Hours at an average pace
Showing 100 books
About 528 hours for 91 of 100 books with measured lengths. Estimates use 250 words a minute, adjusted for each book's difficulty. At 2 hours a day, about 264 days for those books.
The Giver is among the most frequently assigned novels in American middle and high school curricula, appearing on required reading lists across the country for three decades. Its Wikipedia article exists in dozens of languages and it has sold over 12 million copies, reflecting sustained educational and cultural presence far beyond typical children's novels.
The Newbery Medal winner is a staple of middle-school classrooms across the United States and is widely assigned. It is a fixture in children's literature but rarely appears in college canon discussions.
Widely adopted in high school English curricula across the United States, frequently appearing on required reading lists alongside other socially resonant YA texts. The novel has also made the American Library Association's list of most banned and challenged books for multiple consecutive years — a signal of its cultural penetration. While no syllabus data is available in this database, Thomas's book is standard in secondary education discussions of race and justice.
Tschick is a staple of German school reading lists and was a major bestseller in German-speaking countries, and it has been widely staged and filmed. Its international syllabus presence is smaller.
A recent young adult title that won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Printz Award and the Stonewall Book Award. It is increasingly taught in YA and queer literature courses but has not yet built long syllabus history.
The novel is a staple of middle-school Holocaust units and is widely assigned in American classrooms, yet it is not a university-level canonical text. It is a fixture of young-adult reading lists and sometimes appears on challenged-book lists.
No. 7 on this list. The Witch of Blackbird Pond: A Newbery Award Winner – A Halloween Book for Teens
Elizabeth George Speare · 1958
Easy3.4 hours
As a Newbery Medal winner it is widely assigned in middle-school classrooms and often paired with units on colonial America and the Salem trials. It is a staple of young-reader curricula rather than the college canon.
It is a classic of popular adventure fiction and Tarzan is a global icon, but literature courses rarely teach it. It is more studied as pulp history than as canon.
No. 9 on this list. I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust
Livia Bitton-Jackson · 1999
Very Easy2.8 hours
It is widely assigned in middle and high school Holocaust units and appears on many reading lists, though it is rarely taught in university literature courses.
It is a long-standing classic of children's adventure and a well-known Robinsonade, though it is rarely taught in university courses.
No. 11 on this list. Hopeless · Colleen Hoover · 2012
Sky Davis has no memory of her childhood — until Dean Holder walks into her life and the truth she buried surfaces. Goodreads Choice winner and one of Hoover's defining novels.
Easy
Start this bookNo. 12 on this list. Scythe · Neal Shusterman · 2016
Scythe is widely read in middle school and high school voluntary reading programs but has not achieved curricular canonical status in university literature courses. No syllabus data available in the database. Its reach is strong within YA genre readership rather than academic canons.
Easy6.4 hours
Start this bookNo. 13 on this list. The Cruel Prince · Holly Black · 2018
ReadingRate's data fetch found no syllabus appearances, award recognitions, or Wikipedia language-count data on file for this title. Outside the classroom it has become a fixture of YA fantasy's informal canon, especially via BookTok, but it has not entered university curricula the way even genre-adjacent Beloved or Infinite Jest have.
Easy5.3 hours
Start this bookNo. 14 on this list. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes · Suzanne Collins · 2020
No syllabus or recognition data was found for this title specifically, and as a 2020 prequel it hasn't had time to enter academic curricula the way the original trilogy occasionally has in YA-literature or media-studies electives. Its reach comes from bestseller lists and the 2023 film adaptation rather than classroom assignment.
Moderate11 hours
Start this bookNo. 15 on this list. More Happy Than Not · Adam Silvera · 2015
It is a widely read contemporary YA title, popular in school libraries and book clubs, but it is not yet a staple of university syllabi. It sits near Gone Girl in canonical reach, as a genre favorite.
Easy4.5 hours
Start this bookNo. 16 on this list. The Prince and the Dressmaker · Jen Wang · 2018
A recent graphic novel that is popular with teen readers and libraries, with some classroom use for LGBTQ+ youth literature but not a standard syllabus text.
