The list has been published since 1930 when it was founded as "Best Books for Young People".[1] [2] It has undergone several changes of focus and names over the years, including the "Book Selection Committee" (1954), the "Committee for the Selection of Significant Adult Books for Young People" (1963).[1] It became the "Best Books for Young Adults Committee" (BBYA) in 1966 and then "Best Fiction for Young Adults" in 2010.[1] [3]
American Library Association's Top Ten Best Books!Year!Author(s)!Book Title!Publisher| 1997[5] | | A Girl Named Disaster | Orchard Books |
| Far North | HarperCollins |
| | Schocken |
| The Golden Compass / Northern Lights | Scholastic Point |
| Nathan's Run | Pinnacle Books |
| One More River to Cross: An African American Photograph Album | Harcourt Brace |
| Rats Saw God | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| , Bob Holman and Mark Pellington | The United States of Poetry | Harry N. Abrams |
| Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? A Mystery in Poems | Lodestar Books |
| Wrestling Sturbridge | Random House Children's Books |
| 1998[6] | | Blood and Chocolate | Random House |
| Tangerine | Harcourt |
| Into Thin Air | Villard Books |
| Swallowing Stones | Ember |
| Out of the Dust | Scholastic Incorporated |
| Starlite Drive-In | Penguin Group |
| Tenderness | Random House Children's Books |
| Seamstress | Berkley Books |
| Growing Up in Coal Country | Houghton Mifflin Company |
| Harlem | Scholastic Press |
| 1999[7] | | Among the Hidden | Simon and Schuster |
| Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts | Holt |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone(Harry Potter, Book One) | Scholastic Press |
| Holes | Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |
| If You Come Softly | Putnam |
| Love Among the Walnuts | Harcourt Brace |
| My Louisiana Sky | Holt Publishing |
| No Pretty Pictures: a Child of War | Greenwillow |
| Petey | Hyperion |
| Rules of the Road | Putnam |
| 2000[8] | | Speak | Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |
| Ender's Shadow | Tor |
| When Zachary Beaver came to Town | Henry Holt & Co |
| The Raging Quiet | Simon and Schuster |
| Crooked | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Mary, Bloody Mary | Harcourt Brace |
| Monster | HarperCollins |
| Ties that Bind, Ties that Break | Delacorte Press |
| Imani All Mine | Houghton Mifflin |
| In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer | Alfred A. Knopf |
| 2001[9] | | Forgotten Fire | DK |
| Hope was Here | G. P. Putnam's Sons |
| Girl with a Pearl Earring | E. P. Dutton |
| Geeks: How Two Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho | Villard |
| Silent to the Bone | Jean Karl Book/Atheneum Books |
| The Beet Fields | Delacorte Press |
| Esperanza Rising | Scholastic Press |
| Stargirl | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Homeless Bird | HarperCollins |
| Memories of Summer | Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |
| 2002[10] | | The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants | Delacorte |
| The Rag and Bone Shop | Delacorte |
| Whale Talk | HarperCollins |
| Breathing Underwater | HarperCollins |
| Damage | HarperCollins |
| Zazoo | Houghton Mifflin |
| Lirael | HarperCollins |
| The Land | Penguin Putnam |
| Every Time a Rainbow Dies | William Morrow |
| True Believer | Atheneum |
| 2003[11] | | The Lightkeeper's Daughter | Random House/Delacorte Press |
| America | Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Book |
| Catalyst | Penguin Putnam/Viking Press |
| The House of the Scorpion | Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Book |
| 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East | HarperCollins/Greenwillow |
| This Land Was Made For You and Me: The Life & Songs of Woody Guthrie | Penguin Putnam/Viking |
| Son of the Mob | Hyperion Books for Children |
| Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis | Random House/Delacorte Press |
| Feed | Candlewick Press |
| | HarperCollins/William Morrow & Co. |
| 2004[12] | | True Confessions of a Heartless Girl | Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Melanie Kroupa Books |
| A Northern Light | Harcourt |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel | Random House/Doubleday |
| The First Part Last | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| Boy Meets Boy | Random House/Alfred A. Knopf |
| The Usual Rules | St. Martin's Press |
| East | Harcourt Children's Books |
| 33 Snowfish | Candlewick Press |
| The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One) | Hyperion Books for Children/Miramax |
| Blankets: An Illustrated Novel | Top Shelf Productions |
| 2005[13] | | The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green | Workman Publishing Co. / Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill |
| Bucking the Sarge | Random House/Wendy Lamb |
| The Race to Save the Lord God Bird | Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Melanie Kroupa Books |
| The Realm of Possibility | Random House Children's Books/Alfred A. Knopf |
| Saving Francesca | Random House Children's Books/Alfred A. Knopf |
| Private Peaceful | Scholastic |
| Airborn | HarperCollins Children's Book Group/Eos Press |
