BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOKS OF 2020

BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOKS OF 2020

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Do you like to read young adult books?

Ever since I realized years ago that planning a diverse tbr prevents me from getting into a reading slump, I love reading all kinds of genres. That’s why I switch between fiction, romance, fantasy and YA on a regular basis.

This year I had the pleasure of reading a ton of great young adult books. Many were debut novels. And almost all of them were powerful and must reads in their own ways.

Below you can find the books that stood out from the crowd this year.

BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOKS OF 2020

Dating Makes Perfect by Pintip Dunn

For anyone who loved To All The Boys I Loved Before – this book is for you. It’s adorable, smart, and has wonderful family dynamic. A debut novel that should be on anyone’s radar. It was just the right amount of entertaining.

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The Tech sisters don’t date in high school. Not because they’re not asked. Not because they’re not interested. iNot even because no one can pronounce their long, Thai last name—hence the shortened, awkward moniker. But simply because they’re not allowed.

Until now.

In a move that other Asian American girls know all too well, six months after the older Tech twins got to college, their parents asked, “Why aren’t you engaged yet?” The sisters retaliated by vowing that they won’t marry for ten (maybe even twenty!) years, not until they’ve had lots of the dating practice that they didn’t get in high school.

In a shocking war on the status quo, her parents now insist that their youngest daughter, Orrawin (aka “Winnie”), must practice fake dating in high school. Under their watchful eyes, of course—and organized based on their favorite rom-coms. ’Cause that won’t end in disaster.

The first candidate? The son of their longtime friends, Mat Songsomboon—arrogant, infuriating, and way too good-looking. Winnie’s known him since they were toddlers throwing sticky rice balls at each other. And her parents love him.

If only he weren’t her sworn enemy.

Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

Wow this book was something else. The topic alone makes this book a must read. But all of it together, characters and story, turned this book into one of the books that stood out from the crowd this year. Highly recommended!!

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Connor Major’s summer break is turning into a nightmare.

His SAT scores bombed, the old man he delivers meals to died, and when he came out to his religious zealot mother, she had him kidnapped and shipped off to a secluded island. His final destination: Nightlight Ministries, a conversion therapy camp that will be his new home until he “changes.”

But Connor’s troubles are only beginning. At Nightlight, everyone has something to hide—from the campers to the “converted” staff and cagey camp director—and it quickly becomes clear that no one is safe. Connor plans to escape and bring the other kidnapped teens with him. But first, he’s exposing the camp’s horrible truths for what they are—and taking this place down.

Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

I loved Dear Martin, and Dear Justyce. Both were incredibly well written. And are important reads. Powerful. But also short enough to read on a day. Highly recommended!!

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In the highly anticipated sequel to her New York Times bestseller, Nic Stone delivers an unflinching look into the flawed practices and silenced voices in the American juvenile justice system.

Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.

Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce–the protagonist of Dear Martin–Quan’s story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there’s a dead cop and a weapon with Quan’s prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.

BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOKS OF 2020

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo has become a favorite author of mine this year. I read three of her books this year and all three were outstanding. If you never read or listened to a book that was written in free verse, I can only recommend it. It flows, it’s lyrical, and all of her books are powerful in their own way.

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Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other. 

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Another powerful YA novel I had the pleasure to read this year. Based on a riot in LA in 1992, the book was fascinating and full of historical tidbits. Because of its topic it was a timely and thought provoking story. Most perfect book for 2020.

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This coming-of-age debut novel explores issues of race, class, and violence through the eyes of a wealthy black teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Rodney King Riots. Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year. Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids.

As violent protests engulf LA and the city burns, Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. With her world splintering around her, Ashley, along with the rest of LA, is left to question who is the us? And who is the them?

The Truth Project by Dante Medema

A book entirely written in emails, texts, and journal entries, and again a book that was thought provoking and powerful in its message.

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Seventeen-year-old Cordelia Koenig was sure of many things going into her last year of high school. For one, she wasn’t going to stress over the senior project all her peers were dreading—she’d just use the same find-your-roots genealogy idea that her older sister used for hers. Secondly, she’d put all that time spent not worrying about the project toward getting reacquainted with former best friend and longtime crush Kodiak Jones who, conveniently, gets assigned as Cordelia’s partner.

All she has to do is mail in her DNA sample, write about her ancestry results and breeze through the rest of senior year. Done, done and done.

But when Cordelia’s GeneQuest results reveal that her father is not the man she thought he was but a stranger who lives thousands of miles away, Cordelia realizes she isn’t sure of anything anymore—not the mother who lied, the life she was born into or the girl staring back at her in the mirror.

If your life began with a lie, how can you ever be sure of what’s true?

BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOKS OF 2020

This Is My America by Kim Johnson

This book is for anyone who loved Just Mercy and The Hate U Give. An unflinching yet uplifting debut novel that explores the racist injustices in the American justice system.

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Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time–her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town’s racist history that still haunt the present?

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

This was an incredible memoir. Timely and eyeopening. One of the best books I read this year.

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In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. 

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

This story was adorable and heart warming, but also a book that taught me more about the trans community. Loved the characters, the story and of course the cover. It’s a highly recommended book of 2020.

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Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after. 

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle….

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself. 

Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.

BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOKS OF 2020