Very Easy3.4 hours
Start this bookNo. 17 on this list. Felix Ever After · Kacen Callender · 2020
A recent YA novel with a place in LGBTQ+ young adult reading lists and school libraries, but little presence in university syllabi so far.
Easy5 hours
Start this bookNo. 18 on this list. Across the Nightingale Floor · Lian Hearn · 2002
A popular young adult fantasy that is rarely taught in university courses. It is read in schools and fantasy circles, above a pure commercial title like Beach Read.
Easy4.5 hours
Start this bookNo. 19 on this list. Strange the Dreamer · Laini Taylor · 2017
A recent young adult fantasy with no syllabi presence recorded, it is read within genre circles rather than taught as literature.
Moderate9.3 hours
Start this bookNo. 20 on this list. A Court of Wings and Ruin · Sarah J. Maas · 2017
A Court of Wings and Ruin has no meaningful presence on university syllabi or 'essential reading' lists — it circulates almost entirely through BookTok, Goodreads, and genre fan communities rather than academic or literary-canon channels.
Easy13 hours
Start this book
No. 21 on this list. Девочка с медвежьим сердцем · Фрэнсис Хардинг
Девочка с медвежьим сердцем is the Russian edition of Frances Hardinge's A Skinful of Shadows (2017), a young-adult historical fantasy set during the English Civil War. It is read on the strength of Hardinge's reputation but has no place on courses or essential-reading lists.
Easy5.9 hours
Start this bookNo. 22 on this list. Crooked Kingdom · Leigh Bardugo · 2016
A bestselling YA fantasy that suits genre studies and reading lists more than literature syllabi. No syllabus presence data exists for it, so it sits in the popular category.
Easy8.7 hours
Start this bookNo. 23 on this list. The Selection · Kiera Cass · 2012
Thirty-five girls compete to win the heart of Prince Maxon — and America Singer never wanted to be one of them. The opener of Kiera Cass's bestselling YA dystopian romance series.
Very Easy
Start this bookNo. 24 on this list. Graceling · Kristin Cashore · 2008
Graceling does not appear in university curricula or on major academic syllabi. Within YA fantasy, it is a frequently recommended entry point and appears on numerous best-of-YA lists, but its canonical status is genre-specific rather than broadly literary. No data signals found for syllabus appearances or Wikipedia multilingual presence.
Easy5.9 hours
Start this bookNo. 25 on this list. A Court of Thorns and Roses · Sarah J. Maas · 2015
No syllabus or Wikipedia-language data exists for this title, and it carries no footprint in academic curricula — it's read for pleasure, not assigned. Its status is cultural rather than institutional, closer to Fifty Shades of Grey's phenomenon-driven visibility than to any 'best of' list.
Easy6.8 hours
Start this bookNo. 26 on this list. Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives · Stephen Graham Jones · 2025
A 2025 genre release with no syllabi presence yet falls in the popular horror category, comparable to Gone Girl's genre-studies standing but newer.
Easy7.6 hours
Start this bookNo. 27 on this list. This Place Kills Me · Mariko Tamaki · 2025
The book is a 2025 release with no syllabus record yet. It belongs to the young adult graphic novel category, a place comparable to Beach Read in recency.
Easy4.4 hours
Start this bookNo. 28 on this list. The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley · Shaun David Hutchinson
A 2015 YA novel with no recorded syllabi presence. Its Florida Book Awards Gold Medal and ALA Rainbow Book List placement give it niche recognition, but it is not a taught text.
Easy
Start this bookNo. 29 on this list. The Darkness Outside Us · Eliot Schrefer · 2021
A 2021 YA novel with no recorded syllabi presence. A Stonewall Honor gives it a place in LGBTQ+ young adult reading lists, but it is not yet a curricular text.
Easy5.9 hours
Start this bookNo. 30 on this list. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child · J.K. Rowling · 2016
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016) is the published script of the two-part stage play written by Jack Thorne from a story by Rowling, Thorne and John Tiffany. It is read by fans of the series but is not taught or listed as literature.
