Best Young Adult Books to Read
Top 10 Young Adult books
Young Adult (YA) has become more popular and is categorized based on the audiences, not by the topic. These books are written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age, but half of YA readers are adults. The protagonist faces multiple challenges and learns and grows during the plotline. Many genres by topic mesh together and are available in YA. It often crosses into fantasy, science fiction, romance, mystery, adventure, and horror genres.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is not only the most famous fantasy book but also the most successful book in history (except religious books). Harry Potter series were written by British author JK Rowling and have been translated to more than 80 languages. So far, there are seven books. The story of a young wizard ‘Harry Potter’ and his friends in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for seven years keep the readers turn the pages. According to the author, the major theme is about death. The series are categorized under young adult, but they are not limited to a certain age as many children and adults read them. The imaginary world of the story contains the elements of adventure, mystery, thriller, romance, and horror.
The first book introduces the beginning of Harry’s life and how he joins the wizard’s school at the age of 11. The chain of happening occurs through each book and has its own challenges.
Harry Potter
by JK Rowling
The Lord of the Rings
By J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is the second top-selling book in history (except religious books). The books were written by British author J. R. R. Tolkien (from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955) The Lord of the Rings was originally published in three volumes The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers & The Return of the King, but each novel is divided internally into two books. This epic fantasy series have been translated over 38 languages and is also available in one volume. More than seven hundred personal names exist in these novels.
The setting refers to Middle-earth, conceived nearly as Northern Europe before the recorded history of humankind and before geological changes modified the shape of the area. It is an epic high fantasy, a classic tale of good vs. evil. Four main races live in Middle Earth: Elves, Dwarves, Men, and an evil race of…
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American novelist Suzanne Collins. The series is set in The Hunger Games universe, and follows young Katniss Everdeen.
The Hunger Games universe is a dystopia set in Panem, a North American country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and 12 districts in varying states of poverty. Every year, children from the districts are selected via lottery to participate in a compulsory televised battle royale death match called The Hunger Games. The Capitol is lavishly rich and technologically advanced, but the districts are in varying states of poverty. The trilogy’s narrator and protagonist Katniss Everdeen, lives in District 12, the poorest region of Panem, located in Appalachia, where people regularly die of starvation. As punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol (called the “Dark Days”), in which District 13 was supposedly destroyed, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve remaining districts, between the ages of 12 and 18, are selected by lottery to compete in an annual pageant called the Hunger Games….
The Hunger Games
By Suzanne Collins
The Hobbit
By J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hobbit
The Hobbit was written by British author J. R. R. Tolkien and published on 21 September 1937 and is the prelude to The Lord of the Rings. This high fantasy book is the third top selling book in the history. The book is children fantasy and set in Middle-Earth.
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.
Hardiguards and the Holly Mountain
Hardiguards series is a science- fiction novel by Allen H. Shahri. The first book Hardiguards and the Holy Mountain, was published in 2020. The novel incorporates themes from multiple genres, including sci-fi, epic, adventure, romance, and fantasy. It is a story of space colonization in the spirit of a classic sci-fi, which presets philosophical beliefs in the scenario of an exciting bildungsroman tale. The major theme is about creation and target both young adult and adult readers.
Hardiguards are two-legged creatures, covered by layers of scales to protect them against severe conditions on the planet. To obey the Holy Mountain, they need to make the region green and grow their population. Ace is a young Hardiguard bound to his own vices, causing a tragic accident and fails to gain his community’s trust. He is the first person who receives the most severe punishment for his fault, leading him to leave his people and seek refuge near the Holy Mountain. Living near a mysterious mountain with absolute power not only influences Ace but also requires the residents to obey its commands…
Hardiguards and the Holly Mountain
by Allen H. Shahri
On the Come Up
by Andrzei Sapkowski
On the Come Up
On the Come Up is a 2019 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It tells the story of Bri, a sixteen-year-old rapper hoping to fill the shoes of her father and ‘make it’ as an underground hip-hop legend.
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral . . . for all the wrong reasons. Bri soon finds herself at the center of a controversy, portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. But with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri doesn’t just want to make it—she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.
An Ember in the Ashes
An Ember in the Ashes is a fantasy novel written by Pakistani-American author Sabaa Tahir, published in 2015. It is the first book in the An Ember in the Ashes series, followed by A Torch Against the Night.
A Scholar girl by the name of Laia lives in the Martial Empire with her grandparents and brother Darin in the city of Serra. Their existence is a grueling one as they are seen as second-class citizens by the ruling Martial elite. Darin is arrested by Martial forces and accused of being an anti-Empire rebel. Laia seeks out the help of the anti-Empire group called the Resistance, and agrees to infiltrate an infamous military school for them if they help her break her brother free from prison. At the school, called Blackcliff Academy, Laia meets a student named Elias Veturius. Elias is also a Point-of-view character in the book.
Along with his best friend Helene Aquilla and his two rivals Marcus and Zak Farrar, he has been chosen to take the Trials, a series of tests that will decide who the next ruler of the Empire is. But Elias has no wish to take the tests, or be the ruler. He wants to escape the Empire. When Elias meets Laia, the two realize that their destinies are more intertwined than they could have ever dreamed…
An Ember in the Ashes
by Sabaa Tahir
With the Fire on High
by Elizabeth Acevedo
With the Fire on High
With the Fire on High is a young adult fiction novel by Elizabeth Acevedo, published in 2019.
Ever since she got pregnant freshman year, Emoni Santiago’s life has been about making the tough decisions—doing what has to be done for her daughter and her abuela. The one place she can let all that go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.
Even though she dreams of working as a chef after she graduates, Emoni knows that it’s not worth her time to pursue the impossible. Yet despite the rules she thinks she has to play by, once Emoni starts cooking, her only choice is to let her talent break free.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a coming-of-age young adult novel by American author Benjamin Alire Sáenz which was first published in 2012.
The novel set in El Paso, Texas in 1987. Two Mexican-American teenagers, Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza and Dante Quintana, their friendship, and their struggles with racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships.
15-year-old Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza has no plans for the summer of 1987. He is bored, miserable, and friendless. Ari lives with his mother and his father; his two older sisters have grown up and moved away, and his older brother is in prison. Everyone in Ari’s family refuses to talk about his brother and behaves as if he were dead. Ari’s father served in the Vietnam War, but also refuses to talk about his experiences in battle. Ari goes swimming to escape the suffocating silence of his house, even though he doesn’t know how to swim.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
The Priory of the Orange Tree
by Samantha Shannon
The Priory of the Orange Tree
The Priory of the Orange Tree is a 2019 fantasy novel by writer Samantha Shannon. Samantha Shannon describes her novel as a “feminist retelling of Saint George and the Dragon”.
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction–but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragon rider but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel. Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.