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The Best Books of 2024, According to the New York Public Library

The New York Public Library's extensive roundup of the best books of the year includes categories for Adult, YA, and Children's books.

Erica Ezeifedi Nov 27, 2024

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Erica Ezeifedi

Associate Editor

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack. Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.

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Our besties over at the NYPL have released their picks for the best books of the year. Right off the bat, one huge thing we love about their roundup compared to quite a few other best-of lists is how much space they hold for children’s and YA books. And, their lists for best Adult and YA books each total 50 books individually, while their list of the best Children’s books has 100 titles. They even have a children’s book list that features books in Spanish.

This is so refreshing to see when so many book lists—and awards, even, if we’re keeping it real—seem to merge YA and children’s categories, if they have them at all. What’s more, each list is organized by genre (like Biography & Memoir, Fantasy, Romance, and Historical Fiction) or form (like Comics or Poetry). The Children’s list has an even greater categorization, with 40 categorizations compared to the Adult list’s 11 and the YA list’s 17.

On top of everything, the content of the lists is excellent! There is a mix of buzzy it books and lesser known releases, and lots of diversity. I got a chance to speak to Susen Shi, the New York Public Library’s Young Adult Staff Engagement and Support Manager, about the curation of the list for an episode of Hey YA that you can listen to here.

Speaking of the YA list, it had many books I’d expect (like Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo and Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa) and even a few I wasn’t even aware of (Age 16 by Rosena Fung and Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne). This was also the case for the Adult list and the Children’s list—though, to be fair, I am less versed in children’s books all together.