2026 Tayshas Reading List

All the noise at once

Davis, DeAndra,


School Library Journal starred, April 2025. Booklist starred, April 2025. Kirkus Review, February 2025. Publishers Weekly Annex, April 2025. All Aiden has ever wanted to do was play football just like his star quarterback brother, Brandon. When he finally gets a chance to play the game he loves. However, not every player is happy about the new addition to the team, wary of how Aiden’s autism will present itself on game day. Tensions rise. A fight breaks out. Cops are called. Brandon interferes on behalf of his brother, but is arrested. When he’s wrongly charged for felony assault on an officer, everything Brandon has worked for starts to slip away. As Brandon’s trial inches closer, Aiden is desperate to figure out what really happened that night. Can he clear his brother’s name in time?
Date Published:2025

School Library Journal starred, April 2025. Booklist starred, April 2025. Kirkus Review, February 2025. Publishers Weekly Annex, April 2025. All Aiden has ever wanted to do was play football just like his star quarterback brother, Brandon. When he finally gets a chance to play the game he loves. However, not every player is happy about the new addition to the team, wary of how Aiden’s autism will present itself on game day. Tensions rise. A fight breaks out. Cops are called. Brandon interferes on behalf of his brother, but is arrested. When he’s wrongly charged for felony assault on an officer, everything Brandon has worked for starts to slip away. As Brandon’s trial inches closer, Aiden is desperate to figure out what really happened that night. Can he clear his brother’s name in time?

Date Published:2025

Bingsu for Two

Witherspoon, Sujin,


Booklist Starred Reviews, Kirkus Review, Publishers Weekly, Seventeen-year-old Korean American River Langston-Lee has the worst day of his life when he breaks up with his girlfriend and co-manager, quits his job at his parents' cafe, and dumps coffee beans down the shirt of a rude green-haired customer. Then he lands a job at Bingsu for Two, a struggling Korean cafe around the corner. On his first day, he learns one of his co-workers is Sarang Cho, the green-haired customer he insulted, and the two immediately have it out for one another. After accidentally uploading a training video to his fandom account, the video gains a following and soon Bingsu for Two has new customers and fans who think Sarang and River are a couple. Fake-dating for the sake of the restaurant, the two discover they might not hate each other after all and must figure out what to do when River's ex-girlfriend and parents discover he's working for the competition.
Date Published:2025

Booklist Starred Reviews, Kirkus Review, Publishers Weekly, Seventeen-year-old Korean American River Langston-Lee has the worst day of his life when he breaks up with his girlfriend and co-manager, quits his job at his parents' cafe, and dumps coffee beans down the shirt of a rude green-haired customer. Then he lands a job at Bingsu for Two, a struggling Korean cafe around the corner. On his first day, he learns one of his co-workers is Sarang Cho, the green-haired customer he insulted, and the two immediately have it out for one another. After accidentally uploading a training video to his fandom account, the video gains a following and soon Bingsu for Two has new customers and fans who think Sarang and River are a couple. Fake-dating for the sake of the restaurant, the two discover they might not hate each other after all and must figure out what to do when River's ex-girlfriend and parents discover he's working for the competition.

Date Published:2025

Crashing into you

Callen, Rocky,


School Library Journal starred, June 2024. Booklist starred, June 2024. Publishers Weekly, March 2024. Bulletin (Center for Children's Books), June 2024. Seventeen-year-old Leti Rivera dreams of becoming a famous female street racer. Her brother taught her how to drive so fast that nothing can catch her. But when Jacob Fleckenstein crashes into her life, Leti starts to think that running isn’t always the answer. Together, inside her car, they both feel like they’re flying, and Jacob’s gentleness and honesty threaten Leti’s vow to keep her heart tight in her fist and her grief locked away. Yet after tragedy strikes following a race, Leti blames herself and swears an oath, a juramento, to give up driving. But will she be able to keep her promise when racing could be the very thing that saves Jacob . . . and herself? Perfect for fans of Netflix's Atypical and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.
Date Published:2024

School Library Journal starred, June 2024. Booklist starred, June 2024. Publishers Weekly, March 2024. Bulletin (Center for Children's Books), June 2024. Seventeen-year-old Leti Rivera dreams of becoming a famous female street racer. Her brother taught her how to drive so fast that nothing can catch her. But when Jacob Fleckenstein crashes into her life, Leti starts to think that running isn’t always the answer. Together, inside her car, they both feel like they’re flying, and Jacob’s gentleness and honesty threaten Leti’s vow to keep her heart tight in her fist and her grief locked away. Yet after tragedy strikes following a race, Leti blames herself and swears an oath, a juramento, to give up driving. But will she be able to keep her promise when racing could be the very thing that saves Jacob . . . and herself? Perfect for fans of Netflix's Atypical and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.

