Best Fiction for Young Adults
The books, recommended for ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens. The list comprises a wide range of genres and styles, including contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy, horror, science fiction and novels in verse.
About
YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) Committee evolved from a committee established under the School Libraries Section of ALA, which was charged with producing a list of 1930s "Best Books for Young People." The committee has undergone several changes of focus and names over the years, including the Book Selection Committee (1954), and later the Committee for the Selection of Significant Adult Books for Young People (1963). It became the Best Books for Young Adults Committee (BBYA) in 1966. As publishing for the young adult market grew exponentially (over 2,000 titles per year in 2008) and seven other YALSA selection and award lists for young adults were created since its inception, Best Books for Young Adults was restructured and named Best Fiction for Young Adults by the YALSA Board of Directors at the midwinter meeting in 2010.
Administered by:
Details
Frequency: Annual
Award Information
Title | Year | |
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Chasing Shadows
2014 - Selection(s) In this novel/graphic-novel hybrid, Holly and Savitri each fight to save themselves and their friendship after a ruthless killer ends Chase's life. |
2014 - Selection(s) | |
The Naturals
2014 - Selection(s) A natural profiler, 17-year-old Cassie joins a special teen FBI program and finds herself immersed in a world where everything is not as it seems. |
2014 - Selection(s) | |
Wise Young Fool
2014 - Selection(s) Wannabe rock star Ritchie Sudden is spending 90 days in juvie—just enough time to tell his tale of lust, loss, and, of course, rock-and-roll. |
2014 - Selection(s) | |
All the Truth That’s In Me
2014 - Selection(s) Judith is a pariah after her tongue is cut out. But when war threatens her village she must find her voice. |
2014 - Selection(s) | |
The Sin Eater’s Confession
2014 - Selection(s) In a small Wisconsin town, rumors about Jimmy and Ben ruin Ben’s life and brutally end Jimmy’s. Three years later, Ben decides to set the... |
2014 - Selection(s) | |
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
2014 - Selection(s) Welcome to Coldtown, a quarantined city for vampires, the infected, and humans. The price for residence, however, is that you can never leave. |
2014 - Selection(s) | |
Dear Life, You Suck
2014 - Selection(s) Cricket's life is wrought with pain and his future looks bleak. Should he become a professional fighter, a drug dealer, or just end it all? |
2014 - Selection(s) | |
A Moment Comes
2014 - Selection(s) Lives collide when three teens from different backgrounds become ensnared in the turmoil of the India-Pakistan partition. |
2014 - Selection(s) |
Title | Year | |
---|---|---|
My Life Next Door
2013 - Selection(s) Samantha was always curious about the large, boisterous family next door since her family is quiet and orderly. One day, Jase, one of the boys... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Throne of Glass
2013 - Selection(s) Left for dead in a notorious prison work camp, Celaena is given a second chance at freedom by the Crown Prince himself. However, this freedom... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Curveball: the Year I Lost My Grip
2013 - Selection(s) After Peter endures a sports ending injury, he discovers that life can curve in new directions, not always the way he anticipates; a new girl... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Diviners
2013 - Selection(s) New age, old magic. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
A Certain October
2013 - Selection(s) After surviving a train accident that killed her friend, Scotty must reevaluate her life and find a way to forgive herself. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Storyteller
2013 - Selection(s) Anna falls in love not only with Abel, the boy she has a crush on, but also the fairy tale he tells his younger sister... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Graffiti Moon
2013 - Selection(s) Lucy has a crush on Shadow, a local graffiti artist. Little does she know that Shadow may be closer to her than she thinks. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
In Darkness
2013 - Selection(s) Trapped in darkness on Haiti hundreds of years apart, the lives of gangster Shorty and slave rebellion leader Toussaint l'Ouverture are intertwined as Shorty tries... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Boy 21
2013 - Selection(s) A chronicle of grief paralleling Finley's silence and immersion in the repetition of basketball with Boy 21's belief that his murdered parents will return from... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Don’t Turn Around
2013 - Selection(s) Computer hackers Peter and Noa stumble across a conspiracy targeting runaway teens. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Promise the Night
2013 - Selection(s) Famous aviator, Beryl Markham’s childhood in Kenya with racehorses, lions, and the Nandi neighbors at a time when white women were expected to be ladies... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Raven Boys
2013 - Selection(s) Blue Sargent has been told her entire life that she will kill her true love. She stays away from boys, but when one boy's ghost... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Unspoken: The Lynburn Legacy
2013 - Selection(s) Your imaginary friend turns out to be not so imaginary. Meeting him brings its own mystery and conflicts. Which do you trust more what you’ve... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Immortal Rules
2013 - Selection(s) Allison lives in a society that requires humans to register as blood donors for the ruling class of vampires. Instead of surrendering to their demands... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Railsea
2013 - Selection(s) Sham Yes ap Soorap, a lousy doctors assistant aboard the Medes, has been given a dream to look at but may never see. The unending... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Pledge
2013 - Selection(s) Charlie knows that she is different. In a world where each class system had their own language, she can understand them all. What happens when... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Brides of Rollrock Island
