Here are our reading groups’ favorite young adult books of 2023 based on our survey results.
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…
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…
WE ARE NOT BROKEN
George M Johnson
New memoir from George M. Johnson, the New York Times bestselling author of All Boys Aren't Blue—a "deeply impactful" (Nic Stone), "striking and joyful" (Laurie Halse Anderson), and "stunning read" (Publishers Weekly, starred) that celebrates Black boyhood and brotherhood in all its glory. This is the vibrant story of George, Garrett, Rall, and…
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…
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…
SALT TO THE SEA
Ruta Sepetys
For readers of Between Shades of Gray and All the Light We Cannot See, bestselling author Ruta Sepetys returns to WWII in this epic novel that shines a light on one of the war’s most devastating—yet unknown—tragedies. World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands…
THE 57 BUS
Dashka Slater
One teenager in a skirt. One teenager with a lighter. One moment that changes both of their lives forever. If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country,…
AFTERCARE INSTRUCTIONS
Bonnie Pipkin
“Troubled.” That’s seventeen-year-old Genesis according to her small New Jersey town. She finds refuge and stability in her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter—until he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The betrayal causes Gen to question everything. As Gen pushes herself…
BROWN GIRL DREAMING
Jacqueline Woodson
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil…
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…
STRONG AS FIRE, FIERCE AS FLAME
Supriya Kelkar
India, 1857 Meera's future has been planned for her for as long as she can remember. As a child, her parents married her to a boy from a neighboring village whom she barely knows. But on the eve of her thirteenth birthday, her husband is killed in the riots following…
WARRIOR GIRL UNEARTHED
Angeline Boulley
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter Angeline Boulley takes us back to Sugar Island in this high-stakes thriller about the power of discovering your stolen history. Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always known who she is - the laidback twin, the troublemaker, the best fisher on Sugar Island. Her…