Georgia Center for the Book

Previous Books All Young Georgians Should Read Lists

View the 2024 list here.

2023

Stacey’s Remark­able Books By Stacey Abrams

Vic­to­ry. Stand! Rais­ing My Fist For Jus­tice By Tom­mie Smith, Dawud Anyab­wile, and Der­rick Barnes

Does My Body Offend You? By Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt

Anisa’s Inter­na­tion­al Day By Reem Faruqi

Future­land: Bat­tle for the Park By H. D. Hunter

We Deserve Mon­u­ments By Jas Hammonds

Impos­si­ble Moon By Bre­an­na J. McDaniel

Bri­ar­cliff Prep By Bri­an­na Peppins

Eden’s Ever­dark By Karen Strong

Just Like Jesse Owens By Ambas­sador Andrew Young, as told to Paula Young Shelton

2022

The Strange Birds of Flan­nery O’Connor by Amy Alznauer

Name Tags and Oth­er Sixth-Grade Dis­as­ters by Gin­ger Garrett

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray

Theo The­Saurus: The Dinosaur Who Loved Big Words by Shel­li R. Johannes

Why We Fly by Kim­ber­ly Jones and Gilly Segal

Run: Book One by John Lewis and others

Nee­dle & Thread by David Pinckney

Fast Pitch by Nic Stone

We Are All Under One Wide Sky by Deb­o­rah Wiles

There’s No Ham in Ham­burg­er by Kim Zachman

2021

Yes, No, Maybe So by Alber­tal­li, Becky Alber­tal­li and Aisha Saeed

The Mon­ster Hypoth­e­sis by Romi­ly Bernard

Not Quite Snow White illus­trat­ed by Ebony Glenn

Save the Crash Test Dum­mies illus­trat­ed by TeMi­ka Grooms

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kim­ber­ly Jones and Gilly Segal

Girls Like Us by Ran­di Pink

Bilal Cooks Daal by Aisha Saeed

Clean Get­away by Nic Stone

Just South of Home by Karen Strong

Kent State by Deb­o­rah Wiles

2019

Aru Shah and the Song of Death: A Pan­da­va Nov­el Book 2 (Pan­da­va Series) by Roshani Chokshi

Cece Loves Sci­ence by Shel­li R. Johannes (Co-author)

Meet Miss Fan­cy by Irene Latham

Hands Up! by Bre­an­na J. McDaniel

The Roots of Rap illus­trat­ed by Frank Morrison

Ellie Engi­neer, the Next Lev­el by Jack­son Pearce

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

Thread of Love by Kabir and Sur­ishtha Sehgal

You Asked for Per­fect by Lau­ra Silverman

Lit­tle Taco Truck by Tanya Valentine

2018

Leah on the Off­beat by Becky Albertalli

The Tax­on­o­my of Love by Rachael Allen

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

Hid­den Fig­ures illus­trat­ed by Lau­ra Freeman

Pride Wars: The Spin­ner Prince by Matt Laney

Can I Touch Your Hair? by Irene Lath­am, co-author

Ellie, Engi­neer by Jack­son Pearce

Fes­ti­val of Col­ors by Sur­ishtha & Kabir Sehgal

Black Pan­ther illus­trat­ed by Bri­an Stelfreeze

Dear Mar­tin by Nic Stone

2017

Cross­ing Ebenez­er Creek by Tonya Bolden

Geor­gia Peach­es and Oth­er For­bid­den Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown

Flop to the Top by Eleanor Davis; Drew Weing

The Roost­er Who Would Not Be Qui­et by Car­men Agra Deedy

Sev­en and a half Tons of Steel by Thomas Gon­za­lez, Illustrator

March, Vol­ume 3 by Rep. John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell

The King of Birds by Acree Gra­ham Macam; Natal­ie Nel­son, Illustrator

The Radius of Us by Marie Marquardt

The Jekyll Island Chron­i­cles, Vol­ume 1: A Machine Age War by Steve Ned­videk; Ed Crow­ell; Jack Lowe; J. Moses Nester, Illus­tra­tor; S.J. Miller, Illustrator

