Best Young Adult Books

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown — a colony world where a germ has made everyone's thoughts audible as constant Noise — until he discovers a pocket of silence in the swamp and finds Viola, the first girl he has ever seen, whose ship crashed nearby.

A convicted murderer has escaped Azkaban prison and is believed to be hunting Harry Potter, forcing Harry to confront the true story of his parents' betrayal and death. The mystery that unravels is more complicated, more painful, and more morally instructive than any straightforward threat.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione abandon Hogwarts to hunt Voldemort's Horcruxes, confronting betrayal, sacrifice, and the revelation that Harry himself is the final Horcrux. The series concludes with the Battle of Hogwarts and a resurrection that draws on the oldest mythological traditions.

Harry is mysteriously entered into the dangerous Triwizard Tournament while Voldemort's followers grow bolder, culminating in the Dark Lord's terrifying return to full power. The death of a fellow student in the graveyard permanently changes what the Harry Potter series is.

As Voldemort's war spreads beyond Hogwarts, Dumbledore guides Harry through Tom Riddle's past to find the key to destroying him, while a mysterious annotated textbook raises questions about the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. The year ends with Dumbledore's death and the series' darkest turning point yet.

Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts is shadowed by a mysterious voice in the walls and a series of petrifications tied to the legend of a Chamber of Secrets. When the Heir of Slytherin opens the Chamber again, Harry must confront a darkness rooted in the wizarding world's oldest prejudices.

Harry's fifth year is defined by institutional persecution, Voldemort's growing power, and the devastating loss of the person who most represented his connection to his parents. The Ministry of Magic has declared war on the truth, and Dolores Umbridge has come to Hogwarts to enforce it.

A farm boy in the fantasy land of Alagaësia discovers a dragon egg, bonds with the dragon Saphira, and is thrust into a war against the tyrannical King Galbatorix and his empire.

When Meggie's father reads aloud from a book called Inkheart, characters tumble out of the story into the real world — and something from our world disappears into the book in exchange.

In a fractured future Republic of America, June — the regime's most gifted military prodigy — is tasked with hunting down Day, a wanted fugitive and folk hero from the slums, and the dual first-person structure places them on a collision course before forcing both to question everything they believed about the world they serve.

In a future America where love has been classified as a disease called amor deliria nervosa, eighteen-year-old Lena counts the days until her cure — until she meets Alex.

In the Society where every choice is made by Officials — including who you will marry — seventeen-year-old Cassia is Matched with her best friend Xander but briefly sees the face of another boy, setting off a chain of doubt she cannot suppress.

Juliette Ferrars has been locked in isolation for 264 days because her touch is lethal. When the dystopian Reestablishment decides to weaponize her, she must navigate a world of power, control, and an unexpected connection with someone who can survive her touch.

Ed Kennedy, an underage cab driver with no real ambitions, accidentally stops a bank robbery and begins receiving mysterious playing cards that send him on missions to help — and sometimes confront — strangers in his city.

Mallory Greenleaf quit competitive chess at seventeen after beating the world's top-ranked player, Nolan Sawyer, in a casual game. Two years later, a financial crisis forces her back into competition — and back into Nolan's orbit.

The prequel to The Hate U Give — seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter navigates early fatherhood, gang loyalty, and the decision of who to become in Garden Heights in 1998.

Bri, sixteen, is the daughter of a legendary rapper who died before he made it. She wants to be the greatest rapper of all time — and writes a song that goes viral for all the wrong reasons.