One of my goals for the year is to better organize and update my classroom library. Right now, it’s kind of a haphazard mess. In part, that’s great because it means students are using the classroom library. But the lack of organization also makes it hard to find anything specific.
I also want to update my classroom library this year. These are some of the titles I’ve added in the past few months and some of the titles I’m looking to add in the upcoming year!
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Graphic Novels for Your Classroom Library
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is such a high school classic. The sarcasm in Anderson’s writing resonates with students, but the mystery and the emotion keep them reading. I recently borrowed the graphic novel from a student, and it’s a must for any classroom library!
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi contains both volumes 1 and 2. While this is a text taught in our World Lit class, it’s a great title to keep in the classroom library, too!
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson reminds me a lot of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, and at least one student reads it each semester. Then, that student recommends it to all their friends, and the graphic novel gets passed around pretty quickly!
Romance Recommendations
Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan is a fun rom-com. Anyone with a first love, crappy summer job, and a soft spot for amusement parks will appreciate this book!
If I Loved You Less: A Lesbian Romance Retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma by Tamsen Parker is a great cross between a classic and young adult readers! While Pride and Prejudice is the only Austen title I’ve ever taught, Emma was the first one I loved! It’s great to see a more diverse and contemporary take on this heroine!
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han has had a resurgence in my classroom thanks to the Netflix movies. I love to keep book series in my classroom library because they give students a chance to invest in characters!
Thrillers and Suspense
Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson is a suspenseful book about crime, race, and truth! When I have a student struggling to find a book, this is one of my first recommendations!
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett is maybe the most popular book in my classroom right now. It’s been impossible to keep in the classroom library, and a few of my students have purchased their own copy! The Grace Year is a supernatural thriller. The combination of suspense and female empowerment has made it a classroom favorite.
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys is coming out in February 2022. Sepetys is a popular author among my students. I think there will be a waiting list for this one, but all of her titles are excellent, especially for those students who appreciate the intersection between suspense and historical fiction.
Poetry and Verse
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo is perfect for students who loved The Poet X. For most of my students, the idea that a story could be told in verse is a pretty novel idea.
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds is another great book told in verse (and the graphic novel just came out, too!). If you asked my students to name their favorite author, Reynolds would top the list. His books do not stay on the shelf!
Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman is a recent addition to my classroom library! After seeing Gorman’s performance at the Presidential Inauguration, my students are her biggest fans. This book flew off my classroom library shelf before I even had a chance to read it!
LGBTQIA+ Characters
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas is part romance, part supernatural, and part self discovery! This is the special book that appeals to both students who love ghost stories and to students that are looking for characters grappling with gender identity.
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins hits so many of my students’ favorite young adult tropes. There’s a boarding school! A secret princess! Enemies to lovers! This is the second book in Hawkin’s Royals series, but it stands alone, too.
The Simon Snow Series by Rainbow Rowell: What started as in-world fan fiction in Rowell’s Fangirl became a series of its own. This series reads a little like Harry/Draco fanfiction, and my students love it! The setting of the first book is a little like Hogwarts, and my students think that is magical!
Black Authors for the Classroom Library
Monster by Walter Dean Myers is a perennial classroom favorite! While this is not a new book, it’s one that my students love. Since our classroom copy is a little battered, it’s time for a new one! The innovative storytelling engages even my most-reluctant readers!
Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi is available in three different levels: for kids, young adults, and grown ups. In a lot of ways, this is a hard book to read because of its candid depiction of racism in the United States, but students have also told me this book gives them hope for an antiracist future.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah was our staff book club title two summers ago. Like Stamped, this book is available in a young readers format. Noah mixes humor and honesty together to tell stories from his youth that encourage readers to consider racism both inside and beyond the United States.
Science Fiction and Dystopia
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a sci-fi thriller that’s so popular it’s become a classic. I would say that I’ve had at least one student read this book each year, so it’s time to add a new copy to the classroom library. Some of the parallels between Ready Player One and contemporary life are unsettling.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler is a unique title to say the least. When my students try to pick up The Hunger Games or Divergent for the tenth time, this is a title I suggest instead. While those are great books, I’d argue that Butler’s writing is more resonant and touches on a greater number of relevant topics, including race, religion, and the climate.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman was the most popular book in our school library last year. Shusterman is one of my students’ favorite authors. As freshman, they read Unwind, and then they’re hooked on his dystopian style!
Fantasy for Your Classroom Library
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas has swept through our students and faculty! Students and teachers in my hallway have torn through this series. While this is a fantasy series, it also has a little bit of everything, so it appeals to a large variety of readers!
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi pairs well with Things Fall Apart. The conflict in Chinua Achebe’s novel relates to Adeyemi’s characters. It may seem odd to pair a “classic” with a fantasy title, but reading these titles side by side leads to a good conversation about how far we’ve come (or if we’ve made progress at all).
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo is a personal favorite. When my students have read through Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, I point them this direction. While Ninth House takes place in a different universe, it still has Bardugo’s strong characters and detailed world building.
What other titles should I add to my classroom library this year?
