Teen Book Bingo 2025 – Round One 

Teen Book Bingo has begun!  Here is a selection of two titles each from our suggested reading lists to get you started. 

From the Gender Bender category, you might enjoy Beating Heart Baby or The Prince and the Dressmaker.  Beating Heart Baby, by Lio Min, follows Santi as he meets and is entranced by Suwa, a trans boy who struggles to make his own way in the world.  Jen Wang’s graphic novel, The Prince and the Dressmaker, follows Frances as she helps Prince Sebastian find a way to dress the way that most suits him and allows him the freedom to be himself. 

Two books set in the Pacific Northwest include This Light Between Us and Piecing Me Together. This Light Between Us, by Andrew Fukuda, tells how two teens, one in France and one on Bainbridge Island, strike up a friendship in 1935 and continue writing letters to each other through World War Two, even though one is in a Japanese internment camp and the other is facing Nazi deportations. Piecing Me Together, by Renee Watson, follows Jade, the only Black girl at her Portland, Oregon school. When Jade finds a young Black mentor who can open doors for her, she leaps at the chance, but does her mentor really understand who she is? The next category is Not Prose, which generally points to books of poetry, or novels in verse. Two books we suggest include Remind Me Again and Rangikura. Remind Me Again, by Joe Davis, is a collection of 41 poems to inspire and challenge readers to find their spirit and purpose.  Rangikura, by Māori poet Tayi Tibble, contemplates the challenges of youth and the guidance of her ancestors.

Multiple Perspectives is our next category, which contains books told from the viewpoint of at least two of the characters. Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo, follows two sisters who learn they share the same father when he is killed in an airplane crash, and how they navigate their grief over his death while discovering the joy in finding they have a sister. Karen McManus’s thrilling novel One of Us Is Lying tells of a boy’s death in a high school and how each of the possible suspects were potential targets of his new gossip-spreading app. Remixes and Adaptations form our next category. Helga, by Catherine Yu, retells the Frankenstein story from the perspective of a young woman brought to life by her doctor “father,” and how she learns from his young assistant that she should really start thinking and acting for herself. So Many Beginnings, by Bethany C. Morrow, retells the story of Little Women, but from the perspective of four Black sisters living in the shadow of the Civil War. 

Need a book with a map? These can be hard to find! Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys, follows four young people in World War Two as they make their way from Poland, under siege from the Nazis, to the sea, where they hope to meet a ship that will take them to safety in England. Unfortunately, one of them will betray the others. On a lighter note, local author and library employee Susanna Ryan will guide you through some of the quirkier, less known, and more interesting areas of Seattle in her book Seattle Walk Report. Non-romantic love is our next category. Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger, follows asexual Lipan Apache teen Elatsoe as she searches for the killer of her cousin. Her ghost dog Kirby helps her sniff out danger as she navigates the spirit world to help her cousin find peace. Neal Shusterman’s dystopian novel Dry tells how siblings Alyssa and Garrett embark on a quest to find their parents when the water in the American Southwest runs dry. Picking up a few new friends on their way helps them to bear the fate that awaits them. 

Dark Academia is a subgenre for stories that follow shady characters in schools with supernatural or spooky vibes. Think Slytherin House and you’re on the right track. Debbi Michiko Florence’s novel A Study in Secrets tells how Meg is drawn to find the secret treasure at her new boarding school, even if she must learn how to trust some of her secretive classmates to find it.  Robin Talley’s novel Everything Glittered follows three best friends as they sneak out in 1927 Baltimore to find speakeasies where they can drink alcohol. When their beloved headmistress is found dead under suspicious circumstances, they know they must find her killer. For the square marked Revolution, we have books about people fighting against oppressors and the systems of oppression. In Sabaa Tahir’s graphic novel, A Spark Within the Forge, Laia and her brother Darin each find their own way to save their family, one through healing, and one through forging swords. In Unbecoming, by Seema Yasmin, two Muslim girls want to be part of the resistance after all abortions are made illegal in America. Laylah wants to become an OB-GYN and Noor an investigative journalist, and together they write a guide to safe abortion for teens. 

Our next category is Grey Lit, or Outsider Lit. This refers to works published outside of the usual areas, like poetry by our local poet laureates, or zines.  Mateo Acuna, the 2023-24 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate, wrote Dear Spanish, a book of poems that speaks the languages of identity, gender, and family. Bitaniya Giday, the 2020-21 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate, wrote Motherland, a collection of poems exploring womanhood, Blackness, and family history as a recent immigrant. Found Family is our next category, telling stories about people who start their stories alone in the world but find their journey is made easier when they look outside their traditional family to find their people. Sara Alfageeh’s graphic novel Squire follows Aiza as she aims to become a knight for the very empire that conquered her culture; it is her only path to citizenship, and it is difficult and narrow. Can she find help in some of the other recruits who are also outcasts? In Traci Chee’s fantasy Kindling, seven young magical warriors join to fight one last battle after centuries of war, using the last of their magic to set things right in the world. 

Gender Bender stories are really popular right now. The Deep Dark, a graphic novel by Molly Knox Ostertag, follows high school senior Mags as she navigates increasingly adult responsibilities at home and a rekindled friendship while making sure the family secret in her basement stays hidden. In Andrew Joseph White’s novel Hell Followed With Us, trans boy Benji escapes a doomsday cult that has destroyed millions of people only to learn from his new friends that he is a bioweapon infected with the virus that could kill millions more. 

Graphic Novel Memoirs are also increasingly common.  In Limbo, by Deborah Lee, tells how young Jung-Jin immigrated to America and found herself isolated by her otherness, whether from teachers or her own mother. Mexikid, by Pedro Martin, describes the family’s quest to bring his abuelo back from Mexico in the 1980s. Surrounded by his many siblings, Pedro experienced some humor, some sadness, but always the love of his family. 

~posted by Wally B. 

  Teen Book Bingo has begun!  Here is a selection of two titles each from our suggested reading lists to get you started.  From the Gender Bender category, you might enjoy Beating Heart Baby or The Prince and the Dressmaker.  Beating Heart Baby, by Lio Min, follows Santi as he meets and is entranced by Suwa, 

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