Teens Are Welcome Here!

Read, hang out, volunteer and more!
Take a break from school or home in the comfort of our Teen Room. Study with friends, with a tutor or by yourself.
Teen programs and opportunities for community service are available.

Battle of the Books

The Library is looking for Motivated Teens to join our Battle of the Books Team!
Teens will read a series of books then battle it out with other teams to find out who is Number 1!

The Battle Date is set for Saturday, August 23 at SUNY Orange.

If you’d like to participate, please fill out THIS FORM.
Teens who participate can earn up to 20 hours of community service.

If you have any questions, please contact the Teen Librarian, Jaclyn Gomez at 845-786-3800 x44 or jgomez@rcls.org.

Need Community Service?

We Need Volunteers at the Library!
Email volunteens464@gmail.com with the days and times you are available.

Submit a Book Review
Earn two (2) hours of community service for each review submitted (a maximum of 4 per month). Once approved, certificates are provided within seven (7) business days of receipt.

Need help with homework?

Give Brainfuse HelpNow a try! Enter your library card number for live, online tutoring.
Available every day from 2pm – 11pm EST.

Support includes: Math, science, reading/writing, social studies, PSAT/SAT, ACT, AP, standardized test-taking help, Skills-building, feedback on essays, Spanish-speaking support and more.

Brainfuse HelpNow Instructions:

Step 1: Input your Haverstraw Library card number when prompted
Step 2: On the main page, click “Login”
Step 3: On the Login page, click “Sign Up”
Step 4: Fill out the form with a Username and password of your choosing and click “Next”

Helpful Databases

Gale OneFile: High School Edition

Search magazines, journals, newspapers, and reference on a range of topics. Best for middle- and high-school students.

Opposing View Points

The premier online resource covering today’s hottest social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration.
A Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library card is required to access this database.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

All My Rage, by Sabaa Tahir

Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever.

When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

The Teens’ Top Ten, 2024

The Teens’ Top Ten is a “teen choice” list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year! Nominators are members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country. Nominations are posted on the Thursday of National Library Week, and teens across the country vote on their favorite titles each year.

The Michael L. Printz Award, 2025

The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association

2025 Winner
Brownstone
written by Samuel Teer and illustrated by Mar Julia

In 1995, fourteen-year-old Almudena’s mother wants to fulfill a lifelong dancing dream in Europe, which means Almudena must spend the summer with her father whom she has never met as he restores a historic brownstone. Almudena learns more about her Guatemalan identity, herself, and the importance of community. Evocative graphic novel illustrations elevate this layered, character-driven, fish-out-of-water story of found family.

2025 Honor Books
Bright Red Fruit
by Safia Elhillo

Compound Fracture
by Andrew Joseph White

The Deep Dark
by Molly Knox Ostertag

Road Home
by Rex Ogle