18 Dystopian Young Adult Novels That Will Make Your Students Think
Our latest project here at Three Heads is a unit for Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games (coming soon!), which means we’ve been thinking a lot about dystopian fiction for the last couple months.
Dystopian young adult novels had a heyday in the 2010s, early in our teaching careers, and so they’ve frequently been associated with the “young adult” genre for us. And as we engage with teachers around the country, we’ve seen huge interest in teaching dystopian novels in the classroom.
This interest in dystopian young adult novels (and classics) makes a lot of sense.
On the surface level, dystopian young adult novels are highly engaging: they’re full of action, danger, and suspense, and they feature teenage protagonists who stand up to oppressive authority figures. When we’re dying to find books that will engage our students, dystopian young adult novels are a reliable go-to.
It’s also easy to see the appeal when we look at the world around us: it’s long been full of political conflict and threats to individual freedoms, and the global pandemic of 2020 felt like the stuff of fiction.
But for English teachers especially, dystopian novels are a perfect way to show our students the power of literature to comment upon the problems of our world.
In AP Literature, the final unit asks students to use the skills they’ve developed throughout the course to “explore in depth how literature engages with a range of experiences, institutions, and social structures” (Course and Exam Description). Dystopian literature explores the ways our efforts to create a perfect world result in restriction and oppression, particularly for those who have differing ideas about what a “perfect world” looks like. What better vehicle could we have for showing our students how literature engages with institutions and social structures?
Whether you’re looking to supplement your dystopia unit with literature circle options or just eager to find books that will engage your reluctant readers, we’ve rounded up a list of dystopian young adult novels that we and our students have enjoyed and that have interesting things to say about the world around us.
18 All-Too-Real Dystopian Young Adult Novels
Animal Farm by George Orwell
We know. We’re hardly offering groundbreaking news here. But Steph just read this for the first time alongside one of her tutoring students and liked it far more than she expected to.
Orwell’s fable of a group of animals who overthrow their human owner and establish their own government under the leadership of the farm’s pigs is a classic for a reason. The story itself is easy to read and engaging: once the animals have taken over the farm, they agree to abide by a set of commandments that establish the equality between them. But when one of the pigs, Napoleon, starts to take on more and more power, turning the animals against his fellow pig, Snowball, the once equal farm becomes a place of greater and greater oppression.
It’s no secret that Orwell was commenting directly on Stalin’s oppressive rule in the Soviet Union, and students who are studying the time period in history will be engaged by the parallels. But, looking closely, the pigs’ methods of manipulating the other animals on the farm don’t seem all that unfamiliar, and our students can draw clear connections to the world around them, making this an excellent option for a full-class novel or for literature circles.
After all, what more dystopian summary is there than “All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others”?
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
We’ve recommended this first book in Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series frequently here at Three Heads: it combines dystopia, romance, fairy tale retellings, science fiction, and buddy adventure capers. But it certainly belongs on this list, as it tells the story of Linh Cinder, a cyborg living in New Beijing, who finds herself caught up in an epic mission to prevent Earth from falling under the oppressive rule of Luna’s Queen Levana and from utter annihilation due to the letumosis plague. Read more here.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
One of the classic 2010s-era dystopian young adult novels, Divergent introduces us to Tris, a young woman about to take the aptitude test that will help her decide which of five factions to join—Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity, or Dauntless. When Tris’s tests reveal that she is Divergent, meaning she shows aptitude in more than one of the five qualities, her life is in danger: the Divergent threaten the faction system that forms the basis of their society. Tris joins the Dauntless faction but soon finds herself caught up in a rebellion against a dangerous government. Read more here.
The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew
It’s 2364, and the Metro, under the control of LifeCorp, is driven by one thing: productivity.
Liv Newman, living in the lower-class Towers, is a Proxy. She uses the neurochip in her brain to capture emotional memories for clients (like the adrenaline rush of skydiving or the peaceful awe of a beautiful sunset), enabling them to maintain a high productivity score but still “experience” the feelings for themselves. Struggling to make ends meet, and longing for a better life, Liv illegally sells memories to residents of the Towers on the side.
When Forcemen, members of LifeCorp’s police force, notice a mysterious pattern of rebellious behavior in the Towers, Adrian Rao is sent to investigate alongside his droid partner Nas. They discover Liv in the midst of an illegal memory transfer that seems related to the disruptive behavior, and their mission is to track her down and arrest her. But when Adrian follows Liv to the dangerous no-man’s-land outside the city, he discovers her with her memory wiped. How is he supposed to arrest someone who has no idea she’s committed a crime?
As the pair navigate their way back to the Metro, they begin to question the goodness and wisdom of LifeCorp, leading them into a series of adrenaline-filled adventures.
While leaning heavily into love-at-first-sight romance territory, the novel raises interesting questions about our modern obsession with productivity and hustle culture over genuine experience and connection.
Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Joy Revolution for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
In the patriarchal African society of Otera, young women undergo the Rites of Purity to ensure their blood is red and thus pure. When Deka’s blood runs gold, she’s offered an opportunity to serve as part of the emperor’s army of alaki, fighting the deathshrieks that plague their society, where she learns there is far more going on than anyone in their society was aware. Read more here.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
The fairy tale vibes are strong in this Newbery Medal winner. The woods outside the Protectorate are home to Xan, a witch, and her companions: a Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon named Fyrian. According to the leaders of the Protectorate, Xan is a monster who demands a yearly sacrifice of one of their children. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth, and when the Protectorate leaves a baby named Luna for Xan to find, they set in motion a series of events that unravel their authoritarian hold on society. Read more here.
