It’s kind of hard to believe that the year is half over. As you take stock in how your reading year has gone so far, it’s also a great time to reflect upon the books that have stood out to you this year. Whether they’ve floated to the top of your best of because of their stellar quality or because you simply liked the book, consider what those titles may–or may not–have in common.

For years, I never really considered myself a historical fiction reader. But every year, I find that historical fiction tends to bubble to the top of my favorites lists, both at the midpoint and at the end of each calendar year. This year is no different, with my favorite YA book being a historical gothic mystery. I’ve also really enjoyed two books, both queer-authored and queer-centered, that explore the queer teen experience over time. One of those books, Exquisite Things by Abdi Nazemian, was published last fall; Abdi wrote this fantastic guest post, too, on literary censorship that inspired the book. The other book came out last month, and had I read it in time for our call to nominate “best of” titles, it would have made the list. That is Jen St. Jude’s outstanding Where You’ll Find Us. I suspect we’ll be seeing and hearing more about this book as the year moves forward.

This week, Book Riot published our roundup of the best books of 2026 so far. Check out the full list, but find below the YA titles that made the cut. In addition to highlighting the books we’ve seen as among the best so far, I’m going to do what I’ve done in the past and highlight the YA books earning starred reviews in the professional trade journals. Thanks to the incredible database created by librarian superstars Jennifer LaGarde, Donalyn Miller, and Martha Hickson, there’s an easy way to peruse the titles that have received this distinction from professional review journals. Starred reviews, for those who aren’t familiar, are the highest honor a book can get in a professional trade review. These are books that stand out from the rest.

For those of you who, like me, really appreciate nerding out on data, later this month, I’ll be digging into the YA books showing up on The New York Times bestsellers list so far this year. I’ll be honest: it’s really kind of boring, and it also points to how books available at the same time in hardcover and in paperback–something that I appreciate and think does great reader service–have multiple opportunities to rise to the top of the NYT list.

First up: here are the best of the best in YA from Book Riot’s list. It’s a small list, which is pretty reflective of our “best of” list so far, period. I know it was tough for me to pull out titles that I thought deserved a place here, and that was less about the quality of titles than it was about just not reading as much or as deeply in YA this year. I’ve also simply read more backlist than frontlist, but I expect both my end-of-year best-of list and the titles from the rest of Book Riot’s staff and contributors to be much longer.

And from the trades, per the above-mentioned database? No YA books have yet earned five stars as of writing, the highest number so far among all books written for young readers. We have seen several YA titles earning their third and fourth stars from the trades. Here’s what those titles are–all of which were published before July. Anticipate seeing more high-star earners in the second half of the year. You may even see one or two of the titles below pick up additional gold.

Four Starred Reviews

• Ambrosia Lee Drops the Mic by Patricia Park
• The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS In America by Gabriel Duckels and David Levithan
• The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh
• A Scar Like a River by Lisa Graff–this one is slotted as being for grades 7-9, so I’m including it here among younger YA titles.
• Where You’ll Find Us by Jen St. Jude