Top of the Stacks — End of Year Awards (YA & MG Books)

Well hello everyone! With Christmas behind us and only a few days until New Years (OMG HOW IS IT ALMOST 2020?!?!?!) we have decided to start a tradition of award giving here on Stuck in the Stacks that we are calling Top of the Stacks! These awards will go to the books that were our favorites in any given genre. We have also sought to be inclusive in both our selections and categories. We are not limiting our list to 2019 releases either. If we read it this year, it is in the running for a Top of the Stacks Award.

So, without further ado, on with the show!

Favorite Audiobook

Haley’s Pick: And The Trees Crept In by Dark Kurtagich

Emily’s Pick: Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Honorable Mentions: My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows and Brodi Ashton;

Favorite Contemporary

Haley’s (YA) Pick: Let’s Call It A Doomsday by Katie Henry

Haley’s (MG) Pick: Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Emily’s (YA) Pick: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

Honorable Mentions: Heroine by Mindy McGinnis; Switchback by Dannika Stone;

Favorite Debut

Haley’s Pick: The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Berube

Emily’s Pick: Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

Honorable Mentions: The Last Namsara by Kristen Cicarelli;

Favorite Dystopian

Haley’s Pick: The Grace Year by Kim LIggett

Emily’s Pick: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Honorable Mentions: Internment by Samira Ahmed;

Favorite Fantasy

Haley’s (YA) Pick: White Stag by Kara Barbieri

Haley’s (MG) Pick: The Trials of Morrigan Crowe by Jessica Townsend

Emily’s (YA) Pick: The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen

Honorable Mentions: A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth; Fireborne by Rosaria Munda;

Favorite Historical Fiction

Haley’s Pick: Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner

Emily’s PIck: Prudence by Gail Carriger

Honorable Mentions: The Valiant by Leslie Livingston; My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton;

Favorite Horror

Haley’s (YA) Pick: Daughter’s Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics

Emily’s (YA) Pick: Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Haley’s (MG) Pick: The Nest by Kenneth Oppel

Emily’s (MG) Pick: Small Spaces by Katherine Arden

Honorable Mentions: Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender; Within These Walls by Ania Ahlborn; The Merciless by Danielle Vega

Favorite LGBTAIA+

Emily’s PIck: Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton

Honorable Mentions: We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Honorable Mentions: A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mckenzie Lee; The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman; The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven

Favorite Mystery

Haley’s Pick: Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

Emily’s PIck: Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Favorite OwnVoices Novel

Haley’s (YA) Pick: The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala

Emily’s (MG) Pick: Aru Sha and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

Honorable Mentions: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Favorite Retelling

Haley’s Pick: House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

Emily’s PIck: A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Honorable Mentions: My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton; Stepsister by Jennifer Donnely

Favorite Romance

Haley’s Pick: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Emily’s PIck: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Favorite Science Fiction

Haley’s (YA) Pick: The Apocolypse of Elene Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchison

Emily’s (YA) Pick: Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Honorable Mentions: Only Ashes Remain by Rebecca Schaeffer; Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist

Favorite Series

Haley’s (YA) Pick: Arc of Scythe Trilogy by Neal Shusterman

Emily’s Pick: Folk of the Air Trilogy by Holly Black

Honorable Mentions: Gold Seer Trilogy by Rae Carson; An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Favorite Thriller

Haley’s Pick: This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis

Emily’s Pick: The Kingdom by Jess Rottenberg

What About You?

Do you have any favorites that we missed? Have you read any of our favorites? Let us know in the comments!