26 Young Adult Novels That Your Teenager — and You — Should Read Right Now

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker ($16)

Julia, an awkward girl enduring everyday issues — first love and her parents' marital problems — amidst a catastrophic event in which the rotation of the earth suddenly begins to slow.

Themes: Friendship, loss, isolation

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green ($13)

Hazel thinks her story is written, as she's terminally ill, until Augustus Waters walks into her life and has no intentions of leaving before making every second with Hazel count.

Themes: Love, loss, self-discovery

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider ($10)

When Ezra — who before a car accident was front-runner for prom king — finds himself with a new group of misfit friends, he learns that new beginnings can come from even the most tragic endings.

Themes: Love, friendship, identity

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart ($18)

Cadence Sinclair's family spends every summer on a private island, where she and her three best friends — the Liars — deal with secrecy, love, and truth.

Themes: Friendship, forgiveness, guilt

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell ($19)

Eleanor and Park couldn't be any more different and couldn't be anymore inexplicably in love with each other.

Themes: Love, identity, isolation, abuse

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky ($21)

Charlie, a high school freshman who writes letters to a friend as he struggles with depression, must navigate through the world of high school — sex, love, friends, and being stuck between adolescence and adulthood.

Themes: Depression, friendship, sexuality, love, loss

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon ($19)

Maddy has a rare disease that renders her unable to leave the safety of her home, where she spends all her time with her mom and nurse, Carla — until Olly's family moves in next door and everything changes.

Themes: Isolation, love, identity

Divergent by ($13)

Tris Prior's community is divided into four factions based on character, and when she realizes that she doesn't quite fit into any one faction, she discovers that in her world, what makes you different is what makes you dangerous.

Themes: Survival, identity, bravery, self-discovery, love

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon ($15)

Christopher, a smart young boy who hates the color yellow, doesn't relate to human emotions well, but goes on a quest to figure out what or who is behind the mysterious death of the neighbor's dog.

Themes: Identity, isolation

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson ($10)

After her sister's death, Lennie finds herself torn between her sister's boyfriend who shares her grief and the new boy in town who is a musical genius and brings life back into her, well, life.

Themes: Loss, love, sexuality, guilt

Monster by Walter Dean Myers ($10)

Steve Harmon, a teenage boy in juvenile detention who has been called a "monster," is on trial after making a small decision that changed his entire life.

Themes: Isolation, survival, identity

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ($13)

Liesel Meminger is a foster child living in Nazi Germany who has to do whatever she can to stay safe and keep her loved ones alive.

Themes: Survival, bravery, loss, friendship

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger ($9)

When Holden Caulfield gets expelled from his Pennsylvania prep school, he decides to wait out his parent's anger for a few days in New York contemplating life and the world around him.

Themes: Loss, depression, isolation

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven ($18)

Finch and Violet meet on the edge of a bell tower where they are both contemplating suicide — their reasons and motivations are different, as are their personalities and lives, but something draws them together in that moment that changes them both.

Themes: Depression, isolation, identity, guilt

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson ($18)

Twins Jude and Noah are inseparable growing up, until they are teenagers and barely speak at all — they need to find their way back to each other while both going through difficult and confusing times.

Themes: Identity, sexuality, forgiveness, loss

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey ($11)

Cassie is desperate to find her brother after he's taken by "Them," and with the help of Evan, she must decide whether to live or die, to give up or keep going.

Themes: Survival, bravery

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell ($20)

Simon Snow, proclaimed the "Chosen One" in his world, is in his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and he needs to know why his roommate and nemesis, Baz, hasn't shown up.

Themes: Identity, love, self-discovery, sexuality

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ($11)

When Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her younger sister's place to be in the Hunger Games — a live TV event in which 12 children from different districts fight to the death for the benefit of their country's "Capitol" — she must do everything in her power to stay alive for her family.

Themes: Survival, bravery, identity, love

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card ($13)

Earth is under attack, and Ender Wiggin, a brilliant young boy, is called upon to save mankind.

Themes: Identity, survival, bravery, isolation

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher ($10)

There are 13 reasons Hannah Baker brought herself to commit suicide, and Clay Jensen finds out after her death that he's one of them.

Themes: Loss, guilt, forgiveness, abuse

Looking For Alaska by John Green ($10)

Miles's life has been completely uneventful, that is, until he meets Alaska, a clever, sexy, self-destructive girl who pulls him into her world and onto "the Great Perhaps."

Themes: Love, sexuality, self-discovery

If I Stay by Gayle Forman ($11)

After a car accident that changes Mia's entire life, she finds herself watching her life from the outside while her actual body remains in a coma, which forces her to make difficult choices about her life going forward.

Themes: Loss, guilt, survival, love

The Maze Runner by James Dashner ($10)

When Thomas wakes up in a box — remembering nothing but his name — he's surrounded by a group of boys who also arrived to the "Glade" with their memories erased and discovers they all have one common mission: get through "the Maze."

Themes: Identity, friendship, bravery, survival

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell ($19)

Cath has never done anything separate from her twin, Wren, until they go off to college and Cath must discover what it means to be true to herself.

Themes: Self-discovery, identity, love, sexuality

The Giver by Lois Lowry ($9)

When 12-year-old Jonas discovers the deepest secrets in his community built on conformity and contentment, he must make a difficult choice that will affect everything from his family to his fragile community.

Themes: Identity, self-discovery, bravery, isolation