Curated category · 2006—2025

Best young readers

Award-winning and editorially recommended young readers across twenty years, organized for discovery rather than sales ranking.

Selections: 703
Authors: 624
Lists & prizes: 3

Showing 193–240 of 703

2022Young readers

The First to Die at the End

Adam Silvera

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Flamingo

Guojing

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Getaway

Lamar Giles

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

Axie Oh

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Great Zapfino

Mac Barnett, illustrated by Marla Frazee

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Honeys

Ryan La Sala

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Keeper

Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, illustrated by Marco Finnegan

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Last Beekeeper

Pablo Cartaya

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Last Cuentista

Donna Barba Higuera

John Newbery Medal

2022Young readers

The More You Give

Marcy Campbell, illustrated by Francesca Sanna

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense

Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Julia Rothman

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Red Palace

June Hur

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Star That Always Stays

Anna Rose Johnson

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

Jen Ferguson

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Velveteen Rabbit: 100th Anniversary Edition

Margery Williams, illustrated by Erin Stead

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Weight of Blood

Tiffany D. Jackson

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Woman Who Killed the Fish

Clarice Lispector, translated by Benjamin Moser

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

The Year We Learned to Fly

Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Rafael López

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

This Story Is Not About a Kitten

Randall de Sève, illustrated by Carson Ellis

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

Tumble

Celia C. Pérez

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

Undercover Latina

Aya de León

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice

Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes and Dawud Anyabwile

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

When the Angels Left the Old Country

Sacha Lamb

NPR Books We Love

2022Young readers

Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home

Zahra Marwan

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Amari and the Night Brothers

B.B. Alston

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

America, My Love, America, My Heart

Daria Peoples-Riley

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna

Alda P. Dobbs

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Boogie Boogie, Y'all

C.G. Esperanza

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Borders

Thomas King, illustrated by Natasha Donovan

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Bright Star

Yuyi Morales

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Chaos on CatNet

Naomi Kritzer

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Children of the Fox: A Thieves of Shadow Novel

Kevin Sands

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Concrete Rose

Angie Thomas

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Eyes that Kiss in the Corners

Joanna Ho, illustrated by Dung Ho

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

Crystal Maldonado

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Finding Junie Kim

Ellen Oh

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Firebreak

Nicole Kornher-Stace

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Firekeeper's Daughter

Angeline Boulley

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement

Paula Yoo

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Garlic and the Vampire

Bree Paulsen

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Hunting by Stars

Cherie Dimaline

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Juan Hormiga

Gustavo Roldán, translated by Robert Croll

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Kaleidoscope

Brian Selznick

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Lala's Words: A Story of Planting

Gracey Zhang

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Malinda Lo

On 2 lists: National Book Award for Young People's Literature, NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Like Other Girls

Britta Lundin

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Magic Candies

Heena Baek, translated by Sophie Bowman

NPR Books We Love

2021Young readers

Me (Moth)

Amber McBride

NPR Books We Love