Genre reading guide for Rangatahi – Teens

Genre reading guide

Find new reads from your favourite genres with these librarian recommendations.

Booklists

Horror and Thriller - Rainbow Reads - Teens

Take a step into the dark with these stories of murder, mystery, and the supernatural.

Contemporary and Realistic - Teens

Take a walk in another person's shoes. This is a list of teen contemporary reads that are bound to please, shock, wound and heal.

Science Fiction - Teens

Space, politics, adventure and more - science fiction blends actual science with imagination to create possible futures and alternate worlds

Adventure - Teens

Want some thrills to get you through your week? Get your gritty survival situations, escapes against the odds, a high-speed chases here.

Horror - Teens

Seeking thrills and terror, a tingle down your spine, or some serious goosebumps? Roughly ordered from somewhat unsettling to gory. Beware.

Historical fiction - Teens

Historical fiction can transport us to worlds and experiences different from our own, and teach us valuable lessons about the world today.

Fantasy - Teens

Peruse some of our recommendations of what fantasy novels to read. This guide is roughly ordered by nice reads to gritty.

Mystery - Teens

Mystery is lurking everywhere from! Find books with amateur detectives searching for clues, and stories blending horror and drama.

Romance - Teens

Read messy love-triangle stories or sweeping historical epics; bittersweet romantic tragedies or hilarious meet-cute mishaps.

Dystopian - Teens

Travel into grim futures not-so-far-removed from the world as we know it.

Funny - Teens

This is disembodied heads reattached, time-travelling literary cops, and maybe a bowl of petunias along the way kind of booklist.

Suspense and Thrillers - Teens

Books that keep you on the edge of your seat, flinching at sudden noises and locking the doors.

New for Rangatahi

More Reading Ideas

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If You Like reading guide

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Printable lists

If you like... Rainbow reads

Stories about relationships, family, romance, activism, and struggle with a range of LGBTQIA+ characters. Printable author list (405 KB pdf)

If you like... YA Mystery fiction

Mystery is lurking everywhere from the school hallways to the shadows of the local woods. Printable author list (702 KB pdf).

If you like... YA Fantasy fiction

Encounter magic and myth, journey with legendary heroes, or protect the world from monsters or oppression. Printable author list (370KB pdf)

If you like... YA Dystopian fiction

Travel into grim futures not-so-far-removed from the world as we know it. Printable author list (939 KB pdf).

If you like... YA contemporary and realistic reads

Stories firmly rooted in the issues that affect us today. Funny, heartbreaking, realistic, engrossing. Printable author list (478KB pdf).

If you like... YA Adventure & action fiction

Hardy men in the wilderness, as well as bad guys in mean streets, tough heroines, and spies doing spy stuff. Printable author list (1MB pdf)
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