Here are our reading groups’ favorite young adult books of 2022 based on our survey results.
I MUST BETRAY YOU
Ruta Sepetys
A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray. Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free…
FIREKEEPER'S DAUGHTER
Angeline Boulley
With four starred reviews, Angeline Boulley's debut novel, Firekeeper's Daughter, is a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, perfect for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange. Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on…
ALL MY RAGE
Sabaa Tahir
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir comes a brilliant, unforgettable, and heart-wrenching contemporary novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, in a sweeping story that crosses generations and continents. Lahore, Pakistan. Then. Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their…
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…
MAD, BAD & DANGEROUS TO KNOW
Samira Ahmed
Smash the patriarchy. Eat all the pastries. Discover New York Times bestseller Samira Ahmed’s romantic, sweeping adventure through the streets of Paris told in alternating narratives that bridge centuries, continents, and the lives of two young Muslim women fighting to write their own stories. It’s August in Paris and 17-year-old…
THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS
Kelly Barnhill
A new instant-classic fantasy about the power of generosity and love, and how a community suffers when they disappear, by Kelly Barnhill, winner of the Newbery Medal for The Girl Who Drank the Moon, a New York Times bestseller. Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and…
THE FOUNTAINS OF SILENCE
Ruta Sepetys
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray comes a gripping, extraordinary portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship. Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists…
NOTHING BURNS AS BRIGHT AS YOU
Ashley Woodfolk
From acclaimed author Ashley Woodfolk, Nothing Burns as Bright as You is an impassioned story about queer love, grief, and the complexity of female friendship that will keep your heart racing, and breaking, until the very last page. Two girls. One wild and reckless day. Years of tumultuous history unspooling like a…
THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES
Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. This deeply moving and authentic debut is for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and Benjamin Alire Saenz. Intertwining stories of love, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation on the edge of America’s Last Frontier…
THE NATURE OF WITCHES
Rachel Griffin
From a stunning new voice in YA comes the fierce, romantic story about a world on the brink of destruction, the one witch who holds the power to save it, and the choice that could cost her everything she loves. For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, their power from…