2013 - Selection(s) On an ungenerous island where life is hard, Misskaella, herself unattractive, discovers she has the power to pull humans from the seals cavorting in the... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Encyclopedia of Me
2013 - Selection(s) Pick a letter and let Tink take you on a journey. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Scarlet
2013 - Selection(s) Scarlet, a spunky lady-thief, has made a home in Sherwood Forest with Robin Hood and his band of thieves, but a face from the past... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Silence of Murder
2013 - Selection(s) An 18- year old, autistic boy has been put on trial for murder. Only one person thinks he’s innocent. Did he do it? What really... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
This is Not a Test
2013 - Selection(s) Meet the girl who doesn't want to survive the zombie apocalypse. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Call the Shots
2013 - Selection(s) Sean, Matt, and Coop have pulled off a few schemes in the past, but can they manage to make a low-budget horror film? |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Insignia
2013 - Selection(s) Tom is great at one thing: gaming. He’s given the chance to make something of himself in the military and he jumps at it. Can... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Vanishing Game
2013 - Selection(s) Still grieving the loss of her brother, Jocelyn unexpectedly receives a letter from him, a letter that sends her on a hunt through her past. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Something Like Normal
2013 - Selection(s) Travis, a young Marine, deals with life at home after his best friend is killed in Afghanistan. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Team Human
2013 - Selection(s) Vampires may be an everyday part of life, but Mel still isn’t thrilled when her best friend Cathy suddenly wants to become one. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Under the Never Sky
2013 - Selection(s) Aria has grown up living in the safety of the domes, while Peregrine is a savage outsider. When a series of events leads to Aria's banishment... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
BZRK
2013 - Selection(s) A war is raging in the nano…where biots and nanobots battle in the brain for control of the human race. For the soldiers of BZRK... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Fire in the Streets
2013 - Selection(s) Maxie's attachment to the Black Panthers in Chicago in the late sixties gradually confronts some of the other constants in her life, but she knows... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Love & Leftovers
2013 - Selection(s) When a summer vacation with her mother turns into a permanent move, Marcie realizes her life will never be the same. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Dark Unwinding
2013 - Selection(s) Sent to prove her uncle insane, Katherine discovers another windup world. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Keeping the Castle
2013 - Selection(s) The only way Althea can hope to keep the family home, Crawley Castle, is to marry a rich man. She must vie for the affections... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
No Crystal Stair: A Novel in Documents, Based on the Life and Work, of Lewis Micheaux, Harlem Bookseller
2013 - Selection(s) Lewis will do whatever people tell him he can't which surprisingly turns the young thief into someone nobody ever expected, particularly the white banker who... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Croak
2013 - Selection(s) Who would have thought being a grim reaper could give you a life? |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
My Book of Life by Angel
2013 - Selection(s) Angel must escape her life of drugs and prostitution before she is forced to do the same for another. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Sons of the 613
2013 - Selection(s) Having skimped on his prep sessions for his bar mitzvah, Isaac gets schooled in what it means to be a man by older brother Josh... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Tiger Lilly
2013 - Selection(s) Before Wendy came into Peter Pan's life, there was only Tiger Lily. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Eve & Adam
2013 - Selection(s) What if you could design the perfect boy? Eve is given the chance; but what are the consequences of playing god? |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Froi of the Exiles: The Lumatere Chronicles
2013 - Selection(s) Three years after Finnikin of the Rock completed his journey back to Lumatere, young Froi is sent away from Lumatere on a journey of his... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The List
2013 - Selection(s) The list of the hottest and ugliest girls of Mount Washington High is finally out. Meet the eight teens whose lives will changed by one... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Dark Unwinding
2013 - Selection(s) Sent to prove her uncle insane, Katherine discovers another windup world. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Ask the Passengers
2013 - Selection(s) Astrid, who just moved from the big city to a small town, must discover her way in life, her sexuality and, most importantly, herself. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard
2013 - Selection(s) In 1998, Matthew Shepard was robbed, beaten and left to die tied to a fence in a field in Wyoming. The events surrounding his death... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
2013 - Selection(s) Cameron explores her lesbian sexuality in small town Montana in the early 1990's, and is sent to God's Promise, a school to cure homosexual tendencies. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Traitor and the Tunnel
2013 - Selection(s) Mary Lang cannot keep herself out of scrapes. Once again, she is thrown into the thick of a murder mystery. This time it involves both the British... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
2013 - Selection(s) Aristotle and Dante could scarcely be more different, but through the years of growing up, they become more to each other than they ever imagined. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
2013 - Selection(s) Greg and Earl are forced to spend time with a classmate recently diagnosed with leukemia. Will their lives change for the better or just stay... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Fault in Our Stars.
