Tall WaterSJ SinduBinational Nimmi, 17, follows her journalist father from South Dakota to war-torn Sri Lanka to confront the mother who let her go 16 years before. Dramatic digital artwork.Fourteen and OlderView book detailsBank Street Best Children's Books of the Year 2026
A large annual list organized by age group and subject.
The Best Children's Books of the Year [2026 edition]See the original list
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Published byBank Street College of Education
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Fourteen and Older
60 of 104 selections on this pageContinued from page 9Continues on page 11
Tall WaterSJ SinduBinational Nimmi, 17, follows her journalist father from South Dakota to war-torn Sri Lanka to confront the mother who let her go 16 years before. Dramatic digital artwork.Fourteen and OlderView book details
This Thing of OursFrederick JosephAt a predominantly white high school, an injury forces Black senior Ossie to pivot from basketball to creative writing. As he navigates the change, he underestimates the power of race and the impact of social media.Fourteen and OlderView book details
When We RideRex OgleMexican American Benny, who works hard and dreams of college, is conflicted about giving rides to school to his best friend, Lawson, who deals drugs there. Spare, unflinching free verse.Fourteen and OlderView book details
And the Trees Stare BackGigi GriffisIt is 1989 in Soviet Estonia, and there is danger everywhere. Townspeople disappear, including Vik’s sister, Anna. Anna returns, but something is very, very wrong.Fourteen and OlderView book details
BeastsIngvild Bjerkeland, Rosie HedgerAbdi, 13, flees through forest and mountainous terrain to survive an invasion, protect his sister, and reach safety. Will he make it?Fourteen and OlderView book details
CalmS. J. BakerIn a future Great Britain, citizens’ complacency is controlled through the water supply. Members of an underground network help each other to resist and reach freedom.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Meet Me at Blue HourSarah SukCan Korean Canadian Yena and Lucas overcome erased memories to rekindle lost love and rebuild family connections?Fourteen and OlderView book details
An Ocean ApartJill TewYears after a Category 6 storm devastates Florida, Eden assumes a false identity to enter a bachelorette- type competition that could topple the company controlling the state’s water and food supply.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger Games series)Suzanne CollinsOn his 16th birthday, Haymitch Abernathy is chosen as one of four tributes from District 12 to take part in Panem’s brutal 50th Hunger Games.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentAfter We BurnedMarieke NijkampA high school fire and the resultant death of a student spark an investigation and reveal dark secrets in a small town. Multiple first-person narratives.Fourteen and OlderView book details
All the Noise at OnceDeAndra DavisAiden, a Black, autistic high school football player, is sent reeling by his supportive older brother Brandon’s unjust arrest. How will he manage on his own? Can he prove Brandon’s innocence?Fourteen and OlderView book details
All the Way Around the SunXiXi TianThe death of Stella’s older brother, a Harvard freshman, has shattered her Chinese immigrant family. A college tour with a family friend opens a path toward healing.Fourteen and OlderView book details
A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still BreatheMahogany L. BrowneIn multiple literary formats, a group of New York City teens describe trying to live with friends, families, and themselves, against the dramatically disorienting backdrop of the COVID pandemic.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Cope FieldT. L. SimpsonHis dad is a former major leaguer, but is Crawford really “the luckiest kid alive”? What he longs to know is why his mom left without him.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentThe House No One SeesAdina KingOn Penelope’s 16th birthday, she longs for a message from her absent mother, but finds herself reliving her painful past as the daughter of an addict. Includes resources.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentLeave It on the TrackMargot FisherThe survivor of a fire that killed her two dads, Morgan relocates to Portland with the half-sister she barely knows. Will joining a roller derby team help her heal and facilitate her coming out?Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentThe StepsWendelin Van DraanenA 14-year-old chess whiz uses her strategies to outsmart her gold-digging, grudge-harboring, murderous extended family.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentUnder the Fading SkyCynthia KadohataThey have caring parents who provide everything necessary for them to excel, but what if Elijah and his friends don’t want to stay on that track?Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentWe Fell Apart (We Were Liars series)E. LockhartWhen her famous artist father summons Matilda, 17, to his private castle, she discovers a half-brother, but her father is mysteriously missing. Eerily unsettling.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Among GhostsRachel HartmanSeven years ago, Charl, now 13, and his mother fled his abusive father. Now their place of refuge is besieged by plagues and a dragon. How can they survive?Fourteen and OlderView book details