Easy2.3 hours
Start this book
No. 31 on this list. Go Ask Alice
Beatrice Sparks · 2006
No. 32 on this list. The One
Kiera Cass · 2014
No. 33 on this list. Crave
Tracy Wolff · 2020
No. 34 on this list. Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating
Adiba Jaigirdar · 2021
No. 35 on this list. Red Rising
Pierce Brown · 2014
No. 36 on this list. Sadie
Courtney Summers · 2018
No. 37 on this list. O Eterno Sonhador (Portuguese Edition)
Laini Taylor · 2024
No. 38 on this list. The Elite
Kiera Cass · 2013
No. 39 on this list. Sunrise on the Reaping
Suzanne Collins · 2025
No. 40 on this list. Divine Rivals, Ruthless Vows
REBECCA ROSS · 2024
No. 41 on this list. The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jenny Han · 2009
No. 42 on this list. The Boy I Love
No. 43 on this list. A Court of Mist and Fury
Sarah J. Maas · 2016
No. 44 on this list. Tilt
Emma Pattee · 2012
No. 45 on this list. Dark Rise
C.S. Pacat · 2021
No. 46 on this list. History Is All You Left Me
Adam Silvera · 2017
No. 47 on this list. der schuss
Christian Linker · 2017
No. 48 on this list. What If It's Us
Becky Albertalli · 2018
No. 49 on this list. The First to Die at the End
Adam Silvera · 2022
No. 50 on this list. Behind Five Willows
June Hur · 2026
No. 51 on this list. I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Casey McQuiston · 2022
No. 52 on this list. Wish You Were Her
Elle McNicoll · 2025
No. 53 on this list. The Inheritance Games
Jennifer Lynn Barnes · 2020
No. 54 on this list. It's Not Summer Without You
Jenny Han · 2023
No. 55 on this list. I, Medusa
Ayana Gray · 2025
No. 56 on this list. Deposing Nathan
Zack Smedley · 2019
No. 57 on this list. Four: A Divergent Collection (Divergent Series Story)
Veronica Roth · 2014
No. 58 on this list. Shatter Me Complete Collection
Tahereh Mafi · 2011
No. 59 on this list. Two Tribes
Fearne Hill · 2023
No. 60 on this list. 나 혼자만 레벨업 1 [Na Honjaman Level Up 1]
Dubu · 2019
No. 61 on this list. Don't Let the Forest In
CG Drews · 2024
No. 62 on this list. Echoes of Us
Alex Cross · 2014
No. 63 on this list. Marina
Carlos Ruiz Zafón · 1999
No. 64 on this list. Children of Virtue and Vengeance
Tomi Adeyemi · 2024
No. 65 on this list. We'll Always Have Summer
Jenny Han · 2022
No. 66 on this list. Fearless
Lauren Roberts · 2025
No. 67 on this list. The Blood Traitor
Lynette Noni · 2023
No. 68 on this list. The Foxhole Court
Nora Sakavic · 2013
No. 69 on this list. Between the Lines
No. 70 on this list. A Curse for True Love
Stephanie Garber · 2023
No. 71 on this list. Dreamseeker
C.S. Friedman · 2015
No. 72 on this list. Reckless
Lauren Roberts · 2024
No. 73 on this list. Iron Flame
Rebecca Yarros · 2023
No. 74 on this list. Anger Is Only a Shadow
Elizabeth Acevedo · 2026
No. 75 on this list. Мара и Морок
No. 76 on this list. Blood Bound (Deluxe Edition)
Ellis Hunter · 2026
No. 77 on this list. Don't You Dare
CE Ricci · 1996
No. 78 on this list. All the Things They Said We Couldn't Have: Stories of Trans Joy
T.C. Oakes-Monger · 2023
No. 79 on this list. Brightness Between Us
Eliot Schrefer · 2023
No. 80 on this list. The Last Song
Nicholas Sparks · 2010
No. 81 on this list. The Ballad of Never After
Stephanie Garber · 2022
No. 82 on this list. The Deal
Elle Kennedy · 2015
No. 83 on this list. The Only Light Left Burning
No. 84 on this list. The Night Ends with Fire
K.X. Song · 2024
No. 85 on this list. The Dixon Rule
Elle Kennedy · 2024
No. 86 on this list. Shadow Princess
Caroline Peckham · 2020
No. 87 on this list. Unsteady
Peyton Corinne · 2024
No. 88 on this list. James Dean: Dream As If You'll Live Forever (American Rebels)
Karen Clemens Warrick · 2006
No. 89 on this list. A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence (Dear America)
Sherry Garland · 1998
No. 90 on this list. The Mistake
Elle Kennedy · 2023
No. 91 on this list. That's Not My Name
Megan Lally · 2023
No. 92 on this list. Sorrow and Starlight
Caroline Peckham · 2022
No. 93 on this list. Powerful
Lauren Roberts · 2025
No. 94 on this list. The Best Worst Thing
Lauren Okie · 2016
No. 95 on this list. The Wendy
Erin Michelle Sky · 2018
No. 96 on this list. Say You Swear
