Whether you’re a young adult or an adult that’s young at heart, check out these titles chosen by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division of the American Library Association as this year’s top ten in young adult fiction:
1. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – Sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity—and that of his pen pal—will be revealed.
2. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – Offered a chance to participate in a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams, criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker recruits a team of talented associates to organize a plot that is threatened by their mutual enmity.
3. The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks – Linus Weems, a street person since leaving his father’s home, is kidnapped and taken to an underground bunker where he is soon joined by five others, who are alternately cared for and tortured by their unseen captor.
4. Audacity by Melanie Crowder – A historical fiction novel in verse detailing the life of Clara Lemlich and her struggle for women’s labor rights in the early twentieth century in New York.
5. Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older – When her summer plans are interrupted by creepy supernatural phenomena, Sierra and her artist friend uncover the work of a magic-wielding killer who believes Sierra’s family is hiding a powerful secret.
6. The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds – Working in the local funeral home to support his family after his mother’s death and his father’s descent into alcoholism, Matt falls in love with a tough girl who never cries and who understands his loneliness.
7. Bone Gap by Laura Ruby – Treated as an outsider in his quiet Midwestern town, Finn is the only witness to an abduction, but his inability to distinguish between faces hampers his ability to help with the investigation and subjects Finn to further ridicule.
8. X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz & Kekla Magoon – Follows the childhood of the civil rights leader to his imprisonment at age twenty, where he found the faith that would lead him to his path towards activism and justice.
9. Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman – A brilliant but troubled high school student pretends to engage in sports activities and uses his artistic talents to document his voyage to the world’s most southern point while his friends observe his increasingly unbalanced behavior.
10. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera – After enduring his father’s suicide, his own suicide attempt, broken friendships, and more in the Bronx projects, Aaron Soto, sixteen, is already considering the Leteo Institute’s memory-alteration procedure when his new friendship with Thomas turns to unrequited love.