The 25 best young adult books
The 25 highest-ranked young adult books in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 219 young adult books in all. How we rank
- 1
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone96.8Must-Read ScoreHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter has spent ten years sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs of his cruel aunt and uncle's house when a letter arrives that changes everything: he's a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Why it made the listHugo Award winner (2001, for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)One of the best-selling books ever (about 120 million copies)#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)Hugo Award finalist (2000, for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) - 2
The Book Thief92.3Must-Read ScoreThe Book Thief
Germany, 1939.
Why it made the list281 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020PBS Great American Read - 3
The Help89.0Must-Read ScoreThe Help
Jackson, Mississippi, 1962.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (21 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2009 and 2010 (Publishers Weekly)PBS Great American Read - 4
A Thousand Splendid Suns87.9Must-Read ScoreA Thousand Splendid Suns
Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man in Herat, married off at fifteen to Rasheed, a much older shoemaker in Kabul.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (15 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2007 (Publishers Weekly) - 5
Six of Crows87.4Must-Read ScoreSix of Crows
In the gritty port city of Ketterdam, criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered a fortune for an impossible job: break into the Ice Court, a military fortress no one has ever escaped, and extract a scientist who could upend the world's balance of power.
Why it made the list209 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2015 - 6
The Hunger Games87.0Must-Read ScoreThe Hunger Games
In Panem, a nation built on the ruins of North America, the Capitol forces each of its twelve districts to send two teenagers every year to the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 2012 (Publishers Weekly)PBS Great American Read - 7
The Hate U Give85.0Must-Read ScoreThe Hate U Give
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she grew up and the wealthy, mostly white suburban school she attends.
Why it made the list258 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2017 - 8
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn84.7Must-Read ScoreA Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Francie Nolan grows up in the tenements of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the early 1900s, with a hardworking, determined mother, a charming father who drinks, and a fierce love of books and learning.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (28 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1943 and 1944 (Publishers Weekly)PBS Great American Read - 9
The Killer Angels83.9Must-Read ScoreThe Killer Angels
The four days of the Battle of Gettysburg, from June 30 to July 3, 1863, told through the men who fought it: Robert E.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1975) - 10
A Dog's Purpose83.0Must-Read ScoreA Dog's Purpose
A dog is born, lives and dies, then is born again, as a different dog, with new owners.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)71 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2010 - 11
Reminders of Him82.7Must-Read ScoreReminders of Him
Kenna Rowan has spent five years in prison for a mistake that cost a young man his life.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 2022 (Publishers Weekly)Goodreads Choice (romance) finalist (2022) - 12
The Golden Compass81.7Must-Read ScoreThe Golden Compass
Lyra Belacqua, a wild, scheming girl raised among the scholars of an Oxford college in a world like ours but different, where every person has an animal companion called a daemon, sets off for the frozen North.
Why it made the listBooker Prize longlist (2001, for The Amber Spyglass)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century (for The Amber Spyglass)BBC's The Big Read (for the His Dark Materials series) - 13
The Coldest Winter Ever80.9Must-Read ScoreThe Coldest Winter Ever
Winter Santiaga is the spoiled, beautiful daughter of a Brooklyn drug kingpin, and at seventeen she has everything: money, clothes, a big house on Long Island.
Why it made the listPBS Great American Read - 14
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder80.8Must-Read ScoreA Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Everyone in Fairview knows the story: five years ago, popular senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself.
Why it made the list63 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 15
The Poet X80.6Must-Read ScoreThe Poet X
Xiomara Batista feels unheard in her Harlem neighborhood.
Why it made the list27 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2018 - 16
Legendborn80.4Must-Read ScoreLegendborn
Sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews joins a residential program for gifted high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill after her mother's death, and on her first night she witnesses a magical attack: a flying demon feeding on human energy, and a secret society of Legendborn students who hunt such creatures.
Why it made the list26 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 17
The Last Song79.7Must-Read ScoreThe Last Song
Seventeen-year-old Ronnie Miller is angry at her father for leaving the family, and she's furious when her mother sends her and her little brother to spend the summer with him in a beach town in North Carolina.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2009 (Publishers Weekly) - 18
The Deal79.6Must-Read ScoreThe Deal
Hannah Wells, a music student at Briar University, is nearly failing one class.
Why it made the list19 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025 - 19
The Fault in Our Stars79.3Must-Read ScoreThe Fault in Our Stars
Hazel Grace Lancaster is sixteen and has terminal thyroid cancer that's spread to her lungs.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 23 million copies)One of the ten best-selling books of 2013 (Publishers Weekly) - 20
The Hill We Climb79.3Must-Read ScoreThe Hill We Climb
Amanda Gorman, at 22 the youngest inaugural poet in American history, read "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021, two weeks after the attack on the Capitol.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1) - 21
Spinning Silver79.1Must-Read ScoreSpinning Silver
Miryem, a moneylender's daughter, takes over her soft-hearted father's business and boasts she can turn silver into gold, a boast that reaches the Staryk, cold fairy lords who demand she prove it.
Why it made the listHugo Award finalist (2019)Nebula Award finalist (2018) - 22
Magician79.1Must-Read ScoreMagician
Pug is an orphan kitchen boy in a castle on the edge of the Kingdom of Midkemia, and he's apprenticed to the court magician without much talent for it.
Why it made the listBBC's The Big Read - 23
Scythe79.1Must-Read ScoreScythe
Humanity has conquered hunger, disease, war and even death.
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Room79.1Must-Read ScoreRoom
Jack is five, and he has lived his whole life in Room, a locked shed eleven feet square, with his mother, Ma.
Why it made the list100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2010Booker Prize finalist (2010)Women's Prize for Fiction finalist (2011) - 25
Divine Rivals79.0Must-Read ScoreDivine Rivals
After centuries of sleep, the gods are at war again.
Why it made the list104 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2023
