2025 Color Our World Young Adult Book List

The 2025 Summer Reading Lists are full of book titles to keep young adults engaged in reading and exploring throughout the summer. These books have been selected because they have received very good reviews or are award winning fiction and nonfiction books. This books are available through the Sussex County Library System.

Updated December 14, 2024
S
Sussex County Library System (NJ)
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49 days
Lee, Agnes
Paper Book
Day 1 Gotta get up. Gotta keep moving. This map - it says I have to cross over here. Wait, what's that...? And so begins a graphic novel story unlike any other: 49 Days. In Buddhist tradition, a person must travel for forty-nine...
Accountable :
Slater, Dashka.
Paper Book
Not funny. When a high schooler started a private Instagram that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as "edgy" humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew.No one in the small town of Albany...
All my rage /
Tahir, Sabaa.
Paper Book
National Book Award WINNER Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature WINNER An INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! An INSTANT INDIE BESTSELLER! "All My Rage is a love story, a tragedy and an infectious teenage fever dream about what home...
Ariel crashes a train /
Cole, Olivia A.
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD . A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YA BOOK OF THE YEAR . A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, BOOKLIST AND KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Exploring the harsh reality of OCD and violent intrusive thoughts in stunning,...
The blood years /
Arnold, Elana K.
Paper Book
From Michael L. Printz honoree & National Book Award finalist Elana K. Arnold comes the harrowing story of a young girl's struggle to survive the Holocaust in Romania. Frederieke Teitler and her older sister, Astra, live in a house, in a city, in a world divided. Their father...
The breakup lists /
Khorram, Adib,
Paper Book
Love is more complicated than "boy meets boy" in bestselling author Adib Khorram's sharply funny new romantic comedy, set in the sordid world of high school theater Jackson Ghasnavi is a lot of things-a techie, a smoothie afficionado, a totally not obsessive list-maker-but one...
The deep dark /
Ostertag, Molly,
Paper Book
From Molly Knox Ostertag, writer-illustrator of the New York Times and ABA Indie bestselling The Witch Boy trilogy and The Girl from the Sea, comes a darkly beautiful story of identity, family, love, loss, and magic. Everyone has secrets. Mags's has teeth. ...
Dig /
King, A. S.
Paper Book
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Medal ★"King's narrative concerns are racism, patriarchy, colonialism, white privilege, and the ingrained systems that perpetuate them. . . . [Dig] will speak profoundly to a generation of young people who are waking up to...
Everything sad is untrue :
Nayeri, Daniel.
Paper Book
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award Christopher Award Winner Middle East Book Award Winner National Indie Bestseller NPR Best Book of the Year New York Times Best of the Year Amazon Best of the Year Booklist Editors' Choice ...
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
A PRINTZ MEDAL WINNER! A MORRIS AWARD WINNER! AN AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD YA HONOR BOOK! A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller Soon to be adapted at Netflix...
Gather /
Cadow, Kenneth M.,
Paper Book
Winner of the Kirkus Prize  A National Book Award Finalist A Michael L. Printz Honor Book "Arguably one of the finest novels of the year."--Booklist (starred review) A resourceful teenager in rural Vermont struggles to hold on to the family...
Gleanings :
Shusterman, Neal
Paper Book
The New York Times bestselling Arc of the Scythe series continues with "captivating...thrilling" (School Library Journal) stories that span the timeline. Storylines continue. Origin stories are revealed. And new Scythes emerge! There are still countless tales of the...
I'd rather burn than bloom /
Rogers, Shannon C. F.,
Paper Book
Packed with voice, Shannon C.F. Rogers' I'd Rather Burn than Bloom is a powerful YA novel about a Filipina-American teen who tries to figure out who she really is in the wake of her mother's death.Some girls call their mother their best friend. Marisol Martin? She could never relate. She and her mom...
Into the sunken city /
Thiru, Dinesh
Paper Book
"Steal-your-breath adventure." --Marissa Meyer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Lunar Chronicles Perfect for fans of Fable and House of Salt and Sorrows, this spectacular YA fantasy adventure debut is like nothing else, featuring a unique twist on Treasure Island, a...
Kindling /
Chee, Traci,
Paper Book
From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a standalone fantasy set against a war-ravaged world where kindling warfare--the use of elite, magic-wielding teenage soldiers--has been outlawed. In this rich and evocative novel, seven kindlings search for purpose and...
The last bloodcarver /
Le, Vanessa,
Paper Book
A pulse-pounding YA fantasy in which "you'll gasp, you'll scream, you'll cry, and you'll be begging for the next book." (Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of These Violent Delights) Nhika is a bloodcarver. A coldhearted, ruthless being who can...
Nigeria Jones /
Zoboi, Ibi Aanu
Paper Book
Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner! "An unwavering proclamation of Black girlhood." --Candice Iloh, author of National Book Award finalist Every Body Looking From Ibi Zoboi, bestselling, award-winning author of American Street and coauthor of Punching the Air,...
Now, conjurers /
K?olsch, Freddie,
Paper Book
Following the murder of their leader and friend, a tight-knit coven of queer teens takes on a wish-granting demon lurking in their town, weaving together murder mystery with the occult in this YA horror novel perfect for fans of V. E. Schwab and Leigh Bardugo books. ...
A place for vanishing /
Fraistat, Ann,
Paper Book
A teen girl and her family return to her mother's childhood home, only to discover that the house's strange beauty may disguise a sinister past, in this contemporary gothic horror from the author of What We Harvest. A BOOKPAGE AND KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE...
Rez ball /
Graves, Byron,
Paper Book
This compelling debut novel by new talent Byron Graves tells the relatable, high-stakes story of a young athlete determined to play like the hero his Ojibwe community needs him to be. These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation...
Sheine Lende
Badger, Darcie Little/ Cai, Rovina (ILT)
Paper Book
BOOKPAGE MOST ANTICIPATED YA OF 2024 Shane works with her mother and their ghost dogs, tracking down missing persons even when their families can't afford to pay. Their own family was displaced from their traditional home years ago following a devastating flood -...
Sky's end /
Gregson, Marc J.,
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestseller with three starred reviews--now under development as a feature film franchise! Plummet into a kill-or-be-killed competition where a scrappy underdog hell-bent on revenge must battle colossal monstrosities and claw his way to the top in this...
Song of the six realms /
Lin, Judy I.,
This book won't burn /
Ahmed, Samira
Paper Book
★ "[Ahmed] employs high stakes, increasing tensions, romantic near-misses, and adult hypocrisy to powerful effect." -Publisher's Weekly, starred review From the New York Times bestselling author of Internment<...
With the fire on high /
Acevedo, Elizabeth
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award-winning title The Poet X comes a dazzling novel in prose about a girl with talent, pride, and a drive to feed the soul that keeps her fire burning bright. Winner of the California Young Reader Medal! Ever since she got...
With the fire on high /
Acevedo, Elizabeth,
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award-winning title The Poet X comes a dazzling novel in prose about a girl with talent, pride, and a drive to feed the soul that keeps her fire burning bright. Winner of the California Young Reader Medal! Ever since she got...

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