| Under the Wolf, Under the Dog | Candlewick Press |
| Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood | Cinco Puntos Press |
| So B. It: a novel | HarperCollins Children's Books/ Laura Geringer Books |
| 2006[14] | and Susan Burton | Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager's Story | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| | Scholastic |
| Upstate | St. Martin's Press |
| Looking for Alaska | E. P. Dutton |
| Chris Lynch | Inexcusable | Simon & Schuster/Atheneum Books |
| Twilight: A Novel(Twilight, Book One) | Little, Brown & Co./Megan Tingley |
| with Adrian Alphona (Illus.) | Runaways: Volume 1 HC | Marvel Press |
| Peeps | Penguin Books/Razorbill |
| Poison | Scholastic/Orchard |
| I am the Messenger | Alfred A. Knopf |
| 2007[15] | | The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party | Candlewick Press |
| Samurai Shortstop | Penguin Group/Dial Press |
| Surrender | Candlewick Press |
| Sold | Hyperion |
| Anahita's Woven Riddle | Abrams Books/Amulet Books |
| The Trap | Henry Holt & Co |
| The King of Attolia | HarperCollins/Greenwillow |
| The Rules of Survival | Penguin Group/Dial Press |
| and Lark Pien | American Born Chinese | Roaring Brook Press/First Second Books |
| The Book Thief | Random House/Alfred A. Knopf |
| 2008[16] | with Ellen Forney (Illus.) | The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian | Little, Brown & Co. |
| | Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Sarah Crichton |
| Before I Die | Random House/David Fickling |
| Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath | Random House/Alfred A. Knopf |
| Mister Pip | Dell Publishing/Dial Press |
| Skulduggery Pleasant The Sceptor of the Ancients(Skulduggery Pleasant, Book One)
| HarperCollins |
| Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal | Candlewick Press |
| American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China | Penguin Group USA/Gotham Books |
| The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel | Scholastic |
| The Arrival | Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine |
| 2009[17] | | It's Complicated: The American Teenager | Umbrage Editions |
| The Hunger Games | Scholastic |
| Waiting for Normal | HarperCollins/HarperTeen |
| Mexican WhiteBoy | Delacorte Press |
| Bog Child | Random House/David Fickling Books |
| Ten Cents a Dance | Bloomsbury |
| Baby | Boyd Mills Press/Front Street |
| Nation | HarperCollins |
| and Jillian Tamaki | Skim | House of Anansi Press / Groundwood Books |
| The Brothers Torres | Disney/Hyperion |
| 2010[18] | | Demon's Lexicon(The Demon's Lexicon, Book One) | Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing/Margaret K. McElderry |
| The Orange Houses | Penguin/Dial Books |
| The Great Wide Sea | Penguin/Viking |
| The Reformed Vampire Support Group | Harcourt/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Alligator Bayou | Random House / Alfred A. Knopf |
| Stitches: A Memoir | W. W. Norton & Co |
| When You Reach Me | Random House/Wendy Lamb |
| Marcelo in the Real World | Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books |
| Lips Touch: Three Times | Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books |
| Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland | Lerner/Carolrhoda Books |
| 2011[19] | | Ship Breaker | Little, Brown & Co |
| Revolution | Random House/Delacorte Press |
| Finnikin of the Rock | Candlewick Press |
| Amy & Roger's Epic Detour | Simon & Schuster |
| Hold Me Closer, Necromancer | Macmillan Children's Book Group/Henry Holt & Co. |
| Trash | Random House/David Fickling Books |
| Bamboo People | Charlesbridge |
| The Things a Brother Knows | Random House/Wendy Lamb |
| Last Night I Sang to the Monster | Cinco Puntos Press |
| Revolver | MacMillian Publishers/Roaring Brook Press |
| 2012[20] | | The Girl of Fire and Thorns | HarperTeen |
| Leverage | Penguin Group/E. P. Dutton |
| Everybody Sees the Ants | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| Under the Mesquite | Lee & Low Books |
| Shine | Abrams Books/Amulet Books |
| with Jim Kay (Illus) | A Monster Calls | Candlewick Press |
| Between Shades of Gray | Penguin Group/Philomel Books |
| The Scorpio Races | Scholastic |
| Daughter of Smoke and Bone(Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Book One) | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| How to Save a Life | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| 2013[21] | | Me and Earl and the Dying Girl | Abrams Books/Amulet Books |
| The Diviners | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| Seraphina | Random House Books for Young Readers |
| Enchanted | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Harcourt Children's Books |
| Every Day | Random House/Knopf Books for Young Readers |
| Never Fall Down | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray |
| Boy 21 | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| The Raven Boys | Scholastic |
| Code Name Verity | Disney/Hyperion |
| 2014[22] | | All the Truth That's in Me | Penguin Putnam/Viking |
| Freakboy | Macmillan Publishers/Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |
| Better Nate Than Ever | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| Far Far Away | Random House/Knopf Books for Young Readers |
