The Check-in!
MHHS Library Newsletter Vol. 2 Issue 16
NEW BOOKS!
Bitter
From National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi comes a companion novel to the critically acclaimed PET that explores both the importance and cost of social revolution--and how youth lead the way.
After a childhood in foster care, Bitter is thrilled to have been chosen to attend Eucalyptus, a special school where she can focus on her painting surrounded by other creative teens. But outside this haven, the streets are filled with protests against the deep injustices that grip the city of Lucille.
Bitter’s instinct is to stay safe within the walls of Eucalyptus . . . but her friends aren’t willing to settle for a world that’s so far away from what they deserve. Pulled between old friendships, her artistic passion, and a new romance, Bitter isn’t sure where she belongs—in the studio or in the streets. And if she does find a way to help the revolution while being true to who she is, she must also ask: at what cost?
Call number: FIC EME
Genre: YA Fiction
Reading level: 7-9
Length: 272 pages
Availability: MHHS
The Lost Dreamer
A stunning YA fantasy inspired by ancient Mesoamerica, this gripping debut introduces us to a lineage of seers defiantly resisting the shifting patriarchal state that would see them destroyed―perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi and Sabaa Tahir.
Indir is a Dreamer, descended from a long line of seers; able to see beyond reality, she carries the rare gift of Dreaming truth. But when the beloved king dies, his son has no respect for this time-honored tradition. King Alcan wants an opportunity to bring the Dreamers to a permanent end―an opportunity Indir will give him if he discovers the two secrets she is struggling to keep. As violent change shakes Indir’s world to its core, she is forced to make an impossible choice: fight for her home or fight to survive.
Call number: FIC HUE
Genre: YA Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Reading level: 10-12
Length: 384 pages
Availability: MHHS, Sora (SDCL)
Audiobook: Sora (SDCL)
Sora achievements: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction
The Red Palace
June Hur, critically acclaimed author of The Silence of Bones and The Forest of Stolen Girls, returns with The Red Palace―a third evocative, atmospheric historical mystery perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Kerri Maniscalco.
Joseon (Korea), 1758. There are few options available to illegitimate daughters in the capital city, but through hard work and study, eighteen-year-old Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse. All she wants is to keep her head down, do a good job, and perhaps finally win her estranged father's approval.
But Hyeon is suddenly thrust into the dark and dangerous world of court politics when someone murders four women in a single night, and the prime suspect is Hyeon's closest friend and mentor. Determined to prove her beloved teacher's innocence, Hyeon launches her own secret investigation.
Call number: FIC HUR
Genre: YA Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Reading level: 7-9
Length: 336 pages
Availability: MHHS, Sora (SDCL)
Audiobook: Sora (SDCL)
Sora achievement: Mystery, Fiction
Killers of the Flower Moon
Adapted for Young Readers
The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
The New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist Killers of the Flower Moon is now adapted for young readers.
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, thanks to the oil that was discovered beneath their land. Then, one by one, the Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances, and anyone who tried to investigate met the same end.
As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created Bureau of Investigation, which became the FBI, took up the case, one of the organization's first major homicide investigations. An undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau, infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Working with the Osage, they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
Call number: 976.6 GRA
Genre: YA US History, Native Americans, True Crime
Reading level: 5-6
Length: 336 pages
Availability: MHHS, Sora (SDCL)
Audiobook: Sora (SDCL)
Sora achievement: Nonfiction
The Well
GRAPHIC NOVEL
A fantasy graphic novel about Lizzy, a girl who gets cursed by a wishing well, and her adventure to grant three wishes in order to break free.
Li-Zhen’s life on the archipelago is simple. Known to friends and family as Lizzy, she takes care of her grandfather and their goats, she flirts with the woman who helps row the ferry, and she stays away from the fog that comes in the night―and the monsters hiding within it.
But Lizzy’s life comes apart when she steals a handful of coins from a sacred well to cover a debt. The well requires repayment, but it doesn’t deal in coins. It needs wishes, and its minions will drown Lizzy in its depths if she doesn’t grant them. Lizzy finds herself on a quest to uncover hidden memories, bestow great wealth, and face the magical secrets that nearly destroyed her family―and are now returning to threaten everything she has ever known.
