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 289–336 of 703

2020Young readers

Even As We Breathe: A Novel

Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Every Reason We Shouldn't

Sara Fujimura

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Everybody Counts: A Counting Story From 0 To 7.5 Billion

Kristin Roskifte, translated by Siân Mackie

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story)

Daniel Nayeri

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story Of The Oldest Person To Ever Run A Marathon

Simran Jeet Singh, illustrated by Baljinder Kaur

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Flamer

Mike Curato

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Foul Is Fair: A Novel

Hannah Capin

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Ghost Squad

Claribel A. Ortega

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Go With The Flow

Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Honeybee: The Busy Life Of Apis Mellifera

Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

I Am Every Good Thing

Derrick Barnes, illlustrated by Gordon C. James

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

I Talk Like A River

Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Ikenga

Nnedi Okorafor

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

King and the Dragonflies

Kacen Callender

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

2020Young readers

Lifting As We Climb: Black Women's Battle For The Ballot Box

Evette Dionne

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know

Samira Ahmed

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Mary And The Trail Of Tears: A Cherokee Removal Survival Story

Andrea L. Rogers, illustrated by Matt Forsyth

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Midnight At The Barclay Hotel

Fleur Bradley, illustrated by Xavier Bonet

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

My Best Friend

Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

New Kid

Jerry Craft

John Newbery Medal

2020Young readers

Outside In

Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Cindy Derby

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet

Zanib Mian, illustrated by Nasaya Mafaridik

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Prairie Lotus

Linda Sue Park

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Raybearer

Jordan Ifueko

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America

Nora Shalaway Carpenter

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Show Me A Sign

Ann Clare LeZotte

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Sisters Of The War: Two Remarkable True Stories Of Survival And Hope In Syria

Rania Abouzeid

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Snail Crossing

Corey R. Tabor

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, And You

Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Super Fake Love Song

David Yoon

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Ten Ways To Hear Snow

Cathy Camper, illustrated by Kenard Pak

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Barren Grounds: The Misewa Saga

David A. Robertson

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Blue House

Phoebe Wahl

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Daughters Of Ys

M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Jo Rioux

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Lights And Types Of Ships At Night

Dave Eggers, illustrated by Annie Dills

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The List Of Things That Will Not Change

Rebecca Stead

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Mermaid, The Witch, And The Sea

Maggie Tokuda-Hall

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Most Beautiful Thing

Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Khoa Le

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Old Truck

Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Paper Kingdom

Helena Ku Rhee, illustrated by Pascal Campion

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Plain Janes

Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth

Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson (editors)

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

They Went Left

Monica Hesse

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

This Is My America

Kim Johnson

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Twins

Varian Johnson, illustrated by Shannon Wright

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

We Are Water Protectors

Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

When Stars Are Scattered

Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, illustrated by Iman Geddy

NPR Books We Love

2020Young readers

Wink

Rob Harrell

NPR Books We Love