The Greatest Books of All Time on Adolescence

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
9564 Reviving Ophelia Mary Pipher 1994 American English
9790 Beka Lamb Zee Edgell 1982 Belizean English
9925 The Bert Diaries Anders Jacobsson, Sören Olsson 1987 Swedish Swedish
9939 Daddy Was A Number Runner Louise Meriwether 1970 American English
10074 The Body Project Joan Jacobs Brumberg 1997 American English
10081 Falling in Place Ann Beattie 1980 American English
10096 Every Day David Levithan 2012 American English
10194 Duplex Kathryn Davis 2013 American English
10292 Girl Jamaica Kincaid 1978 Antiguan English
10302 Anywhere But Here Mona Simpson 1986 American English
10305 Street Games Rosellen Brown 1974 American English
10367 Still Can't See Nothin' Comin' Daniel Grey Marshall 2004 American English
10450 The Topeka School Ben Lerner 2019 American English
10516 Sweet Days of Discipline Fleur Jaeggy 1989 Swiss Italian
10807 Laurinda Alice Pung 2014 Australian English
10810 Tomorrow, When The War Began John Marsden 1993 Australian English
10811 Dodgers Bill Beverly 2016 American English
10866 Tyrell Coe Booth 2006 American English
10938 The 57 Bus Dashka Slater 2017 American English
10985 Stop Time Frank Conroy 1967 American English
11077 Heaven Mieko Kawakami 2023 Japanese Japanese
11422 Me And Earl And The Dying Girl Jesse Andrews 2012 American English
11429 The Troop Nick Cutter 2014 Canadian English
11491 Red at the Bone Jacqueline Woodson 2019 American English
11567 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
11640 Noggin John Corey Whaley 2014 American English
11647 Dead Poets Society N. H. Kleinbaum 1989 American English
11811 Rich In Love Josephine Humphreys 1987 American English
11844 Le Pavillon Des Enfants Fous Valérie Valère 1978 French French
11882 Losing Face George Haddad 2022 Unknown English
11936 Coffee Will Make You Black April Sinclair 1995 American English
12031 Secrets Jacqueline Wilson 2002 British English
12120 The Emperor Of Ice Cream Brian Moore 1965 Irish English
12141 Drown Junot Diaz 1996 American English
12148 Awkward And Definition Ariel Schrag 1997 American English
12200 Ninfa Plebea Domenico Rea 1992 Italian Italian
12250 Getting In Jennifer Finney Boylan 1998 American English
12250 Almost A Woman Esmeralda Santiago 1998 American English
12399 The History Boys Alan Bennett 2004 British English
12410 Growing Up In Australia Various authors Unknown Unknown
12436 Imani All Mine Connie Rose Porter 1999 American English
12513 Black Ice Lorene Cary 1991 American English
12586 How All This Started Pete Fromm 2000 American English
12586 Sunday You Learn How To Box Bil Wright 2000 American English
12586 Potential Ariel Schrag 2000 American English
12586 Counting Coup Larry Colton 2000 American English
12739 Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me Mariko Tamaki, illustrated Rosemary Valero-O’Connell 2019 Canadian English
13050 Gaysians Mike Curato 2025 American English
13217 10th Grade Joe Weisberg 2002 American English
13246 We Are Not Free Traci Chee 2020 American English
13333 Un Beso De Dick Fernando Molano 1992 Colombian Spanish
13337 Project X Jim Shepard 2004 American English
13337 Upstate Kalisha Buckhanon 2004 American English
13359 First Love And Other Sorrows Harold Brodkey 1957 American English
13359 The Dark Is Rising Sequence Susan Cooper 1965 British English
13359 Il Grande Meaulnes Alain-Fournier 1913 French French
13511 As Simple As Snow Gregory Galloway 2005 American English
13566 Sammy And Juliana In Hollywood Benjamin Alire Sáenz 2006 American English
13599 And Their Children After Them Nicolas Mathieu 2018 French French
13715 The Headmaster Ritual Taylor Antrim 2007 American English