GRAPHIC NOVEL
Call number: 741.5 WYA
Genre: YA Graphic Novel
Reading level: 10-12
Length: 176 pages
Availability: MHHS
The Chosen One
A First Generation Ivy League Odyssey
Echo Brown testifies to the disappointments and triumphs of a Black first-generation college student in this exploration of the first year experience.
There are many watchers and they are always white. That’s the first thing Echo notices as she settles into Dartmouth College. Despite graduating high school in Cleveland as valedictorian, Echo immediately struggles to keep up in demanding classes. Dartmouth made many promises it couldn't keep. The campus is not a rainbow-colored utopia where education lifts every voice. Nor is it a paradise of ideas, an incubator of inclusivity, or even an exciting dating scene. But it might be a portal to different dimensions of time and space—only accessible if Echo accepts her calling as a Chosen One and takes charge of her future by healing her past. This remarkable challenge demands vulnerability, humility, and the conviction to ask for help without sacrificing self-worth.
Call number: FIC BRO
Genre: YA Fiction
Reading level: 9-12
Length: 336 pages
Availability: MHHS
Loveboat Reunion
This companion novel to Abigail Hing Wen’s New York Times bestselling debut, Loveboat, Taipei, takes readers back to Taipei through the eyes of fan favorites Sophie and Xavier—on an unforgettable journey of glittering revelry and self-discovery that’s perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Mary H. K. Choi.
Hearts were broken, revenge was plotted—but at least they’re friends now. They left the drama behind them back in Taipei—at their summer program, Loveboat—forever.
But the world doesn’t seem to want Sophie and Xavier to succeed. Sophie’s college professor thinks her first major project is “too feminine.” Xavier’s father gives him an ultimatum: finish high school or be cut off from his inheritance.
Call number: FIC WEN
Genre: YA Romance, Humor
Reading level: 8-9
Length: 448 pages
Availability: MHHS, Sora (SDCL)
Audiobook: Sora (SDCL)
Sora achievements: Fiction
Icebreaker
A. L. Graziadei's Icebreaker is an irresistible YA debut about two hockey players fighting to be the best―and the romance that catches them by surprise along the way.
Seventeen-year-old Mickey James III is a college freshman, a brother to five sisters, and a hockey legacy. With a father and a grandfather who have gone down in NHL history, Mickey is almost guaranteed the league's top draft spot.
The only person standing in his way is Jaysen Caulfield, a contender for the #1 spot and Mickey's infuriating (and infuriatingly attractive) teammate. When rivalry turns to something more, Mickey will have to decide what he really wants, and what he's willing to risk for it.
This is a story about falling in love, finding your team (on and off the ice), and choosing your own path.
Call number: FIC GRA
Genre: YA Fiction, Romance, LGBTQIA+
Reading level: 10-12
Length: 320 pages
Availability: MHHS, Sora (SDCL)
Audiobook: Sora (SDCL)
Sora achievements: Fiction
All of Us Villains
You Fell in Love with the Victors of the Hunger Games.
Now Prepare to Meet the Villains of the Blood Veil.
The Blood Moon rises. The Blood Veil falls. The Tournament begins. Every generation, at the coming of the Blood Moon, seven families in the remote city of Ilvernath each name a champion to compete in a tournament to the death.
The prize? Exclusive control over a secret wellspring of high magick, the most powerful resource in the world―one thought long depleted.
But this year a scandalous tell-all book has exposed the tournament and thrust the seven new champions into the worldwide spotlight. The book also granted them valuable information previous champions never had―insight into the other families’ strategies, secrets, and weaknesses. And most important, it gave them a choice: accept their fate or rewrite their legacy.
Either way, this is a story that must be penned in blood.
Call number: FIC FOO
Genre: YA Fiction, Fantasy
Reading level: 10-12
Length: 400 pages
Availability: MHHS, Sora (SDCL)
Audiobook: Sora (SDCL)
Sora achievement: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction
Murder of Crows
Tig Torres investigates Hollow Falls' horrific history in this original novel based on the hit podcast Lethal Lit from Einhorn's Epic Productions and iHeartRadio!