2013 - Selection(s) Hazel and Gus are both Cancer Kids with very different prognoses when they meet and bond over what they share outside of their disease. Funny... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Shadowfell
2013 - Selection(s) Frightened of being made a king’s hostage if her powers are known, Neryn must decide whether or not to trust taciturn mysterious Flint who has... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Final Four
2013 - Selection(s) Experience March Madness from the point of view of those who know it the best: the players. Who will triumph and who will fall? |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Dragonswood
2013 - Selection(s) Tess has endured a lot in her short life. She has witnessed an execution, watched her siblings die, been accused of witchcraft and tortured. She’s now... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
See You At Harry’s
2013 - Selection(s) Harry’s, the restaurant owned by 12 year old Fern’s family, has always centered them but when tragedy takes Charlie, her sticky, smelly, younger brother, nothing... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The False Prince
2013 - Selection(s) The ambitious Conner hand-picks four orphans with the intention of selecting one to pose as the lost Prince Jaron, heir to the throne of Carthya... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Bad Boy
2013 - Selection(s) Kate has been institutionalized her entire life, but things start to look up when she connects with a handsome stranger. But can she heed the... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am
2013 - Selection(s) Ben Bright makes the decision to enlist in the Army. His deployment to the Middle East stresses his relationships with his friends and family, but... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Endangered
2013 - Selection(s) A book of friendship that endures through hardship. A book of human cruelty and human compassion. A book that crosses cultures and species, to connect us with... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Drowned Cities
2013 - Selection(s) Mahlia and Mouse are cast-off refugees from the Drowned Cities of a war-torn future American Southeast when they meet Tool, a half-man genetically engineered for... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Have a Nice Day
2013 - Selection(s) Home after a stay in a mental institution, Anna discovers that maintaining her improved outlook is a challenge as the stresses of life that sent... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Second Chance Summer
2013 - Selection(s) Taylor’s family is spending one last summer together at their house on the lake, which means she can’t run away from the people she hurt... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Book of Blood and Shadow
2013 - Selection(s) In one night, Nora's best friend is murdered and her boyfriend disappears. When she starts looking for answers, she finds cryptic clues that lead to... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Love & Haight
2013 - Selection(s) Chloe and MJ are spending their Christmas vacation in San Francisco. While MJ is looking for a good time, Chloe is looking for an abortion... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Personal Effects
2013 - Selection(s) Matt's brother has died fighting for his country, and now Matt has the remnants of his brother’s personal belongings. In looking through these items, Matt... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
A Confusion of Princes
2013 - Selection(s) When Prince Khemri comes of age, he finds he has a lot to learn about the intergalactic empire he serves. This is the story of... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Butterfly Clues
2013 - Selection(s) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is not all Lo must deal with when she accidentally witnesses a murder. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Zero
2013 - Selection(s) Zero didn’t get the scholarship to art school, so she’s stuck in Phoenix trying to figure out how to emulate Dali when she falls for the... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls
2013 - Selection(s) What would you do if you were forced to join a book club with girls that you never met? But that’s not the worst part... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Shadow and Bone
2013 - Selection(s) Alina discovers she has secret powers and must try abolishing the monsters of the Fold. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Radiant Days
2013 - Selection(s) Art student Merle and poet Arthur Rimbaud may live in separate continents and time periods but one night together will change their lives forever. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Never Fall Down
2013 - Selection(s) Arn is taken from his home by the Khmer Rouge and forced to become a child soldier. What will he do to survive? |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Code Name Verity
2013 - Selection(s) Verity and Maddie are friends working in the war effort. When the Gestapo captures Verity, she trades information for freedom. Meanwhile, Maddie tries to free... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Bitterblue
2013 - Selection(s) Katsa saved her life, but now Bitterblue has to save her kingdom |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Enchanted
2013 - Selection(s) Sunday’s child may be able to find her story with the help of ….a frog. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Such Wicked Intent: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein Book Two
2013 - Selection(s) Try as he might, Victor cannot swear off the two great temptations in his life: the power over life and death offered by the Dark... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Monstrous Beauty
2013 - Selection(s) Syrenka, a vicious mermaid who's a victim of circumstance, and Hester, a modern day teen who's a victim of her family’s tragic past, have a... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Lions of Little Rock
2013 - Selection(s) Painfully shy Marlee lives in Little Rock and makes friends with Liz the year after the ‘Nine” integrated. When schools close, these friends decide they... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Sweetest Spell
2013 - Selection(s) Emmeline Thistle has survived sure death a couple of times due to cows coming to the rescue but will she be able to find true... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Wonder Show
