Every year teen book groups in libraries and schools around the United States work together to come up with a list of readers' favorite books for the year. The Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA) publishes the 25 finalists and asks for teens ages 12 - 18 to vote for the top ten.
Take a look at the nominees below and vote for your favorites until October 15!
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All boys aren't blue : a memoir-manifesto
by George M. Johnson A first book by the prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist shares personal essays that chronicle his childhood, adolescence and college years as a Black queer youth, exploring subjects ranging from gender identity and toxic masculinity to structural marginalization and Black joy. |
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All the stars and teeth
by Adalyn Grace Raised in the arts of royal magic as heir to the throne of her island kingdom, Amora Montara is forced to flee in the wake of a spell gone wrong and teams up with a mysterious pirate to prove her worthiness to rule. |
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Atomic women : the untold stories of the scientists who helped create the nuclear bomb
by Roseanne Montillo Introduces younger readers to the stories of Lise Meitner, Elizabeth Rona and Joan Hinton, revealing their less-recognized but essential contributions to the development of the atomic bomb while sharing related insights into the moral implications of their achievements. |
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The ballad of songbirds and snakes
by Suzanne Collins A prequel set in the world of Panem 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games begins on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games. |
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The betrothed
by Kiera Cass Lady Hollis Brite, who grew up at court, is surprised when King Jameson of Corea picks her out of all the young noblewomen to be his bride, but she wonders if this is the life for her, especially when she meets a mysterious young Isolten just before a state visit from the Isolten king. |
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The black friend : on being a better white person
by Frederick Joseph Presents race-related anecdotes from the author's past, weaving in his thoughts on why they were hurtful and how he might handle things differently now, in hopes of bringing more race awareness to Americans. |
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The bone thief
by Breeana Shields Determined to stop Latham from gaining the power to see the past, present, and future, Saskia returns to Ivory Hall to train in bone magic, where danger lurks within every turn. |
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Cemetery boys
by Aiden Thomas Determined to prove himself a real brujo to the traditional Latinx family that does not accept his true gender, a trans boy summons the ghost of the resident bad boy, who refuses to return quietly to death. |
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Chain of gold
by Cassandra Clare Cordelia Carstairs, a Shadowhunter trained to battle demons, travels with her brother to London where they reconnect with childhood friends but soon must face devastating demon attacks in the quarantined city. |
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Clap when you land
by Elizabeth Acevedo An evocative novel in verse by the Printz and National Book Award-winning author of The Poet X follows the experiences of two grieving sisters who navigate the loss of their father and the impact of his death on their relationship. |
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Dangerous secrets : the story of Iduna and Agnarr
by Mari Mancusi A romantic prequel to Frozen and Frozen 2 follows the adventures of an inexperienced royal who navigates overwhelming odds, while the woman he loves struggles to survive with secrets that could lead to her doom in a world very different from her own. |
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The dark matter of Mona Starr
by Laura Lee Gulledge A graphic-novel depiction of the inner life of a teen with depression follows the experiences of Mona Starr, who learns how to manage profound feelings of unworthiness through therapy, art, writing and the support of a few good friends. |
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Dragon hoops
by Gene Luen Yang An introverted reader starts understanding local enthusiasm about sports in his school when he gets to know some of his talented athletic peers and discovers that their stories are just as thrilling as the comics he loves. |
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Five total strangers
by Natalie D. Richards Desperate to reach her grieving mother, Mira joins a group of college students driving home after their flight is stranded, but the road conditions are not the only mortal danger they face. |
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Flamer
by Mike Curato In the summer between middle school and high school, Aiden Navarro navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and finds himself drawn to Elias, a boy he can't stop thinking about. |
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The inheritance games
by Jennifer Barnes When a Connecticut teenager inherits vast wealth and an eccentric estate from the richest man in Texas, she must also live with his surviving family and solve a series of puzzles to discover how she earned her inheritance. |
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Instant karma
by Marissa Meyer Chronic overachiever Prudence Daniels is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner. Quintis annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals. When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environmental upheaval, and romantic crossed signals-not necessarily in that order. Her newfound karmic insights reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed . . . love and hate... and fate. |
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The invisible life of Addie LaRue
by Victoria Schwab Making a Faustian bargain to live forever but never be remembered, a woman from early eighteenth-century France endures unacknowledged centuries before meeting a man who remembers her name. |
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Legendborn
by Tracy Deonn Wanting to escape her previous life after the accidental death of her mother, 16-year-old Bree enrolls in a program for high school students at the local university before her witness to a magical attack reveals her undiscovered powers as well as sinister truths about her mother’s death. |
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The lost Book of the White
by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu When their peaceful family life is upended by the theft of the powerful Book of the White, Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood pursue the culprits to Shanghai, where Magnus’ magic is destabilized by a wound from a mysterious weapon. |
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The mermaid, the witch, and the sea
by Maggie Tokuda-Hall Disguising herself as a male pirate to escape poverty, Flora follows a strict survival code that is challenged by her unexpected feelings for a noblewoman on her way to a dreaded arranged marriage. |
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One of us is next : The Sequel to One of Us Is Lying
by Karen M. McManus A sequel to the best-selling One of Us Is Lying finds the Bayview friends targeted by an anonymous adversary who uses an increasingly dangerous truth-or-dare app to keep the late Simon’s gossip legacy alive. |
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The shadows between us
by Tricia Levenseller Avoiding relationships after a heartbreak, ambitious Alessandra plots to seduce the ruler of the land and usurp his place before unexpectedly meeting her match in the newly crowned Shadow King. |
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Tweet cute
by Emma Lord A reimagining of You’ve Got Mail follows the unlikely romance between an overachiever from a successful family and the class clown, who exchange snarky tweets that escalate into a viral Twitter war. |
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We used to be friends
by Amy Spalding "At the start of their senior year in high school, James (a girl with a boy's name) and Kat are inseparable, but by graduation, they're no longer friends. James prepares to head off to college as she reflects on the dissolution of her friendship with Katwhile, in alternating chapters, Kat thinks about being newly in love and having a future that feels wide open" |