The Greatest Teen & Young Adult Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 465 '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
5 The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger 1951 American English
13 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1960 American English
60 The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank 1947 Dutch Dutch
74 Lord of the Flies William Golding 1954 British English
80 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
109 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 British English
202 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
194 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
226 A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
268 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
276 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume 1970 American English
277 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 American English
339 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1911 British English
407 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995 British English
444 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 Iranian French
616 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 German English
651 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor 1976 American English
870 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton 1967 American English
721 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
907 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
931 Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973 American English
941 Obasan Joy Kogawa 1981 Canadian English
980 The Dark Is Rising Susan Cooper 1973 British English
1296 A Boy's Own Story Edmund White 1982 American English
1054 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
1058 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling 2005 British English
1128 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
1141 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 American English
1156 Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt 1975 American English
1199 The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 1995 British English
1202 Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones 1986 British English
1318 From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler EL Konigsburg 1967 American English
1351 A Swiftly Tilting Planet Madeleine L'Engle 1978 American English
1402 Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie 1990 British English
1544 Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman 2001 British English
1730 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
1733 Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya 1972 American English
1794 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J. K. Rowling 2007 British English
1905 The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Sue Townsend 1982 British English
1910 The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen Alan Garner 1960 British English
2097 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
2388 The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman 2000 British English
2478 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
2548 Forever... Judy Blume 1975 American English
3245 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie 2007 American English
2674 Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson 1980 American English
2809 Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine 1997 American English
2971 Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson 2014 American English
3188 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
3233 The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman 1997 British English
3255 Alanna Tamora Pierce 1983 American English
3274 Before We Were Free Julia Alvarez 2002 American English
4449 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol I and II M. T. Anderson 2006 American English
3391 The Westing Game Ellen Raskin 1978 American English
3410 Living Up The Street Gary Soto 1985 American English
3420 Speak Laurie Halse Anderson 1999 American English
3547 Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters J. D. Salinger 1963 American English
3621 Children Of Blood And Bone Tomi Adeyemi 2018 Nigerian English
3732 I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip John Donovan 1969 American English
3791 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
3829 A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But A Sandwich Alice Childress 1973 American English
3893 Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz 2012 American English
3908 Six Of Crows Leigh Bardugo 2015 American English
3918 Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One Rick Riordan 2005 American English
3932 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
3977 The Blue Sword Robin McKinley 1982 American English
4081 Akata Witch Nnedi Okorafor 2011 American English
4105 Cireșarii Constantin Chiriță 1956 Romanian Romanian
4204 The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot 2000 American English
4288 Homecoming Cynthia Voigt 1981 American English
4293 To All The Boys I've Loved Before Jenny Han 2014 American English
4602 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
4359 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
4405 Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer 2001 Irish English
4443 March John Lewis 2013 American English
4564 Chinese Cinderella Adeline Yen Mah 1999 Chinese English
4895 An Ember In The Ashes Sabaa Tahir 2015 American English
4909 Angus, Thongs And Full Frontal Snogging Louise Rennison 1999 British English
4911 Weetzie Bat Francesca Lia Block 1989 American English
4985 Born Confused Tanuja Desai Hidier 2002 American English
4986 City of the Beasts Isabel Allende 2002 Chilean Spanish
5010 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Ann Brashares 2001 American English
5024 Stargirl Jerry Spinelli 2000 American English
5099 The Crossover Kwame Alexander 2014 American English
5546 The Sun Is Also A Star Nicola Yoon 2016 American English
5174 Chanda's Secrets Allan Stratton 2004 Canadian English
5618 Pet Akwaeke Emezi 2019 American English
5466 Sold Patricia McCormick 2006 American English
5543 If You Come Softly Jacqueline Woodson 1998 American English
5572 City Of Glass Cassandra Clare 2009 American English
5617 Go Ask Alice Beatrice Sparks 1971 American English
5639 Monster Walter Dean Myers 1999 American English
5659 The Education of Little Tree Forrest Carter 1976 American English
5692 Rules Of Summer Shaun Tan 2013 Australian English
5718 The High King Lloyd Alexander 1968 American English
5780 Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz 2000 British English
5790 A Step From Heaven An Na 2001 American English
5790 Rainbow Boys Alex Sanchez 2001 American English
5797 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo 2018 American English
5802 Beautiful Disaster Jamie McGuire 2011 American English
5810 Angelfall Susan Ee 2011 American English
5854 Code Name Verity Elizabeth Wein 2012 British English
5863 I'll Give You The Sun Jandy Nelson 2014 American English
5874 Feed M. T. Anderson 2002 American English
6152 How I Live Now Meg Rosoff 2004 British English
6242 Graceling Kristin Cashore 2008 American English
6259 Blankets Craig Thompson 2003 American English
6318 Code Talker Joseph Bruchac 2005 American English
6318 Elsewhere Gabrielle Zevin 2005 American English
6399 Silver On The Tree Susan Cooper 1977 British English
6434 Copper Sun Sharon M. Draper 2006 American English
6434 Tyrell Coe Booth 2006 American English
6511 We Are Okay Nina LaCour 2017 American English
6517 A String In The Harp Nancy Bond 1976 American English
6523 Just Listen Sarah Dessen 2006 American English
7368 Aru Shah And The End Of Time Roshani Chokshi 2018 American English
6563 The Wrath & The Dawn Renée Ahdieh 2015 American English
6641 A Torch Against The Night Sabaa Tahir 2016 American English
6659 Talking To Dragons Patricia C. Wrede 1985 American English
6746 Many Waters Madeleine L'Engle 1986 American English