National Book Award Longlist in Young People’s Literature

Book covers for the ten long listed books for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. — Courtesy of the National Book Foundation

2024 Longlist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature:

Olivia A. Cole, Ariel Crashes a Train
Labyrinth Road / Penguin Random House

Violet Duncan, Buffalo Dreamer
Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin Random House

Margarita Engle, Wild Dreamers
Atheneum Books for Young Readers / Simon & Schuster

Josh Galarza, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky
Henry Holt and Company (BYR) / Macmillan Publishers

Erin Entrada Kelly, The First State of Being
Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins Publishers

Randy Ribay, Everything We Never Had
Kokila / Penguin Random House

Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Kareem Between
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House

Angela Shanté, The Unboxing of a Black Girl
Page Street Publishing

Ali Terese, Free Period
Scholastic Press / Scholastic Inc.

Alicia D. Williams, Mid-Air
Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books / Simon & Schuster

The 2025 National Book Award Longlist in Young People’s Literature

About Victoria Waddle

Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer and has been included in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. Her books include a collection of feminist short fiction, Acts of Contrition, and a chapbook on grief, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans. Her YA novel about a polygamist cult, Keep Sweet, launches in June 2025. Formerly the managing editor of the journal Inlandia: A Literary Journey and a teacher librarian, she contributes to the Southern California News Group column Literary Journeys. She discusses both writing and library book censorship on her Substack, “Be a Cactus.” Join her there for thoughts on defiant readers and writers as well as for weekly library censorship news.

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