Are you participating in the 2026 Reading Challenge? We have 12 challenges to complete throughout the year. Listed below are just a few books that fit the prompt “A Book Set or Published When You Were a Teenager”, but there are plenty of other books you can pick up!
1950
Set: The Briar Club/ Once upon a wardrobe / Miss Benson’s beetle
Published: The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe / The Martian chronicles / I, robot
1951
Set: Last bus to wisdom / The caretaker / The summer wives
Published: The catcher in the rye / Foundation / Waiting for Godot
1952
Set: Coronation year / Christmas with the queen / The apothecary
Published: Charlotte’s Web/ Invisible man / The old man and the sea
1953
Set: The night watchman / Penny from heaven / The rising star of Rusty Nail
Published: Fahrenheit 451 / The crucible / Go tell it on the mountain
1954
Set: The Paris gown / The Lincoln highway / Last night at the Telegraph Club
Published: The fellowship of the ring/ Lord of the flies / I am legend
1955
Set: Loving vs. Virginia / Meet me in Monaco / Every time we say goodbye
Published: Lolita / The talented Mr. Ripley / Beezus and Ramona
1956
Set: The spectacular / Let’s call her Barbie / The solace of water
Published: Night / Old Yeller / My family and other animals
1957
Set: The fountains of silence / Burn / Blockade Billy
Published: On the road / The cat in the hat / Atlas shrugged
1958
Set: The last dance of the debutante / The starlets / The lions of Little Rock
Published: Breakfast at Tiffany’s : a short novel and three stories / The once and future king / The witch of Blackbird Pond
1959
Set: The poisonwood Bible / In cold blood / My name is not easy
Published: A separate peace / The haunting of Hill House / My side of the mountain
1960
Set: You should be so lucky / The lost boy of Santa Chionia / The grove
Published: To kill a mockingbird / Island of the Blue Dolphins / The cricket in Times Square
1961
Set: Ordinary grace / The beautiful people / Tomorrow’s bread
Published: Catch-22 / Where the red fern grows / James and the giant peach
1962
Set: The help / The third hill north of town / Glimmer as you can
Published:A wrinkle in time / A clockwork orange / One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
1963
Set: 11/22/63 / Whistling past the graveyard / The Watsons go to Birmingham–1963
Published: The bell jar / Where the wild things are / Cat’s cradle
1964
Set: Anywhere you run / The secret life of bees / Confessions in B-flat
Published:Charlie and the chocolate factory / The giving tree/ A moveable feast
1965
Set: The women / Park Avenue summer / A night divided
Published: Dune / The autobiography of Malcolm X / The mouse and the motorcycle
1966
Set: Along the infinite sea / The road to the country / Lady in the lake
Published: Flowers for Algernon / Wide Sargasso Sea / Valley of the dolls
1967
Set: Utopia Avenue / The Wednesday wars / The lucky ones
Published: One hundred years of solitude / The outsiders / From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
1968
Set: In the face of the sun / One crazy summer / Jelly Bean summer
Published: A wizard of Earthsea /The electric kool-aid acid test / Dragonflight
1969
Set: Summer of ’69 / Freedom lessons / Mr. & Mrs. American Pie
Published: Slaughterhouse-five / I know why the caged bird sings / The godfather
1970
Set: The silver star / The smell of other people’s houses/ Kent State
Published: The bluest eye / Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret / Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
1971
Set: Feathers / Velvet was the night / Crossroads
Published: The hiding place / Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH / The exorcist
1972
Set: When They Burned the Butterfly / Nest / The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
Published: Watership Down/ All creatures great and small / Tales of a fourth grade nothing
1973
Set: The English masterpiece / Take my hand / The Watergate girl
Published: The princess bride / Breakfast of champions / Sula
1974
Set:The god of the woods / The Great Alone / The Interestings
Published: Where the sidewalk ends / Carrie / Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
1975
Set: Mary Jane / Never fall down / Inside out and back again
Published: Salem’s Lot / Tuck everlasting/ Strega Nona
1976
Set: Songs of Irie/ Sunny side up/ A brief history of seven killings
Published: Interview with the vampire / Roots : the saga of an American family / Roll of thunder, hear my cry
1977
Set: Damnation spring / Such a pretty girl / Cantoras
Published: Bridge to Terabithia / The shining / The Silmarillion
1978
Set: The stolen queen / On the hippie trail / Aya : life in Yop City
Published: The Westing game / The stand / Sideways stories from Wayside School
1979
Set: Lady Sunshine / Jasmine Zumideh needs a win / When you reach me
Published: The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy / Kindred / Flowers in the attic
1980
Set: Atmosphere / The Saturday Night Ghost Club / No country for old men
Published: Robert Ludlum’s the Bourne identity / The name of the rose / The clan of the cave bear
1981
Set: Foster / The shards/ Laura & Emma
Published: A light in the attic / Red dragon / Cujo
1982
Set: The marriage plot / Trust exercise / The Sun Down Motel
Published: The color purple / The BFG / The house of the spirits
1983
Set: The only one left / Malibu rising/ Boy swallows universe
Published: Color of magic / Alanna : the first adventure / Pet sematary
1984
Set: Pudge & Prejudice / 1984 / 1Q84
Published: The house on Mango Street / Neuromancer/ The hunt for Red October
1985
Set: Our little world / Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe / Small things like these
Published: The handmaid’s tale / Ender’s game / Love in the time of cholera
1986
Set: The prettiest star / Eleanor & Park / We dream of space
