Some tween readers hit a stage where they feel like they’ve outgrown the books in the juvenile fiction section of the library, but the books in the young adult fiction section still feel too mature.
The Ames Free Library youth services department identifies books in our juvenile fiction collection that may appeal to older readers as well as books in the young adult fiction collection that are generally considered appropriate for younger teen and/or tween readers.
We mark these books with a purple star sticker at the top of the spine of the book. Of course, individual tastes and preferences vary, but we do our best to help you easily locate options that may appeal to tweens as they browse the library.
Examples of purple star titles in the juvenile fiction collection include:
- Heat by Mike Lupica
- Scat by Carl Hiaasen
- The Mr.Terupt series by Rob Buyea
- Valentina Salazar is Not a Monster Hunter by Zoraida Córdova
- Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eager
- The Curse of Eelgrass Bog by Mary Averling
- Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
- The Chance to Fly by Ali Stroker
Examples of purple star titles in the young adult fiction collection include:
- The Scythe series by Neal Shusterman
- Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
- The Getaway by Lamar Giles
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares
- Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac
- Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings
- Star Wars: Queen’s Hope by E.K. Johnston
- Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel
If you have any suggestions for titles that you’d like to see included in the Purple Star Project, please send an email to kids@amesfreelibrary.org!