Here are our reading groups’ favorite young adult books of 2018 based on our survey results.
THE HATE U GIVE
Angie Thomas
Eight Starred Reviews and a #1 New York Times Bestseller! Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter is thrust into the national spotlight after her childhood friend is killed by a white…
THE POET X
Elizabeth Acevedo
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the…
THE BOOK THIEF
Markus Zusak
Liesel Meminger is only nine years old when she is taken to live with the Hubermanns, a foster family, on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany, in the late 1930s. She arrives with few possessions, but among them is The Grave Digger's Handbook, a book that she stole from her brother's…
I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER
Erika Sánchez
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin in this poignant but often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home. Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to…
DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Val Emmich
From the show's creators comes the groundbreaking novel inspired by the hit Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen.
Dear Evan Hansen, Today’s going to be an amazing day and here’s why… When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school…
LOVE, HATE AND OTHER FILTERS
Samira Ahmed
In Samira Ahmed’s New York Times bestselling debut novel, an Indian-American Muslim teen copes with Islamophobia, cultural divides among peers and parents, and a reality she can neither explain nor escape. American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending…
BURIED BENEATH THE BAOBAB TREE
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Based on interviews with young women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram, this poignant novel by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani tells the timely story of one girl who was taken from her home in Nigeria and her harrowing fight for survival. Includes an afterword by award-winning journalist Viviana Mazza. A new…
THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER
Emily X.R. Pan
A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng. Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird. Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan…
WONDER
R J Palacio
I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as…
GEEKERELLA
Ashley Poston
Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale romance Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic…