Alex Award Winners

Alex Award Winners are books written for adults that have a special appeal for teens. For a full list of Alex Award Winners visit:
https://www.ala.org/yalsa/alex-awards

2021

  • Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse – F ROA
  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune – F KLU
  • The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice: Crossing Antarctica Alone by Colin O’Brady – 919.8904 OBR
  • The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones – F JON
  • Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth – F DAN
  • We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry – F BAR
2020

  • Dominicana by Angie Cruz – F CRU
  • Middlegame by Seanan McGuire – F MCG
  • The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead – F WHI
  • Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston – F MCQ
  • The Swallows by Lisa Lutz – F LUT
2019

  • Circe by Madeline Miller – F MIL
  • Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover – B WES
  • The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya – B WAM
  • Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik – F NOV
2018

  • The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson – F WIL
  • Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire – F MCG
  • A Hope More Powerful than the Sea by Melissa Fleming – YA 956.91 FLE
2017

  • In the Country We Love by Diane Guerrero – B GUE
  • Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire – F MCG
2016

  • Between the World and Me by and Ta-Nehisi Coates – 305.8009 COA
  • Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton – 974.7002 STA
2015

  • All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doeer – F DOE
  • Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng – F NG
  • The Martian by Andy Weir – F WEI
  • Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta – F KOR
  • Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle – F DAR
2014

  • Brewster by Mark Slouka – F SLO
  • Help for the Haunted by John Searles – F SEA
  • Lexicon by Max Barry – F BAR
  • Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas – F ZAI
  • Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley – GRAPHIC B KNI
2013

  • Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan – F SLO
  • My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf – GRAPHIC DER
  • The Round House by Louise Erdrich – F ERD
  • Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple – F SEM
2012

  • The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens by Brooke Hauser – YA 373.18 HAU
  • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – F MOR
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – AUDCD CLI
  • Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson – F WIL
  • Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward – F WAR
2011

  • Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok – F KWO
  • The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni – F BOG
  • The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake: A Novel by Aimee Bender – F BEN
  • Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue – F DON
2010

  • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba – B KAM
  • The Good Soldiers by David Finkel – 956.7044 FIN
  • The Magicians by Lev Grossman – F GRO
  • Stitches: A Memoir by David Small – GRAPHIC B SMA
2009

  • City of Thieves by David Benioff – F BEN
  • The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick – F SWA
  • Just After Sunset: Stories by Stephen King – F KIN
  • Mudbound by Hillary Jordan – F JOR
  • Three Girls and Their Brother by Theresa Rebeck – F REB
2008

  • American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch, An Odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly – 796.8155 POL
  • Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff – F RUF
  • Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden – F IGG
  • A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah – B BEA
  • Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones – F JON
  • The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss – F ROT
2007

  • Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen – F GRU
  • The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis – B OHE
  • The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield – F SET
2006

  • Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman – F GAI
  • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – F ISH
  • Gil’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez – F MAR
  • My Jim by Nancy Rawles – F RAW
  • The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls – B WAL
2005

  • Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond – 338.476 ALM
  • Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer by Lynn Cox – YA B COX
  • My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult – F PIC
2004

  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon – F HAD
  • The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – F HOS
  • The Time Traveler’s Wife by  Audrey Niffenegger – F NIF
  • Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer – F PAC
  • True Notebooks by Mark Salzman – 808.042 SAL
  • Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi – GRAPHIC SAT
  • Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear – F WIN
2003

  • My Losing Season by Pat Conroy – B CON
  • The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde – F FFO
  • When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka – F OTS
  • The Dive from Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer – F PAC