2013 - Selection(s) Portia is looking for another new beginning and a place to belong. Does she have a strong enough constitution to do it at the travelling... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Speechless
2013 - Selection(s) Chelsea could never keep her mouth shut, always having to tell the latest gossip as soon as she heard it. The latest secret she tells... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Planesrunner
2013 - Selection(s) Convinced his Dad was kidnapped, Everett uses his computer expertise, his soccer skills and his math knowledge to try to go after him—even as far... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Beneath a Meth Moon
2013 - Selection(s) When Laurel moved to a new town, she was introduced to the drug moon. What happens when she can't get enough? |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Wicked and the Just
2013 - Selection(s) In the late thirteenth century, Cecily practices a haughty style as befits a lady of the manor in occupied Wales where her father has landed... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Island of Thieves
2013 - Selection(s) An unexpected adventure with Uncle Harvey will leave Tom's life changed forever..That is if they can make it out alive! |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Purity
2013 - Selection(s) Shelby promised her dying mother three things: listen to her father, love as much as possible, and live without restraint. What happens when promise one... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Good Braider
2013 - Selection(s) This is a story of Viola's escape from the Sudan, her long and arduous journey to the U.S., and her struggle with the emotional effects... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Every Day
2013 - Selection(s) How can love survive if each day you wake up as a different person? |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Freedom Maze
2013 - Selection(s) Forced to spend her summer at her grandmother's Southern house in the 1960's, Sophie unwittingly finds herself transported to the Civil War era as a... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Every Other Day
2013 - Selection(s) Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be something else every other day? Kali D’Angelo is just that; an “Other,” or so... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Seraphina
2013 - Selection(s) Intriguingly, in this world, dragons can transform at will into the body of a human. Part human, part dragon, Seraphina must hide her heritage as the... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Peculiars
2013 - Selection(s) Lena, left destitute on her way to the frontier, is recruited as a spy, infiltrates the library and home of a wealthy recluse, and discovers... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Catch & Release
2013 - Selection(s) Body parts are among the things one-time pretty girl, Polly, and football star, Odd, lost when they were struck by flesh eating disease. Can a... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Beautiful Music for Ugly Children
2013 - Selection(s) Everyone knows the A side of the record but it’s time for everyone to know the B side. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Disenchantments
2013 - Selection(s) Colby and his friends' band, The Disenchantments, go touring for a week right after graduation. Will they use this time to figure out what's next... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Ghost of Graylock
2013 - Selection(s) Be warned sometimes things follow you home. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
The Last Dragonslayer
2013 - Selection(s) With magic drying up, it's hard for a freelance magical agency to stay afloat, especially with the rumors and prophecies of the death of the... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
I Hunt Killers
2013 - Selection(s) Jazz, the son of one of the most notorious of all serial killers, must come to terms with his upbringing by hunting down a new... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Au Revoir Crazy European Chick
2013 - Selection(s) Perry's priorities shift when the geeky Lithuanian exchange student his parents make him take to the prom ends up being a vengeful assassin in need... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Long Lankin
2013 - Selection(s) In a town paralyzed with fear over the presence of a nightmarish creature, sisters Cora and Mimi learn that Long Lankin may be the least... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Chomp
2013 - Selection(s) Wahoo lives with a bunch of animals, including his father. When they get contacted to provide animals for the show Expedition Survival they agree- but... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Cinder
2013 - Selection(s) Cyborg Cinder, a mechanic in the chaotic street market of New Beijing, threatened by disease and aliens, meets Prince Kai when he brings a beloved... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Dust Girl
2013 - Selection(s) “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” meets Rapunzel. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Kill Me Softly
2013 - Selection(s) Your life is a fairy tale. That doesn’t mean it’s happily ever after. |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Grave Mercy
2013 - Selection(s) Ismae, a daughter of death and trained by the convent as an assassin, is assigned to assist Duval, the bastard brother of her ruler in... |
2013 - Selection(s) | |
Dodger
2013 - Selection(s) Dodger is the canniest cove in all of London, scheming with Dickens, glad-handing Disraeli, and even getting the upper hand over Sweeney Todd in his... |
2013 - Selection(s) |
Title | Year | |
---|---|---|
Queen of Hearts
2012 - Selection(s) Marie-Claire, a young Canadian woman, along with several of her family members, are diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a sanatorium in 1940. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Everybody Sees the Ants
2012 - Selection(s) Lucky faces a bully, meets a girl, and tries to bring his POW/MIA grandfather home from meetings that take place in his dreams as he... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Desert Angel
2012 - Selection(s) Angel knows that her mom’s old boyfriend is a hunter and determined to kill her, and her need to survive unwittingly puts those trying to... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Space Between
2012 - Selection(s) When her brother Obie disappears, Daphne, a half-demon, half fallen-angel, goes to Earth to find him and enlists the help of the boy she believes... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
