Best Classic Literature Books for Teens & Young Adults of 2025

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, set in the deep South of the United States. The story follows a young girl as she navigates a world filled with prejudice and injustice, while her father, a local lawyer, takes on a case to defend a black man wrongly accused of a crime. The novel has been translated into over 40 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and is considered one of the best novels of the 20th century. The book offers a powerful portrayal of the South in the 1930s and addresses themes of racism, morality, and justice. A must-read for anyone interested in American literature.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton is a classic coming-of-age novel that tells the story of Ponyboy, a young boy who finds himself on the outskirts of society. He relies on his brothers and friends to navigate the challenges of life, including trouble with the Socs, a gang of rich kids who bully the greasers like Ponyboy. The novel is filled with drama and tension, and it has been credited with transforming young-adult fiction by portraying a darker, truer world. Overall, The Outsiders is a powerful and enduring work of fiction that remains relevant today.

The J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set is a collection of the beloved classic works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The set follows Bilbo Baggins and his companions as they embark on a perilous journey to reclaim their stolen treasure, encountering trolls, goblins, and giant spiders along the way. As Bilbo discovers his own courage and cunning, he is propelled towards his destiny in the dark caverns beneath the Misty Mountains. This boxed set is a must-have for fans of the fantasy genre and lovers of Tolkien's intricate world-building and storytelling.

Lord of the Flies is a timeless classic that explores the dark side of human nature. William Golding’s novel follows a group of schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island, where they initially enjoy their newfound freedom. However, as they struggle to survive, their primal instincts take over, leading to chaos and violence. With a new foreword by Lois Lowry and additional reading suggestions, this edition is a must-read for fans of classic literature. The book's ability to portray the fragility of civilization and the dangers of mob mentality make it a unique and thought-provoking read.

Anyone who has read J.D. Salinger's New Yorker stories--particularly A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, The Laughing Man, and For Esme With Love and Squalor--will not be surprised by the fact that his first novel is full of children. The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. . Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.. There are many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

Perfect for longtime fans and new readers alike—a beautiful trade paperback boxed set of the first six novels in Frank Herbert's Dune Saga.. DUNE IS NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem.. In the far future, on a remote planet, an epic adventure awaits. Here are the first six novels of Frank Herbert’s magnificent Dune saga—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction series of all time.. Includes Books 1 - 6: DUNE • DUNE MESSIAH • CHILDREN OF DUNE • GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE • HERETICS OF DUNE • CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE

"One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. . . . Mr. Garcia Marquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life." —William Kennedy, New York Times Book Review One of the most influential literary works of our time, One Hundred Years of Solitude remains a dazzling and original achievement by the masterful Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.   The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.  Taught everywhere—from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing—it has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing.

A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, is a landmark work that portrays the struggles and dreams of a working-class African American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. The play's title, taken from a Langston Hughes poem, suggests the consequences of deferred dreams. The characters' experiences resonated deeply with Black America and transformed American theater. This Vintage edition presents the fully restored, uncut version of the play with an insightful introduction by Robert Nemiroff. Overall, A Raisin in the Sun is a powerful and timeless work that continues to captivate and inspire readers and audiences alike.

The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupry, is a profound story about loneliness, love, and friendship. The narrator, a pilot who has crashed in the Sahara Desert, meets a strange young boy called the Little Prince. The Little Prince has traveled from his home on a distant asteroid and his story is a beautiful meditation on human nature. This special edition includes restored artwork that matches Saint-Exupéry's original illustrations. The Little Prince is a beloved classic that has captured the hearts of both children and adults for over half a century.