National Book Award 2026 for Young People's Literature: the 5 finalists

The National Book Foundation named these five finalists on 6 October 2026. The winner is announced on 18 November 2026. Two are middle-grade books and three are for teens, so check the grade band before you buy.

Grades 3–12 · two middle-grade picks, three for teens.

Source: National Book Foundation finalist announcement, 6 October 2026

1. 1Holloway

   by Elana K. Arnold · Grades 9th–12th · 2026

   A teen on the Paris Metro in 2021, carrying her mother's ashes, in a novel that moves across time to look at grief and love. Arnold was also a finalist in 2017.

   Also on ReadingList: What Girls Are Made Of, A Boy Called Bat

   Get it on AmazonPrime→
2. 2When Tomorrow Burns

   by Tae Keller · Grades 5th–7th · 2026

   Three seventh graders watch a childhood book of prophecies start coming true while wildfires close in on Seattle. From the author of a Newbery Medal winner.

   Also on ReadingList: When You Trap a Tiger

   Get it on AmazonPrime→
3. 3That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic

   by Keala Kendall · Grades 9th–12th · 352 pages · 2026

   A Native Hawaiian teen searches a luxury island resort for her missing twin. A supernatural thriller about what a tourist paradise hides.

   Get it on AmazonPrime→
4. 4The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America

   by David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels · Grades 9th–12th · 480 pages · 2026

   Nonfiction for teens: the history of AIDS in America told through profiles, first-person accounts, old news reports and poems.

   Also on ReadingList: Every Day

   Get it on AmazonPrime→
5. 5Shook

   by Julian Randall, illustrated by Nathan Walker · Grades 3rd–7th · 256 pages · 2026

   A boy called Shake gets hurt just as his basketball dream is in reach, and has to find his way back to the court and to himself.

   Get it on AmazonPrime→

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