Tag: Jodi Kruse

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2027) Featured Review: Beth is Dead by Katie Bernet

  • Beth Is Dead
  • Author: Katie Bernet
  • Narrated by Caitlin Kelly, Emily Tremaine, Ferdelle Capistrano, and Piper Goodeve
  • Simon and Schuster Audio
  • Publication Date: January 6, 2026 
  • ISBN: 9781668157596

The March sisters are as famous as their father who wrote a wildly controversial bestseller based on their lives. Feminists excoriate him for taking advantage of his daughters, and stalkers are doing the freaky things stalkers do, so there are plenty of suspects when Beth March winds up dead at the bottom of a ravine. Determined to discover her killer, Jo March begins a dogged search for answers. 

Four heavy hitting narrators bring the story to life with pitch perfect renditions of the March sisters. Past and present events are telegraphed well, and the vocal mannerisms are distinctive, keeping this complexly plotted reimagined classic clear for readers.

This is an ideal suspense/thriller listen for teens who liked That’s Not My Name written by Megan Lally and narrated by Sophie Amoss and Robb Moreira, or 49 Miles Alone written by Natalie D. Richards and narrated by Victoria Rillarreal, Laura Knight Keating, and Suzy Jackson.  For teens who are looking for reimagined classics, suggest Rosa By Any Other Name by Hailey Alcaraz and narrated by Victoria Villarreal or Bad Girls Never Say Die by Jennifer Mathieu with narration by Sandy Rustin.

-Jodi Kruse

Other Nominated Titles

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

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2025 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults List

YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Blogging Team presents fiction titles published for young adults in the past 14 months that are recommended reading for ages 12 to 18. The purpose of the annual list it to provide librarians and library workers with a resource to use for collection development and reader’s advisory purposes.

Although now a blogging team, the group was originally a committee. The committee evolved from a committee established under the School Libraries Section of ALA, which was charged with producing a list of 1930’s “Best Books for Young People.” The committee has undergone several changes of focus and names over the years, including the Book Selection Committee (1954), and later the Committee for the Selection of Significant Adult Books for Young People (1963). It became the Best Books for Young Adults Committee (BBYA) in 1966. As publishing for the young adult market grew exponentially (over 2,000 titles per year in 2008) and seven other YALSA selection and award lists for young adults were created since its inception, Best Books for Young Adults was restructured and named Best Fiction for Young Adults by the YALSA Board of Directors at the Midwinter Meeting in 2010.

Suggest a Title for the 2026 List Here

See Current Committee Contacts Here

Download the Complete 2025 List Here

Click the titles to be directed to the original reviews. Click the authors names to be directed to author’s website.

  • All the Fighting Parts
  • by Hannah V. Sawyerr
  • 2023, Amulet, $19.99, (9781419762611), Gr. 9 – 12
  • Sixteen-year-old Amina Conteh clashes with her religious father in many ways, and is forced to spend more time at their church because of her rebelliousness. When she is assaulted by a church leader, Amina uses poetry to find her voice and seek justice for what happened to her.
  • Bright Red Fruit 
  • By Safia Elhillo
  • 2024. 368 p. Make Me a World, $19.99 (9780593381229), Gr. 8 – 12
  • When sixteen-year-old Samira’s overprotective Sudanese immigrant mother grounds her for the umpteenth time, she takes refuge in an online poetry community. There she meets Horus, an older poet. When she ignores her friends’ warnings about him, there’s more at risk than her reputation, risks her mom didn’t prepare her for.

