Kirkus has released another of their best of the year lists. Here are the books selected as their best YA with plenty of great surprises included:

After the Fire by Will Hill
After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay

And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Rovina Cai
Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro

An Assassin’s Guide to Love & Treason by Virginia Boecker
Attucks!: Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team That Awakened a City by Phillip Hoose

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen

Black Wings Beating by Alex London
Blacklisted!: Hollywood, the Cold War, and the First Amendment by Larry Dane Brimner

Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
The Book of Pearl by Timothee de Fombelle

Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam by Elizabeth Partridge
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu

The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

Chasing King’s Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr’s Assassin by James L. Swanson
Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Dream Country by Shannon Gibney
Driving by Starlight by Anat Deracine

The Fall of Innocence by Jenny Torres Sanchez
Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico by David Bowles

Final Draft by Riley Redgate
Fire Song by Adam Garnet Jones

For Everyone by Jason Reynolds
The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas

The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20th Century by Neal Bascomb
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Home and Away by Candice Montgomery

The House of One Thousand Eyes by Michelle Barker
I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall

I, Claudia by Mary McCoy
If Only by Jennifer Gilmore

I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya
Iron River by Daniel Acosta

Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice by Bryan Stevenson
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi
Last Pick by Jason Walz

Latchkey by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

My Brother’s Husband by Gengorah Tagame
My Name Is Victoria by Lucy Worsley

Notes from My Captivity by Kathy Parks
Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron
Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement by Nadya Okamoto

Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert
The Place Between Breaths by An Na

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Sadie by Courtney Summers

Secrets of the Casa Rosada by Alex Temblador
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
The Storyteller by Traci Chee

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton
Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman

The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding
Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
This Book Betrays My Brother by Kasigo Lesego Molope

This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kheryn Callender
Troublemakers by Catherine Barter

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown

Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners by Naomi Shihab Nye
Votes for Women: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot by Winifred Conkling

We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden
What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper

When My Heart Joins the Thousand by A.J. Steiger
Wildcard by Marie Lu

Your One & Only by Adrianne Finlay
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