The Assassin’s Guide to BabysittingNatalie C. ParkerIn a superpowered society, Tru maintains a secret identity to elude her parent’s killers. Booking a babysitting job on a bounty app unravels her carefully ordered world.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentBreath of the Dragon (Breathmarked series)Shannon Lee, Fonda LeeA once-prosperous land was cleft in two by a magic-dominated class system. Can 16-year-old Jun, impulsive and lacking any magic, win a combat tournament that could reunite the land? Elegant grayscale map.Fourteen and OlderView book details
The Cat Who Saved the LibrarySosuke Natsukawa, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal KawaiThirteen-year-old Nanami sees a grey entity making books disappear from the library. A mysterious sentient cat recruits her to help stem the tide of vanishings.Fourteen and OlderView book details
A Forgery of FateElizabeth LimTo save her destitute family, Truyan marries an enigmatic dragon lord and travels to his underworld realm to vanquish a curse. A richly reimagined Beauty and the Beast.Fourteen and OlderView book details
The Last TigerJulia Riew, Brad RiewServant Seung and noble Eunji form an unlikely alliance, until Eunji’s arranged marriage to a powerful Dragon. The two reunite as they search for the last tiger. Inspired by true stories of the authors’ Korean grandparents.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Of Flame and FuryMikayla BridgeIn the republic of Salta, a 17-year-old tamer of phoenixes battles to save her racing team and her pet phoenix when they are threatened by a wealthy tech mogul.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentThe Scorpion and the Night BlossomAmélie Wen ZhaoÀn’yīng enters the Immortality Trials for a chance to win a magic cure her failing mother. It soon becomes apparent that someone is helping her; who, and why? Detailed black-and-white map.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentThorn SeasonKiera AzarLady Alissa reluctantly enters the debutante season to impress King Erik but finds those who possess magic as she does are being hunted and murdered. Who can she trust? Grayscale map.Fourteen and OlderView book details
The Cariboo Trek of Callum McBayColin CampbellAbout to lose the family farm, a 17-year-old in the 1860s makes a hazardous journey from Scotland to British Columbia’s Cariboo region to pan for gold. Back matter.Fourteen and OlderView book details
FirebirdElizabeth WeinIt’s 1942, and teenage Nastia is proud to be flying for the Soviet Union and fighting the Nazis. When she is accused of being a traitor, her world is turned upside down.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Ida B. Wells: Journalist, Advocate & Crusader for Justice (Rise. Risk. Remember. Incredible Stories of Courageous Black Women series)Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Candace BufordDuring African American Wells’s challenging career as a reporter, she fought for equity and waged a campaign against the lynchings that were plaguing the South. Back matter.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Rosa by Any Other NameHailey AlcarazIn Arizona in 1955, Mexican American Rosa conceals her identity to attend a desegregated high school. When her childhood friend meets a popular white girl, it ignites a confrontation. Author’s note.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentSilenced Voices: Reclaiming Memories from the Guatemalan GenocidePablo Leon, illustrated by Pablo LeonWhile researching their mother’s life during the 1980s Guatemalan civil war, two brothers reunite her with her missing sister. Poignant full-color illustrations complement this intense story.Fourteen and OlderATOS 3.9AR interest Upper Grades (UG 9-12)View book details
Song of a BlackbirdMaria van Lieshout, illustrated by Maria van LieshoutA blackbird’s song unites Annick’s search for family in 2011 and Emma’s work with the Dutch resistance to save Jewish children in 1943. Striking drawings. Archival photographs. Extensive back matter.Fourteen and OlderATOS 3.6AR interest Upper Grades (UG 9-12)View book details
Under the Same StarsLibba BrayA far-reaching mystery connects teens in three different time lines—Nazi Germany, Cold-War- era West Berlin, and New York during the COVID pandemic.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Where the Heart Should BeSarah CrossanIn 1847, against the backdrop of the Great Hunger, a 16-year-old Irish girl supports her family as a scullery maid in the residence of a greedy English nobleman. Free verse.Fourteen and OlderView book details
A Mastery of Monsters (Mastery of Monsters series)Liselle SamburyAugust is unwillingly drawn into a contest for dominance in a society that enslaves people who can transform into beasts that hunt and kill humans.Fourteen and OlderView book details
After LifeGayle FormanSeven years after she died in an accident at 17, Amber returns to find that her family, friends, and community have changed in her absence—although she is still 17.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentThe Corruption of Hollis BrownK. AncrumHollis gives Walt his coat to warm him up, but Walt slips into more than the outerwear. Is it a haunting, demonic possession, or a spiritual melding? Is it evil or wonderful?Fourteen and OlderView book details