  • Dragonfruit
  • By Makiia Lucier
  • 2024. 356 p. Clarion Books, $19.99 (9780358272106). Gr. 8 – 11.
  • As a child, Hanalei and the princess of Tamarind were poisoned. Hanalei’s father stole a rare dragon egg intended to resurrect the princess and fed it to Hanalei, forcing them into exile. Now years later, Hanalei has a chance to find a new dragon egg and right the past.
  • Libertad
  • Bessie Flores Zaldivar
  • 2024. 417 p. Dial Books, $19.99 (9780593696125). Gr. 9 – 12.
  • Libertad Morazán creates an anonymous Instagram profile to share her political poetry about the 2017 Honduran presidential election, while trying to reconcile her feelings for her best friend, Cami, and her new girlfriend, Dani. After tragedy strikes her family, Libertad has to decide the best course of action for her future.
  • Looking for Smoke
  • By K.A. Cobell
  • 2024. 402 p. Heartdrum, $19.99 (9780063318670). Gr. 9 – 12.
  • When a Blackfeet girl is found murdered during a giveaway honoring a missing teen girl, four teens with complicated pasts find themselves named suspects. They have to work together to clear their names. But as time goes on, it looks increasingly likely that one of the four is the murderer.
  • The Merciless King of Moore High
  • By Lily Sparks
  • 2024. 365 p. Flux, $16.99 (9781635830965). Gr. 9 – 12.
  • Exiled from her school and left to fend for herself against the monsters outside, Kay seeks shelter with the rival school, Moore High, and its king. However, she soon discovers a deadly secret that could destroy both schools.
  • Rez Ball
  • By Byron Graves
  • 2023. 357 p. Heartdrum, $19.99 (9780063160378). Gr. 9 – 12.
  • Tre Brun is trying to prove he’s a great basketball player, but it’s hard when everyone compares him to his older brother Jaxon who died in a car accident. Jaxon nearly took Red Lake Reservation High School state. Now Tre is ready to take his team to state. . .and win.
  • Thirsty
  • By Jas Hammonds
  • 2024. 318 p. Roaring Brook Press, $19.99 (9781250816597). Gr. 9 – 12.
  • As a biracial girl from a poor background, Blake Brenner has just wanted to feel seen. Now four years into a relationship with her beautiful and rich girlfriend who enables her drinking problem, Blake must navigate the summer before college and pledging a secret sorority for women of color.
  • Twenty-Four Seconds from Now… : A Love Story
  • By Jason Reynolds
  • 2024. 239 p. Atheneum, $19.99 ( 978-1665961271). Gr. 9 – 12
  • Neon is just twenty-four seconds away from losing his virginity to Aria, but nerves are getting the best of him. Told in reverse, the story unravels the moments that brought Neon to this moment, highlighting the relationship advice he receives from significant figures in his life.
  • Under This Red Rock
  • By Mindy McGinnis
  • 2024. 326 p. Katherine Tegen Books, $19.99 (9780063230415). Gr. 10 – 12.
  • Neely, still reeling from her brother’s suicide, has been secretly living with schizophrenia. She finds comfort and stability working as a guide in the caverns–until her coworker and crush Mila is found brutally murdered and Neely begins to worry she’s the one responsible.

Committee Members

Coordinator: Jodi Kruse

Team members: Cathy DeCampli, Molly Dettmann, Michael Fleming, Candace Fox, Alicia Kalan, Beth Krebs-Smith, Kameron Morton, Megan Nigh, Julianne Novetsky, Yona Yurwit

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2025) Featured Review: The Glass Girl by Kathleen Glasgow

Bella shared a secret with her beloved grandma, Laurel: every so often they share a glass of something “sweet” over a game of Scrabble. Now that Laurel has passed, Bella is finding herself taking the edge off the anxiety of warring parents, a needy younger sister, a job, her broken heart after an unwanted break up, and academic demands with her bottle of Sprodka–a mixture of Sprite and vodka in the unassuming Sprite bottle.  The problem is, her reliance on her Sprodka is increasing and her memory of its aftermath is decreasing. When she loses control at a party and mixes recreational drugs with her alcohol, her “friends” leave her on her mother’s doorstep where Bella falls and nearly dies. After a stint at a rehab facility, Bella must try to pick up the pieces of her life.

