4.15 avg rating — 566,463 ratings

"What a fantastic piece of writing. There are some great stories and great characters on this list, but this is the best writing of the bunch.
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3.91 avg rating — 31,500 ratings

"Unique voice and style. Illustrations and "case study" setup made it fun. So very different than the rest of this list."

3.86 avg rating — 8,439 ratings

"What a great book! Such amazing voice and characterization. Jason will stick with you for a long time, and the writing lessons he teaches makes this an incredible book for LA/Lit teachers/classes."

3.90 avg rating — 15,176 ratings

"The author creates a fantastic world that you don't want to leave. The best setting on the list this year."

3.41 avg rating — 2,154 ratings

"An adventure story in the vein of Forest Gump or Don Quixote - a comedic series of insane circumstances that lead a 15 year old boy on the adventure of a life time. A narrator with incredible voice, fun adventures, and interesting characters. Great book."

3.58 avg rating — 15,141 ratings

"Unique voices, an exotic setting, and exciting action."

3.96 avg rating — 1,247 ratings

"Different perspective on WWII that you don't see often."

4.23 avg rating — 309,756 ratings

"Great to see a graphic novel that makes people realize that comics can be literature."

4.23 avg rating — 11,609 ratings

"Beautifully written. A great character, but the characters around Aubrey felt flat."

3.90 avg rating — 10,927 ratings

"A very unique format - interesting non-fiction, cool song lyrics, and great pictures shoved in between the chapters of the main story. However, I didn't really like (or care about) the protagonist or her problems. Hopefully the rest of the series has better main characters.
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4.12 avg rating — 67,091 ratings

"Sometimes novels in verse seem to be a gimmick, this one felt right - like it was the only way to tell this story. A great story with a unique narrator."

4.02 avg rating — 7,055 ratings

"Beautifully written, almost poetic story of a young girl who can see the dead in the days surrounding Hurricane Katrina. "

3.90 avg rating — 2,876 ratings

"Fun story about living in two different worlds - the real world and the online world."

3.94 avg rating — 20,319 ratings

"Great protagonist in a fun, unique setting. Takes a while for the conflict to develop, then it feels rushed at the end, but the strong supporting characters drive the story anyway. Wish there was more of "Papa."
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4.34 avg rating — 188,994 ratings

"A great character with an outstanding voice, but all of the supporting cast seemed one dimensional. "

3.69 avg rating — 3,274 ratings

"Good. Fresh characters, interesting setting. In the end, I was disappointed that the main character wasn't talking to her mother, but a satisfying and realistic conclusion nonetheless."

3.93 avg rating — 857 ratings

"I liked the idea, and I was initially excited about the 1980s setting, but the large cast of characters was one dimensional and the dialogue was weak. I could have used more 80s nostalgia than just random song titles, and Jackson deserved to be a more fleshed out character."

4.02 avg rating — 37,668 ratings

"The characters were great, but the climax was unsatisfying. I didn't see the main character or her mother grow as people at all in the story. A let down after the fantastic Lions of Little Rock. "

3.94 avg rating — 5,833 ratings

"A really good idea - a family immigrating from Afghanistan in the midst of the 9-11 tragedy. However, the biggest pet peeve I have in literature is unrealistic dialogue and unbelievable kid characters. Those were strike 1 and strike 2 for Shooting Kabul. "

3.73 avg rating — 928 ratings

"The last three chapters killed the whole book. Before that, it was a nice little story about unlikely friends and a WWII story set in a unique location."