I always feel Best Books season begins in December when we see the first Best Books list drop in the media, and ends in January with the announcement of YALSA’s list of the Best Fiction For Young Adults at the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

“YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee presents fiction titles published for young adults in the past 16 months that are recommended reading for ages 12 to 18. The purpose of the annual list it to provide librarians and library workers with a resource to use for collection development and reader’s advisory purposes.”

This year’s list includes 64 titles — too numerous to list here and readily available on YALSA’s website — with these titles named to the Top 10 (all are available at CA Library):

Albertalli, Becky — Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Harper/Balzer and Bray — Sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity–and that of his pen pal–will be revealed

Bardugo, Leigh — Six of Crows. Holt — Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction–if they don’t kill each other first

Brooks, Kevin — The Bunker Diary. Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab — Sixteen-year-old Linus Weems, a street person since leaving his wealthy father’s home, is kidnapped and taken to an underground bunker where he is soon joined by five others, ranging in age from nine to seventy, who are alternately cared for and tortured by their unseen captor

Crowder, Melanie — Audacity. Philomel — A historical fiction novel in verse detailing the life of Clara Lemlich and her struggle for women’s labor rights in the early 20th century in New York.

Older, Daniel José — Shadowshaper. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books — When the murals painted on the walls of her Brooklyn neighborhood start to change and fade in front of her, Sierra Santiago realizes that something strange is going on–then she discovers her Puerto Rican family are shadowshapers and finds herself in a battle with an evil anthropologist for the lives of her family and friends.

Reynolds, Jason — The Boy in the Black Suit. Atheneum — Soon after his mother’s death, Matt takes a job at a funeral home in his tough Brooklyn neighborhood and, while attending and assisting with funerals, begins to accept her death and his responsibilities as a man.

Ruby, Laura — Bone Gap. Harper/Balzer and Bray — Eighteen-year-old Finn, an outsider in his quiet Midwestern town, is the only witness to the abduction of town favorite Roza, but his inability to distinguish between faces makes it difficult for him to help with the investigation, and subjects him to even more ridicule and bullying.

Shabazz, Ilyasah and Kekla Magoon — X: A Novel. Candlewick — Follows the childhood of the civil rights leader to his imprisonment at age twenty, where he found the faith that would lead him to his path towards activism and justice.

Shusterman, Neal — Challenger Deep. HarperTeen — A teenage boy struggles with schizophrenia.

Silvera, Adam — More Happy than Not. Soho Teen — After enduring his father’s suicide, his own suicide attempt, broken friendships, and more in the Bronx projects, Aaron Soto, sixteen, is already considering the Leteo Institute’s memory-alteration procedure when his new friendship with Thomas turns to unrequited love.

To see all of the books that are currently in our collection, you can search the catalog here.

Congratulations to all the authors!