13715 I Love You, Beth Cooper Larry Doyle 2007 American English
13771 Every Heart A Doorway Seanan McGuire 2016 American English
13771 All Souls Christine Schutt 2008 American English
13771 The Flowers Dagoberto Gilb 2008 American English
13771 Likewise Ariel Schrag 2008 American English
13885 Anne Frank Francine Prose 2009 American English
14078 Ordinary Girls Jaquira Díaz 2019 American English
14138 Farmer in the Sky Robert A. Heinlein 1950 American English
14138 Youth In Revolt M. D. Payne Unknown Unknown
14176 Black Tickets Jayne Anne Phillips 1979 American English
14180 Male And Female Margaret Mead 1949 American English
14425 The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes Tatiana Țîbuleac 2016 Moldovan Romanian
14598 Our Story Begins Tobias Wolff 2008 American English
14815 Old Yeller Fred Gipson 1956 American English
14866 Le Bal Irène Némirovsky 1930 French French
14897 The Room On The Roof Ruskin Bond 1956 Indian English
14937 The Red Pony John Steinbeck 1933 American English
14928 Equus Peter Shaffer 1973 British English
14984 A Hat Full of Sky Terry Pratchett 2004 British English
14984 Smile Raina Telgemeier 2010 American English
14984 The Maze Runner James Dashner 2009 American English
14984 The Wednesday Wars Gary D. Schmidt 2007 American English
15661 The Nick Adams Stories Ernest Hemingway 1972 American English
15677 Life And Confessions Of A Psychologist G. Stanley Hall 1923 American English
16487 The Last Picture Show Larry McMurtry 1966 American English
16584 The Diary Of Anne Frank Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich 1955 American English
16653 I Am Fifteen--and I Don't Want To Die Arnothy Christine 1955 French French
16799 Schoolgirl Osamu Dazai 1939 Japanese Japanese
17120 The Children of Dynmouth William Trevor 1976 British English
17120 The Ice Storm Rick Moody 1994 American English
17120 Owl in Love Patrice Kindl 1993 American English
17120 A Crime In The Neighborhood Suzanne Berne 1997 American English
17120 Young Tom Forrest Reid 1944 British English
17120 Inventing Ourselves Sarah-Jayne Blakemore 2018 British English
17120 Pushout Monique W. Morris 2016 American English
17120 The Wolves Sarah DeLappe 2016 American English
17120 Model Home Eric Puchner 2010 American English
17120 The Fates Will Find Their Way Hannah Pittard 2011 American English
17066 Terminal Innocence Klaus Rifbjerg 1958 Danish Unknown
17120 Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self Danielle Evans 2010 American English
17120 Adam Ariel Schrag 2014 American English
17120 Тина и половина Yulia Spiridonova 2009 Bulgarian Russian
16989 The Summer Of The Swans Betsy Cromer Byars 1970 American English
17055 Little Town On The Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1941 American English
17120 Queen Bees And Wannabes, 3rd Edition Rosalind Wiseman 2002 American English
17120 You Must Remember This Joyce Carol Oates 1987 American English
17120 Lost In Place Mark Salzman 1995 American English
17120 This One Summer Mariko Tamaki 2014 Canadian English
17120 Redburn Herman Melville 1849 American English
17120 Crooked Little Heart Anne Lamott 1997 American English
17120 The Casual Vacancy J. K. Rowling 2012 British English
17120 Broken Glass Park Alina Bronsky 2008 German German
17120 About A Boy Nick Hornby 1998 British English
17120 Gone Michael Grant 2008 American English
17120 Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen 1993 American English
17120 The Lesser Blessed Richard Van Camp 1996 Canadian English
17120 Parachute Kids Betty C. Tang 2023 Unknown English
17120 Ms. Hempel Chronicles Sarah Shun-lien Bynum 2008 American English
17120 Zero Gine Cornelia Pedersen 2013 Norwegian Norwegian
17120 Godless Pete Hautman 2004 American English