Happy Tuesday! If you love YA books, you have come to the right post! Every Tuesday I feature a new YA theme featuring 5 books that you should check out! Explore different genres of YA including Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Non-Fiction, and more.

This week’s Teen Focused Feature Theme is Animal Crossing! I am a newbie to Animal Crossing, but as soon as I got it, I was addicted. It is such a fun and relaxing game to play. The books in this week’s list will represent Animal Crossing’s different elements.

1.

Solstice by Lorence Alison

Summary: When Adri is offered an all-expenses-paid trip to the exclusive Solstice Festival, she throws caution, her prestigious summer internship, and her parents goodwill to the wind. She just wants to live a little before the first day of the rest of her life, planned and scheduled in accordance to her parents’ law school dreams.

But when she and a horde of affluent, entitled teen partiers arrive at the island paradise, it looks nothing like the luxury vacation they were promised. There’s barely any food, nowhere to stay, and not nearly enough porta-potties. Pretty soon, the festival’s trending on social media for all the wrong reasons, and the music acts are cancelling left and right.

And then the first dead body washes up on the beach.

Adri has a front-row seat as everything devolves into chaos—and she’s in a prime position to put together the clues to who—or what—is killing off the helpless attendees. But even if she finds the killer, how can she hope to stop them?

Check your privilege at the door—before it gets you killed. This is one vacation you can’t escape.

My Thoughts: So this book lures you to a magical island getway just like Tom Nook, but instead of a lovely island, the villagers in this book get a horror story. This is fun horror twist on the island getaway that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

2.

Starry Night by Isabel Gillies

Summary: Sometimes one night can change everything. On this particular night, Wren and her three best friends are attending a black-tie party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the opening of a major exhibit curated by her father. An enormous wind blasts through the city, making everyone feel that something unexpected and perhaps wonderful will happen. And for Wren, that something wonderful is Nolan. With his root-beer-brown Michelangelo eyes, Nolan changes the way Wren’s heart beats. In Isabel Gillies’s Starry Night, suddenly everything is different. Nothing makes sense except for this boy. What happens to your life when everything changes, even your heart? How much do you give up? How much do you keep?

My Thoughts: A love story set in a Museum?! I am certain Blathers and Redd would approve of this tale set in an Art Exhibit. Red might even give you that cousin’s discount for a lover’s painting.

3.

A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause

Summary: Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Shy in Avon-upon-Kynt. And for eighteen years, Emmaline Watkins has feared that her future held just that: nothing.

But when the head of the most admired fashion house in the country opens her prestigious design competition to girls from outside the stylish capital city, Emmy’s dreams seem closer than they ever have before.

As the first “country girl” to compete, Emmy knows she’ll encounter extra hurdles on her way to the top. But as she navigates the twisted world of high fashion she starts to wonder: will she be able to tailor herself to fit into this dark, corrupted race? And at what cost?

My Thoughts: A girl struggling to create the perfect outfit in the name of high fashion. This book perfectly represents all three Able Sisters: Label, Sable and Mabel.

4.

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Austin Szerba interweaves the story of his Polish legacy with the story of how he and his best friend , Robby, brought about the end of humanity and the rise of an army of unstoppable, six-foot tall praying mantises in small-town Iowa.

My Thoughts: Poor Flick would love to see a Giant Praying Mantis, but he is unique in that way. Me, I run as fast as I can from any insect larger than a quarter.

5.

Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson

Summary: At Miss Qiunzilla Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for hard-core lady-types, things are not what they seem. Three-eyed foxes. Secret caves. Anagrams. Luckily, Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley are five rad, butt-kicking best pals determined to have an awesome summer together… And they’re not gonna let a magical quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way! The mystery keeps getting bigger, and it all begins here.

My Thoughts: A Camp where every thing is not what it seems feels so Animal Crossing. Plus this amazing Graphic Novel Series focuses on the most important element of all, friendship! If your goal is not to build relationships with your lovely villagers than I don’t know why you play Animal Crossing! Join these five ladies for a friendship adventure for the ages!

Let me know in the comments below which books interested you, what books should be on this list, and what themes I should do next!

Click any of the links to be taken to the Pinnacle Library Cooperative catalog page for the specific title, author, or subject.