The Invisible WildNikki Van De CarThough nobody believes her, Emma knows that the menehune—the legendary original people of Hawaii— are real. Now they are in great danger. Can she help them?Fourteen and OlderView book details
The Leaving RoomAmber McBrideGospel is a Keeper. She helps recently deceased children pass to the other side, but she herself can never leave, until she meets another Keeper, Melodee. Can Keepers fall in love? Lyrical verse.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentOur Infinite FatesLaura StevenEvelyn has fallen in love with Arden for multiple lifetimes, although one of them kills the other each time. Can Evelyn forestall the curse now for long enough to save her little sister?Fourteen and OlderView book details
Every Borrowed BeatErin StewartSydney, determined to learn more about her heart’s donor, thinks she’s found her. Then, when Sydney attends Mia’s memorial, she meets Clayton. Sparks fly, and the lies begin.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Sea ChangeSusan FletcherA genetically modified amphibious being can manage life on both land and sea, but then an opportunity arises for her to choose to be fully human.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Fade into YouAmber Smith, Sam GellarTold through Bird’s and Jessa’s alternating narratives, the two high school seniors plot to break up their best friends’ toxic romance. Set in 1999.Fourteen and OlderView book details
The Underwood TapesAmanda DeWittGrace escapes to her mother’s abandoned hometown to grieve her death and escape prying eyes, but is caught in a time warp that magically uncovers the mystery of why her mother left.Fourteen and OlderView book details
The History of EverythingVictoria EvansTwo inseparable Goth girls plan to spend the summer revisiting childhood sites before one moves away. A new boy and budding romance change everything. Deeply colored, highly stylized graphic panels.Fourteen and OlderView book details
All-NighterCecilia VinesseValedictorian Autumn and rebel Tara have been frenemies, but now, with graduation looming, they need each other. One all-nighter changes everything, triggering a warm romance.Fourteen and OlderView book details
The Big AskSimon James GreenWhen the popular, straight-presenting jock, Harvey, gets dumped by his girlfriend days before prom, nerdy gay Alfie just might be able to act on his long-standing crush.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Come As You AreDahlia AdlerWhat happens when male and female students attending boarding school want to reinvent themselves?Fourteen and OlderView book details
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me WarmMariama J. LockingtonTwo Black high school senior girls facing challenging family and financial circumstances unite in a beauty influencer business venture and find love. Alternating prose and free verse chapters.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentRun Away with MeBrian SelznickIn 1986, 16-year-old Danny, spending the summer in Rome, falls in love with an enigmatic boy. The multilayered text is bookended with atmospheric black-and-white pencil drawings.Fourteen and OlderView book details
Tell Me Every LieEllen Hagan, David FloresAt a resort with his rich aunt, JP pretends that he’s wealthy. Mia, a resort staffer, takes a bet to make JP fall for her. Will lies douse the sparks?Fourteen and OlderView book details
You Started ItJackie KhaliliehYour boyfriend breaking up with you is a terrible way to start the school year. Jamie meets a new boy, and a crazy plot to win back her boyfriend ensues.Fourteen and OlderView book details
SkipshockCaroline O’DonoghueThe paths of an Irish schoolgirl and an extraterrestrial traveling salesman intersect between worlds on a train that self-destructs as they disembark. Can either of them get home—or anywhere?Fourteen and OlderView book details
This Is the YearGloria MuñozJuli, grieving her sister’s death, trains for a spot on an inaugural extraterrestrial colony. But with new friends and a love interest, is leaving Earth right for her?Fourteen and OlderView book details
Mature contentOne of the BoysVictoria ZellerBefore she transitioned, Grace was the top kicker on her football team. Can she return to the sport she loves after some of her teammates invite her back?Fourteen and OlderView book details
Rhino’s RunRobert LipsyteA high school football captain takes leadership seriously, but friends old and new and political events around a school shooting force him to think outside the tinderbox.Fourteen and OlderView book details
ImposterCait LevinThough intimidated by her all-male computer science class, Cam persists in her pursuit of knowledge and experience. Her skills earn her acceptance, but not from everyone.Fourteen and OlderLexile 610LFountas & Pinnell Z+View book details
Winner of the 2026 Claudia Lewis AwardThe Poetry of Car MechanicsHeidi E. Y. StempleFifteen-year-old Dylan, a poetry enthusiast and avid birdwatcher, heals from loss and loneliness in the quest to mend an injured hawk’s wing. Told in poignant verse.Fourteen and OlderView book details