Looking for Young Adult novels and short story collections and anthologies with more than 100,000 ratings. mjf

Books with less than 100,000 ratings will be removed from this list.

So what makes a book a Young Adult book? That's a good question. For me it generally requires a young adult protagonist. But even that brings up the question of how old is a young adult? For books in the US it would seem to mean a teenager - whereby for the term, it should mean say 18 to 25. Which apparently now has its own category "New Adult". And another category for the slightly younger set "Middle Grade".

For purpose of this list, a book is considered young adult if it has been tagged as young adult or ya at least 1000 times.

Other Young Adult Lists:
Best Young Adult Books
Best Young Adult Fiction
Best Young Adult Realistic Novels
YA Dystopia Novels
The Most Deserving Newbery
Newbery Honor
Printz Award Winners and Honor Books

Young Adult Books by Year:
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Related Lists By Topic:
All, Anthropology, Astronomy, Autobiography, Biography, Biology, Botany, Children, Classics, Climate, Computer Science, Economics, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Genetics, Geology, Geography, Graphic Novels, History, Historical Fiction, Horror, Judaism, Language, Manga, Medicine, Middle School, Military Science Fiction, Music, Mysteries, Nature, New Adult, Non-Fiction, Pagan, Pandemic, Philosophy, Picture Books, Poetry, Politics, Productivity, Psychology, Racism, Romance, Science, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Software Architecture, Space Opera, Steampunk, Travel, Young Adult
1

