Established by The Bookseller in 2014, the YA Book Prize rewards the finest writing in the UK and Ireland for teens and young adults.
Take a look at these books shortlisted for the 2026 award, now available to borrow with your library card!
Want more book suggestions? Browse our recommendations for teens.
Mondays are Murder
Ravena Guron
Seventeen-year-old Kay left her sleepy hometown after the devastating death of her friend, Ivy. But when her parents go on holiday without her, Kay is forced to come back to stay with her cousin. And her return comes with a bang.
Because when Kay arrives, it’s to find an anonymous letter on her bed. The letter tells her that there will be a thrill on Tuesday, a wreckage on Wednesday, treachery on Thursday, a fire on Friday, sabotage on Saturday, a stabbing on Sunday – and her murder on Monday.
And if Kay can’t figure out who is behind the threats, the worst day of the week is about to get deadly.
Traumaland
Josh Silver
Eli has been in a near-fatal car crash. As the anniversary looms, his therapist and family struggle to help him deal with the fall out. The accident has left him emotionally numb, with no memory of the months following the crash.
Desperate to feel something again, Eli winds up at an underground club called Traumaland. But this is no ordinary nightclub. Here he joins crowds of other emotionally numb people, all seeking to experience a new thrill by entering virtual reality simulations of nightmarish scenarios through the points of view of various characters.
When he enters the story of a boy called Jack, he discovers a darker truth to the club. A truth that sets Eli on a dangerous journey to find the source of his own trauma.
Heartbreaker
Anika Hussain
Saachi would do anything for her best friend. So when school bad boy Fahim breaks Mona’s heart, Saachi is hellbent on getting revenge. It’s time to put him in his place once and for all.
And so begins Operation Heartbreaker: Saachi will make Fahim fall in love with her and then pull the plug on him – just like he does to every girl he’s ever dated. Simple.
Except as she spends more time with Fahim, against her better judgement, she finds herself falling for him. Unable to talk to Mona about her mixed emotions, and with the mission veering dangerously off course, Saachi will have to embrace her role as a heartbreaker or potentially end up with her own heart broken.
A Beautiful Evil
Bea Fitzgerald
Pandora is the first human woman – made by the gods on Olympus for one simple purpose: to love and be loved by her new husband, the titan Epimatheos. The only problem? He wants nothing to do with her.
Hurt and confused, Pandora struggles to find meaning in her new life. What’s the point of being given all these gifts by the gods, if she can’t get this infuriating, awful, frankly very rude man (with an admittedly quite nice face) to love her? Maybe she’s failing at her life’s purpose. Or maybe she’s destined for an entirely different one?
As Pandora and Matheos work to uncover why she was created, that fated connection between them feels increasingly difficult to ignore. And with that comes terrible risk. Because Matheos’s traitorous brother, Prometheus, is a seer – and before the gods captured him he issued a final warning: that Pandora and Matheos’s love will be humanity’s doom.
The Boy I Love
William Hussey
At just nineteen, Stephen has already survived a year at the front. Now he is returning to the trenches to lead a platoon, despite his wounds. Broken-hearted from the loss of his first love, Stephen wonders what he’s fighting for.
Then he meets Private Danny McCormick, a smart, talented young recruit whose strong opinions will surely get him into trouble. From their first meeting, there’s something undeniable between them – something forbidden by both society and the army. Determined to protect Danny, Stephen must face down the prejudices and ignorance of his superiors as well as the onslaught of German shells and sniper fire.
As the summer of 1916 ticks down to one big push on the Somme, can Stephen and Danny stay together – and will their love save them – or condemn them?
Heir of Storms
Lauryn Hamilton Murray
Blaze, a Rain Singer, is born into one of the most powerful fire-wielding families in the empire. Her birth summoned a devastating storm that resulted in the deaths of thousands, and she has spent her life as an outsider, reviled and feared.
When Blaze and her twin brother, Flint, are selected to compete in the Choosing Rite, the trials which decide the future rulers of the empire, she’s suddenly thrust into the limelight – and into battle. Threats abound at the Golden Palace, where intrigue and romance await with not one but two handsome suitors: the enchanting Crown Prince and a dangerously alluring newcomer at court.
As her powers strengthen and her fellow competitors fall, the throne is suddenly within her grasp. But in order to take the crown, she’ll have to leave behind the stories that others have told about her and find the courage to write her own.
Skipshock
Caroline O’Donoghue
Margo is on a train to a new boarding school when she slips into another dimension, passing from the height of Irish summer into the chill of an alien winter, from a 24-hour day to one that begins and ends in just six hours.
From a stranger on the train – a travelling salesman by the name of Moon – she learns that New Davia is part of a world scarred by uprisings, travel bans and world sealings. Power is determined by time – who has it, who doesn’t, and who has the freedom to travel between time zones.
Can Margo find a way to get back home – or will she choose to stay in a world where her teenagehood is slipping away faster than ever before, but where she may have found the only person with whom she would choose to spend eternity?
The Five
Elgan Rhys and Mared Roberts
‘The Five’ follows a year in the interconnected lives of five outcasts who forge a singular bond at their secondary school in north-west Wales.
As they navigate the joys and tribulations of what makes them different as individuals, their newfound community is both tested and strengthened.
Our Infinite Fates
Laura Steven
Evelyn can remember all her past lives. She can also remember that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday.
The problem is that she’s quite fond of the one she’s in now, and more importantly, her sister needs her for bone marrow transplants to stay alive.
So now she has to: find the centuries-old enemy who hunts her through each life and destroy them forever; figure out exactly why she’s being hunted in the first place; try quite hard not to fall in love with them – again.
The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King
Harry Trevaldwyn
Patch has decided that this is the year he will get a boyfriend, so it’s goodbye to his French pen-pal Jean-Pierre and hello to the world! Unfortunately, the only other ‘out’ boys in his school year are dating each other, so finding a boyfriend isn’t going to be easy.
Until fate finally intervenes and two new mysterious boys join drama club: Peter, who’s just moved from New York (very chic) and his best friend, Sam. Patch is confident that one of them will be his first boyfriend.
So, armed with his over-supportive best friend Jean and an alarming level of self-confidence, Patch sets out to make his mission a success. Whether or not they actually like boys or him is a problem for later.
Romanian 
English 
Polish 
Lithuanian 
Portuguese 
Bengali