Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults


The American Library Association's Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults, formerly Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults, is a recommendation list of audiobooks presented yearly by the Young Adult Library Services Association division.
The Young Adult Library Services Association released the first list of Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults in 1999. In 2009, the list was renamed as Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults.
The list can be used to help young adult readers find suitable audiobooks, which "are an underused treasure in school libraries. Teacher librarians can use them to draw new readers into the library and find new ways to connect with teachers." However, finding quality audiobooks can be difficult as one must consider the audiobook's sound quality, pacing, variety, cultural authenticity, narrators, as well as matching readers' interests, reading ability, the audiobook's length, and more. To help address these challenges, several librarians and organizations recommend parents and teachers use the Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults list to find audiobooks for young adults.

Criteria

To be eligible for the list, the audiobook "must have been produced or released within the 24 months previous to the list’s release." The audiobooks cover a range of topics and are targeted toward individuals between the ages of 12 and 18. To land a place on the list, audiobooks are judged on the following criteria:
  • The audiobooks must appeal to young adults age 12 to 18. This includes book whose text versions may not be suitable to this demographic.
  • If the material is adapted, it "must remain true to, expand, or complement the original work"
  • The audiobook must effectively use voice, music, sound effects, and/or language
  • The audiobook must be appropriate for audio presentation
  • The audiobook must have a suitable match between the performer and the text.
  • The audiobook must be professionally produced.
  • All words within the audiobook must be pronounced correctly.
  • The audiobook must be clearly recorded.
  • The audiobook must include informative packaging.

