Books for Teens and Young Adults

From a love story set in Angola to a Hunger Games-style thriller, from the medieval Middle East and 19th-century Ireland to the world of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, we've picked our favourite books for teens and young adults of 2024 so far.

Britain offers rich pickings to writers: wild and windswept locations, peculiar folklore, a treasure trove of odd histories and even odder place names. Taking Britain as a starting point, many fantasy authors have produced stories that are at once wonderfully strange and hauntingly plausible. Our fantasy interviewer Sylvia Bishop picks out her top five fantasy books set in Britain for teen readers.

Thrillers for teens have to be fast paced, exciting and entertaining, argues Kathryn Foxfield, author of YA thriller Good Girls Die First. She recommends some of her favourite teen thrillers, from books published this year to classics of the genre.

It's tricky finding history books for teenagers at an age when they are too old for children's books, but not yet ready to read long, weighty tomes with lots of footnotes. Alex, a UK-based history fan who previously chose books for us age 10, returns to Five Books to recommend his selection of the best history books for teenagers.

Chess is one of the most enduringly popular games in the world, transcending language barriers and teaching valuable life skills. Chess teacher and master Andrew Green recommends books (plus a few websites) to help beginners of all ages learn the game.

Realistic fiction depicts situations that could happen in real life, with authentic characters who react in a believable way.

At its core, every young adult book is about figuring out who you are and what your place in the world is, argues Elizabeth Wein, author of numerous books for children and young adults. She introduces the concept of 'third culture kids'—children who are at home both everywhere and nowhere.

From history to historical fiction, from Romania to the Philippines, here's our list of the best books for teenagers of 2023. We've included award-winning books as well as books for young adults handpicked by Tuva Kahrs, our children's editor.

In recent years there has been a steady flow of JRR Tolkien books published posthumously. If you liked The Lord of the Rings and are wondering what to read next, 16 year old Valentin guides you through some of his other favourite books set in the vast world that Tolkien created.

Financial literacy is an essential life skill, but it is not routinely taught at school and not everybody has good role models to look to for financial behaviour. Reading can certainly help. Finance teacher Darren Collins recommends his top books for teens and young adults to learn the fundamentals for making sound personal finance decisions in life.