Orphan Island by Lau­rel Snyder

2016

Simon vs. The Homo Sapi­ens Agen­da by Becky Albertalli

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

More-iga­mi by Dori Kleber

Writ­ten In The Stars by Aisha Saeed

The Wheels On The Tuk Tuk by Kabir Seh­gal and Sur­ishtha Sehgal

Thor Speaks!: A Guide To The Realms By The Norse God Of Thun­der by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Swan: The Life And Death Of Anna Pavlo­va by Lau­rel Snyder

The Mean­ing Of Mag­gie: A Nov­el by Megan Jean Sovern

Last In A Long Line Of Rebels by Lisa Lewis Tyre

Mer­min Vol 3: Deep Dive by Joey Weiser

2015

Cir­cle, Square, Moose by Kel­ly Bingham

Philip Reid Saves the Stat­ue of Free­dom illus­trat­ed by R. Gre­go­ry Christie

A Bird on Water Street by Eliz­a­beth Dulemba

March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illus­trat­ed by Nate Powell

Being Friends with Boys by Ter­ra Élan McVoy

Mis­sy’s Super Duper Roy­al Deluxe: Class Pets by Susan Nees

All Those Bro­ken Angels by Peter Adam Saloman

I Got the Rhythm by Con­nie Schofield-Mor­ri­son, illus­trat­ed by Frank Morrison

Big­ger Than a Bread Box by Lau­rel Snyder

Rev­o­lu­tion: The Six­ties Tril­o­gy by Deb­o­rah Wiles

2014

Mar­ti­na the Beau­ti­ful Cock­roach: A Cuban Folk­tale by Car­men Deedy, illus­trat­ed by Michael Austin

The Dag­ger Quick by Bri­an Eames

The Shifter by Jan­ice Hardy

Sweet­ly by Jack­son Pearce

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Ram­sey with Gwen Strauss, illus­trat­ed by Floyd Cooper

Hen­ry Franks by Peter Adam Salomon

Just One Bite by Lola Schae­fer, illus­trat­ed by Geoff Waring

Cos­mo’s Moon by Devin Scil­lian, illus­trat­ed by Mark Braught

Cleopa­tra’s Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter

It Jes’ Hap­pened: When Bill Tay­lor Start­ed to Draw by Don Tate, illus­trat­ed by R. Gre­go­ry Christie

2010 (Inau­gur­al List)

Peach­es by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Free­dom Train by Eve­lyn Coleman

Lit­tle Duck by Liz Conrad

I Am Rembrandt’s Daugh­ter by Lynn Cullen

The Maze Run­ner by James Dashner

14 Cows for Amer­i­ca by Car­men Deedy and illus­trat­ed by Thomas Gonzalez

Soap, Soap, Soap ~ Jabon, Jabon, Jabon by Eliz­a­beth O. Dulemba

A Yel­low Water­mel­on by Ted Dunagan

Blood Broth­ers by S.A. Harazin

The Tree that Owns Itself and Oth­er Adven­ture Tales from Georgia’s Past by Gail Kar­wos­ki & Loret­ta John­son Hammer

The Origa­mi Mas­ter by Nathaniel Lachen­mey­er

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin and illus­trat­ed by James Dean

Pure by Ter­ra Élan McVoy

Joseph by She­lia Moses

Yan­kee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman

Owly: The Way Home & The Bit­ter­sweet Sum­mer by Andy Runton

Mit­tens by Lola Schaefer

Alexan­der the Great Rocks the World by Vicky Alvear Schecter

The Mon­ster Who Did My Math by Dan­ny Schnit­zlein and illus­trat­ed by Bill Mayer

This is the Dream by Diane A. Shore & Jes­si­ca Alexander

Hon­ey Bea by Kim L. Siegelson

A Taste of Black­ber­ries by Doris Buchanan Smith

First Shot by Wal­ter Sorrells

Any Which Wall by Lau­rel Snyder

Each Lit­tle Bird That Sings by Deb­o­rah Wiles

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