The American Library Association's Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults, formerly Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults, is a recommendation list of audiobooks presented yearly by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division.
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) released the first list of Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults in 1999.[1] In 2009, the list was renamed as Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults.
The list can be used to help young adult readers find suitable audiobooks, which "are an underused treasure in school libraries. Teacher librarians can use them to draw new readers into the library and find new ways to connect with teachers."[2] However, finding quality audiobooks can be difficult as one must consider the audiobook's sound quality, pacing, variety, cultural authenticity, narrators (professional versus volunteer; computer versus human), as well as matching readers' interests, reading ability, the audiobook's length, and more. To help address these challenges, several librarians and organizations recommend parents and teachers use the Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults list to find audiobooks for young adults.[3] [4] [5] [6]
To be eligible for the list, the audiobook "must have been produced or released within the 24 months previous to the list’s release."[7] The audiobooks cover a range of topics and are targeted toward individuals between the ages of 12 and 18. To land a place on the list, audiobooks are judged on the following criteria:
After honoring all amazing audiobooks, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) selects ten books every year, which are "the best of the best."[8]
2011[9] | Fantasy | Dreamdark Silksinger | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Finnikin of the Rock | ||||
Fantasy, Science-Fiction | The Knife of Never Letting Go | |||
Fiction | Muchacho | |||
Precious | ||||
and David Levithan | Will Grayson, Will Grayson | and Nick Podehl | ||
Historical fiction | The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had | |||
One Crazy Summer | ||||
Rapture of the Deep | ||||
The Rock and the River | ||||
2012[10] | Biography | How They Croaked | ||
Fantasy | The Curse of the Wendigo | |||
Fever Crumb | ||||
Marbury Lens | ||||
The Ring of Solomon | ||||
Fiction | Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? | |||
Beauty Queens | ||||
Carter’s Big Break | ||||
Historical fantasy | Chime | |||
Historical fiction | The Wake of the Lorelei Lee | |||
2013[11] | Autobiography | Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High | ||
Fantasy | The Diviners | |||
Inheritance | ||||
The Isle of Blood | ||||
Fiction | ||||
Personal Effects | ||||
Wonder | , Nick Podehl, and Kate Rudd | |||
Historical fiction | Code Name Verity | and Lucy Gaskell | ||
The Watch That Ends the Night | , Phil Gigante, Christopher Lane, Laurel Merlington, and Angela Dawe | |||
Mystery, Thriller | Crusher | |||
2014[12] | Biography | The Boy on the Wooden Box | ||
Fantasy | Etiquette & Espionage | |||
Crap Kingdom | ||||
Dodger | ||||
Fantasy, Horror | Zombie Baseball Beatdown | |||
Fiction | If You Could Be Mine | |||
Eleanor & Park | and Sunil Malhotra | |||
Historical Fiction | Viva Jacquelina!: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Over the Hills and Far Away | |||
Horror, Thriller | Scowler | |||
Science-Fiction | William Shakespeare's Star Wars | Full cast | ||
2015[13] | Fiction | ACID | with Nicholas Guy Smith and Suzan Crowley | |
Curtsies and Conspiracies | ||||
Define Normal | ||||
Fat Boy vs. the Cheerleaders | ||||
Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future | ||||
Half Bad | ||||
Love Letters to the Dead | ||||
Revolution | and Francois Battiste with J.D. Jackson and Robin Miles | |||
Skink--No Surrender | ||||
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars Collection | , Jonathan Davis, Ian Doescher, Jeff Gurner, January LaVoy, and Marc Thompson | |||
2016[14] | Fiction | Waistcoats & Weaponry | ||
The Dead House | and Christian Coulson | |||
