Best Young Adult Books of 2025*
*In my humble opinion, and in no particular order. These are all books that I read and enjoyed throughout the year.
Updated on 12/20/2025 to add more nonfiction titles.
Do you have any favorite reads for the year? Feel free to send them to teens@maplewoodlibrary.org.
Content Warning: One of the books I selected has a cover image with bloody imagery that some might find disturbing, so I put it at the very end.
Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Catalog Link | Hoopla Audiobook + eBook)
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Target Audience: Middle Grade
Tiffany D. Jackson was the winner of the 2025 Margaret Edwards Award, which celebrates a young adult literature author’s whole body of work. Blood in the Water is Jackson’s first middle grade title, and I think she nailed it. Kaylani travels from her Brooklyn home to spend the summer in Martha’s Vineyard with her frenemy London. Kaylani is not looking forward to the trip, only wanting to work on exonerating her father, who’s in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. While she’s preoccupied with that, a teen shows up dead on the beach. His death is ruled an accident, a shark attack, but Kaylani thinks this explanation doesn’t add up.
Kaylani is a smart and determined character. I would love to see this book get turned into a mystery series starring her. The book is short, meaning the tension in the narrative escalates quickly, adding to the excitement of the mystery. As always, Jackson highlights important socioeconomic and racial issues over the course of the narrative. These stylistic choices make the characters feel fully fleshed out, with a past, present, and future.
The Space Cat by Nnedi Okorafor (Catalog Link)
Genre: Graphic novel, science fiction, adventure
Target Audience: Middle Grade
Everyone who knows me knows I love cats and books, so of course I love books about cats! Nnedi Okorafor is also my favorite living author, so I had to check out both this and the other book she published this year: Death of the Author. When I was a kid, I used to write and illustrate stories about my cat going on adventures. The Space Cat is a really cool example of what that creative impulse can look like at a professional level.
Pumpernickel Pickle Periwinkle Chukwu Okorafor (or Periwinkle for short) believes himself to be the best, as all cats do. He builds a spaceship and races an alien cat between through the cosmos while his humans sleep. He travels with his family to Nigeria, where cats are not well liked. Even so, he wins lots of friends to his side. He learns through his travels that both on- and off-planet adventures are equally exciting.
Beyond They/Them by Em Dickson and illustrated by Cameron Mukwa (Catalog Link | Hoopla eBook)
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, Art
Target Audience: Young Adult
“This book is a celebration, a demonstration, an exploration, a jubilation, a dedication, a declaration.”-from the Introduction
“You can’t be what you can’t see”-quote often attributed to Marian Wright Edelman
Everyone can benefit from role models, but for populations such as young nonbinary people, it’s not always easy to find public figures who share their identities and experiences. In comes Beyond They/Them, which features 20 influential nonbinary people of a variety of ages with backgrounds in film & TV, books & poetry, music, sports, politics, and activism.
The bios are 2-3 pages and include accolades and fun facts, as well as a beautiful full-page illustration of each person featured. The colors of the nonbinary pride flag (white, black, yellow, and purple) are incorporated creatively throughout the book. I liked this book because I learned more about people whose work I enjoy, such as animator Rebecca Sugar (she/they) musician Janelle Monae (they/she). I also became familiar with people I hadn’t known about before, like WNBA athlete Layshia Clarendon (they/he/she) and Canadian politician Uzoma Asagwara (they/them). This book is easy to understand, gorgeous to look at, and will be appealing to any audience, regardless of gender.
Hollow by Taylor Grothe (Catalog Link)
Genre: Horror, fantasy
Target Audience: Young Adult
Cassie is returning to her upstate New York neighborhood after four years. In all that time, she hasn’t spoken to her childhood friends, but but they welcome her back into the group and invite her to a go on a hike with them. Multiple people have gone missing on the hiking path they’ve chosen, though. Their first night, Cassie gets separated from the rest of her friends, hurts her foot, and doesn’t really remember how the separation happened. A kindly stranger allows her to stay in his cottage, which seems to have popped out of nowhere. This debut novel is full of spine-tingling eeriness. The mystery at the heart of it will have you wondering who in the narrative is truly trustworthy.
