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
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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...
The blood years /
Arnold, Elana K.
Paper Book
Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Named a best book of the year by the Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, SLJ, ALA Booklist, the Horn Book, and more Recipient of five starred reviews From Michael L. Printz honoree & National Book Award...
The collectors :
Paper Book
Winner of the 2024 Michael L. Printz Award A National Bestseller From Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King and an all-star team of contributors including Anna-Marie McLemoreand Jason Reynolds, an anthology of stories about remarkable people and their strange and...
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. Magdalena...
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...
Forever is now /
Lockington, Mariama,
Paper Book
I'm safe here. That's how Sadie feels in her girlfriend's arms on a perfect Summer day. But then her girlfriend suddenly breaks up with Sadie. Moments later, she witnesses a scene of police brutality, which upends what now feels like a mirage of security. I'm not safe anywhere. That's how Sadie...
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...
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,...
Not like other girls /
Adamo, Meredith
Paper Book
"Powerful, brilliantly plotted, voicey, gripping, beautiful, heart-wrenching, hilarious . . . Read this book." -Liz Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of The Agathas When Jo-Lynn Kirby 's former best friend-pretty, nice Maddie Price-comes to her claiming to...
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...
Shut up, this is serious /
Ixta, Carolina
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PURA BELPRÉ YA AUTHOR AWARD *  A Morris Award Finalist * Parade Best Young Adult Books of All Time * Indie Next List Pick * An unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with...
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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