Happy 2024!! My 2023 list of Young Adult titles with male main characters grew to 89! Wooo-hoo!! It only included stories told by characters who self-identified as male (no sharing the POV limelight with a female character), any genre within Young Adult, and any publishing date. And I stuck with traditionally published titles, most available at your public library. I’ll put the list at the bottom of the post.

What comes next is a re-posting of my original rant passionate essay.

Now, imagine me standing on a soapbox in the town square… Maybe with a megaphone.

I weep at the scarcity of Young Adult novels written from male characters’ points of view!

If you aren’t a teen aged boy, the parent of one, or maybe a savvy librarian, you probably haven’t noticed how underrepresented boys are in the teen section. Next time you peruse library or bookstore shelves, pay attention!

Don’t think teen boys read? Poppycock! My sons are avid readers. They had plenty of picture books and middle grade novels to choose from, but they burned through the YA section and had to move on to adult fiction long before I was comfortable with them doing so.

And I’m aware that YA is the ONLY category where women and girls dominate the shelves. But do we have to give girls the attention they deserve by under-serving boys?

Don’t get me wrong, most boys enjoy a good adventure told from a smart, strong female point of view, but a guy likes to see himself as the star occasionally too. Right guys?

And a lot of teen girls enjoy a boy’s perspective now and then. Right girls?

But try finding a boy on the cover in the Young Adult section at the library or your local bookstore. Pink hearts, warrior princesses, and frilly fonts prevail.

Thank goodness there’s no sell-by date on a good book! There are plenty of great novels with boy protagonists if you go back through the decades.

So my mission, and yours if you choose to accept it, is to scour YA collections, old and new, and find every book out there with a male, teen protagonist so we can compile a handy list.

Start right now! Living boys, what are you reading?

Here’s my list for 2023!

It’s not comprehensive – oh no, no, no. You’ll look it over and say, “Hey, she missed this, this and this!” PLEASE tell me about them in a reply below. Unfortunately, searching – YA novels with male main characters yielded some wildly inappropriate suggestions. Goodreads had a couple of decent lists. Mainly, it took a lot of slogging through reviews and blogs, looking at covers, trying to guess whether a boy or girl told the story. I’m pretty happy that the list got as long as it did! 

Also, I didn’t read ALL of these. This isn’t a list of books I recommend, simply books that fit this narrow category.

Library friends, parents of boys, teachers and other interested readers, feel free to copy this list and add to it. It could be the only one of its kind in the whole universe!

YA Boy Book Titles Posted in 2023

1. 47 Days by Annette Oppenlander
2. 96 Miles by J.L. Esplin
3. All That’s Left in the World, by Eric Brown
4. All These Bodies, by Kendare Blake
5. Amulet of Samarkand, by Jonathan Stroud
6. Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake
7. Any Way the Wind Blows, by Rainbow Rowell
8. Ashfall, by Mike Mullin
9. Ballad and Dagger, by Daniel Jose Older
10. Billie Buckhorn, by Gary Robinson
11. Blue Shoe, by Roderick Townley
12. Bootcamp, by Todd Strasser
13. Boy in the Striped, Pajamas by John Boyne
14. BridgeKeeper, by L.S. Moore
15. Brothers Hawthorne, by Jennifer Lynne Barnes
16. Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell
17. Carter Finally Gets It, by Brent Crawford
18. City Beautiful, by Aden Polydoros
19. Compound, by S.E. Bodeen
20. Concrete Rose, by Angie Thomas
21. Darius the Great is Not Okay, by Adib Khorram
22. Dark Room Etiquette, by Robin Roe
23. Dear Evan Hansen, by Val Emmich
24. Dear Martin, by Nic Stone
25. Demigods and Magicians, by Rick Riordan
26. Dust and Decay, by Jonathan Maberry
27. Eldest, by Christopher Paolini
28. Eragon, by Christopher Paolini
29. Field Guide to the North American Teenager, by Ben Philippe
30. Frightmares, by Eva Gibson
31. Golden Arm, by Carl Deuker
32. Golden Boys, by Phil Stamper
33. Gospel According to Larry, by Toshjian
34. Graveyard Boy by Neil Gaiman
35. Half Wild, by Sally Green
36. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
37. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by JK Rowling
38. Harvest House, by Cynthia Leitich Smith
39. Henry Franks, by Peter Adam…
40. I Am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore
41. I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
42. I Hunt Killers, by Barry Lyga
43. I Must Betray You, by Ruta Sepetys
44. If I Ever Get Out of Here, by Eric Gansworth
45. In the Wild Light, by Jeff Zentner
46. Indivisible, by Daniel Aleman
47. Infested, by Angel Luis Colon
48. Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness
49. League of Liars, by Astrid Scholte
50. Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, by Isaac Blum
51. Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
52. Little Bit Country, by Brian D. Kennedy
53. Long Run, by James Acker
54. Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds
55. Maze Runner, by James Dashner
56. Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews
57. Morgue and Me, by John C. Ford
58. Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
59. Passing Playbook, by Isaac Fitzsimons
60. Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
61. Pitcher, by William Hazelgrove
62. Project Prometheus, by Douglas E. Richards
63. Ranger’s Apprentice, by John Flanagan
64. Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
65. Rez Ball, by Byron Graves
66. Rot & Ruin, by Jonathan Maberry
67. Saint, by Adrienne Young
68. Scorch Trials, by James Dashner
69. Scorpions, by Walter Dean Myers
70. Semi-Famous, by John Sundquist
71. Shelter, by Harlan Coben
72. Sixteen Souls, by Rosie Talbot
73. Small White Scar, by K.A. Nuzum
74. Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson
75. Study in Charlotte, by Brittany Cavallaro
76. Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions, by Navdeep Singh Dhillon
77. Surrender your Sons, by Adam Sass
78. Survive the Dome, by Kosoko Jackson
79. The Roof Over Our Heads, by Nicole Kronzer
80. They Both Die at the End, by Adam Silvera
81. Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner
82. Traitor Prince, by C.J. Redwine
83. Warchild, by Karin Lowachee
84. Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion
85. White Cat, by Holly Black
86. Will Grayson Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levison
87. Witch King, by H.E. Edgmon
88. Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin
89. Younglings, by Helena M. Craggs

What did I miss? Let’s keep the list growing through 2024!