A downloadable PDF version of this list is also available.
Printz Award
Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley (Grades 9-12) (Realistic Fiction)
Daunis, who is part Ojibwe, defers attending the University of Michigan to care for her mother and reluctantly becomes involved in the investigation of a series of drug-related deaths.
Concrete Rose, by Angie Thomas (Grades 9-12) (Realistic Fiction)
If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club, by Malinda Lo (Grades 9-12) (Historical)
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the feeling took root—that desire to look, to move closer, to touch. Whenever it started growing, it definitely bloomed the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly everything seemed possible.
Revolution In Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People, by Kekla Magoon (Grades 7-12) (Historical)
Revolution in Our Time puts the Panthers in the proper context of Black American history, from the first arrival of enslaved people to the Black Lives Matter movement of today.
Starfish, by Lisa Fipps (Grades 5-8) (Verse)
Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.
Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story), by Daniel Nayeri (Grades 4-12) (Realistic Fiction)
At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls “Daniel”) stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says.
Dragon Hoops, by Gene Luen Yang (Grades 9-12) (Graphic Biography)
Gene doesn’t get sports and lost interest in basketball after being bullied as a kid. But the men’s varsity team at the high school where he teaches is having a phenomenal season. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he knows he has to follow this epic to its end, but what he doesn’t know yet is that this season is going to change his life.
A Heart in a Body in the World, by Deb Caletti (Grades 9-12) (Realistic Fiction)
Followed by Grandpa Ed in his RV and backed by her brother and friends, Annabelle, runs from Seattle to Washington, D.C., becoming a reluctant activist as people connect her journey to her recent trauma.
We Are Okay, by Nina LaCour (Grades 8-12) (Realistic Fiction)
After leaving her life behind to go to college in New York, Marin must face the truth about the tragedy that happened in the final weeks of summer when her friend Mabel comes to visit.
March: Book 3, by John Lewis (Grades 7-12) (Graphic Biography)
Congressman John Lewis, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, joins co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell to bring the lessons of history to vivid life for a new generation, urgently relevant for today’s world.
Scythe, by Neal Shusterman (Grades 8-12) (Science Fiction)
In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed (‘gleaned’) by professional reapers (‘scythes’). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe–a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn’t.
Newbery Award
The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon (Grades 8-12) (Realistic Fiction)
Natasha, whose family is hours away from being deported, and Daniel, a first generation Korean American who strives to live up to his parents’ expectations, unexpectedly fall in love and must determine which path they will choose in order to be together.
The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera (Grades 5-8) (Science Fiction)
Petra Peña who, along with her family and a few hundred others, must leave Earth to continue the human race after a comet strikes the planet.
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team, by Christina Soontornvat (Grades 4-7) (Nonfiction)
Combines firsthand interviews with scientific and cultural insights in a middle grade account of the 2018 Thai cave rescue of the Wild Boars soccer team and the critical, sophisticated engineering operation that saved the lives of 13 young people.
A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger (Grades 7-12) (Fantasy)
Fifteen-year-olds Nina and Oli come from different words–she is a Lipan Apache living in Texas and he is a cottonmouth from the Reflecting World–but their lives intersect when Oli journeys to Earth to find a cure for his ailing friend and they end up helping each other save their families.
Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff (Grades 4-7) (Supernatural)
In the summer before middle school, eleven-year-old Bug must contend with best friend Moira suddenly caring about clothes, makeup, and boys; a ghost haunting; and the truth about Bug’s gender identity.
Merci Suarez Changes Gears, by Meg Medina(Grades 4-7) (Realistic Fiction)
Thoughtful, strong-willed sixth-grader Merci Suarez navigates difficult changes with friends, family, and everyone in between in a resonant new novel from Meg Medina.
When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller (Grades 4-7) (Magical Realism)
Moving with her parents into the home of her sick grandmother, young Lily forges a complicated pact with a magical tiger, in a story inspired by Korean folktales.
Fighting Words, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley(Grades 5-8) (Realistic Fiction)
Depending on an older sister who protected her when their mother went to prison and their mother’s boyfriend committed a terrible act, 10-year-old Della tries to figure out what to do when her older sister attempts suicide.
We Dream of Space, by Erin Entrada Kelly (Grades 4-7) (Historical Fiction)
Cash, Fitch, and Bird Thomas are three siblings in seventh grade together in Park, Delaware. In 1986, as the country waits expectantly for the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger, they each struggle with their own personal anxieties.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Regan Barnhill (Grades 4-8) (Fantasy)
An epic fantasy about a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, who must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her.
The Inquisitor’s Tale, or, The Three Magical Children and their Holy Dog, by Adam Gidwitz (Grades 5-10) (Historical Fantasy)
Crossing paths at an inn, three 13th-century travelers impart the wryly whimsical tales of a monastery oblate, a Jewish refugee and a psychic peasant girl, who, in the company of a loyal greyhound, must escape evil knights, sit alongside a king and save their land from a flatulent dragon.
Wolf Hollow, by Lauren Wolk (Grades 5-8) (Historical Fiction)
Twelve-year-old Annabelle must learn to stand up for what’s right in the face of a manipulative and violent new bully who targets people Annabelle cares about, including a homeless World War I veteran.
Echo, by Pam Munoz Ryan (Grades 5-8) (Historical Fiction)
Decades after a man is entwined in a prophecy-based quest involving three mysterious sisters and a harmonica, three individuals from different areas of the world confront daunting challenges involving the same harmonica.