I Will Save You
2012 - Selection(s) Kidd’s life is getting back on track at the beach, after time spent in a group home, but then Devon is back to cause his... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Under the Mesquite
2012 - Selection(s) When Lupita’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family shifts, bringing big changes for this tight-knit Mexican-American family. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Between Shades of Gray
2012 - Selection(s) In 1941, Lina and her family are taken from their home in Lithuania and sent to Siberia where, despite horrific conditions, Lina maintains hope that... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Dreamland Social Club
2012 - Selection(s) Jane adjusts to her new home on Coney Island and rediscovers memories of her mother, who grew up there, by spending time with fun, quirky... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Survival Kit
2012 - Selection(s) A paper bag filled with six objects pushes Rose past the grief over the death of her mother, which has caused her to withdraw from... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Akata Witch
2012 - Selection(s) American-born Sunny, who lives in Nigeria, is an athlete but, being albino, can only play at night. She is a misfit until she discovers soul... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Blood Lie
2012 - Selection(s) On his sixteenth birthday, Jack Pool realizes a lie he didn't tell could be deadly. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Bitter End
2012 - Selection(s) Alex has fallen head over heels for Cole, the charming and sweet new boy at school. Cole’s love, however, comes with dangerous consequences. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Icefall
2012 - Selection(s) Solveig and her siblings, including the young Viking heir, must take refuge in a hidden fortress; however, in spite of Berserker guards, they may not... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
2012 - Selection(s) Trailed by a menacing shadow, Jacob tumbles into a time loop and discovers the peculiar children of his grandfather’s childhood. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
How to Save a Life
2012 - Selection(s) Jill, who is grieving the death of her father, is appalled that her mother is adopting a baby and giving the pregnant mother, Mandy, a... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
What Happened to Goodbye
2012 - Selection(s) Since her parent’s divorce, McLean has moved frequently. In each new town, she puts on a different persona, but in Lakeview, she discovers an urge... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Cryer's Cross
2012 - Selection(s) When two classmates disappear without explanation, Kendall knows that she is the only one who can find them. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Berlin Boxing Club
2012 - Selection(s) In 1934, Karl’s Jewishness has never been an issue, but suddenly it is. Offered the opportunity to train under a champion, Karl grabs it and... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Close to Famous
2012 - Selection(s) Foster has a big secret: she can’t read. But with the help of a retired movie star, she overcomes her struggles and wins over hearts... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Threads and Flames
2012 - Selection(s) Raisa left Poland to join her sister in America, but when she arrives Henda is nowhere to be found. To support herself, Raisa gets a... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Delirium
2012 - Selection(s) Deadly armor deliria nervosa has been eliminated with a surgical cure. But, as disturbing details about loveless life are revealed, Lena wonders if the cure... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Out of Shadows
2012 - Selection(s) The Rhodesian Bush War is over but Robert, who has just arrived from the U.K., discovers that, for his privileged classmates, the war goes on. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Liar’s Moon
2012 - Selection(s) Digger finds her magical skills useful when she is commissioned to solve the mystery behind the murder of her friend’s wife. But can she do... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Iron Thorn
2012 - Selection(s) A coded message sends Aoife, the only female student in a steampunk engineering academy, on a dangerous quest for her mad brother. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Words in the Dust
2012 - Selection(s) Zulaikha, an Afghani girl with a cleft palate, is ridiculed for her looks, but her pre-determined future could change with the arrival of American military. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Bronxwood
2012 - Selection(s) Tyrell has a lot on his plate: his dad’s out of jail, he needs to find equipment for a DJ-ing gig, and he has two... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Wither
2012 - Selection(s) In a future where a girl’s life expectancy is twenty, sixteen-year-old Rhine is sold into a life of luxury as a “sister wife,” but her... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Apothecary
2012 - Selection(s) When Janie’s family moves to London in 1952, she makes friends with Benjamin and they become involved in saving England with the help of a... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Jasper Jones
2012 - Selection(s) Charlie’s life in an Australian small town is turned upside down when Jasper Jones knocks on his bedroom window late one night and asks for... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
I am J
2012 - Selection(s) Transgender J, a genetically assigned female, struggles against family, friends, and body to become the man that he really is. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Dead End in Norvelt
2012 - Selection(s) Being grounded for the entire summer might be the best thing that could have happened to Jack and his blood-spurting nose. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein
2012 - Selection(s) Fifteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein stops at nothing to save his ailing twin, helping create the Elixir of Life from a formula found in a hidden library... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Between
2012 - Selection(s) Following a night of partying on her family’s boat, Liz is awakened by a loud, thumping noise-- her body hitting the side of the boat. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Stay
