What's New in Graphic Novels

 The newest member of the YCLD teen department team, Genesis, tells us what is new for checkout in the world of graphic novels. 

Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot: For fans of DC Comics and anything Gotham City, this origin story is for you! Dinah Lance, a 13-year old middle schooler who's in a rock band with her two best friends spends most of her time practicing to win the upcoming school Battle of the Bands. When she's not rehearsing, she dreams of joining the Gotham City Junior Police Academy so she can make a real difference and solve crimes just like her detective father. But when a dangerous shadow figure begins threatening her friends and family, Dinah has to learn about her mother's secret past and newfound abilities.

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera and Celia Moscote: Fans of Bloom and Spinning will love this queer coming-of-age graphic novel adaptation of Gabby Rivera's best-selling novel. Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving her hometown of the Bronx and heading to Portland, Oregon for a summer internship. But, just before leaving, Juliet comes out to her family, causing a tear in her relationship with her mom. Wondering if her mom will ever speak to her again, Juliet arrives in Portland to meet with Harlowe Brisbane, both her favorite feminist author and the person she'll be interning with. In this new city, Juliet learns what it means to be Puerto Rican, lesbian, and out, even when the rest of the world doesn't understand.

Martian Ghost Centaur by Mat Heagerty and Steph Mided: The Town of Southborough was once a major tourist destination that was said to be the home of the famous sasquatch after multiple sightings of the cryptid over the years. But once sightings of the Sasquatch came to a halt, so did the town's tourism, and with that came financial difficulties for the town and its residents. A tech company by the name of Start-up.com, a start-up that helps people start their own start-ups, decides to take advantage of Southborough's monetary situation and begins buying up various places throughout town to construct a headquarters, in turn pushing out all the local townspeople. Fortunately, Louie O'Connor and her best friend Felix decide they're going to do whatever it takes to drive back tourism while also protecting everything that makes their hometown special. Even if that means creating an elaborate hoax to drive out the Start-up.com takeover.

What if We Were... by Axelle Lenoir: Nathalie and Marie are 17 year old best friends since elementary school who battle boredom by using their imaginations to play a game they invented called "What if We Were...?" The rules are simple: one player names a topic, such as "Vikings" or "vampire slayers," then both players imagine what life would be like as that subject. Easy enough to play, but hard to master. After all these years, Nathalie and Marie are experts as they have mastered how to think outside the box and creatively surprise each other. But what if a new player decided to join the game? And what if she was really hot? Find out if Nathalie and Marie survive the next round without heartbreak in this graphic novel that proves there's nothing better than using your imagination.

What's New On Hoopla

 Here are some great new teen titles we've recently added to Hoopla Digital you should definitely check out!

The Castle School (For Troubled Girls) by Alyssa B. Sheinmel: Ok, so Moira gets that she has kind of always been a troublemaker. And she KNOWS that she has gotten way worse since her best friend Nathan died. But that still doesn't mean she has to be happy or even accepting of  her parents decision to send her away to a creepy boarding school in the middle of he woods! She's not interested in being there, or making new friends or in her counseling sessions. But she IS kind of interesting in exploring the nearby all-boys boarding school late at night with her room mate... that is, until things start to get weird, and really, really creepy. 

Grace Unto Death by J. D. Winter: Dying sucks. Being only sort-of dead is even worse. Grace never set out to become a Necrowight. She was just out jogging, trying to get a little exercise and get away from her jerk stepdad. It was totally not her fault she ran into UNBELIEVABLY good looking Sebastian (swoon!) who just happened to be undead and just happened to have turned her into whatever the heck she was now. And what exactly IS she now? Is she dead? Undead? Only mostly dead? What is a teenage ghoul to do.

Hotel Black by Ken G. Jones: Edmund, Greg and Mary are glad to be heading off to Wales for a nice little vacation with their parents at Hotel Black... until they actually get there. Constantly surrounded by mist, the hotel has a deeply creepy air to it. Then there's the squeaking rats and the nightly nightmares they all seem to be having. Plus the weird portraits hanging everywhere of the same man... who always looks different somehow. What is going on at this hotel and will Edmund, Greg and Mary even make it out alive if they are brave enough to try to find out?

The Salt in Our Blood by Ava Morgyn: When Cat' beloved grandmother dies, Mary has no choice but to move to New Orleans to live with the mother, Mary, who abandoned her as a child. There, Cat finds a mysterious picture of her mother cradling a child who is most definitely not Cat. As Cat begins to uncover twisted family secrets, she begins to realize that her mother has issues that run much deeper that she ever suspected, and even worse, Cat begins to have haunting dreams in which strange apparitions seem to be trying to tell her something important about her own life and future as well as her mysterious past. 

What's New on Overdrive!

 There is so much new on Overdrive this month, we don't even know where to begin! New series are beginning, old series are ending, and authors we love are releasing LOOOOONG awaited new titles! Here are four that we are sure you are going to love this April!

The Cousins by Karen McManus: The author of One of Us is Lying and One of Us is Next is back with a brand new stand-alone novel to keep you on the edge of your seat. Milly, Jonah and Aubrey Story are cousins who come from one of the richest families in New England, but they have never met their grandparents. That's because one day, for reasons no one has ever explained each of their parents got a letter from the cousins grandmother saying she never wanted to speak to any member of the family again. Then, just as mysteriously, decades later, the three cousins get another letter, inviting them to come work for their secretive grandmother at the family's upscale resort on their private island. The cousins don't want to go, but their parents, hoping to get back into the will, force them to, with terrifying consequences. 

The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs (Book 6 in the Miss Peregrine's Series): After 10 years and 6 books, we have reached the end. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children reaches its conclusion with this final volume. Jacob and Noor are back in Florida, at Jacob's grandad's house and Caul is building an army. The apocalypse is coming, marked by storms made of ashes, bones and blood, and only the peculiars can stop it.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna: Fans of Ninth House and Wings of Ebony are going to want to pick this one up for sure! Deka has always been an outcast in her village because of her strange power: she is unnaturally intuitive. Now, as she turns 16 and readies for her tribe's blood ceremony she prays with all her might that her blood will be normal and red, and not cursed and gold, which will mean she is cursed and must suffer a terrible fate. Of course, her blood runs gold. Deka is terrified until a strange woman arrives to tell her that he blood is not actually a curse but a gift. It marks her as a warrior. A gilded one. A protector, and one of the few who can save her country from doom.

The Project by Courtney Summers: Fans of Sadie can rejoice! Courtney Summers has finally released her long awaited follow-up! As a child, Lo lost her parents to a terrible car crash that almost ended her own life. Then, as a teenager, she lost the only family she had left: her sister Bea joined the mysterious "Project," a supposed Christian charity organization that Lo is 100% convinced is a cult. When a young man who was once a member dies by throwing himself in front of a train, Lo knows she has to do anything she can to expose the Project and saver her sister before it's too late. 

All of these great Young Adult books and more are available on Overdrive now with your Yuma County Library District Library card! Check them out now! And remember, we are open with a current limit of 30 minutes in the building.