Published: Howl’s moving castle / It / Maus : a survivor’s tale: my father bleeds history
1987
Set: Tell the wolves I’m home / The impossible fortress / Sophomores
Published: Norwegian wood / Beloved / Hatchet
1988
Set: My best friend’s exorcism / Paper girls / The meaning of Maggie
Published: The alchemist / Matilda / A brief history of time
1989
Set: I must betray you / Song of freedom, song of dreams/ Like a love story
Published: The 7 habits of highly effective people / The pillars of the earth / A time to kill
1990
Set: The seven moons of Maali Almeida / Rainbow black / A sudden light
Published: Good omens : the nice and accurate prophecies of Agness Nutter, witch / Jurassic Park/ The eye of the world
1991
Set: The perks of being a wallflower / Survive the night / Kate & Frida
Published: Outlander / The firm / Redeeming love
1992
Set: The black kids / Troublemaker / We Loved To Run
Published: The secret history / She’s come undone / Snow crash
1993
Set: Helen of Troy, 1993 / We burn daylight/ The carnival at Bray
Published: The giver / Along came a spider / Girl, interrupted
1994
Set: The people we keep / Carrie Soto is back / Beautiful country
Published: One for the money / Midnight in the garden of good and evil / The alienist
1995
Set: Nothing to see here / Throwback/ The bones beneath my skin
Published: The golden compass / Wicked/ A child called “it” : one child’s courage to survive
1996
Set: This time tomorrow / Girls girls girls / Limelight
Published: A game of thrones / The notebook / Into the wild
1997
Set: Writers & lovers / If we were villains / The spectacular
Published; Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone / Memoirs of a geisha / Tuesdays with Morrie
1998
Set: Little fires everywhere / Let me hear a rhyme / The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Published; Holes / Digital fortress / Who moved my cheese?
1999
Set: Summer Fridays / Attachments / The first state of being
Published: A walk to remember / Girl with a pearl earring / Speak
2000
Set: My Year of Rest and Relaxation / Deep cuts / The overnight guest
Published: Angels & demons / The Duke and I / Me talk pretty one day
2001
Set: The only plane in the sky : an oral history of 9/11/ Doxology / 2001, a space odyssey
Published: Life of Pi / Atonement / The sisterhood of the traveling pants
2002
Set: All mixed up / The girl I was / The lathe of heaven
Published: The lovely bones / Eragon / Coraline
2003
Set: The Mars room / Juliet takes a breath/ Endpapers
Published: The kite runner / The time traveler’s wife / The devil in the white city
2004
Set: Daisy Darker/ Tall water / A girl like us
Published: My sister’s keeper / Something borrowed / Cloud atlas
2005
Set: Home front/ Zeitoun/ Five days at memorial
Published: Twilight / The book thief / The girl with the dragon tattoo
2006
Set: Bitter honey / Gold Diggers / London’s number one dog-walking agency
Published: Eat, pray, love / Water for elephants / Sharp objects
2007
Set: Axiom’s end / The mighty red / The confession
Published: City of bones / A thousand splendid suns / The name of the wind
2008
Set: The Rachel incident/ How not to drown in a glass of water/ What happened to Ruthy Ramirez
Published: The Hunger Games / Paper towns / Outliers : the story of success
2009
Set: The shamshine blind / Karthik delivers / A good country
Published: The maze runner / The Summer I Turned Pretty / If I stay
2010
Set: Crash landing / Pearce oysters / The militia house
Published: The Lost Hero / The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks / Unbroken : a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption
2011
Set: The prophet and the idiot / I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011 / A tale for the time being
Published: Divergent / The Song of Achilles / Sapiens : a brief history of humankind
2012
Set: Lady midnight / The Love We Left Behind / 2012
Published: The fault in our stars / Gone girl / Throne of Glass
2013
Set: Eddy, Eddy / Hope / Happy hour
Published: The goldfinch / Fangirl / The ocean at the end of the lane
2014
Set: Life is everywhere / What we can know / Blessings
Published: All the light we cannot see / Ugly love / We were liars
2015
Set: The Real Mrs. Tobias / The mutual friend / The caretakers
Published: A Court of Thorns and Roses / The girl on the train / The nightingale
2016
Set: Weather / Little Monsters/ What happened
Published: It ends with us / The subtle art of not giving a f*** / Dark matter
2017
Set: Libertad / Olga dies dreaming / The Puttermans are in the house
Published: The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo/ The hate u give / Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
2018
Set: Calling Ukraine / I survived the California wildfires, 2018 / Parkland : birth of a movement
Published: Where the crawdads sing / The cruel prince/ Educated
2019
Set: Worry / One to watch / Horse
Published: The silent patient / Daisy Jones & the Six / Red, white & royal blue
2020
Set: Blue ruin / Our long marvelous dying / The war in 2020
Published: A good girl’s guide to murder / The midnight library / The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
2021
Set: The children of men / Reunion/ Blade runner (do androids dream of electric sheep?)
Published: People we meet on vacation / The love hypothesis / Project Hail Mary
2022
Set: The silence / Heartwood / Endling
Published:The housemaid / Lessons in chemistry / Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
2023
Set: Afterland / The women on platform two
Published: Fourth wing / Happy place / Powerless
2024
Set: The forever war / Parable of the sower
Published: The wedding people / First lie wins / Just for the summer
2025
Set: The running man / Pope Leo XIV : the first American Pope
Published: Great big beautiful life / My friends / Broken country
2026
Set: The Stories of Ray Bradbury (There Will Come Soft Rains) / Gwendy’s final task