Date Published:2024

Every borrowed beat

Stewart, Erin, 1982-,


Booklist, Kirkus Review, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal starred, Sydney Wells was supposed to have died, but she received an unexpected heart transplant after the tragic death of another girl her age, Mia. Looking into Mia's life out of gratitude, Sydney meets Clayton, Mia's best friend, and together they decide to honor Mia by checking things off of her life vision board. The one thing holding Sydney back from falling for Clayton, though, is that she lied to him about having known Mia--she has kept her heart transplant a secret, and worries she will never be able to tell him.
Date Published:2025

Booklist, Kirkus Review, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal starred, Sydney Wells was supposed to have died, but she received an unexpected heart transplant after the tragic death of another girl her age, Mia. Looking into Mia's life out of gratitude, Sydney meets Clayton, Mia's best friend, and together they decide to honor Mia by checking things off of her life vision board. The one thing holding Sydney back from falling for Clayton, though, is that she lied to him about having known Mia--she has kept her heart transplant a secret, and worries she will never be able to tell him.

Date Published:2025

The kill factor

Oliver, Ben,


School Library Journal, April 2024. Publishers Weekly, February 2024. Booklist, March 2024. Bulletin (Center for Children's Books), April 2024. Kirkus Review, February 2024. In a near-future where a virtual currency of digital content fuels a fame-hungry society, a brand-new experiment that combines social media and reality TV has been greenlit. Contestants are sent to a maximum-security reform camp on an island where they can have no contact with the outside world. To lose means prison. But to win is to be free. The most popular young offender with the most upvotes by the end is given both a second chance in society and a cash prize. This kind of money could mean everything to Emerson and her family who live in the Burrows, one of the subterranean villages where the government have buried affordable housing. It's more than freedom. It could mean the chance to change her family's circumstance and finally find a place in the society they've never been allowed into. But what Emerson doesn't know, what the viewers don't know, is that the prison on the island is empty. Those who lose, those who are voted off, aren't incarcerated. Each challenge will leave more and more contestants to die. And the only choice they have is to win over viewers before it's too late.
Date Published:2024

School Library Journal, April 2024. Publishers Weekly, February 2024. Booklist, March 2024. Bulletin (Center for Children's Books), April 2024. Kirkus Review, February 2024. In a near-future where a virtual currency of digital content fuels a fame-hungry society, a brand-new experiment that combines social media and reality TV has been greenlit. Contestants are sent to a maximum-security reform camp on an island where they can have no contact with the outside world. To lose means prison. But to win is to be free. The most popular young offender with the most upvotes by the end is given both a second chance in society and a cash prize. This kind of money could mean everything to Emerson and her family who live in the Burrows, one of the subterranean villages where the government have buried affordable housing. It's more than freedom. It could mean the chance to change her family's circumstance and finally find a place in the society they've never been allowed into. But what Emerson doesn't know, what the viewers don't know, is that the prison on the island is empty. Those who lose, those who are voted off, aren't incarcerated. Each challenge will leave more and more contestants to die. And the only choice they have is to win over viewers before it's too late.

Date Published:2024

This thing of ours

Joseph, Frederick, (Activist),


Booklist, Kirkus Reviews Starred, Publishers Weekly Starred, After a torn ACL threatens his promising basketball career, a Black teen named Ossie Brown finds himself lost without his athletic identity to define him at his affluent, predominantly white school. He finds a lifeline in the highly regarded writing program run by Ms. Hunt, a Black teacher at his school, and forms new friendships with classmates who see him as more than just an asset to the sports program. But when complaints against Ms. Hunt lead to her getting fired, Ossie and his new friends must find a way to ensure their voices are heard.
Date Published:2025

Booklist, Kirkus Reviews Starred, Publishers Weekly Starred, After a torn ACL threatens his promising basketball career, a Black teen named Ossie Brown finds himself lost without his athletic identity to define him at his affluent, predominantly white school. He finds a lifeline in the highly regarded writing program run by Ms. Hunt, a Black teacher at his school, and forms new friendships with classmates who see him as more than just an asset to the sports program. But when complaints against Ms. Hunt lead to her getting fired, Ossie and his new friends must find a way to ensure their voices are heard.

Date Published:2025

When we ride : a novel /

Ogle, Rex,


Diego Benevides works hard. His single mother encourages him to stay focused on school, on getting into college, on getting out of their crumbling neighborhood. That's why she gave him her car. Diego's best friend, Lawson, needs a ride--because Lawson is dealing. As long as Diego's not carrying, not selling, it's cool. It's just weed. But when Lawson starts carrying powder and pills and worse, their friendship is tested and their lives are threatened. As the lines between dealer and driver blur, everything Diego has worked for is jeopardized, and he faces a deadly reckoning with the choices he and his best friend have made.
Date Published:2025

Diego Benevides works hard. His single mother encourages him to stay focused on school, on getting into college, on getting out of their crumbling neighborhood. That's why she gave him her car. Diego's best friend, Lawson, needs a ride--because Lawson is dealing. As long as Diego's not carrying, not selling, it's cool. It's just weed. But when Lawson starts carrying powder and pills and worse, their friendship is tested and their lives are threatened. As the lines between dealer and driver blur, everything Diego has worked for is jeopardized, and he faces a deadly reckoning with the choices he and his best friend have made.

Date Published:2025