High School Battle of the Books 2025-2026

North Carolina School Library Media Association's High School Battle of the Books list for the 2025-2026 school year.

Updated October 30, 2025
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The Naturals
Barnes, Jennifer Lynn
Paper Book
A USA TODAY Bestseller Cold cases are about to get hot. Don't miss this exhilarating crime thriller--perfect for fans of Criminal Minds and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder--from Jennifer Lynn Barnes, the #1 New York Times <...
The great cool ranch Dorito in the sky
Galarza, Josh
Paper Book
A National Book Award Finalist! A Kids Indies Introduce/Next List Selection! Perfect for fans of Mark Oshiro and Adam Silvera comes a fiercely funny and hopeful story of one boy's attempts to keep everything under control while life has other plans. Ever...
Angel of Greenwood
Pink, Randi
Paper Book
A piercing, unforgettable love story set in Greenwood, Oklahoma, also known as the "Black Wall Street," and against the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Isaiah Wilson is, on the surface, a town troublemaker, but is hiding that he is an avid reader and secret poet, never leaving...
Powerless
Roberts, Lauren
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NO. 1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON. OVER 5 MILLION COPIES SOLD!   Fourth Wing meets The Hunger Games in this sizzling fantasy romance not to be missed.   Only the extraordinary belong in the...
Starter villain
Scalzi, John
Paper Book
Now a New York Times bestseller! Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher...
Impossible escape : a true story of survival and heroism in Nazi Europe
Sheinkin, Steve
Paper Book
From three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin, a true story of two Jewish teenagers racing against time during the Holocaust--one in hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape. It is 1944. A teenager named Rudolf (Rudi...
Fable
Young, Adrienne
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK Filled with all of the action, emotion, and lyrical writing that brought readers to Sky in the Deep, New York Times bestselling author Adrienne Young...

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