2023 TAYSHAS List Announced
We’re delighted to announce the new TAYSHAS Reading List! TAYSHAS takes its name from the Caddo Indian word meaning “friends or allies.” Written as texas, texios, tejas, teyas or tayshas, the word was applied to the Caddos by the Spanish in eastern Texas, who regarded them as friends and allies against the Apaches.
The goal of the TAYSHAS reading list is to motivate young adults to become lifelong readers and to participate in the community of readers in Texas. Students in grades 9 – 12 are encouraged to read books for pleasure from the list, which includes fiction and nonfiction titles.
There are a wealth of insightful titles here. In The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho, young May Chen is heartbroken when her brother, just admitted to Princeton, dies by suicide. The book explores mental health, racial stereotypes and relationships in a sensitive and honest way. In Vincent Tirado’s Burn Down, Rise Up, two young women work to solve mysterious disappearances in the Bronx. In 14 Ways to Die, by Vincent Ralph, Jess seeks to solve her mother’s murder from a decade before. High school students are sure to find a favorite from this list.
Enjoy!
*Top Ten
| 14 Ways to Die | Ralph, Vincent |
| A Year to the Day | Benway, Robin |
| *Abuela, Don’t Forget Me | Ogle, Rex |
| Ace of Spades | Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah |
| After the Ink Dries | Gustafsen, Cassie |
| Ain’t Burned All the Bright | Reynolds, Jason; artwork by Jason Griffin |
| All My Rage | Tahir, Sabaa |
| All of Us Villains | Foody, Amanda |
| An Emotion of Great Delight | Mafi, Tahereh |
| And We Rise | Martin, Erica |
| Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World | Saenz, Benjamin |
| Ashfall Legacy | Lore, Pittacus |
| Being Mary Bennet | Peterson, JC |
| Better Than the Movies | Painter, Lynn |
| Between Shades of Gray: The Graphic Novel | Donkin, Andrew |
| Blade of Secrets | Levenseller, Tricia |
| Bluebird | Cameron, Sharon |
| Burn Down Rise Up | Tirado, Vincent |
| Concrete Rose | Thomas, Angie |
| Dark Room Etiquette | Row, Robin |
| Dead Flip | Farizan, Sara |
| Demon in the Wood | Bardugo, Leigh, and Dani Pendergast |
| Donuts and Other Proclamations of Love | Reck, Jared |
| Eat Your Heart Out | Devos, Kelly |
| *Fadeaway | Vickers, E. B. |
| Fat Chance, Charlie Vega | Maldanado, Crystal |
| *Full Flight | Schumacher, Ashley |
| Galaxy: The Prettiest Star | Axelrod, Jadzia |
| Girl on Fire | Keys, Alicia |
| Heartbreak Symphony | Kemp, Laekan Zea |
| High | Sullivan, Mary |
| Hollow Fires | Ahmed, Samira |
| Horror Hotel | Fulton, Victoria, and Faith Mcclaren |
| *How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe | Gilliland, Raquel |
| How Not to Fall in Love | Firkins, Jacqueline |
| How We Ricochet | Gardner, Faith |
| Huda F Are You? | Fahmy, Huda |
| I Kissed Shara Wheeler: A Novel | McQuiston, Casey |
| *I Must Betray You | Sepetys, Ruta |
| Iron Widow | Zhao, Xiran Jay |
| Kiss & Tell | Khorram, Adib |
| Lawless Spaces | Haydu, Corey Ann |
| *Letters to a Young Athlete | Bosh, Chris |
| Lock the Doors | Ralph, Vincent |
| Long Story Short | Kaylor, Serena |
| Love & Other Great Expectations | Dean, Becky |
| Love in English | Andreu, Maria |
| M is for Monster | Dutton, Talia |
| Mere Mortals | Lange, Erin Jade |
| My Last Summer with Cass | Crilley, Mark |
| Nothing More to Tell | McManus, Karen |
| On the Hook | Stork, Francisco X. |
| Once Upon a Broken Heart | Garber, Stephanie |
| Once Upon a K-prom | Cho, Kat |
| Punching Bag | Ogle, Rex |
| Ride With Me | Keating, Lucy |
| Serendipity: Ten Romantic Tropes, Transformed | Meyer, Marissa, editor |
| Seven Dirty Secrets | Richards, Natalie |
| Six Crimson Cranes | Lim, Elizabeth |
| Some Other Now | Everett, Sarah |
| Squire | Alfageeh, Sara, and Nadia Shammas |
| Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions | Dhillon, Navdeep Singh |
| Tahira in Bloom | Heron, Farah |
| The Agathas | Glascow, Kathleen, and Liz Lawson |
| The Anthropocene Reviewed | Green, John |
| The Awakening of Malcolm X | Shabazz, Ilyasah with Tiffany D. Jackson |
| The Box in the Woods | Johnson, Maureen |
| The Cost of Knowing | Morris, Brittney |
| The Counselors | Goodman, Jessica |
| The Dead and the Dark | Gould, Courtney Nichols |
| The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School | Reyes, Sonora |
| The Lost Dreamer | Huerta, Lizz |
| The Mary Shelley Club | Moldavsky, Goldy |
| The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin | Wilson, Kip |
| The Name She Gave Me | Culley, Betty |
| *The Silence That Binds Us | Ho, Joanna |
| *The Weight of Blood | Jackson, Tiffany D. |
| The Words We Keep | Stewart, Erin |
| These Deadly Games | Urban, Diana |
| These Hollow Vows | Ryan, Lexi |
| They’ll Never Catch Us | Goodman, Jessica |
| This Poison Heart | Bayron, Kalynn |
| Together We Burn | Ibanez, Isabel |
| *Tonight We Rule the World | Smedley, Zack |
| Vampires, Hearts, & Other Dead Things | Fuston, Margie |
| Vespertine | Rogerson, Margaret |
| Vinyl Moon | Browne, Mahogany L. |
| Walls | Elliott, L. M. |
| *We Can Be Heroes | McCauley, Kyrie |
| Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure | Hancox, Lewis |
| When You Get The Chance | Lord, Emma |
| Where I Belong | Mickelson, Marcia |
| Why Is Everybody Yelling?: Growing Up in My Immigrant Family | Russo, Marisabina |
| XOXO | Oh, Axie |
| Year on Fire | Buxbaum, Julie |
| You’d Be Home Now | Glasgow, Kathleen |
| You’ll be the Death of Me | McManus, Karen |
| You’ve Reached Sam | Thao, Dustin |