Kathleen Glasgow established herself as a credible voice in realistic fiction with Girl in Pieces, so this is a title with a built in readership, and Bella’s story does not disappoint. Glasgow writes from a place of personal experience using a plot inhabited by realistically flawed characters.  The inclusion of Bella’s internal monologue ratchets up the reader’s sense of her anxiety while Glasgow’s portrayal of a loving, but dysfunctional, family and the social dynamics of high school are immediately recognizable. Despite the bleakness of the subject matter, this is ultimately a story of hope and healing that ends on the precipice of Bella’s success.

Teens who are on their own journeys to sobriety will find a lot to love about this plot. Not quite as gritty as Jas Hammond’s Thirsty, it will scratch the same itch. Bella’s recovery via nature is similar to Wren’s in Wendelin Van Draanen’s Wild Bird, and shares some similarity to Mia’s path in Jessie Ann Foley’s You Know I’m No Good.

– Jodi Kruse

Other Nominated Titles

Released: March 12, 2024
Release: March 19, 2024
Release: July 30, 2024

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.
The Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee appreciates teen feedback as members evaluate the nominated titles. Teen librarians are encouraged to share the List of Potential Nominees under consideration with their patrons and solicit feedback using the link: https://bit.ly/BFYA25TeenFB

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2025) Featured Review: That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally

  • That’s Not My Name
  • by Megan Lally
  • Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
  • Release date: December 26, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781728270111

Mary doesn’t know who she is or why she has a collection of injuries and trauma, which complicates the job of the police officer in the small Oregon Coastal town who is trying to help her get back to her family.  Drew is the lead suspect in the disappearance of his girlfriend at a boat launch in a small town just outside of Portland, Oregon. Drew is certain that his girlfriend, Lola, is not dead and that the local sheriff’s fixation on him as a suspect is hindering the effort to find Lola as the weeks drag on. Drew’s dogged determination leads him to Mary and the very odd man who claims to be Mary’s father.

From the first page, readers are pulled into Mary’s panic and confusion and the pace doesn’t let up. Author Megan Lally doles out clues to who Mary might be in small tidbits, building the tension. . .and then switches perspectives to tell Drew’s story which is laden with its own tensions, familial concerns, and drama. The meeting of the two characters leads to a full-on thriller that is characteristic of the genre–a serial killer who just won’t die, but the resolution is just as messy as life and grief can be.

Teens who crave psychological thrillers will eat this one up. Hand this to teens who liked Jane Anonymous by Laurie Faria Stolarz or Daughter by Kate McLaughlin.

–Jodi Kruse

Other Nominated Titles

June 11, 2024
July 23, 2024
April 23, 2024

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.
The Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee appreciates teen feedback as members evaluate the nominated titles. Teen librarians are encouraged to share the List of Potential Nominees under consideration with their patrons and solicit feedback using the link: https://bit.ly/BFYA25TeenFB

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2025) Featured Review: Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow

Growing up on his family’s land in Vermont, Ian knows things that can’t be taught in school. He’s smart, but doesn’t see a lot of point in some of the classes he takes when it’s smarter to know how to fix engines or live off the land. His dog, Gather, shows up at a time in his life when Ian needs the dog the most: as Ian’s mother is struggling with an addiction that will ultimately kill her.  

Ian’s voice and struggles are authentic. His pragmatic outlook on life, as well as his personal qualities of loyalty and resourcefulness make him an appealing protagonist who resonates with readers who see themselves in his story, while the plot provides windows into his world for those who have never experienced the ambience of rural, small town life. 

This is a book that will engage readers who like realistic stories that emphasize survival and resilience. Not quite as spare as Gary Paulsens’ works, it will appeal to the same type of reader.  Give this to readers who liked Wrecked by Heather Henson or Words We Don’t Say by K. J. Reilly.

-Jodi Kruse

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

The Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee appreciates teen feedback as members evaluate the nominated titles. Teen librarians are encouraged to share the List of Potential Nominees under consideration with their patrons and solicit feedback using the link: https://bit.ly/BFYA25TeenFB