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Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.
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We might have a couple more weeks of 2025 ahead of us, and while there are still a handful of new YA book releases to come, it’s also the time of year when we’re looking ahead and building our TBRs for the new year. YA fans are in for a lot of great reading in 2025. There are tons of books coming from long-time and beloved YA authors, alongside exciting new debuts. Perusing the available 2026 publisher catalogs has been a lot of fun, as has been picking and choosing the books I’m most excited to read.
Alongside several Book Riot contributors and editors who are fans of young adult literature, I’ve put together a guide to some of the most anticipated YA books for 2026. Among them are historical mysteries, contemporary realistic fiction, comics, and more. Grab your to-read list and get ready to watch it grow.
The first titles here that are unattributed are those I’ve selected. Some were included in our blockbuster Most Anticipated Books of 2026 guide and a couple of them are bonus picks. Attributed titles are those selected by other Book Rioters.
Bad Kid (A Graphic Memoir): My Life As A “Troubled Teen” by Sofia Szamosi
The “troubled teen” industry has been a long-time fascination, as it was such a cultural phenomenon during my own teen years (the number of daytime TV shows and shows on teen-friendly networks about “bad kids” going to camps or programs to “straighten up” is deeply disturbing to think about!).
This graphic memoir tells Sofia’s story of being stolen from her room at night when she was 13. Two strangers pulled her out of bed and dragged her to a “therapeutic wilderness camp”–something her mother thought she needed because Sofia’s behavior had gotten out of control.
But there was nothing therapeutic about this camp. It was traumatizing, and Sofia would cycle through several more similar “camps” in attempts to make her better behaved. Her story is harrowing, but it’s also darkly funny while eviscerating an unregulated industry that has done untold damage to generations of young people.
(I’m going to make the weirdest comparison here, but trust me: if this is a topic that interests you at all, you need to read Paris Hilton’s Paris: The Memoir, which talks about her experiences that sound eerily similar to Sofia’s).
Change of Plans by Sarah Dessen
A queen of YA is back with her first novel since 2019.