*YALSA has launched the new Teen Book Finder Database, which is a one-stop shop for finding selected lists and award winners. Users can search this free resource by award, list name, year, author, genre and more, as well as print customizable lists. This new resource will replace the individual award and list web pages currently on YALSA’s site that are not searchable and that are organized only by year.
Each year, the Popular Paperbacks committee creates lists of books to encourage young adults to read for pleasure. The lists of popular or topical titles are widely available in paperback and represent a broad variety of accessible themes and genres.
Please note: This list has been retired. New lists will not be released.
2017 Popular Paperbacks Titles:
2017 Popular Paperbacks Titles
Biography: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story: This selection of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs highlights the struggles young adults face in forming their identities and deciding what kinds of people they want to be.
Horror: Better Dead than Unread: The committee's update of the 2011 Chillers and Thrillers list showcases the abundance of horror books for young adults.
Living Overseas: Stranger in a Strange Land: This list of young adults living in foreign countries and attempting to navigate new languages supports YALSA's 2016 Teen Read Week's multilingual Read for the Fun of It theme.
Mental Health: Invisible Wounds: According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, 1 in 5 teens have or will develop a serious mental illness. This list takes a look at how mental health and mental illness is portrayed in books for young adults.
Previous Lists
- Fairy Tales Retold: Once Upon a Twisted Time
- Get Graphic: Graphic Novels
- Post-Apocalyptic: It's the End of the World As We Know It
- Unreliable Narrators: Don't Believe a Word
- Top Ten
- Book to Movie: Ripped from the Pages
- Mysteries: Murder, Mayhem and Other Adventures
- Lock Up: Teens behind Bars
- Narrative Non-Fiction: Inspired by Actual Events
- Top Ten
- Conflicted: Life During Wartime
- GLBTQ: Books with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer-questioning, Intersex, Asexual Individuals, and Their Allies
- Humor Me: Funny, Fantastic and Witty Reads
- Top Ten
- Boarding Schools to Summer Camps
- Gowns, Greasepaint and Guitars
- I'm New Here Myself
- More Books that Won't Make you Blush
- Top Ten
- Get Creative
- Religion: Relationship with the Divine
- Now THAT'S Comedy! Humorous Books
- I'm Not Making This Up
- If It Weren’t For Them: Heroes
- On That Note…Music and Musicians
- Guess Again: Mystery and Suspense
- Simply Science Fiction
- Lock It, Lick, It,Click it: Diaries, Letters and Email
- Flights of Fantasy: Beyond Harry and Frodo
- This Small World: A Glimpse at Many Cultures
- I've Got a Secret
- Relationships: Friends and Family
- War: Conflict and Consequences
- Tales of the Cities
- Graphic Novels: Superheroes and Beyond