New to High School? (YA)

In Year 9 and stuck for something to read? Here are 31 of our favourite books or series to get you started. Don’t forget to talk to your school librarian as well — they’re experts on all things bookishly good!

Updated June 19, 2024
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Pride and prejudice
Austen, Jane
Paper Book
From A to Z, the Penguin Drop Caps series collects 26 unique hardcovers-featuring cover art by type superstar Jessica Hische It all begins with a letter. Fall in love with Penguin Drop Caps, a new series of twenty-six collectible and gift-worthy hardcover editions, each with a...
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner! Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
The Hunger Games
Collins, Suzanne.
Paper Book
The first novel in the worldwide bestselling series by Suzanne Collins! Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . . In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve...
The maze runner
Dashner, James
Paper Book
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING MAZE RUNNER SERIES * A teenager with no memory must navigate a deadly maze to survive in book one of this post-apocalyptic phenomenon. "[A] mysterious survival saga that passionate fans describe as a fusion of Lord of...
Legendborn
Deonn, Tracy
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller! Winner of the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe for New Talent Author Award Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn's YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of...
To all the boys I've loved before
Han, Jenny
Paper Book
To All the Boys I've Loved Before is now a major motion picture on Netflix and the inspiration for the spin-off series XO, Kitty--now streaming on Netflix! A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) Lara Jean's love life gets complicated in this...
Howl's moving castle
Jones, Diana Wynne
Paper Book
"A true original." --Katherine Rundell, bestselling author of Impossible Creatures This entrancing classic fantasy novel is filled with surprises at every turn. An international bestseller, this much-loved book is the source for the Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature. ...
Anne of Green Gables
Montgomery, L. M.
Paper Book
Anne of Green Gables is the classic children's book by L M Montgomery, the inspiration for the Netflix Original series Anne with an E. Watch it now! Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a...
The golden compass
Pullman, Philip
Paper Book
The modern fantasy classic that Entertainment Weekly named an "All-Time Greatest Novel" and Newsweek hailed as a "Top 100 Book of All Time." Philip Pullman takes readers to a world where humans have animal familiars and where parallel universes are within reach. ...
The lightning thief
Riordan, Rick
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times Bestseller Percy Jackson and the Olympians series now streaming on Disney+! The paperback edition of the first book in Rick Riordan's thrilling middle grade series, filled with magic, Greek mythology, and plenty of monsters....
Steelheart
Sanderson, Brandon.
The hobbit, or, There and back again
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Paper Book
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit." So begins one of the most beloved and delightful tales in the English language. Set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is one of literature's most enduring and...
The book thief
Zusak, Markus
Paper Book
This anniversary edition of the extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller features pages of bonus content, including marked-up manuscript pages, original sketches, and pages from the author's writing notebook. "Life-changing." --The New York Times  

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