Lethal Lit follows Tig Torres, a Cuban American teen detective, in her hometown of Hollow Falls. In season one of the hit podcast, Tig used her smarts and fearlessness to track down the infamous "Lit Killer," a serial killer who staged his murders after death scenes from famous books. But there's no rest for courageous, mystery-solving teens in a place like Hollow Falls, and though the Lit Killer is now behind bars, his protégé, Tig's classmate and crush Oly, has disappeared!
Call number: FIC ANC
Genre: YA Fiction, Thriller, Suspense
Reading level: 7-12
Length: 288 pages
Availability: MHHS
When You Hear Me, You Hear Us
Voices on Youth Incarceration
This anthology of poetry and personal stories centers the voices of those directly impacted by the incarceration of young people in the United States.
Compiled by Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, this rich collection includes over 100 firsthand accounts from both the young people charged and incarcerated in the adult criminal legal system and from the community at large: the mothers, the loved ones, the correctional staff, public defenders, prosecutors, and others harmed and left with unhealed trauma. These critical voices, uniquely combined, illustrate the ecosystem that surrounds youth who are incarcerated--and expose the ripple effects that touch us all.
This book challenges us to hear these voices calling out for accountability, transformative justice, and healing. Together, they demonstrate the collective impact of the prison system, and our collective responsibility to create a society where every one of us can thrive.
Call number: nonfiction FRE
Genre: YA Nonfiction
Reading level: 8-12
Length: 288 pages
Availability: MHHS
Manu
GRAPHIC NOVEL
A funny and heartwarming middle-grade graphic novel adventure about friendship, defying expectations, and finding your place.
Manu and her best friend, Josefina, live at a magical school for girls, and Manu is always getting into trouble. The headmistress believes that Manu has the potential to help people with her magic, but Manu would rather have fun than fall in line. One day, a prank goes seriously wrong, and Josefina gets angry and wishes for Manu's magic to disappear... and it does. Manu uses a dangerous spell to restore it, but it makes her magic too powerful and nearly impossible to control. Great power comes at a cost, and it may be a price that Manu isn't able to pay!
GRAPHIC NOVEL
Call number: 741.5 FER
Genre: YA Graphic Novel
Reading level: 3-7
Length: 192 pages
Availability: MHHS, Sora (SDCL)
Sora achievements: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction
The Sentence
In this New York Times bestselling novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman's relentless errors.
A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading "with murderous attention," must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.
Call number: FIC ERD
Genre: Fiction
Reading level: 11-12
Length: 395 pages
Availability: MHHS, Sora (SDCL)
Audiobook: Sora (SDCL)
Sora achievements: Fiction
Essential Library Vocabulary
"availability" - where can I find this book? is it print or digital?
"MHHS" - Mission Hills High School, location means the book is available in print on campus
"Sora" - online eBook platform, go to soraapp.com to access
"Sora achievements" - reading books in Sora will earn you achievements; we will include what achievements you could earn by reading this title in Sora
"SMUSD" - San Marcos Unified School District (original library in Sora)
"SDCL" - San Diego County Library system (add this library to your Sora account for access)
"Serra" - Serra Library Cooperative (add this library to your Sora account for access)
"reading level" - reading levels are broken down by grade levels
"Lexile measure" - listed when available, from the Lexile Framework for Reading, lexiles measure of a text's readability - best used in conjunction with a student's Lexile reader measurement, visit www.lexile.com for more information
"genre" - what kind of book is it? fiction or nonfiction? YA or children's? fantasy or science fiction? biography or memoir?
"graphic novel" - a novel in comic-strip format
"sci-fi" - short for "science fiction"
Contact the MHHS Library
Email: mhhs.library@smusd.org
Website: missionhillshigh.smusd.org/resources/library
Location: 1 Mission Hills Court, San Marcos, CA, USA
Phone: 760-290-2730