Columbia Public Library – Day
Megan, Youth Services Librarian, sits down at her computer to write the first teen blog for 2026.
MEGAN
It’s the new year, which means there are more new books to read! I should look and see what new young adult books are coming out in the next six months. And I’m between books right now, so I could use some inspiration for my TBR list.
NARRATOR
Megan was not between books right now. She actually has several books checked out at the moment, and none of them are young adult novels.
MEGAN
Hey, wait a minute. Those were books I checked out in 2025. Those don’t count towards my TBR. The clock resets on January first, right?
NARRATOR
Whatever you say. But you still have a lot of books you need to read. Didn’t you just tell someone you haven’t read “The Hunger Games,” and wasn’t “Sunrise on the Reaping” one of the most read teen books in 2025? How can you 1. Call yourself a Youth Service Librarian while not reading one of the best-selling teen series of all time? 2. Don’t you think you should read the classics before you start adding books to your TBR list?
MEGAN
Shhh. You weren’t supposed to out me like that! Ok and maybe I should read “The Hunger Games,” and maybe you should mind your own business. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, new young adult books coming to a library near you in 2026. Here are the ones I’m looking forward to the most.
January
“Sundown Girls” by L S Stratton
In the tradition of Jordan Peele and Tiffany Jackson’s The Weight of Blood, a YA thriller about a Black teen whose fight for survival forces a small southern vacation town to face its dark history of racial violence.
February
“The Darkness Greeted Her” by Christina Ferko
Yellowjackets meets Smile in this atmospheric sapphic horror debut, in which a group of troubled girls are stalked through the Appalachian wilderness by a frightening monster that feeds on their deepest fears.
March
“She Drinks the Light” by Yasmin Angoe
For fans of Sinners and Immortal Dark, a teen girl must uncover her family’s deadly secrets in order to save her best friend and her island in this heart-pounding YA debut.
April
“The Bloody and the Damned” by Becca Coffindaffer
An assassin with outlawed, magical abilities will do anything to get their kidnapped sisters back in this dystopian fantasy standalone, perfect for fans of Arcane and Iron Widow.
May
“Behind Five Willows” by June Hur
From the New York Times-bestselling author of A Crane Among Wolves comes a warm and romantic homage to Jane Austen set in historical Korea, about a reader and a writer who secretly fight against government book banning and find themselves irresistibly drawn together.
June
“The Secret World of Briar Rose” by Cindy Pham
A lush and immersive queer “Sleeping Beauty” retelling about escapism, grief, and dreaming of a better world, as imagined by YouTube star Cindy Pham.
NARRATOR
Ahem. Aren’t you forgetting something?
MEGAN
Ok. Fine, I’m adding “The Hunger Games” to my TBR.
NARRATOR
And?
MEGAN
And “Sunrise on the Reaping.”
NARRATOR
AND?
MEGAN
And I’ll read them this year.
NARRATOR
You heard it here first: Megan will be reading “The Hunger Games” and “Sunrise on the Reaping,” and she will write a blog about it!
MEGAN
And I’ll what?!?
TO BE CONTINUED.