Meagan Brandy · 2022
No. 97 on this list. The Long Run
James Acker · 2023
No. 98 on this list. Десять писем
Liya Astrum · 2025
No. 99 on this list. Heartless Sky
Caroline Peckham · 2021
No. 100 on this list. Divine Rivals
REBECCA ROSS · 2022
About this list
These 100 books are the highest-scoring eligible young adult novels currently in the catalogue. About 528 hours of reading in all, for the 91 with measured lengths. Difficulty runs from 25 to 32 out of 100 for the middle half of the list; the summit is The Giver at 59.
This list is ranked by literary regard, with a consistent order for equal scores. Membership follows authors and co-authors, not translators or editors. Catalogue coverage and the historical canon both limit what this list can represent, and genre labels are the catalogue’s own, gathered into broader kinds.
When we matched the Canons dataset to our catalogue in October 2026, our canonical-status scores rose with the number of school curricula, publisher series and lists in it that cite a work: the median score was 72 for books one such source cites, 84 at two, 88 at three, 92 at four and 93 at five or more. Prizes are left out of that count. Outside the state curricula, the dataset’s sources choose mostly from what has been translated into English or French, so it is a weaker check on other literatures. Source: Canons (Andrew Piper), CC BY 4.0
Questions people actually ask
- What are the best young adult novels?
- By literary regard, which weighs canonical status, critical standing and influence: The Giver by Lois Lowry, Holes by Louis Sachar, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Tschick by Wolfgang Herrndorf and Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. ReadingRate ranks 100 such books, each with a difficulty score and a reading-time estimate.
- Which young adult novels should I read first?
- Start from difficulty, not from rank. The most approachable books on this list that still carry top literary regard are All the Things They Said We Couldn't Have: Stories of Trans Joy by T.C. Oakes-Monger (about 1.7 hours), James Dean: Dream As If You'll Live Forever (American Rebels) by Karen Clemens Warrick and I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson.
- What are the shortest of the best young adult novels?
- Among the top 25, the shortest are The Giver by Lois Lowry (about 3.4 hours), The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (about 2.4 hours) and I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson (about 2.8 hours), at an average pace of 250 words a minute adjusted for each book's difficulty.
- Which of the best young adult novels are the established classics?
- By canonical status, how firmly a book sits in curricula, anthologies and the canon: The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Holes by Louis Sachar, Tschick by Wolfgang Herrndorf and The Witch of Blackbird Pond: A Newbery Award Winner – A Halloween Book for Teens by Elizabeth George Speare.
- How long would it take to read the top ten?
- About 39 hours, at an average pace of 250 words a minute adjusted for each book's difficulty: 20 days at two hours a day. Set your own pace on the page and the list's reading times change to it.
- How hard are young adult novels to read?
- Most of this list sits between 25 and 32 on ReadingRate's 100-point difficulty scale, where 40 to 55 is moderate. The summit is The Giver at 59. Every entry carries its own score, so a reader can pick a great book at a difficulty they will finish.
- How is this list ranked?
- On literary-regard data: how canonically established a work is, its critical standing, and its influence on later writing. It is not a readers’ poll, which is why recent bestsellers rarely appear. Membership follows authors and co-authors, not translators or editors. Lists by country, author, period, theme or difficulty keep to literature (fiction, poetry, drama and philosophy), their novels, poems and plays first and their philosophy after them; a list of a kind of book, such as memoir or criticism, keeps every book of that kind. Every list holds at most three works by one author.