Recs if you like The House of the Scorpion ...

Sci-fi books about clones

Fiction with LGBTQ characters or themes, published for teens between 1990 and 2009.

We lined up outside bookstores like they were Taylor Swift album drops. Midnight releases, theories, merch, movie chaos. Peak YA and nothing has hit like that since.

Complete as of August 2026.

I love YA. It can suck pretty bad when the books try to copy each other. But when some of those gems pop up...wowza! Who knew you could tell such a hard-hitting story without having to resort to 1,000 pages & sex?

Books that were nominated for the John Newbery Medal for distinguished contributions to juvenile literature but did not win Currently lists nominees up to 2024

books you thought were lost to time, never to be seen again 😞 BUT WE GOT EM 🥹 -no mainstream/popular books (BookTok, movie or tv adaptations, series or authors oversaturated within reading apps already) -favour given to books lacking fandom

Pair with "Level 8 – History of Science" book.

All of these books I got assigned to read between elementary, middle, and high school and they have changed and wrecked me for the better.

I wanna make a list for books that I read in school - whether I picked them up from the library myself or they were assigned in English class. for reference, I graduated hs in 2014, so that's the era we're working with :)

if you have any suggestions for books that were popular in the late 00's/early 2010's or books you were assigned in school, please comment!