2021 Booklist Editors Choice (Awarded by ALA: The American Library Association)

Awards List

Adult

The Sentence
(Top of the List)
Louise Erdrich

Girl A
(*)
Abigail Dean

That Old Country Music
(*)
Kevin Barry

Vera
(*)
Carol Edgarian

Who is Maud Dixon?
(*)
Alexandra Andrews

The Five Wounds
(*)
Kirstin Valdez Quade

The Night Always Comes
(*)
Willy Vlautin

That Summer
(*)
Jennifer Weiner

Legends of the North Cascades
(*)
Jonathan Evison

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
(*)
Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

Radiant Fugitives
(*)
Nawaaz Ahmed

Sisters in Arms
(*)
Kaia Alderson

The Book of Form and Emptiness
(*)
Ruth L. Ozeki

Harlem Shuffle
(*)
Colson Whitehead

Martita, I Remember You
(*)
Sandra Cisneros

Matrix
(*)
Lauren Groff

Cloud Cuckoo Land
(*)
Anthony Doerr

My Monticello: Fiction
(*)
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky
(*)
Margaret Verble

Beasts of a Little Land
(*)
Juhea Kim

Adult Audio

A Master of Djinn
(Top of the List)
P. Djeli Clark

Finnegans Wake
(*)
James Joyce

The Ex Talk
(*)
Rachel Lynn Solomon

My Heart Is a Chainsaw
(*)
Stephen Graham Jones

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
(*)
George Saunders

A Lady's Formula for Love
(*)
Elizabeth Everett

The Removed
(*)
Brandon Hobson

Infinite Country
(*)
Patricia Engel

Klara and the Sun
(*)
Kazuo Ishiguro

The Heart Principle
(*)
Helen Hoang

The Anthropocene Reviewed
(*)
John Green

The Maidens
(*)
Alex Michaelides

Night Came with Many Stars
(*)
Simon Van Booy

Island Queen
(*)
Vanessa Riley

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
(*)
Quentin Tarantino

Sisters in Arms
(*)
Kaia Alderson

Harlem Shuffle
(*)
Colson Whitehead

Cloud Cuckoo Land
(*)
Anthony Doerr

The Lincoln Highway
(*)
Amor Towles

No One Goes Alone
(*)
Erik Larson

Born on the Water
(*)
Nikole Hannah-Jones

Adult Books for Young Adults

My Heart Is a Chainsaw
(*)
Stephen Graham Jones

Infinite Country
(*)
Patricia Engel

Gold Diggers
(*)
Sanjena Sathian

Libertie
(*)
Kaitlyn Greenidge

How to Kidnap the Rich
(*)
Rahul Raina

A Psalm for the Wild-Built
(*)
Becky Chambers

The Turnout
(*)
Megan Abbott

Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body
(*)
Megan Milks

Adult: Genre Fiction

Incense and Sensibility
(*)
Sonali Dev

My Heart Is a Chainsaw
(*)
Stephen Graham Jones

On Fragile Waves
(*)
E. Lily Yu

Dead of Winter
(*)
Stephen Mack Jones

Dream Girl
(*)
Laura Lippman

The Jasmine Throne
(*)
Tasha Suri

A Lowcountry Bride
(*)
Preslaysa Williams

The Queen of the Cicadas
(*)
V. Castro

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
(*)
Tom Lin

Razorblade Tears
(*)
S.A. Cosby

Billy Summers
(*)
Stephen King

Blind Tiger
(*)
Sandra Brown

Light From Uncommon Stars
(*)
Ryka Aoki

Five Decembers
(*)
James Kestrel

A Thorn in the Saddle
(*)
Rebekah Weatherspoon

City on Fire
(*)
Don Winslow

Adult: Graphic Novel

And Now I Spill the Family Secrets: An Illustrated Memoir
(Top of the List)
Margaret Kimball

Youth

The Lion of Mars
(Top of the List)
Jennifer L. Holm

The Deepest Breath
(*)
Meg Grehan

Voyage of the Sparrowhawk
(*)
Natasha Farrant

The Electric Kingdom
(*)
David Arnold

The Year I Flew Away
(*)
Marie Arnold

Amber and Clay
(*)
Laura Amy Schlitz

Boy, Everywhere
(*)
A.M. Dassu

Firekeeper's Daughter
(*)
Angeline Boulley

Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls
(*)
Kaela Rivera

The Republic of Birds
(*)
Jessica Miller

Cool for the Summer
(*)
Dahlia Adler

A Boy Named Isamu
(*)
James Yang

The Darkness Outside Us
(*)
Eliot Schrefer

One Great Lie
(*)
Deb Caletti

Pawcasso
(*)
Remy Lai

Me (Moth)
(*)
Amber McBride

Kaleidoscope
(*)
Brian Selznick

Kneel
(*)
Candace Buford

The List of Unspeakable Fears
(*)
J. Kasper Kramer

Playing the Cards You're Dealt
(*)
Varian Johnson

Salt Magic
(*)
Hope Larson

The Secret of the Magic Pearl
(*)
Elisa Sabatinelli

Second Sleep
(*)
Diane Stanley

Youth Audio

Firekeeper's Daughter
(Top of the List)
Angeline Boulley

We Are Water Protectors
(*)
Carole Lindstrom

Ikenga
(*)
Nnedi Okorafor

Allergic
(*)
Megan Wagner Lloyd

An Emotion of Great Delight
(*)
Tahereh Mafi

Iron Widow
(*)
Xiran Jay Zhao

Kaleidoscope
(*)
Brian Selznick

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World
(*)
Benjamin Alire Saenz

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne
(*)
Jonathan Stroud

Stuntboy, in the Meantime
(*)
Jason Reynolds

Youth: Picture Books

Little Witch Hazel
(Top of the List)
Phoebe Wahl

I Dream of Popo
(*)
Livia Blackburne

Sheepish (Wolf Under Cover)
(*)
Helen Yoon

The Midnight Fair
(*)
Gideon Sterer

The Night Walk
(*)
Marie Dorleans

Fred Gets Dressed
(*)
Peter Brown

Out into the Big Wide Lake
(*)
Paul Harbridge

Memory Jars
(*)
Vera Brosgol

Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School
(*)
Emily Jenkins

The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess
(*)
Tom Gauld

Everybody in the Red Brick Building
(*)
Anne Wynter

Youth: Young Adult

Himawari House
(Top of the List)
Harmony Becker

Last Night at the Telegraph Club
(*)
Malinda Lo

Love Is a Revolution
(*)
Renee Watson

When We Were Infinite
(*)
Kelly Loy Gilbert

Between Perfect and Real
(*)
Ray Stoeve

A Sitting in St. James
(*)
Rita Williams-Garcia

Instructions for Dancing
(*)
Nicola Yoon

This Poison Heart
(*)
Kalynn Bayron

Little Thieves
(*)
Margaret Owen

Oksi
(*)
Mari Ahokoivu

Award Categories

Adult

Adult Books for Young Adults

Adult: Audio

Adult: Genre Fiction

Adult: Graphic Novel

Youth

Youth: Audio

Youth: Graphic Novel

Youth: Middle Readers

Youth: Older Readers

Youth: Younger Readers

Award Years

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2016

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010