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It’s always fascinating to see what books make the year end “best of” lists. Are these books that are truly “the best,” or are they books that were most accessible and most promoted to folks who make these lists and thus, were more likely to be read and championed than others? What qualifies something as “best” anyway? Those and a million other questions are worth thinking about, as the answers simultaneously complicate and demystify the process of such list creations.
When I highlight books I consider “the best,” I’m thinking about them far more as favorites than I am of any meaningful evaluation with the word “best.” This means picking titles that do show up on those “best” lists, as well as titles that weren’t as serious of contenders for a “best” nod. That’s part of why when I put together the annual “Best YA Books of 2025” roundup for Book Riot, I like to also include a peek at other “best” lists. This year, for example, included the books that professional trade reviewers noted as “best of,” as well as “best of” nods from a handful of other book outlets.
That last piece for 2025–trade reviews and picks from other book outlets–was woefully lacking in representation of outlets and that was intentional. Putting the post together for a November publication inevitably meant missing plenty of “best YA of 2025” lists. I knew, for example, Kirkus’s list wouldn’t arrive until early December. The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books and The Horn Book’s Fanfare don’t post until the end of December and early January.
I also knew that someone out there was doing a far better job of tracking these “Best Of” lists than I ever could. That someone is Eric Bateman, a librarian at Canandaigua Academy in New York. Since 2013, Bateman has been rounding up the titles earning that distinction; he builds a fantastic spreadsheet that then he turns into a nice blog post. Here’s the post from 2024–the one for 2025 will come in January, when all of the lists have been accounted for.
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