Best of Teen Books

2024 High School Nutmeg Nominees

Nutmeg Book Award Logo

Nutmeg Awards for grades 9th thru 12th is the Connecticut state award for the best books for teens
YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Teens across the country vote on their favorite YA books of the year
Coretta Scott King Book Awards for the best African American authors
Printz Awards for hands down, the best YA book
Alex Awards for the best adult books for teens
Morris Awards YA debut book/author award
Belpre Award for books that celebrate the latinx experience

Want to check out the YA book awards in our collection? Check out our catalog list of award winners today!


Digital YA Book Lists

Get Your Teen Read A-likes!
Young Adult LGBTQ+ Book List
Young Adult Social Justice Book List
YA Hispanic American Heritage Book List
Kids & Teens Scifi Book List
Banned Books YA Book List
Horror YA Book List
New Books to Screens for Teens Book List
Black Experience YA Book List
Read Across America YA Book List
Girl Power YA Book List
Poetry & Novels in Verse YA Book List
Road Trips in YA Book List
Neurodiversity & Mental Health in YA Book List
Asian American and Pacific Islander Experience in YA Book List
Native American Experience in YA Book List
Green Loving YA Book List
Women’s History and Rights

Interested in more curated book lists? Let us know!


Digital Books, Videos & More at the Library


Kanopy: online movie streaming
WHAT: Movies, TV Shows, Educational Videos and more
HOW MANY: 7 DOWNLOADS per month. Selections return automatically after 24 hours
Kanopy Help

HOOPLA
WHAT: Audiobooks, Movies, Music, Television, eBooks and Comics
HOW MANY: 5 DOWNLOADS per month. Selections return automatically after 3 days (Videos), 7 days (Music), and 21 days (Books)
Hoopla FAQ

Overdrive
WHAT: Audiobooks, eBooks and Comics
HOW MANY: 5 DOWNLOADS per month. Selections return automatically after 7 days, 14 days or 21 days (Preference selected in Settings)
Overdrive help

Freading
WHAT: eBooks for education and fun.
COMPATIBILITY: For desktop computers and eReaders with Adobe Digital Editions You will need to activate every device that you use to download books from Freading with Adobe Account Information and NHFPL Library Card Information.
HOW MANY: 9 DOWNLOADS per week. Selections return automatically after 2 weeks.
Freading FAQ

 
RBdigital eAudio & eBooks: researchIT CT’s downloadable eAudio & eBook service
Temporarily unavailable – stay tuned as these materials will move to a new platform, SimplyE, soon.

NOVELIST PLUS: Need a reading recommendation? This is a comprehensive source of information about books that includes expert recommendations, reviews, articles, lists and more.

iCONN’s Popular Magazine page offers even more magazines, accessible by just a click!

 
CREATIVEBUG:
WHAT: Art & Craft video classes (drawing, jewelry making, knitting, home decor and more)
HOW MANY: Unlimited viewing of over a thousand award-wining classes! 
 

LinkedIn Learning:
WHAT: Video courses (software development, business skills, creative software design and more)
HOW MANY: Unlimited viewing


More FREE eBooks & Audiobooks

So you’ve looked through the Library’s ebooks, and you’re hungry for more titles. There are plenty of places to find free eBooks online. Here are some good starting points:

ManyBooks
Over 26,000 free titles pulled from bigger sites like the Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg, then organized like a regular online bookstore so it’s easy to find something of interest.

Feedbooks
The site is mainly dedicated to selling books, but you can browse for free titles under Free Public Domain Books or under Free Original Books. You’ll also find some free titles by selecting eBooks under $5.

Open Library
More than 1 million free titles from places like the Connecticut State Library and Internet Archive. The best way to navigate Open Library is checking the “Show only ebooks” box located below the search field.


Free Online Games

Chess Kid allows you to play online with others and offers tutorials to develop your skills.

Review Game Zone has fun and educational games for many subject areas and focuses, have fun and learn!

Jigsaw Explorer is an online photograph jigsaw puzzles. You can set the pieces from 6-1000+!

Immerse yourself in cryptography by learning to encrypt, decrypt & crack messages through games and puzzles at Crypto Club.

DIY Crafting

Coloring Nature has countless life-like free and printable coloring pages.

Color Mandala is mindfulness coloring at your fingertips, options to print or color virtually, great for getting some zen into your day.

Need help to stay busy? Check out Instructables for Teachers 3D printing projects, crafting and coding projects, involving math and other K-12 subjects.

Reading Blogs


Graphic novels, manga, and comics much? If yes, then definitely check out what’s happening at No Flying No Tights!

We Need Diverse Books is a nonprofit organization created to address the lack of diverse narratives in youth lit. They also have an unbeatable app available!

Well-Read Black Girl Supports Black girls, women, & non-binary writers through great works.

YA Books Central writes about great books being released right now!

What should I read next? Need a book suggestion? Then this fun and easy site will make everything a little better.