by
4.47 avg rating — 11,501,312 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.58 avg rating — 4,887,786 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.50 avg rating — 3,823,040 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,993,070 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.62 avg rating — 4,136,404 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.43 avg rating — 4,533,287 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.31 avg rating — 3,466,355 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,228,727 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.58 avg rating — 3,682,345 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.12 avg rating — 1,016,848 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.13 avg rating — 4,403,719 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.06 avg rating — 2,179,885 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.01 avg rating — 1,370,246 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,292,182 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,488,368 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.19 avg rating — 2,461,632 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.26 avg rating — 6,937,560 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,305,093 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.36 avg rating — 4,195,101 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.39 avg rating — 2,901,389 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,828,664 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.42 avg rating — 1,228,918 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.24 avg rating — 1,382,259 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.12 avg rating — 5,759,345 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.55 avg rating — 1,159,170 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.37 avg rating — 1,229,451 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.30 avg rating — 879,341 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,480,067 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,950,815 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,624,060 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,122,024 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.06 avg rating — 1,698,943 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.15 avg rating — 1,621,980 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,264,351 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.24 avg rating — 2,015,854 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.96 avg rating — 1,756,946 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.10 avg rating — 682,385 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,754,537 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.55 avg rating — 479,070 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.06 avg rating — 593,151 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
4.17 avg rating — 2,479,746 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,851,606 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.29 avg rating — 947,608 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.99 avg rating — 385,587 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.23 avg rating — 463,265 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.68 avg rating — 7,357,485 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.15 avg rating — 567,242 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.22 avg rating — 2,028,747 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.86 avg rating — 1,051,250 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.28 avg rating — 452,812 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 481,028 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.28 avg rating — 711,438 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.02 avg rating — 424,666 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.42 avg rating — 587,285 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.10 avg rating — 998,178 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.95 avg rating — 479,683 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.03 avg rating — 573,569 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.96 avg rating — 1,629,872 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.21 avg rating — 2,058,909 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.15 avg rating — 566,090 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.09 avg rating — 507,601 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.16 avg rating — 219,871 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.73 avg rating — 303,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.76 avg rating — 1,883,270 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.20 avg rating — 624,735 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.38 avg rating — 417,579 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.07 avg rating — 642,649 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.98 avg rating — 1,181,554 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.35 avg rating — 1,516,343 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.84 avg rating — 709,868 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.21 avg rating — 568,889 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.06 avg rating — 481,198 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,341,489 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.92 avg rating — 746,049 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.62 avg rating — 816,275 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,004,366 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.17 avg rating — 935,522 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
3.88 avg rating — 346,704 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.88 avg rating — 351,036 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.76 avg rating — 497,411 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.84 avg rating — 1,027,556 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.17 avg rating — 185,751 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 299,632 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.07 avg rating — 296,180 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.93 avg rating — 443,940 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,498,024 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
4.47 avg rating — 679,469 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.36 avg rating — 1,802,218 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.16 avg rating — 975,929 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.40 avg rating — 673,296 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.10 avg rating — 280,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
4.13 avg rating — 442,982 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.23 avg rating — 331,538 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.07 avg rating — 1,774,994 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.78 avg rating — 622,253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.12 avg rating — 226,407 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.70 avg rating — 3,224,140 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
3.80 avg rating — 454,258 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
4.03 avg rating — 212,355 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.95 avg rating — 256,916 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
393 books · 115 voters · list created October 31st, 2015 by Mitchell Friedman (votes) .
41 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Mitchell 11617 books
172 friends
Jacob 1744 books
218 friends
Jason 7209 books
224 friends
drowningmermaid 6553 books
229 friends
Acacia 2966 books
75 friends
~~~N~~~ 8749 books
68 friends
Amber 858 books
16 friends
Margo 357 books
2 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-10 of 10 (10 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

drowningmermaid "For books in the US it would seem to mean a teenager - whereby for the term, it should mean say 18 to 25."

Hang on... it seems to me there are two separate categories we're talking about here. "Young Adult" generally refers to "teenager" whereas 18-25 usually is listed under a category that didn't exist when I was growing up, called "New Adult."


message 2: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman drowningmermaid wrote: ""For books in the US it would seem to mean a teenager - whereby for the term, it should mean say 18 to 25."

Hang on... it seems to me there are two separate categories we're talking about here. "Y..."


I'm just saying that the term young adult has the wrong meaning. Which is why we'd end up having to add "new adult", which isn't a category that I tend to think of.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads The whole thing confuses me. Neither category existed when I was those ages! (We read whatever we felt like, and it worked surprisingly well.)


message 4: by Jim (last edited May 11, 2017 02:40PM) (new)

Jim "Young adult" has been around since the 70s, for years there wasn't a bad title w/the Fawcett Juniper imprint.
What surprises me about this list is there are only a half-dozen i've not read that i want to.
And i would add Romeo and Juliet.


lucky little cat YA and NA are both labels that came from marketing terms. "Young Adult" gradually replaced the old name, the more clinical but more descriptive term "Adolescent Literature." (Again, marketing at work: as a teen, would you have rather browsed a bookstore section labeled "Young Adult" or one labeled "Adolescent Lit"?)

New Adult as a name seems to me to be a shameless marketing attempt to create buzz where no additional buzz is needed. In our culture, new=good for most folks. And "new" is also meant to appeal to readers who perceive the "young" in "young adult" as judgmental or pejorative. (Who you callin' young?!)


drowningmermaid lucky little cat wrote: "YA and NA are both labels that came from marketing terms. "Young Adult" gradually replaced the old name, the more clinical but more descriptive term "Adolescent Literature." (Again, marketing at wo..."

I thought that "new adult" meant it was supposed to (possibly) have sex in it. Between consenting 18-year-olds, that is.


message 7: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Very amused to see a call out to this list at https://bookriot.com/highest-rated-books-on-goodreads/


drowningmermaid I have a theory that as the demographic that purchases books has changed-- from primarily "adults" to school-age youths-- you see more books that appeal both to adults and to YA. And more publishers seeking to market books as YA. I notice the trend since "Harry Potter" which started clearly YA but got grittier... Now YA seems to be "the" market, whereas books like Huckleberry Finn were all marketed as as adult books.


message 9: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman I tightened up the list criteria to just require 100,000 ratings and to be shelved as young adult or ya at least 1000 times.

I also removed a bunch of books with considerably less than 100,000 ratings as well as adding a bunch of books to this list.


message 10: by Sara (new)

Sara B Don't read Matched, the author plagiarized the world from The Giver


back to top



Related News

If you’re looking for a new book with lots of positive early buzz—and you’re kind of in a hurry—then today’s collection is for...

Anyone can add books to this list.