No matter if your teen is a self-professed “bookworm” or you just want to encourage your child to do something other than watch YouTube, it’s always handy to have a few book recommendations available to give them.

This summer if your teen son or daughter says they need something to read (or that they’re bored), ask if they’ve read any of these.

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
  • The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
  • A years-long #1 New York Times bestseller, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Best Book for Reluctant Readers, and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or “wallflowers” of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.
• Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale – Holly Black
  • Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother’s rock band until an ominous attack forces the sixteen-year-old back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms—a struggle that could very well mean her death.
  • Holly Black’s enormously powerful voice weaves teen angst, riveting romance, and capriciously diabolical faerie folk into an enthralling, engaging, altogether original reading experience.
• I’ll Give You the Sun – Jandy Nelson
  • At first, Jude and her twin brother are NoahandJude; inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them.
  • Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways . . . but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor.
  • The early years are Noah’s to tell; the later years are Jude’s. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they’ll have a chance to remake their world.
  • This radiant, award-winning novel from the acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.
• We Were Liars – E. Lockhart
  • • A beautiful and distinguished family.
    • A private island.
    • A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
    • A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
    • A revolution. An accident. A secret.
    • Lies upon lies.
    • True love.
    • The truth.
  • Read it.
  • And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
• One of Us is Lying – Karen M. McManus
  • Pay close attention and you might solve this.
  • On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
    • Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
    • Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
    • Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
    • Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
    • And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
  • Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?
  • Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

This summer help your teen discover a love for books by suggesting a few good reads. They might be surprised by how much they enjoy it – especially when they don’t have to do it for an assignment!