If you’re 13 years old or older and live, work, attend school, or pay property taxes in New York State, you can apply for a free library card to the Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library, and/or the Queens Public Library!
Recalling the past at her daughters' request, Lara tells the story of a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance, which causes her daughters to examine their own lives and reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew. I'm a huge Ann Patchett fan and this book did not disappoint! (High School)
This story takes place in Chicken Hill, a rundown section of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, that is home to African Americans who fled racial violence in the Deep South and Jews who escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe. Together these groups create a community rooted in racism, yet bound by shared hopes and heartbreaks. The characters are easy to love and the relationships between them are truly heartwarming. (High School)
Jay discovers that the Disney-like amusement park where he lives and works with his friends and family is also a doomsday oasis for the rich and powerful who expect top-notch customer service even as the world outside the resort's walls disintegrates. I loved the characters and the nonstop action, but also the metaphors around privilege, class, and solidarity. Read this if you liked The Giver! (Grades 7-11)
Claudia's friend Monday goes missing and she is the only one who seems to care. As Claudia digs deeper into her friend's disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she's gone? Yes, it's sad but the writing is beautiful and the slow unfolding of what happened to Monday keeps you reading. (Grades 6-9)
Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, 'big' becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is. An empowering book for all ages! (Picture book)
Twelve-year-old Trevor has an adult problem to deal with: how to protect himself, his sisters, and his mother from his abusive stepfather (currently in prison) and he thinks the way to do that is to take up boxing--although he would really rather draw. Written by BCS's own 8th-grade social studies teacher, Torrey Maldonado! (And a 2024 Global Read Aloud choice!) (Grades 5-8)
Res was built to explore Mars. He was not built to have human emotions. But as he learns new things from the NASA scientists who assemble him, he begins to develop humanlike feelings. Maybe there's a problem with his programming.... As millions of people back on Earth follow his progress, will Res have the determination, courage, and resilience to succeed...and survive? (Grades 4-6)
A celebration of Langston Hughes and African American authors he inspired, told through the lens of the party held at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in 1991. (Picture book)
Motivated by the realization of global inequities, a young boy embraces his dual identities as an artist and activist, becoming an "artivist" to make a difference by using his viral mural as a catalyst for positive change. (Picture book)
In Clayton’s atmospherically told middle grade debut, Ella Durand, a Black 11-year-old girl from New Orleans, is the first Conjuror to enroll at the elite Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous and Uncanny Endeavors. With fantastical twists at every turn, Clayton has created a world that readers won't want to leave. (Grades 5-7)
Fourteen-year-old Nigerian American Harriet Adu is guilt-stricken after she wishes her older brother Tunde was dead and then he dies in a school shooting. She finds solace in swimming but soon she begins having visions of Tunde, and a malevolent force attacks her in the pool. Harriet, her cousin Nikka, and her brother's best friend Luke hear about a strange underground world beneath New York City and they set out on a quest to get Harriet answers to her questions and help for her grief and guilt. (Grades 9-12)
Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.
Sixteen-year-old Ruby breaks out of a government-run "rehabilitation camp" for teens who acquired dangerous powers after surviving a virus that wiped out most American children.
In the year 2044, Wade Watts, like the rest of humanity, chooses to escape reality and spends his waking hours in the limitless, utopian virtual world of the OASIS, but when Wade stumbles upon the first of the fiendish puzzles set up by OASIS creator James Halliday he finds he must compete with thousands of others--including those willing to commit murder--in order to claim a prize of massive fortune.
Katniss Everdeen represents District 12 in the 74th Hunger Games in the Capitol of Panem, a new land that rose from the ruins of a post-apocalyptic North America.
In a tranquil future with clean streets and no illness, Cassia excitedly anticipates learning who will be her government-dictated marriage Match.
The year is 3070, and Marie Antoinette has just arrived at the glittering, thrilling palace of Versailles to marry the shy, soft-spoken Louis-Auguste. But beneath the luxurious world lies a sinister underbelly and an uncompromising elite who want to keep Marie and Louis pawns in a deadly game.
Will history repeat itself? Or will these doomed lovers outwit their enemies and escape their grisly fate?
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes. But one decision could save her life.
A strange weather phenomenon drives students into a superstore where fourteen kids take refuge while the world outside gets torn apart from a series of escalating disasters.
Kayla and Mishalla, two genetically engineered non-human slaves known as GENs, fall in love with higher-status boys, discover deep secrets about the creation of GENs, and in the process find out what it means to be human.
In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.
Growing up on an alien planet where thoughts are broadcast and animals speak, 12-year-old Todd is the last boy in a town of men.
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed ('gleaned') by professional reapers ('scythes'). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe--a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn't
In a near-future New York City where a service alerts people on the day they will die, teenagers Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio meet using the Last Friend app and are faced with the challenge of living a lifetime on their End Day.
The remnant population of post-apocalyptic Chicago is intended to cure civilization’s failures by structuring society into five “factions,” each dedicated to inculcating a specific virtue.
When suicide becomes a worldwide epidemic, the only known cure is The Program, a treatment in which painful memories are erased, a fate worse than death to seventeen-year-old Sloane who knows that The Program will steal memories of her dead brother and boyfriend.
Alien technology is wiping out human life, and Cassie is desperate to reunite with her brother. Can she stay alive long enough to find him?
Sierra is an artist, and the walls and buildings of Brooklyn are her canvas. She's looking forward to a graffiti-filled summer, but strange and terrible happenings force her into a new world of magic and secrets.
Welcome to the BNS/BCS Library!
The BNS/BCS Library works cooperatively with students, families, and educators to support the learning of all members of BNS and BCS. The library program aims to promote the love of reading, to inspire curiosity, and to cultivate the skills necessary for critical thinking and lifelong learning. In addition, the BNS/BCS library fosters a sense of community and collaboration within the school building. The library is a welcoming and safe haven for all students to think, share, and grow.