Top Teen Books of the Year (Young Adult)

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy.

That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life ― a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear.

It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

A William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist * An Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Honor

In this moving debut novel — featuring striking blue stained edges and beautiful original endpaper art by the author — David Yoon takes on the question of who am I? with a result that is humorous, heartfelt, and ultimately unforgettable.

Frank Li has two names… his American name and his Korean name.

No one uses his Korean name, not even his parents. Frank barely speaks any Korean. He was born and raised in Southern California.

Even so, his parents still expect him to end up with a nice Korean girl — which is a problem, since Frank is finally dating the girl of his dreams… who is white.

As Frank falls in love for the very first time, he’s forced to confront the fact that while his parents sacrificed everything to raise him in the land of opportunity, their traditional expectations don’t leave a lot of room for him to be a regular American teen.

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick

Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Tomi Adeyemi’s New York Times-bestselling debut Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy.

After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha.

But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too.

With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Tomi Adeyemi’s New York Times-bestselling debut Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy.

After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha.

But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too.

With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Tomi Adeyemi’s New York Times-bestselling debut Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy.

After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha.

But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too.

With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.

Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.

Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer… and a killer.

She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do.

But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed.

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. 

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister.

But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.

Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault.

In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she’s never written about before.

A denouncement of our society’s failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #MeToo and #TimesUp, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts, SHOUT speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice — and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.

The windows between the many worlds have been sealed and the momentous adventures of Lyra Silvertongue’s youth are long behind her — or so she thought.

Lyra is now a twenty-year-old undergraduate at St. Sophia’s College and intrigue is swirling around her once more.

Her daemon Pantalaimon is witness to a brutal murder, and the dying man entrusts them with secrets that carry echoes from their past. 

The more Lyra is drawn into these mysteries, the less she is sure of.

Even the events of her own past come into question when she learns of Malcolm Polstead’s role in bringing her to Jordan College.

National Book Award Finalist

A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder.

Hoping to uncover more about his cousin and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth — and the part he played in it.

As gripping as it is lyrical, Patron Saints of Nothing is a page-turning portrayal of the struggle to reconcile faith, family, and immigrant identity.

Two princesses vying for the ultimate crown. Two girls vying for the prince’s heart. This is the story of the American royals.

The duty. The intrigue. The Crown. 

New York Times bestselling author Katharine McGee imagines an alternate version of the modern world, one where the glittering age of monarchies has not yet faded — and where love is still powerful enough to change the course of history.

National Book Award Finalist * Stonewall Book Award Winner

The highly-anticipated, genre-defying new novel by award-winning author Akwaeke Emezi that explores themes of identity and justice.

Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look?

Acclaimed novelist Akwaeke Emezi makes their riveting and timely young adult debut with a book that asks difficult questions about what choices you can make when the society around you is in denial.

A People magazine Best Book of Fall 2019

Juliet Milagros Palante is a self-proclaimed closeted Puerto Rican baby dyke from the Bronx.  Only, she’s not so closeted anymore.

Not after coming out to her family the night before flying to Portland, Oregon, to intern with her favorite feminist writer — what’s sure to be a life-changing experience.

When Juliet’s coming out crashes and burns, she’s not sure her mom will ever speak to her again.

In a summer bursting with queer brown dance parties, a sexy fling with a motorcycling librarian, and intense explorations of race and identity, Juliet learns what it means to come out — to the world, to her family, to herself.

Set in a world of powerful women, dark magic, and off-the-charts romance, book one of this stunning fantasy duology will leave readers burning for more.

Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal.

There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.

As a huntsman of the Church, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

When Lou pulls a wicked stunt, the two are forced into an impossible situation — marriage.

Lou, unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, must make a choice. And love makes fools of us all.

House of Salt and Sorrows is a spellbinding novel filled with magic and the rustle of gossamer skirts down long, dark hallways. Get ready to be swept away.

As one by one her beautiful sisters mysteriously die on their isolated island estate, Annaleigh must unravel the curse that haunts her family.

When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family — before it claims her next.

It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist.

With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy.

After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him.

Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.

Cult graphic novelist Dylan Meconis offers a rich reimagining of history in this beautifully detailed hybrid novel loosely based on the exile of Queen Elizabeth I by her sister, Queen Mary.

When her sister seizes the throne, Queen Eleanor of Albion is banished to a tiny island off the coast of her kingdom, where the nuns of the convent spend their days peacefully praying, sewing, and gardening.

But the island is also home to Margaret, a mysterious young orphan girl whose life is upturned when the cold, regal stranger arrives.

In a hybrid novel of fictionalized history, Dylan Meconis paints Margaret’s world in soft greens, grays, and reds, transporting readers to a quiet, windswept island at the heart of a treasonous royal plot.

In the highly anticipated finale to the New York Times bestselling trilogy, dictators, prophets, and tensions rise.

In a world that’s conquered death, will humanity finally be torn asunder by the immortal beings it created?

It seems like nothing stands between Scythe Goddard and absolute dominion over the world scythedom.

With the silence of the Thunderhead and the reverberations of the Great Resonance still shaking the earth to its core, the question remains: Is there anyone left who can stop him?

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. 

But with no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy.

Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught — about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself.

For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

A New York Times Bestseller * An EW.com Best YA Book of the Year * A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of the Year * A Popcrush Best Young Adult Book of the Year

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone has declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago.

Then, almost as if to prove it, a girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too.

The thing is, secrets are dangerous – -and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys once again shines light into one of history’s darkest corners in this epic, heart-wrenching novel about identity, unforgettable love, repercussions of war, and the hidden violence of silence–inspired by the true postwar struggles of Spain.

Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret.

Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother’s birth through the lens of his camera.

Photography — and fate — introduce him to Ana, whose family’s interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War — as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear.

From the author of Printz Medal winner Bone Gap comes the unforgettable story of two young women — one living, one dead — dealing with loss, desire, and the fragility of the American dream during WWII.

When Frankie’s mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary.

That’s why Frankie’s not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket.

Now Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other orphans — two young, unwanted women doing everything they can to survive.

And as the embers of the Great Depression are kindled into the fires of World War II, and the shadows of injustice, poverty, and death walk the streets in broad daylight, it will be up to Frankie to find something worth holding on to in the ruins of this shattered America — every minute of every day spent wondering if the life she’s able to carve out will be enough.