STARRED REVIEW
December 2022

Best YA Books of 2022

By the end of a YA book, we have watched as a teenage protagonist has taken a critical step from childhood toward adulthood. In the year’s best YA novels, no two of those steps were alike except for how honored we felt to witness them.
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All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

With this story of two teens desperate to leave their small town, Tahir proves she’s just as skilled at contemporary fiction as she is at epic fantasy.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

This epic tale of queer validation is an essential read for anyone searching for a blueprint of their soul.

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

The Epic Story of Every Living Thing by Deb Caletti

Introspective and profoundly engaged, Caletti’s new novel embraces imperfection and inspires empathy.

The Epic Story of Every Living Thing by Deb Caletti book cover

Hopepunk by Preston Norton

Norton’s stellar novel might be the most punk rock book ever written about religion and forgiveness.


I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

The most impressive accomplishment in McQuiston’s first YA book is complicated Shara Wheeler herself.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

Man o’ War by Cory McCarthy

This exploration of queer identity ferociously resists the idea that coming out is a simple or straightforward process.

Man O' War by Cory McCarthy

Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk

Woodfolk plumbs the depths of friendship and first love—and the grief that often comes with navigating both.

Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

Against the backdrop of a cutthroat Scrabble tournament, Alkaf explores loss, celebrates teen determination and sets up a nail-biting mystery.

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas

This heart-pounding fantasy graphic novel is filled with silly banter and fast-paced battles.

Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

Hammonds takes on two challenges—exploring the ugly legacy of racism and telling a moving love story—and succeeds at both.

Book jacket image for We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

A Year to the Day by Robin Benway

A Year to the Day is simultaneously gut-wrenching and heartening, as grief and love so often are.

A Year to the Day by Robin Benway

Discover more of BookPage’s Best Books of 2022.

Hopepunk
By Preston Norton
Little, Brown

ISBN 9781368057851

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