This Thing of Ours by Frederick Joseph (Catalog Link | Libby eBook | Hoopla Audiobook)
Genre: Realistic fiction
Target Audience: Young Adult
What happens to a dream deferred? Ossie is forced to explore this question when he tears his ACL and can no longer aspire to being a star basketball player. Recovering from his injury, Ossie starts his senior year feeling aimless until others encourage him to lean more into his academic strengths. He’s chosen to participate in a competitive, prestigious writing program, where he makes new friends and reads literature that makes him feel affirmed. Unfortunately, not everyone in the class appreciates the diverse themes in the books the teacher chooses for the class. A group goes viral complaining that the teacher and the books are “woke.” Ossie and his new friends work hard to try to defend the teacher and the important lessons they’ve learned.
Frederick Joseph examines what it’s like to have to re-orient your life and find hidden strengths. I also loved the way Ossie’s friendships were shown, how they grew to trust one another, even through conflict.
The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar by Sonora Reyes (Catalog Link)
Genre: Realistic fiction
Target Audience: Young Adult
Reeling from the parental rejection he and his sister receive from their father for being queer, Cesar tries to suppress his bisexuality and only date girls from now on. He’s trying to just stay friends with his ex Jamal, even though they still have feelings for one another. Under the stress of being a high-achieving student and all around golden boy, Cesar begins to think that his anti-depressants aren’t helping him, and he decides to stop taking them. Hijinks ensue.
Fans of the protagonist Yamilet of Reyes’ debut novel The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School will love this spinoff focusing on her brother. I tend not to like the common trope of “mentally ill person goes off their meds,” but I feel that Reyes handled this topic responsibly and with care.
The Yomigaeri Tunnel by Kelly Murashige (Catalog Link | Libby Audiobook | Hoopla Audiobook)
Genre: Fantasy, speculative fiction
Target Audience: Young Adult
What would you do to bring someone you care about back from the dead? Urban legend has it that you can resurrect someone by making it through the Yomigaeri Tunnel, but no one knows anyone who’s succeeded. Monika seeks the tunnel to bring back Shun, who died before the rest of the class graduated. Along the way, Monika confronts memories of other people she’s lost, and what seems like a simple quest becomes a lot more complicated. In Monika, Murashige captures what it’s like to extend care for community members, even those you didn’t know very well. The narrative explores the discrepancy between memories of a person after they’ve died and the person they were in life, all while incorporating aspects of Japanese folklore and spirituality.
Tsunami by Ned Wenlock (Catalog Link)
Genre: Graphic Novel, Realistic Fiction
Target Audience: Young Adult*
Winner of the 2024 NZ Book Award for Children and Young Adults for Best New Book, Tsunami is quite unforgettable. The book largely deals with dynamics of friendship and bullying, and how the boundary between those two relationships can become blurry. The characters are written in a way that is authentic to how middle school students behave, capturing their unique ways of speaking and their creative, if irreverent, attempts at problem solving.
Wenlock’s style is distinctive: with a penchant for small panels, simple character outlines, and effective yet minimalist action scenes. I found myself laughing out loud at a lot of parts in the book, but there are heartfelt and difficult moments as well. Perhaps not for the faint of heart, but a notable new voice in the world of full-length graphic novels.
*Although the main characters in this book are in middle school, with the protagonist being 12, reader and parental discretion are advised for violence and strong language.
All the Noise at Once by DeAndra Davis (Catalog Link)
Genre: Realistic fiction, sports
Target Audience: Young Adult
Aiden, a high school junior, wants nothing more than to play on the same football team as his older brother Brandon, a senior. However, Aiden has a meltdown during his tryout and almost doesn’t make the team. One night, a fight between the teammates attracts the attention of the police, and Brandon is accused of assaulting an officer. Although Aiden is present, he can’t see anything. However, he’s determined to clear his brother’s name. The relationship between Brandon and Aiden is at the heart of this book. The brothers’ support of and care for one another is portrayed in a genuine and deep way. I loved that one of their forms of bonding is exchanging animal facts, something I also love to do.
