack, who needs the money but not the hassles when the adorable actor, Brady Swift, comes between them. Sequel to Spoiled.
	Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell When big-hearted Chloe Camden's best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project, Chloe is forced to take on a "more meaningful" project by joining her school's struggling radio station.
	Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford Awkward freshman Will Carter endures many painful moments during his first year of high school before realizing that nothing good comes easily, focus is everything, and the payoff is usually incredible. First book in a series.
	Carter's Big Break by Brent Crawford Fourteen-year-old Will Carter's summer gets off to a bad start when his girlfriend leaves him, but then he is cast opposite a major star, Hilary Idaho, in a small movie being filmed in his town and things start looking up. Second book in the series.
	Carter's Unfocused, One-Track Mind by Brent Crawford Fifteen-year-old Will Carter's sophomore year at Merrian High presents new problems, from the return of Scary Terry to friends-with-benefits negotiations with Abby, but when Abby considers transferring to a New York arts school Carter's world is turned upside-down. Third book in the series.
	Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler Sixteen-year-old Min Green writes a letter to Ed Slaterton in which she breaks up with him, documenting their relationship and how items in the accompanying box, from bottle caps to a cookbook, foretell the end.
	And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard Sent to an Amherst, Massachusetts, boarding school after her ex-boyfriend shoots himself, seventeen-year-old Emily expresses herself through poetry as she relives their relationship, copes with her guilt, and begins to heal.
	Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard In 1982 Buncombe County, North Carolina, sixteen-year-old Alex Stromm writes of the aftermath of the accidental drowning of a friend, as his English teacher reaches out to him while he and a fellow boarding school student try to cover things up.
	Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King When her best friend, whom she secretly loves, betrays her and then dies under mysterious circumstances, high school senior Vera Dietz struggles with secrets that could help clear his name.
	The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan While preparing for the most dreaded assignment at the prestigious Irving School, the Tragedy Paper, Duncan gets wrapped up in the tragic tale of Tim Macbeth, a former student who had a clandestine relationship with the wrong girl, and his own ill-fated romance with Daisy.
	Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins When Anna's romance-novelist father sends her to an elite American boarding school in Paris for her senior year of high school, she reluctantly goes, and meets an amazing boy who becomes her best friend, in spite of the fact that they both want something more.
	Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins Budding costume designer Lola lives an extraordinary life in San Francisco with her two dads and beloved dog, dating a punk rocker, but when the Bell twins return to the house next door Lola recalls both the friendship-ending fight with Calliope, a figure skater, and the childhood crush she had on Cricket.
	Withering Tights by Louise Rennison Self-conscious about her knobby knees but confident in her acting ability, fourteen-year-old Tallulah spends the summer at a Yorkshire performing arts camp that, she is surprised to learn, is for girls only. First book in a series.
	A Midsummer Tights Dream by Louise Rennison Now that Tallulah Casey has been officially admitted to the Dother Hall performing arts program, she knows she must stay focused and ignore the boys at Woolfe Academy if she wants to win this year's grand prize for best student performance. 2nd book in the Tallulah Casey series.
	The Taming of the Tights by Louise Rennison Tallulah Casey has returned for another term at her performing arts school, but after sharing a secret kiss with the local bad boy, Tallulah is now determined to find her perfect leading man.3rd book in the Tallulah Casey series.
	Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber Perry's parents insist that he take Gobi, their quiet, Lithuanian exchange student, to senior prom but after an incident at the dance he learns that Gobi is actually a trained assassin who needs him as a henchman, behind the wheel of his father's precious Jaguar, on a mission in Manhattan.
	The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp In the last months of high school, charismatic eighteen-year-old Sutter Keely lives in the present, staying drunk or high most of the time, but that could change when starts working to boost the self-confidence of a classmate, Aimee.
	Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley Seventeen-year-old Cullen's summer in Lily, Arkansas, is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.
	Pink by Lili Wilkinson Sixteen-year-old Ava does not know who she is or where she belongs, but when she tries out a new personality--and sexual orientation--at a different school, her edgy girlfriend, potential boyfriend, and others are hurt by her lack of honesty.