The Greatest American Teen & Young Adult Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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
81 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
192 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
197 A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
232 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume 1970 American English
253 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 American English
660 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton 1967 American English
673 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor 1976 American English
719 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 American English
975 Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973 American English
1044 A Boy's Own Story Edmund White 1982 American English
1083 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
1186 Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt 1975 American English
1342 From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler EL Konigsburg 1967 American English
1383 A Swiftly Tilting Planet Madeleine L'Engle 1978 American English
1539 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
1542 Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya 1972 American English
2140 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
2280 Forever... Judy Blume 1975 American English
2542 Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One Rick Riordan 2005 American English
2667 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie 2007 American English
2712 Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson 1980 American English
2857 Akata Witch Nnedi Okorafor 2011 American English
2859 Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine 1997 American English
2901 Go Ask Alice Beatrice Sparks 1971 American English
3023 Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson 2014 American English
3179 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
3256 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
3327 Alanna Tamora Pierce 1983 American English
3335 Before We Were Free Julia Alvarez 2002 American English
3347 An Ember In The Ashes Sabaa Tahir 2015 American English
3392 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol I and II M. T. Anderson 2006 American English
3474 The Westing Game Ellen Raskin 1978 American English
3479 Living Up The Street Gary Soto 1985 American English
3489 Speak Laurie Halse Anderson 1999 American English
3619 Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters J. D. Salinger 1963 American English
3805 I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip John Donovan 1969 American English
3879 Eragon Christopher Paolini 2002 American English
3896 A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But A Sandwich Alice Childress 1973 American English
3968 Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz 2012 American English
3985 Six Of Crows Leigh Bardugo 2015 American English
4014 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
4062 The Blue Sword Robin McKinley 1982 American English
4119 March John Lewis 2013 American English
4282 The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot 2000 American English
4372 Homecoming Cynthia Voigt 1981 American English
4378 To All The Boys I've Loved Before Jenny Han 2014 American English
4632 Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda Becky Albertalli 2015 American English
4815 The Crossover Kwame Alexander 2014 American English
5007 Weetzie Bat Francesca Lia Block 1989 American English
5082 Born Confused Tanuja Desai Hidier 2002 American English
5099 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Ann Brashares 2001 American English
5118 Stargirl Jerry Spinelli 2000 American English
5122 Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs 2011 American English
5212 The Sun Is Also A Star Nicola Yoon 2016 American English
5231 City Of Bones Cassandra Clare 2007 American English
5257 A Court Of Thorns And Roses Sarah J. Maas 2015 American English
5430 Pet Akwaeke Emezi 2019 American English
5613 Sold Patricia McCormick 2006 American English
5689 If You Come Softly Jacqueline Woodson 1998 American English
5718 City Of Glass Cassandra Clare 2009 American English
5791 Monster Walter Dean Myers 1999 American English
5813 The Education of Little Tree Forrest Carter 1976 American English
5837 Shadow And Bone Leigh Bardugo 2012 American English
5867 The High King Lloyd Alexander 1968 American English
5946 A Step From Heaven An Na 2001 American English
5946 Rainbow Boys Alex Sanchez 2001 American English
5952 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo 2018 American English
5958 Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson 1977 American English
5959 Beautiful Disaster Jamie McGuire 2011 American English
5970 Angelfall Susan Ee 2011 American English
6021 I'll Give You The Sun Jandy Nelson 2014 American English
6035 Feed M. T. Anderson 2002 American English
6255 Red Rising Pierce Brown 2014 American English
6413 Graceling Kristin Cashore 2008 American English
6424 Blankets Craig Thompson 2003 American English
6486 Code Talker Joseph Bruchac 2005 American English
6486 Elsewhere Gabrielle Zevin 2005 American English
6511 Hatchet Gary Paulsen 1987 American English
6604 Copper Sun Sharon M. Draper 2006 American English
6604 Tyrell Coe Booth 2006 American English
6680 We Are Okay Nina LaCour 2017 American English
6687 A String In The Harp Nancy Bond 1976 American English
6688 Just Listen Sarah Dessen 2006 American English
6732 The Wrath & The Dawn Renée Ahdieh 2015 American English
6739 Aru Shah And The End Of Time Roshani Chokshi 2018 American English
6817 A Torch Against The Night Sabaa Tahir 2016 American English
6844 Talking To Dragons Patricia C. Wrede 1985 American English
6933 Many Waters Madeleine L'Engle 1986 American English
6983 Long Way Down Jason Reynolds 2017 American English
7121 Ship Breaker Paolo Bacigalupi 2010 American English
7325 Beasts Made Of Night Tochi Onyebuchi 2017 American English
7332 Daughter Of Smoke & Bone Laini Taylor 2011 American English
7467 Legend Marie Lu 2011 American English
7488 Scythe Neal Shusterman 2016 American English
7489 Salt To The Sea Ruta Sepetys 2016 American English
7503 The Scorpio Races Maggie Stiefvater 2011 American English
7513 Every Day David Levithan 2012 American English
7527 Eleanor And Park Rainbow Rowell 2012 American English
7565 Blanca & Roja Anna-Marie McLemore 2018 American English
7619 Me And Earl And The Dying Girl Jesse Andrews 2012 American English
7652 Dear Martin Nic Stone 2017 American English
7777 Calling On Dragons Patricia C. Wrede 1993 American English
7784 Children Of Virtue And Vengeance Tomi Adeyemi 2019 American English
7784 We Hunt The Flame Hafsah Faizal 2019 American English
7862 Noggin John Corey Whaley 2014 American English
7947 The Devil's Arithmetic Jane Yolen 1988 American English
7965 Elatsoe Darcie Little Badger 2020 American English
7965 Woven In Moonlight Isabel Ibañez 2020 American English
7994 Dumplin' Julie Murphy 2015 American English
7994 Everything, Everything Nicola Yoon 2015 American English
7994 More Happy Than Not Adam Silvera 2015 American English
8150 We Are The Ants Shaun David Hutchinson 2016 American English
8150 When The Moon Was Ours Anna-Marie McLemore 2016 American English
8333 Allegedly Tiffany D. Jackson 2017 American English
8333 American Street Ibi Zoboi 2017 American English
8333 I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Erika L. Sánchez 2017 American English
8333 The 57 Bus Dashka Slater 2017 American English
8333 When Dimple Met Rishi Sandhya Menon 2017 American English