ALA Alex Awards

The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.

Updated December 13, 2024
Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation
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ALA Alex Awards

The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.

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1

The nickel boys : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. * "One of the most gifted novelists in...

2

Educated : a memoir
Westover, Tara
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University ...

3

Circe : a novel
Miller, Madeline
Paper Book
This #1 New York Times bestseller is a "bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story" that brilliantly reimagines the life of Circe, formidable sorceress of The Odyssey (Alexandra Alter, TheNew York Times). In the house of Helios,...

4

Middlegame
McGuire, Seanan.
Paper Book
A HUGO AWARD FINALIST! WINNER OF THE LOCUS AWARD FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL, 2020! A Pick on the 2020 RUSA Reading List! New York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to...

5

The swallows : a novel
Lutz, Lisa
Paper Book
A teacher at a New England prep school ignites a gender war--with deadly consequences--in this dark and provocative novel by the bestselling author of The Passenger   "Riveting . . . full of imagination and power."--Caroline Kepnes, author of You and...

6

The book of Essie
Weir, Meghan MacLean
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE 2018 NEW ENGLAND BOOK AWARD "Both timelessly beautiful and unbelievably timely."--Chris Bohjalian, New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant  A captivating novel of family, fame, and religion that...

7

The girl who smiled beads : a story of war and what comes after
Wamariya, Clemantine
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "The plot provided by the universe was filled with starvation, war and rape. I would not--could not--live in that tale."   Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when her mother and father began to speak in whispers, when neighbors began to...

8

Home after dark : a novel
Small, David
Paper Book
David Small's long-awaited graphic novel is a savage portrayal of male adolescence gone awry like no other work of recent fiction or film. Wildly kaleidoscopic and furiously cinematic, Home After Dark is a literary tour-de-force that renders the brutality of adolescence in the...

9

How long 'til black future month?
Jemisin, N. K.
Paper Book
Three-time Hugo Award winner and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption that sharply examine modern society in her first collection of short fiction, which includes never-before-seen...

10

Lawn boy
Evison, Jonathan
Paper Book
Recipient of the 2019 Alex Award​​ "Mike Muñoz Is a Holden Caulfield for a New Millennium--a '10th-generation peasant with a Mexican last name, raised by a single mom on an Indian reservation' . . . Evison, as in his previous four novels, has...

11

Spinning silver
Novik, Naomi
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "One of the year's strongest fantasy novels" (NPR), an imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the bestselling author of Uprooted.NEBULA AND HUGO AWARD FINALIST * NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S...
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