| Eleanor & Park | Macmillan Publishers/St. Martin's Press |
| Midwinterblood | Macmillan Publishers/Roaring Brook Press |
| Out of the Easy | Penguin Books/Philomel Books |
| with Sam Bosma (Illus.) | Winger | Simon & Schuster |
| Golden Boy | Penguin Books/ G. P. Putnam's sons Juvenile |
| Rose Under Fire | Disney/Hyperion |
| 2015[23] | | I'll Give You the Sun | Dial Press |
| Jackaby | Algonquin |
| Noggin | Atheneum Books |
| The Carnival at Bray | Elephant Rock Books |
| The Crossover | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| The Gospel of Winter | Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry |
| The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim | Carolrhoda/Lab |
| The Young Elites | G. P. Putnam's sons |
| Vango | Candlewick Press |
| We Were Liars | Delacorte Publishing |
| 2016[24] | | Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray |
| Six of Crows | Holt |
| The Bunker Diary | Lerner Publishing Group/Carolrhoda Lab |
| Audacity | Philomel Books |
| Shadowshaper | Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books |
| The Boy in the Black Suit | Atheneum Books |
| Bone Gap | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray |
| and Kekla Magoon | X: A Novel | Candlewick Press |
| Challenger Deep | HarperTeen |
| More Happy than Not | Soho Teen |
| 2017[25] | | The Passion of Dolssa | Viking Books for Young Readers |
| The Reader | G. P. Putnam's Sons / Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers |
| The Lie Tree | Abrams Books |
| The Female of the Species | HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books |
| Burn Baby Burn | Candlewick Press |
| Ghost | Atheneum Books/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books |
| Salt to the Sea | Philomel Books |
| Scythe | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| The Sun is Also a Star | Delacorte Press |
| The Serpent King | Crown Books for Young Readers |
| 2018[26] | | What Girls Are Made Of | Lerner Publishing Group/Carolrhoda Lab |
| with Sara Kipin (Illus.) | The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic | Macmillan Publishers |
| The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue | HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen |
| Sparrow | Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine |
| Long Way Down | Simon & Schuster/Atheneum Books |
| Strange the Dreamer | Little, Brown & Co |
| The Hate U Give | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray |
| Piecing Me Together | Bloomsbury USA |
| Eliza and Her Monsters | HarperCollins/Greenwillow |
| Goodbye Days | Crown Books for Young Readers |
| 2019[27] | | The Poet X | HarperTeen |
| and Adam Silvera | What if It's Us | HarperTeen |
| The Cruel Prince(The Folk of the Air, Book One) | Little, Brown & Co. |
| A Heart in a Body in the World | Simon Pulse |
| Dread Nation | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray |
| Monday's Not Coming | HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books |
| Darius the Great is Not Okay | Dial Press |
| Foolish Hearts | Henry Holt & Co |
| Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe | Disney Hyperion |
| Frankie | Flatiron Books |
| 2020[28] | | The Field Guide to the North American Teenager | HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray |
| Girls on the Verge | Holt |
| Heroine | HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books |
| Like a Love Story | HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray |
| Lovely War | Viking Press |
| On the Come Up | HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray |
| Patron Saints of Nothing | Penguin/Kokila |
| Pet | Random House/Make Me a World |
| The Stars and the Blackness between Them | E. P. Dutton |
| With the Fire on High | HarperTeen |
| 2021[29] | | Be Not Far from Me | HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books |
| Cemetery Boys | Macmillan/Swoon Reads |
| Clap When You Land | HarperCollins/HarperTeen |
| Deeplight | Abrams Books/Amulet Books |
| Grown | HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books |
| More Than Just a Pretty Face | Hachette/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| Raybearer | Abrams Books/Amulet Books |
| This Is My America | Random House Books for Young Readers |
| We Are Not from Here | Penguin Random House/Philomel Books |
| What I Carry | Random House Books for Young Readers |
| 2022[30] | , Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon | Blackout | HarperCollins/Quill Tree Books |
| The City Beautiful | Harlequin/Inkyard Press |
| Concrete Rose | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray |
| Electric Kingdom | Penguin Random House/Viking Books for Young Readers |
| Firekeeper's Daughter | Macmillan/Henry Holt & Co. Books for Young Readers |
| How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| In the Wild Light | Penguin Random House/Crown Books for Young Readers |
| Last Night at the Telegraph Club | Penguin Random House/Dutton Books |
| Little Thieves | Macmillan/Henry Holt & Co. Books for Young Readers |
| Me (Moth) | Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends |
| The Ones We're Meant to Find | Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press | |