2012 - Selection(s) To escape her obsessive ex-boyfriend, Clara and her father spend the summer in a small beach town, where new relationships change their lives. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Big Crunch
2012 - Selection(s) June wasn’t looking for love, until she literally crashed into Wes and found it. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
A Web of Air
2012 - Selection(s) Using her knowledge of electricity, Fever Crumb escapes London with a traveling theater company. She meets Arlo Thursday and they join forces to build a... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Payback Time
2012 - Selection(s) Student sports reporter Mitch investigates his football coach on suspicion of corruption in order to determine why the best athlete at his high school does... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Ashfall
2012 - Selection(s) After a super volcano erupts under Yellowstone, Alex, who has been left home alone for the weekend, treks through the ash and snow covered terrain... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Stick
2012 - Selection(s) Stick and his brother Bosten must lean on each other to survive their abusive family, until Bosten is kicked out and must survive on his... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Chime
2012 - Selection(s) In a complex alternate universe, Briony thinks she has committed murder. Puzzling out the truth involves her sister and a new love. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Ruby Red
2012 - Selection(s) Gwenyth upsets her family when she inherits the time traveling gene instead of her cousin, Charlotte. Soon Gwenyth finds herself unexpectedly involved in mysterious, dangerous... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Karma, A Novel in Verse
2012 - Selection(s) While taking her mother’s ashes back to India, Maya gets separated from her father during an uprising and must find her way back to him. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Where Things Come Back
2012 - Selection(s) Cullen’s tired of small-town life, and expects to spend the summer before his senior year with friends fighting off boredom and dreaming of girls—then his... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
2012 - Selection(s) After being kidnapped, Princess Elisa, bearer of the Godstone, and secret wife of a king, is forced to hike across a desert and ends up... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Pearl
2012 - Selection(s) After Pearl’s grandfather dies, a multitude of family secrets are revealed that threaten to change everything – even her relationship with her best, and only... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Queen of Water
2012 - Selection(s) As a small child, Ecuadorian Virginia is sent off to work as an unpaid nanny and maid in the home of a wealthy couple. Based... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Entwined
2012 - Selection(s) After their mother’s death, Azalea and her eleven younger sisters discover a secret passage to a forbidden, enchanted pavilion and find neglecting the rules has... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Shine
2012 - Selection(s) When Cat's friend is brutally beaten in a hate crime, Cat feels driven to find out the truth about the assault and the attackers |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Scorpio Races
2012 - Selection(s) Sean and Puck fall in love when each is desperate to win the Scorpio Races, when wild meat eating water horses race on the beach. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Red Glove
2012 - Selection(s) Cassel’s adjustment to being a curse worker is hindered by his unusual family of cons, an unpredictable mother, a girlfriend who is the mob bosses’... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
I’ll Be There
2012 - Selection(s) Sam and Riddle Boarder move constantly with an unstable, criminal father, and all they have is each other until they meet Emily, a girl who... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Guantanamo Boy
2012 - Selection(s) While visiting family in Pakistan, 15-year-old Khalid Ahmed is captured, imprisoned and tortured at Guantanamo Bay prison after being falsely accused of being a terrorist. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Miles from Ordinary
2012 - Selection(s) When her troubled mother disappears, an isolated Lacey frantically searches for her, while facing the terrors of her mother’s delusions. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Sean Griswold’s Head
2012 - Selection(s) In order to avoid thinking about her dad’s multiple sclerosis, Payton picks an object to focus on instead: the head of the boy in front... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Lost Hero
2012 - Selection(s) Jason, Piper and Leo discover they are the half-blood children of the Greek gods and embark on a quest to rescue Hera from her captors. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Ten Miles Past Normal
2012 - Selection(s) Tenth grade is a challenge for Janie who wants to be normal, and not known as “Stink Girl” for the goat manure on her shoes... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Recovery Road
2012 - Selection(s) Maddie struggles in rehab until she meets Stewart and falls in love. It’s only when they get out of rehab and into the real world... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
2012 - Selection(s) Karu questions how she came to be raised by the chimaera Brimstone. When she meets the seraph Akiva, events unfold that could answer her questions—but... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Anna Dressed in Blood
2012 - Selection(s) Moving from town-to-town, Cas slays murderous ghosts, seeking revenge for the death of his father. Along the way, he meets Anna’s ghost, and discovers new... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Something Like Hope
2012 - Selection(s) After living for nearly a decade in foster homes and detention centers, Shavonne must face her past as she prepares to move out of the... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
What Can(t) Wait
2012 - Selection(s) Seventeen-year-old Mexican-American Marisa has dreams of going away to college and becoming an engineer, but family issues make it a difficult challenge. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Now is the Time for Running
2012 - Selection(s) As Zimbabwe disintegrates under its new leadership, Deo’s village is brutally attacked and he can only save Innocent, his brother who is mentally delayed. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Hush
