2017 Recommended Reading

Updated May 10, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The 57 bus
Slater, Dashka,
Paper Book
The riveting New York Times bestseller and Stonewall Book Award winner that will make you rethink all you know about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment. Artfully, compassionately, and expertly told, Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus is a must-read nonfiction book for...

SLJ Best Books, 2017

Animal farm : a fairy story
Orwell, George,
Paper Book
75th Anniversary Edition--Includes a New Introduction by Téa Obreht George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel--a scathing satire on a downtrodden society's blind march towards totalitarianism. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than...
Brave new world
Huxley, Aldous,
Paper Book
Now a television series by the creators of The Walking Dead! Ranked one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century, this dystopian satire is a brilliant and terrifying vision of a soulless society--and of one man who discovers the human costs of...
The buried giant : a novel
Ishiguro, Kazuo,
Paper Book
From the author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day   The Romans have long since departed and Britain is steadily declining into ruin. But, at least, the wars that once ravaged the country have ceased. Axl...
Nobel Prize, 2017
The diary of a young girl : the definitive edition
Frank, Anne,
Paper Book
THE DEFINITIVE EDITION * Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, the remarkable diary that has become a world classic--a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. Updated for the 75th Anniversary of the...
East of Eden
Steinbeck, John,
Paper Book
A masterpiece of Biblical scope, and the magnum opus of one of America's most enduring authors, in a commemorative hardcover edition   In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and...
Fangirl
Rowell, Rainbow,
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author! In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life-and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the...
Genius : the game
Gout, Leopoldo,
Paper Book
Trust no one. Every camera is an eye. Every microphone an ear. Find me and we can stop him together. The Game: Get ready for Zero Hour as 200 geniuses from around the world go head to head in a competition hand-devised by India's youngest CEO and visionary. ...

YALSA Teen Top Ten, 2017

Ghost
Reynolds, Jason,
Paper Book
A National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. Ghost wants to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school track team, but his past is slowing him down in this...

YALSA Teen Top Ten, 2017

The giver
Lowry, Lois,
Paper Book
In Lois Lowry's Newbery Medal-winning classic, twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind his fragile community. This movie tie-in edition features cover art from the...
The handmaid's tale
Atwood, Margaret,
Paper Book
One of the most powerful and most widely read novels of our time: A gripping vision of our society radically overturned by a theocratic revolution--from "the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction" (The New York Times). * Now an award-winning Hulu series starring Elizabeth...
Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone
Rowling, J. K.,
Paper Book
A special new edition in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, with a stunning new cover illustration by Caldecott Medalist Brian Selznick. Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a...
The hate u give
Thomas, Angie,
Paper Book
8 starred reviews · Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best  ·  William C. Morris Award Winner · National Book Award Longlist · Printz Honor Book · Coretta Scott King Honor Book · #1 New York Times Bestseller! "Absolutely riveting!" --Jason Reynolds "Stunning." -...
SLJ Best Books, 2017
Heartless
Meyer, Marissa,
Paper Book
From Marissa Meyer, the #1 New York Times-bestselling romantasy of Wonderland's most notorious villain: the Queen of Hearts. Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most...

YALSA Teen Top Ten, 2017

If I was your girl
Russo, Meredith,
Paper Book
Meredith Russo's award-winning, big-hearted novel If I Was Your Girl is about being seen for who you really are, with a love story you can't help but root for! Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But...

YALSA Teen Top Ten, 2017

Invisible man
Ellison, Ralph,
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * In this deeply compelling novel and epic milestone of American literature, a nameless narrator tells his story from the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. One of The Atlantic<...
Lincoln in the bardo : a novel
Saunders, George,
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE The "devastatingly moving" (People) first novel from the author of Tenth of December: a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast...
Man Booker Prize, 2017
Love & gelato
Welch, Jenna Evans,
Paper Book
Now a movie streaming on Netflix! A New York Times bestseller A summer in Italy turns into a road trip across Tuscany in this sweeping debut novel filled with romance, mystery, and adventure. Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she...

YALSA Teen Top Ten, 2017

The outsiders
Hinton, S. E.,
Paper Book
Over 50 years of an iconic classic! This international bestseller and inspiration for a beloved movie is a heroic story of friendship and belonging. No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count...
P.S. I like you
West, Kasie,
Paper Book
What if the person you were falling for was a total mystery?Signed, sealed, delivered... While spacing out in Chemistry class, Lily scribbles some of her favorite song lyrics onto her desk. The next day, she finds that someone has continued the lyrics on the desk, and added a message to her....

YALSA Teen Top Ten, 2017

The picture of Dorian Gray
Wilde, Oscar,
Paper Book
Introduction by Jeffrey Eugenides .Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS'sThe Great American Read Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author's...
Pride and prejudice
Austen, Jane,
Paper Book
When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister...
Scythe
Shusterman, Neal,
Paper Book
Two teens must learn the "art of killing" in this Printz Honor-winning book, the first in a chilling new series from Neal Shusterman, author of the New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology. A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered...

YALSA Teen Top Ten, 2017

Sing, unburied, sing : a novel
Ward, Jesmyn,
Paper Book
*WINNER of the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for FICTION *A TIME MAGAZINE BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR and A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 OF 2017 *Finalist for the Kirkus Prize *Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal *Finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize...
National Book Award, 2017
The sun is also a star
Yoon, Nicola,
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist from the bestselling author of Everything, Everything will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other. Natasha: I'm a girl who believes in science and...
YALSA Teen Top Ten, 2017
The thief
Turner, Megan Whalen,
Paper Book
Discover and rediscover the world of the Queen's Thief, from the acclaimed novel The Thief to the thrilling, twenty-years-in-the-making conclusion, The Return of the Thief. The epic novels set in the world of the Queen's Thief can be read in any order. New York Times...
To kill a mockingbird
Lee, Harper,
Paper Book
Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American Read Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South--and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred One of the most cherished stories of all time, To...
When Dimple met Rishi
Menon, Sandhya,
Paper Book
The inspiration for the Netflix original series Mismatched! A New York Times bestseller A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) An NPR Best Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 A Kirkus...

SLJ Best Books, 2017


Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.