Choosing the best YA books of all time (and only 25 of them!) is certainly a daunting task. I’m not going to try to define the word best, because honestly there is no way to write a list like this that isn’t highly subjective. But I will define YA as books where the characters are teenagers that were published specifically for teenage readers; even if publishers know full well adults will be reading them too. This knocked off a lot of iconic fantasy favorites (I’m looking at you Meg Murray and Alanna of Trebond) where the characters begin as tweens and felt more like middle grade when I looked at them again. It also knocked off books like Catcher in the Rye which is about a teenager, but feels like it is written for an adult audience. From realistic fiction to fantasy to dystopian to romance, I tried to create a list of the best YA books of all time that represents many different genres and moments in YA history. Without more apologies and explanations from this anxious book blogger, here is my list of the 25 best YA novels of all time.
The Best YA Books of All Time
I know I’ve probably left off many of the YA novels you think are the best. Believe me I left a lot of my favorites too. Forgive me! And if you want to learn more about amazing YA books, check out Book Riot’s podcast Hey YA or peruse some of the most popular young adult books on TikTok.