2012 - Selection(s) After many years, Gittel finally knows why her friend, Devory, took her own life yet when Devory tries to tell, her ultra-conservative Jewish community won’t... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Huntress
2012 - Selection(s) A small group undertakes a desperate quest on behalf of the Fairy Queen that could save the world—but may destroy them in the process. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Divergent
2012 - Selection(s) Beatrice lives in a society where people are divided into five factions that determine work, lifestyle, and even friendships. Unusual results on her faction aptitude... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
You Against Me
2012 - Selection(s) When Mikey's sister is raped by Ellie's brother, he vows to get even by pretending to be interested in Ellie, who only wants to protect... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
A Monster Calls
2012 - Selection(s) The monster comes for Conor just after midnight, again and again. That is, until he’s ready to share how he feels about his mom’s cancer. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Orchards
2012 - Selection(s) After a classmate’s unexpected death, bi-racial Kana Goldberg is sent to her family’s farm in Japan to reflect on her participation in events that led... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Strings Attached
2012 - Selection(s) After breaking up with her boyfriend, Kit flees to Broadway for a role in a musical. When the musical closes, her ex-boyfriend’s father gets her... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Why We Broke Up
2012 - Selection(s) After Min and Ed break up, she takes the box of memorabilia she has collected and writes Ed a letter about each item and its... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Anna and the French Kiss
2012 - Selection(s) Anna can’t believe her father is sending her away to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year of high school. She’s infuriated... until... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic
2012 - Selection(s) Experience this fateful historic event from the point-of-view of twenty-four passengers who couldn’t have imagined that their “unsinkable” ship would collide with an iceberg. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Bitter Melon
2012 - Selection(s) Destined for an outstanding university and medical career, Frances rebels against her Chinese “tiger mom” by taking speech instead of calculus and discovers a talent... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Legend
2012 - Selection(s) June is hunting Day, the outlaw she believes is responsible for her brother’s death. What will happen when the two meet and discover the government... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Past Perfect
2012 - Selection(s) Chelsea reluctantly returns to work at the Colonial re-enactment park with her ex-boyfriend Ezra. Also, she’s treasonously falling for a Civil War re-enactor in the... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
My Name is Not Easy
2012 - Selection(s) Alaskan Inupiaq young people are forced to forsake their families and culture for a harsh parochial boarding school hundreds of miles away. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Floating Islands
2012 - Selection(s) Trei longs to join the Kajuraihi, the floating island defenders with wings powered by dragon magic, while Araene’s secret aspirations to become a chef are... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales
2012 - Selection(s) The mysterious illustrations introduced in Allsberg’s 1984 collection, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, are reprinted and accompanied by equally haunting and mysterious stories crafted... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
A Time of Miracles
2012 - Selection(s) Blaise, an orphaned teen, recounts his attempts to escape the war torn Caucasus region and gain French citizenship. In moments of despair, storytelling revives his... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Stupid Fast
2012 - Selection(s) As football recruitment brings new friends, Felton tries to keep his mother’s depression, and his own insecurities, hidden. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Lola and the Boy Next Door
2012 - Selection(s) Two years ago Lola’s neighbor, Cricket, broke her heart and then moved away. Now he’s back, but she’s moved on with rock-band boyfriend, Max… right? |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Blink and Caution
2012 - Selection(s) Homeless teens Blink and Caution become entangled in a blackmail scheme gone wrong and their survival depends on confronting both current threats and the painful... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Texas Gothic
2012 - Selection(s) Amy, the “sensible” one in a paranormal family, finds her normalcy challenged by an attractive boy, dead bodies, goats, the ghost of Mad Monk, and... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Piper’s Son
2012 - Selection(s) Two years after Tom’s grief-stricken behaviors alienated his friends and family he acknowledges he needs support, but his friendships may be irreparably damaged. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Okay for Now
2012 - Selection(s) After discovering Audubon’s original paintings in a folio at the library, Doug sets off on a quest to restore the missing pages to the book. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Where the Streets had a Name
2012 - Selection(s) Hayaat believes soil from her ancestral homeland may save her dying grandmother. But, retrieving it requires a dangerous, illegal crossing of the wall dividing Jerusalem’s... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Where I Belong
2012 - Selection(s) Khadj leaves Somalia for England to live with Abdi’s family, in order to work and send money home to her family. But her modeling job... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Prized
2012 - Selection(s) The leadership in Sylum is threatened by Gaia and attempts to control her by systematically separating her from everyone she loves, including her infant sister... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
2012 - Selection(s) September is excited, puzzled, confused and thrilled on her quest through Fairyland. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Beauty Queens