Echo | , David De Vries, MacLeod Andrews, and Rebecca Soler | |||
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces | ||||
Half Wild | and Kyla Garcia | |||
and Jay Kristoff | lluminae | , Lincoln Hoppe, and Johnathan McClain | ||
Lair of Dreams | ||||
Library of Souls | ||||
and Daniel Kraus | Trollhunters | |||
Nonfiction | What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions | |||
2017[15] | Fiction | Anna and the Swallow Man | ||
Beast | ||||
and Jay Kristoff | Gemina | , MacLeod Andrews, Steve West, and a full cast | ||
Kill the Boy Band | ||||
Nimona | , Rebecca Soler, January LaVoy, Peter Bradbury, Jonathan Davis, David Pittu, and Natalie Gold | |||
Orbiting Jupiter | ||||
Salt to the Sea | , Will Damron, Cassandra Morris, and Michael Crouch | |||
Star Wars: Ahsoka | ||||
Traffick | , Julia Whelan, Madeleine Maby, Rebekkah Ross, and Jacques Roy | |||
Wink Poppy Midnight | , Alicyn Packard, and Caitlin Davies | |||
2018[16] | Fantasy | and Newt Scamander | Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | |
Scythe | ||||
Fiction | (editor) | Flying Lessons and Other Stories | Various | |
The Hate U Give | ||||
The Inexplicable Logic of My Life | ||||
The Pearl Thief | ||||
The Sun Is Also a Star | , Raymond Lee, and Bahni Turpin | |||
Historical fiction | The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue | |||
Memoir | , as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley | Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March | ||
Memoir, Graphic novel | Honor Girl | Ensemble Cast | ||
2019[17] | Fantasy | Akata Witch | ||
and Eugene Yelchin | The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge | |||
and Kennilworthy Whisp | Quidditch Through the Ages | |||
Thunderhead | ||||
Fiction | I Have Lost My Way | , Michael Crouch, and Sunil Malhotra | ||
Lu | ||||
Sadie | , Fred Berman, Dan Bittner, Gabra Zackman, and a full cast | |||
Sunny | ||||
Memoir | Educated | |||
Poetic Fiction | The Poet X | |||
2020[18] | Fantasy | Dig | , Mike Chamberlain, Tonya Cornelisse and Kirby Heyborne | |
Fiction | Heroine | |||
Let Me Hear a Rhyme | , Korey Jackson, Adam Lazarre-White, and Nile Bullock | |||
On the Come Up | ||||
With the Fire on High | ||||
Historical fiction | The Fountains of Silence | with Richard Ferrone, Neil Hellegers, Joshua Kane, Liza Kaplan, and Oliver Wyman | ||
Memoir | Becoming | |||
Memoir, Graphic novel | Hey Kiddo | , Jeanne Birdsall, Richard Ferrone, and Jenna Lamia | ||
Poetic Memoir | Shout | |||
Science Fiction | Internment | |||
2021[19] | Biography, Graphic Novel | and Omar Mohamed | When Stars Are Scattered | Full cast |
Fantasy | Legendborn | |||
Cemetery Boys | ||||
Clap When You Land | and Elizabeth Acevedo | |||
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder | , Melissa Calin, Michael Crouch, Gopal Divan, Robert Fass, Kevin R. Free, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Carol Monda, Patricia Santomasso, Shezi Sardar and Amanda Thickpenny | |||
The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party | , Whitney Dykhouse, Teri Schnaubelt, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Lauren Ezzo, Eric G. Dove, Ramón de Ocampo, and Shaun Taylor-Corbett | |||
Kent State | , Lauren Ezzo, Christina Delaine, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, Korey Jackson, and David de Vries | |||
Raybearer | ||||
Historical fiction | We Are Not Free | , Dan Woren, Ryan Potter, Ali Fumiko, Sophie Oda, Andrew Kishino, Christopher Naoki Lee, Grace Rolek, Erika Aishii, Brittany Ishibashi, Kurt Sanchez Kanazawa and Terry Kitagawa | ||
Nonfiction | and Ibram X. Kendi | Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You | and Ibram X. Kendi | |
2022[20] | Biography | Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke | ||
Fiction | Chlorine Sky | |||
Concrete Rose | ||||
Firekeeper’s Daughter | ||||
How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe | ||||
K-Pop Confidential | ||||
When You Look Like Us | ||||
Historical fiction | Last Night at the Telegraph Club | |||
Nonfiction | ||||
Science Fiction | Game Changer | and Jennifer Jill Araya |