These are the 10 best YA books I read this past year. A mix of fiction, non-fiction and graphic.

Clap when you land by Elizabeth Acevedo.

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people… In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance — and Papi’s secrets — the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.

Darius the Great deserves better by Adib Khorram.

Darius Kellner has everything he thought he wanted–a new boyfriend, a new internship, and a spot on the soccer team–but growing up makes him question everything.Dragon hoops by Gene Luen Yang ; color by Lark Pien ; art assists by Rianne Meyers and Kolbe Yang.

An introverted reader starts understanding local enthusiasm about sports in his school when he gets to know some of his talented athletic peers and discovers that their stories are just as thrilling as the comics he loves.

Felix ever after by Kacen Callender.

Felix Love, a transgender seventeen-year-old, attempts to get revenge by catfishing his anonymous bully, but lands in a quasi-love triangle with his former enemy and his best friend.

The fountains of silence by Ruta Sepetys

At the Castellana Hilton in 1957 Madrid, eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson connects with Ana Moreno through photography and fate as Daniel discovers the incredibly dark side of the city under Generalissimo Franco’s rule.

The hand on the wall by Maureen Johnson.

This is the last book in the Truly Devious trilogy that I absolutely adored. After another death, Stevie must navigate mysterious riddles and track down a missing David at the same time a massive storm forces her to confront a killer.

Little universes by Heather Demetrios.

One wave: that’s all it takes for the rest of Mae and Hannah Winters’ lives to change. When a tsunami strikes the island where their parents are vacationing, it soon becomes clear that their mom and dad are never coming home. Forced to move to Boston from sunny California for the rest of their senior year, each girl struggles with secrets their parents’ death has brought to light, and with their uncertainty about the future. Instead of bringing them closer, it feels like the wave has torn the sisters apart. Hannah is a secret poet who wants to be seen, but only knows how to hide. The pain pills she stole from her dead father hurl her onto the shores of an addiction she can’t shake and a dealer who turns her heart upside down. When it’s clear Hannah’s drowning, Mae, a budding astronaut suddenly launched into an existential crisis—and unexpected love—must choose between herself and the only family she has left.

Punching the air by written by Ibi Zoboi with Yusef Salaam ; illustrations by Omar T. Pasha.

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds.

A history of racist and antiracist ideas in America, from their roots in Europe until today, adapted from the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning.

They went left by Monica Hesse.

Zofia, a teenage Holocaust survivor, travels across post-war Europe as she searches for her younger brother and seeks to rebuild her shattered life.

I hope you find something you enjoy!

Mrs. Long, Head of Teen Services