Honorees

After honoring all amazing audiobooks, the Young Adult Library Services Association selects ten books every year, which are "the best of the best."
Award YearGenreAuthorBook TitleReader
2011FantasyDreamdark Silksinger
2011FantasyFinnikin of the Rock
2011Fantasy, Science-FictionThe Knife of Never Letting Go
2011FictionMuchacho
2011FictionPrecious
2011Fiction and David LevithanWill Grayson, Will Grayson and Nick Podehl
2011Historical fictionThe Best Bad Luck I Ever Had
2011Historical fictionOne Crazy Summer
2011Historical fictionRapture of the Deep
2011Historical fictionThe Rock and the River
2012BiographyHow They Croaked
2012FantasyThe Curse of the Wendigo
2012FantasyFever Crumb
2012FantasyMarbury Lens
2012FantasyThe Ring of Solomon
2012FictionAre These My Basoomas I See Before Me?
2012FictionBeauty Queens
2012FictionCarter’s Big Break
2012Historical fantasyChime
2012Historical fictionThe Wake of the Lorelei Lee
2013AutobiographyWarriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High
2013FantasyThe Diviners
2013FantasyInheritance
2013FantasyThe Isle of Blood
2013FictionDiary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
2013FictionPersonal Effects
2013FictionWonder, Nick Podehl, and Kate Rudd
2013Historical fictionCode Name Verity and Lucy Gaskell
2013Historical fictionThe Watch That Ends the Night, Phil Gigante, Christopher Lane, Laurel Merlington, and Angela Dawe
2013Mystery, ThrillerCrusher
2014BiographyThe Boy on the Wooden Box
2014FantasyEtiquette & Espionage
2014FantasyCrap Kingdom
2014FantasyDodger
2014Fantasy, HorrorZombie Baseball Beatdown
2014FictionIf You Could Be Mine
2014FictionEleanor & Park and Sunil Malhotra
2014Historical FictionViva Jacquelina!: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Over the Hills and Far Away
2014Horror, ThrillerScowler
2014Science-FictionWilliam Shakespeare's Star WarsFull cast
2015FictionACID with Nicholas Guy Smith and Suzan Crowley
2015FictionCurtsies and Conspiracies
2015FictionDefine Normal
2015FictionFat Boy vs. the Cheerleaders
2015FictionGlory O’Brien’s History of the Future
2015FictionHalf Bad
2015FictionLove Letters to the Dead
2015FictionRevolution and Francois Battiste with J.D. Jackson and Robin Miles
2015FictionSkink--No Surrender
2015FictionWilliam Shakespeare’s Star Wars Collection, Jonathan Davis, Ian Doescher, Jeff Gurner, January LaVoy, and Marc Thompson
2016FictionWaistcoats & Weaponry
2016FictionThe Dead House and Christian Coulson
2016FictionEcho, David De Vries, MacLeod Andrews, and Rebecca Soler
2016FictionGabi, a Girl in Pieces
2016FictionHalf Wild and Kyla Garcia
2016Fiction and Jay Kristofflluminae, Lincoln Hoppe, and Johnathan McClain
2016FictionLair of Dreams
2016FictionLibrary of Souls
2016Fiction and Daniel KrausTrollhunters
2016NonfictionWhat If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
2017FictionAnna and the Swallow Man
2017FictionBeast
2017Fiction and Jay KristoffGemina, MacLeod Andrews, Steve West, and a full cast
2017FictionKill the Boy Band
2017FictionNimona, Rebecca Soler, January LaVoy, Peter Bradbury, Jonathan Davis, David Pittu, and Natalie Gold
2017FictionOrbiting Jupiter
2017FictionSalt to the Sea, Will Damron, Cassandra Morris, and Michael Crouch
2017FictionStar Wars: Ahsoka
2017FictionTraffick, Julia Whelan, Madeleine Maby, Rebekkah Ross, and Jacques Roy
2017FictionWink Poppy Midnight, Alicyn Packard, and Caitlin Davies
2018Fantasy and Newt ScamanderFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
2018FantasyScythe
2018Fiction Flying Lessons and Other StoriesVarious
2018FictionThe Hate U Give
2018FictionThe Inexplicable Logic of My Life
2018FictionThe Pearl Thief
2018FictionThe Sun Is Also a Star, Raymond Lee, and Bahni Turpin
2018Historical fictionThe Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
2018Memoir, as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan BuckleyTurning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March
2018Memoir, Graphic novelHonor GirlEnsemble Cast
2019FantasyAkata Witch
2019Fantasy and Eugene YelchinThe Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
2019Fantasy and Kennilworthy WhispQuidditch Through the Ages
2019FantasyThunderhead
2019FictionI Have Lost My Way, Michael Crouch, and Sunil Malhotra
2019FictionLu
2019FictionSadie, Fred Berman, Dan Bittner, Gabra Zackman, and a full cast
2019FictionSunny
2019MemoirEducated
2019Poetic FictionThe Poet X
2020FantasyDig, Mike Chamberlain, Tonya Cornelisse and Kirby Heyborne
2020FictionHeroine
2020FictionLet Me Hear a Rhyme, Korey Jackson, Adam Lazarre-White, and Nile Bullock
2020FictionOn the Come Up
2020FictionWith the Fire on High
2020Historical fictionThe Fountains of Silence with Richard Ferrone, Neil Hellegers, Joshua Kane, Liza Kaplan, and Oliver Wyman
2020MemoirBecoming
2020Memoir, Graphic novelHey Kiddo, Jeanne Birdsall, Richard Ferrone, and Jenna Lamia
2020Poetic MemoirShout
2020Science FictionInternment
2021Biography, Graphic Novel and Omar MohamedWhen Stars Are ScatteredFull cast
2021FantasyLegendborn
2021FantasyCemetery Boys
2021FantasyClap When You Land and Elizabeth Acevedo
2021FantasyA Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Melissa Calin, Michael Crouch, Gopal Divan, Robert Fass, Kevin R. Free, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Carol Monda, Patricia Santomasso, Shezi Sardar and Amanda Thickpenny
2021FantasyThe Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party, Whitney Dykhouse, Teri Schnaubelt, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Lauren Ezzo, Eric G. Dove, Ramón de Ocampo, and Shaun Taylor-Corbett
2021FantasyKent State, Lauren Ezzo, Christina Delaine, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, Korey Jackson, and David de Vries
2021FantasyRaybearer
2021Historical fictionWe Are Not Free, Dan Woren, Ryan Potter, Ali Fumiko, Sophie Oda, Andrew Kishino, Christopher Naoki Lee, Grace Rolek, Erika Aishii, Brittany Ishibashi, Kurt Sanchez Kanazawa and Terry Kitagawa
2021Nonfiction and Ibram X. KendiStamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You and Ibram X. Kendi
2022BiographySingled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke
2022FictionChlorine Sky
2022FictionConcrete Rose
2022FictionFirekeeper’s Daughter
2022FictionHow Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe
2022FictionK-Pop Confidential
2022FictionWhen You Look Like Us
2022Historical fictionLast Night at the Telegraph Club
2022NonfictionApple: Skin to the Core
2022Science FictionGame Changer and Jennifer Jill Araya