This book is also recommended in the Maplewood Library’s Neurodiversity-Affirming Book List
If It’s You, I Might Try Falling in Love by Maru Kubota (Vol. 1 Catalog Link)
Genre: Manga, Realistic Fiction, Romance
Target Audience: Young Adult
If you’re looking for a sweet, slow, slice-of-life romance, this is the series for you. Amane is a new high school student in the town of Enoshima, where he’s now living with his grandma. Shortly after moving, he meets Ryuuji, a kind, generous boy who works at his family’s restaurant. Amane tends to push people away before they can hurt him, having been rejected for being gay in the past. Is Ryuuji someone he can trust not to break his heart?
This series technically started in 2022, but the English translations just began coming out this year. I’m looking forward to the third installment in 2026!
The Forgotten Teachers by Brian Isett, Illustrated by Claudia Biçen (Catalog Link | Hoopla eBook)
Genre: Nonfiction, Ecology, Earth Science
Target Audience: General
While this book is not a teen book per se, it’s on the long list for the Garden State Teen Book Awards. Through art and poetic prose, Isett and Biçen depict how our planet came into existence, why it works the way it does, and how all species are interdependent. The illustrations are gorgeous, mimicking the beauty of illuminated manuscripts.
While I’m typically agnostic to format, in this case I’d highly recommend the physical print book, rather than the eBook version. The eBook does not capture the intentional formatting of the print version, which means the reader is left with large blocks of text that are not present in the latter.
Illustra Book 1: Daybreaker (Catalog Link | Libby eBook | Hoopla eBook)
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy
Target Audience: Middle Grade
A celebration of the culture, folklore, and languages of the Philippines, Illustra Book 1: Daybreaker is beautiful, funny, and heartfelt. I’m sure the rest of the volumes in the series will be just as fun. Mika is an outcast at her boarding school, forging her dead grandmother’s signature on forms to be able to stay on campus during the summer. Fellow students Halle and Matteo blame Mika for getting them in trouble and forcing them to have to spend the summer in detention with her. Soon, though, they encounter magic, and Mika learns her grandmother’s stories were not just stories after all.
The Trans and Gender Diverse Teen Resilience Guide by Jayme L. Peta (Catalog Link | Hoopla eBook)
Genre: Nonfiction, Self-Help
Target Audience: Young Adult
"As a transgender or nonbinary teen, you may sometimes feel like you are alone. The world can be a scary, unkind place, and if you're struggling to find support, you may be tempted to lose hope. But it's important for you to know that there are other teens out there just like you--as well as a whole community of folks who have been where you are now, and who are thriving as adults. Finding hope, happiness, and community takes time.”-from the book’s back cover
Books like this guide are life-saving and life-enhancing for the target audience and parents/caretakers alike. Not only does it have advice for skill-building and perspectives from actual trans and gender diverse teens, but it also includes self-reflection exercises that invite readers to “write, draw … [and make] video or audio recordings” to help put those skills in action. I loved the positive, yet practical tone of this book, and I think many will find it useful.
The Girl You Know (Catalog Link)
Genre: Murder Mystery, Thriller, Dark Academia
Target Audience: Young Adult
Author of romance novels such as 10 Things I Hate about Prom and Caught in a Bad Fauxmance, Elle Gonzalez Rose takes a darker turn in this book. Luna knows her twin sister Solina’s death was not the accident most other people think it is. When the police give up investigating, Luna goes to her sister’s elite private boarding school, pretending to be Solina, to find answers. There, Luna learns Solina was a completely different person at school than at home. Solina’s classmates also have their own mysteries to them, and Luna needs to solve them before she gets targeted next.