2012 - Selection(s) When an airplane full of teenage beauty queens crashes on a remote island, the surviving girls are forced to push themselves to the limits in... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Last Little Blue Envelope
2012 - Selection(s) Months after Ginny was led around Europe by little blue envelopes from her deceased aunt, a mysterious guy contacts her: he has the last envelope. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Lark
2012 - Selection(s) Lark is attacked and left to die tied to a tree. Her image appears to friends, pleading for someone to listen to her story, in... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Warp Speed
2012 - Selection(s) Marley and his AV geek friends avoid the bullies while arguing the merits of Star Wars versus Star Trek. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Leverage
2012 - Selection(s) An unlikely friendship between a stuttering, emotionally shattered, talented football player and a short, competitive gymnast, creates a bond that may help them stand up... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Exposed
2012 - Selection(s) Liz and Kate have been best friends for years, but when Kate accuses Liz's brother of raping her, Liz finds that losing a friend--and remaining... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
White Crow
2012 - Selection(s) Rebecca meets Ferelith in Winterfold, a town being inexorably eaten by the sea. They explore a haunted mansion on the cliffs, where dastardly experiments on... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Enclave
2012 - Selection(s) Freak Hunters Deuce and Fade are exiled from their underground enclave, and face even greater dangers above ground. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Dark City
2012 - Selection(s) Relic Master Galen and his apprentice Raffi must travel to the ruined city of Tasceron to restore Galen's powers and find a powerful object to... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The False Princess
2012 - Selection(s) After Sinda learns she is a stand-in for the real princess, she uncovers treachery and betrayal are at work to overthrow the crown—and decides she... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Running Dream
2012 - Selection(s) After a school bus accident, high school runner Jessica has her leg amputated below the knee. She must gather all of her reserves to put... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Brooklyn, Burning
2012 - Selection(s) This story follows Kid for two summers of pain, loss, music and love, as Kid makes the streets of Brooklyn, NY, into a home. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Name of the Star
2012 - Selection(s) Rory's arrival at a boarding school in London coincides with a series of Jack the Ripper-type murders, and only Rory can see the murderer. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
This Thing Called the Future
2012 - Selection(s) Khosi navigates her future in a post-apartheid South African shantytown where folk medicine competes with traditional medicine, older men lure teenage girls, and witches might... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Blood Red Road
2012 - Selection(s) As a pit fighter, Saba must constantly fight to save herself, and seeks allies to help rescue her pesky little sister and her twin brother. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The FitzOsbornes in Exile
2012 - Selection(s) As Hitler begins his conquest of Europe, the FitzOsborne royals try to save their home while caught up in London’s social scene. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Virtuosity
2012 - Selection(s) Carmen’s passion in life is the violin and her main competitor at a major competition is the infuriating, yet compelling, Jeremy. She begins to wonder—is... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Wonderstruck
2012 - Selection(s) Alternating between dramatic wording and stunning pictures, Wonderstruck chronicles the journeys of Ben and Rose, fifty years apart, both searching for the missing pieces to... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
My Name is Mina
2012 - Selection(s) Through the process of writing in her journal, Mina, a misfit, discovers herself. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Where She Went
2012 - Selection(s) Three years after Mia left for New York, Adam is still reeling from her virtual disappearance when an accidental meeting brings them back together. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Fixing Delilah
2012 - Selection(s) After her estranged grandmother’s death, Delilah, her mother and aunt sort through the estate, while also working on their relationships. |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Island’s End
2012 - Selection(s) Unexpectedly chosen as the spiritual leader of her island tribe, Uido takes on the challenge of protecting her people from the strangers who keep landing... |
2012 - Selection(s) |
Title | Year | |
---|---|---|
2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults
2011 - Selection(s) 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults The list of 99 books, drawn from 191 official nominations, is presented annually at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. In... |
2011 - Selection(s) | |
The Beginning of After
2011 - Selection(s) When her family is killed in an accident, Laurel must find a way to deal with the aftermath and begin her life anew. |
2011 - Selection(s) |
Publishers, authors, agents, or editors may not nominate their own titles.
The BFYA Committee considers any fiction title published for a teen audience from September 1 of the previous calendar year through December 31 of the current calendar year. The chair is responsible for verifying the eligibility of all nominated titles. A book originally published outside the United States will be considered according to its U.S. publication year. Books published outside of the United States are not eligible unless a U.S. edition is available.
A work of fiction is defined as: a novel in prose or verse with one or more authors, or a collection of short prose or verse by one or more authors.
“Best” is defined as: of the highest quality, excellence, or standing. As applied to teen fiction, this means that YALSA's BFYA Committee looks for outstanding titles of fiction that are of interest and value to teenagers.Suggested selection criteria:
In addition to the question of appeal, committee members should consider the following when assessing titles: language, plot, style, setting, dialog, characterization, and design.
Please fill out the nomination form.