From the Maplewood Public Library:
There are some basic instructions at the end of this article, and you may contact the Teen Librarian at teens@maplewoodlibrary.org if you need additional help with YA eBooks.
If you are a Maplewood resident in need of a library card, then please email us at library@maplewoodlibrary.org to create an account.
The eLibrary via OverDrive and Hoopla includes a wide selection of children’s, YA, and adult books for every reader. You may be surprised by what you discover! There are thousands of titles available, but here are 12 reading and listening suggestions to help you get started:
(All book descriptions are adapted from the catalog.)
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (eBook & eAudiobook, novel in verse) Emoni Santiago has had to make a lot of tough decisions in her life, especially after she gets pregnant her freshman year of high school and has to care for her daughter and her abuela. The one place she can let all that go is in the kitchen. She dreams of working as a chef after she graduates, but Emoni knows that it’s not worth her time to pursue the impossible. Yet despite the rules she thinks she has to play by, once Emoni starts cooking, her only choice is to let her talent break free. I’d recommend the eAudiobook because anytime you can hear Elizabeth Acevedo read her own work, you should take that opportunity (Available on Hoopla and OverDrive)
The Golden Compass graphic novel, volume 1 by Philip Pullman (eBook; graphic novel) Even if you’ve read The Golden Compass before, I’m sure you’ve never read it like this! Not to mention it’s in the works to become an HBO original series. Lyra Belacqua is content to run wild among the scholars of Jordan College, with her dæmon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle—a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, and a mysterious substance known as Dust. As she hurtles toward danger in the cold far North, Lyra never suspects the shocking truth: she alone is destined to win—or to lose—this more-than-mortal battle. Volumes 1 and 2 of the graphic adaptation available on OverDrive.
All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor (eBook & eAudiobook; realistic fiction) For fans of Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me and R.J. Palacio’s Wonder, read this. Eleven-year-old Perry was born and raised by his mom, a resident on Cell Block C of the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in tiny Surprise, Nebraska. Warden Daugherty has made it possible for them to be together, until a new district attorney discovers the truth and Perry is removed from the facility and forced into a foster home. Desperate to be reunited with his mom, Perry goes on a quest for answers about her past crime. As he gets closer to the truth, he will discover that love makes people resilient no matter where they come from… but can he find a way to tell everyone what home truly means? (Available on Hoopla and OverDrive)
Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life and Work by Victoria Ortiz (eAudiobook; YA non-fiction) It’s still Women’s History Month, and OverDrive has awesome non-fiction titles to celebrate amazing women throughout history and today, like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Dramatically narrated case histories from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s stellar career are interwoven with an account of her life—including her childhood, family, beliefs, many faceted personality, education, marriage, children, legal and judicial career, and other achievements. (Available on Hoopla and OverDrive)
Dig by A.S. King (eBook; eAudiobook; YA Fiction) The winner of the 2020 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. Five estranged cousins are lost in a maze of their family’s tangled secrets. Their grandparents, former potato farmers, managed to trade digging spuds for developing subdivisions and now they sit atop a million-dollar bank account—wealth they’ve refused to pass on to their adult children or their five teenage grandchildren “because we want them to thrive.” But for the Hemmings cousins, “thriving” feels a lot like slowly dying of a poison they started taking the moment they were born. As the rot beneath the surface of the Hemmings’ white suburban respectability destroys the family from within, the cousins find their ways back to one another, just in time to uncover the terrible cost of maintaining the family name. With her inimitable surrealism, award winner A.S. King exposes how a toxic culture of polite white supremacy tears a family apart and how one determined generation can dig its way out. (Available on OverDrive)
Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite (eBook; eAudiobook; YA Fic Realistic) This sister author duo touches upon a culture near and dear to many Maplewood teens: Haiti. Alaine Beauparlant has heard about Haiti all her life, but the stories were always passed down from her parents. When Alaine’s life goes a bit sideways, it’s time to finally visit Haiti herself. What she learns about Haiti’s proud history as the world’s first black republic (with its even prouder people) is one thing, but what she learns about her own family is another. Suddenly, the secrets Alaine’s mom has been keeping, including a family curse that has spanned generations, can no longer be avoided. (Available on Hoopla and OverDrive)
The Book Thief by Mark Zusak (eBook and eAudiobook; YA Fiction) There are plenty of YA classics available on OverDrive, and this is a great time to catch up on those titles that maybe you hadn’t gotten to yet! It is 1939. Nazi Germany. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. (Available on OverDrive)
Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi (eBook; eAudiobook; YA Short Story Collection) Short stories are the perfect format for teens who need a change of pace, and this is a fantastic collection to start with. Edited by National Book Award finalist (and Maplewood resident!) Ibi Zoboi and featuring some of the most acclaimed, bestselling black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black in America. (Available on Hoopla and OverDrive)
None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio (eBook; YA Realistic Fiction) When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She’s a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she’s madly in love with her boyfriend. In fact, she’s decided that she’s ready to take things to the next level with him. But Kristin’s first time isn’t the perfect moment she’s planned—something is very wrong. A visit to the doctor reveals the truth: Kristin is intersex, which means that though she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy “parts.” Dealing with her body is difficult enough, but when her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, Kristin’s entire identity is thrown into question. As her world unravels, can she come to terms with her new self? This book tackles a lot of difficult and sensitive topics, but it does so deftly and may open a teen’s eyes to a world they never knew. I can’t recommend it enough. (Available on Hoopla and OverDrive)
The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix (eBook; YA Nonfiction) This book is part graphic novel, part thriller, and a completely true story. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party is gaining strength and becoming more menacing every day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor upset by the complacency of the German church toward the suffering around it, forms a breakaway church to speak out against the established political and religious authorities. When the Nazis outlaw the church, he escapes as a fugitive. Struggling to reconcile his faith and the teachings of the Bible with the Nazi Party’s evil agenda, Bonhoeffer decides that Hitler must be stopped by any means possible! Great for any history buff, or someone looking for a thrilling story! (Available on Hoopla and OverDrive)
The History of Jane Doe by Michael Belanger (eBook; YA Realistic Fiction) History buff Ray knows everything about the peculiar legends and lore of his rural Connecticut hometown. Burgerville’s past is riddled with green cow sightings and human groundhogs, but the most interesting thing about the present is the new girl—we’ll call her Jane Doe. Inscrutable, cool, and above all mysterious, Jane seems as determined to hide her past as Ray is to uncover it. As fascination turns to friendship and then to something more, Ray is certain he knows Jane’s darkest, most painful secrets and Jane herself—from past to present. But when the unthinkable happens, Ray is forced to acknowledge that perhaps history can only tell us so much. Funny and poignant, a great read to relax with. (Available on OverDrive)
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (eAudiobook; Ya Graphic Novel) A graphic novel as an audiobook? It may seem unlikely, but this title has a full cast recording that will knock your socks off. Nimona is an impulsive young shape-shifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren’t the heroes everyone thinks they are. But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona’s powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit. (Available on Hoopla and OverDrive)
There is a 5 item limit per card for electronic materials on OverDrive and a 7 item limit per card for electronic materials on Hoopla. Items can be checked out for either 7 days or 14 days. Items are returned automatically on their due dates. If there are no holds on an item, then one renewal may be available.
If you are a Maplewood resident in need of a library card, then please email us at library@maplewoodlibrary.org to create an account.
Instructions for eBook download and reading can be found on the Overdrive device profile page.
To access eBooks on your computer here.
Log in using your full library card barcode number.
Browse for your item. Click to checkout or place a hold. Books can be viewed in browser or downloaded.
Answers to commonly asked questions can be found in the Overdrive help guide.
To access eBooks on your device through the Libby App:
Download the free Libby App through the AppStore or Google Play.
Find and select your library from the list: Bergen County Cooperative Library System
Enter your full library barcode when prompted.
Browse for your item. Tap to check out or place a hold. Books will be placed on “shelf” within the app. Tap titles to read.
Answers to commonly asked questions can be the Libby help guide including this helpful video that provides a brief introduction to the app Intro to Libby (video)
To access eBooks on your Kindle:
Go here on your computer.
Log in with your full library card barcode number.
Browse for your item. Click to send to your Kindle.
Visit your Amazon Kindle account and select the “Library Book” tab to complete the download.
Answers to commonly asked questions about library eBooks for Kindle can be found here.
Answers to commonly asked questions about library eBooks for Kindle Fire can be found here.
Be sure to explore the other electronic resources that the library has to offer.
Check the library’s website and social media channels for updates!