In this book, Gonzalez Rose explores what it’s like to struggle financially in a small town, only to have a loved one with a bright future snuffed out. The book also explores class and race dynamics, the emotional toll of sacrificing for one’s family, and how hard it is for talented people to achieve greatness if they come from modest means. The pacing and side characters are both very well developed.
We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza’s Youth (Catalog Link)
Genre: Nonfiction, Essay & Poetry Anthology
Target Audience: General
We Are Not Numbers (WANN) is a nonprofit organization that coaches and publishes Palestinian writers in their late teens and early twenties. This book collects essays and poems by many of the young people who have collaborated with this organization over the last decade. The essays are all short and very powerful. They cover a diverse array of topics such as body image, talents in the arts, the love of libraries, career aspirations, and the difficulties of navigating grief, both individually and as a community.
The large number of pieces in this anthology means anyone can probably find at least one that resonates with them. As someone who relies a lot on online shopping, I was struck by one essay that discussed how hard it was to receive book orders from online vendors, even before the present war. It makes me think about how, regardless of nationality, there are people like you all around the world, and we are all interconnected, even if those connections are not immediately visible to us.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Catalog Link | Libby Audiobook & eBook | Hoopla Audiobook & eBook)
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian
Target Audience: Young Adult
Of course, this book list would not be complete without one of the most popular books this year: Sunrise on the Reaping. Across the BCCLS consortium, the 200+ copies of this book have circulated 1647 times (including the Spanish version and the book on CD)!
Something I enjoy about the prequels in The Hunger Games series is that their existence feels necessary, not like frivolous padding. In Sunrise, a young Haymitch is reaped for the second quarter quell, in which the Gamemakers select two boys and two girls from each district. Like all the books in the series, the characters have unforgettable personalities, and other than Haymitch, we get to see some characters from games that took place before. This title gives thorough and heartbreaking insight into how Haymitch came to be the way he is in the rest of the series.
Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid (Catalog Link | Libby Audiobook & eBook | Hoopla Audiobook & eBook)
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian
Target Audience: Young Adult
If you’ve read all the books in The Hunger Games series and you’re looking for similar works, I’d highly recommend this standalone novel. Similar to the world of The Hunger Games, the world of Fable is ravaged by climate change, and most people are struggling to make ends meet. Inesa runs a taxidermy shop with her brother in their impoverished, rundown town. One day, her mother enters Inesa in The Gauntlet, a televised death game, to pay off debts. Inesa, as a Lamb, will have to escape an Angel, a bioengineered assassin. Inesa’s Angel is Melinoë, who struggles with the trauma of ending so many innocent lives in the past. As The Gauntlet progresses, Mel and Inesa will realize they have more in common than they might have thought.
If you’re looking for heartbreaking tension and themes of trust and power, you’re in for a treat with this one.
Hazelthorn by CG Drews (Catalog Link for Print Book | Libby Audiobook and eBook | Hoopla Audiobook)
Genre: Gothic Horror, Murder Mystery, Fantasy
Target Audience: Young Adult
“He has always known that to scream is to believe there is someone out there who cares. People only scream with rabid hope caged in their lungs like a thousand thrashing wings because they still think someone is going to save them.”-from chapter 21
Evander lives at the Hazelthorn estate, home to a mansion in disrepair and an overgrown garden that one cannot pass through without at least getting scratched. Orphaned and under the care of another teenage boy, that boy’s grandfather, and a butler, Evander mostly spends his days reading in his room. He feels a strange obsession with the other teen boy, Laurie Lennox-Hall, but also remembers that Laurie tried to kill Evander when they were younger.
Suddenly, Laurie’s grandfather dies and, shockingly, the Hazelthorn estate and wealth are given to Evander, even though he’s not a member of the family. Evander tries to figure out who killed Laurie’s grandfather while protecting himself against the Lennox-Hall family’s greed and suspicious intentions.
Author CG Drews, who also wrote acclaimed books like Don’t Let the Forest In and The Boy Who Steals Houses, weaves a deliciously gothic tale here, full of questions about who is really dangerous and who just seems like they are.