Gone Wolf by Amber McBride
It’s 2111 in the Bible Boot, which seceded from the rest of the former United States after a pandemic that spread hatred throughout the country. Now, the Bible Boot, led by President Tuba, is imprisoning Blue people, whose blood provides protection for the Clones against another wave of the virus. We experience this world through the eyes of Inmate 11, and a twist partway through the novel makes this a powerful explanation of the emotional fallout of the COVID pandemic, America’s problems with race, and the pain of mental health struggles. We loved it. Read more here.
HappyHead by Josh Silver
When the novel opens, Seb’s family is driving to drop him off at HappyHead, where he’s been selected to participate in an experimental two-week program intended to address the epidemic of unhappiness affecting the young people of England. Participants are assigned to four-person teams, and they must complete a series of specially designed assessments that will help them to succeed once they leave the program. Their assigned individual bedroom in the Harmony Hall changes each night to test participants’ adaptability and track their progress in the program.
But as the program gets going, the requirements seem increasingly disturbing. Participants have a chip implanted in their chests, the perimeter fence surrounding the facility is electrified, and Finneas, the disruptive boy on Seb’s team, returns from counseling and assessment sessions looking unusually upset. But Seb finds himself increasingly drawn toward Finneas, and together, they begin investigating behind the scenes of the program. Before long, they’re deeply disturbed by what they find and in more danger than ever.
We felt an odd mix of eagerness to know what was going on and reluctance to turn the pages as things got a little creepy, but the novel raises interesting questions about what true health and happiness look like as well as the way well-intentioned ideas can quickly go awry.
Mature content, especially profanity and references to drug use, makes this novel more appropriate for older teens.
Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Delacorte Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
No list of dystopian young adult novels would be complete without Collins’s modern classic. When Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself as District 12’s tribute in the Hunger Games to save her younger sister, we’re thrust into the world of Panem and its glittering Capitol as Katniss prepares to fight 23 other tributes to the death in the districts’ annual punishment for rebelling against the Capitol. But Katniss isn’t going down without a fight, and she sets in motion a series of events that threaten President Snow’s authoritarian rule. Read more here.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
China’s heroes are the young men who pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that battle invading aliens. But to make the robots work, the young men must pair up with young women, who die from the mental strain of powering the Chrysalises. That is, until Zetian. When it becomes clear that she’s an Iron Widow, capable of sacrificing men to power up Chrysalises, she’s paired with the dangerous Li Shimin and determined to make her society a safer place for girls and women. Read more here.
Legend by Marie Lu
The western United States is now the Republic, and its citizens are under heavy restrictions due to war on its borders and a deadly virus. But when Day, the Republic’s most wanted criminal, and June, the Republic’s latest military prodigy, find their paths intersecting in surprising ways, they make a series of discoveries that threaten to bring down the entire Republic. Read more here.
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Dimaline’s novel has been on our radar for awhile now: Amanda and Marie at Brave New Teaching recommend it frequently as one of their favorite dystopian young adult novels. Naturally, then, Steph was thrilled to work through it with one of her tutoring students this fall, and we definitely see the appeal.
Thanks to an environmental crisis, North America is not only struggling to survive but its citizens have lost the ability to dream. When it’s discovered that indigenous people still dream, North American citizens begin hunting down indigenous people and placing them in “schools,” where their bone marrow (the source of their dreams) is harvested to restore the ability for the rest of the population.
When the novel opens, Frenchie and his brother are on the run from Recruiters, the officials who round up indigenous people to place them in schools, and when his brother is taken, Frenchie finds himself navigating the woods alone. When he comes upon a group of other indigenous people, moving north in hopes of finding safety from the Recruiters and the pain in their own “coming-to” stories, he finds a family of sorts with a wide range of experiences whose members support one another in their efforts to stay alive and maintain hope. Danger, however, is never far away.
What makes Dimaline’s novel especially powerful is its commentary upon North America’s treatment of indigenous people throughout its history. Our real history, with its residential schools, is part of the history of the novel, and so we not only see the long-term effects of colonization on indigenous communities, but we’re uncomfortably reminded that, in a world where violence against indigenous women is rampant, Dimaline’s dystopian elements aren’t all that inconceivable. Not only did we find it a compelling read, but the sophomore Steph was working with really enjoyed it (far more than Animal Farm) and had a lot to say about it.
Do be aware when making recommendations to students (or selecting the novel for a class read) that the novel includes heavy profanity, references to drug and alcohol use, and sexual assault.
Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher
It’s 2032, and as the United States cracks down on illegal immigration, reinforcing the Great American Wall with armed soldiers and landmines, Vali and her family are in danger.
Vali and her parents fled to America from Colombia when Vali was four, hoping to escape the violence that plagued their country despite the fact that its 52-year civil war had supposedly ended. Shortly after Vali’s brother Ernie is born while the family is living in San Diego, efforts to end illegal immigration intensified: there were deportation raids, daily riots and protests, the Great American Wall, censorship laws, and ID chips implanted in each citizen’s wrist.
While Ernie, born in San Diego, gets a chip, Vali’s parents gather enough money to purchase Vali and her mother fake chips, but it’s not long before Vali’s father is taken by ICE, placed in a detention center, deported, and killed. Val, Ernie, and their mother move to Vermont, where they live relatively peacefully, trying to make ends meet, until pressures on immigrants without papers tighten again.
Val, Ernie, and their mother are forced to flee from Vermont to California, which has seceded from the United States and declared itself a sanctuary for immigrants without papers. Their cross-country journey is dangerous and seemingly impossible, yet Vali refuses to give up until they reach the border to California and somehow figure out how to cross it.
Mendoza and Sher’s dystopian novel is fast-paced, heartbreaking, and important, painting a picture of a future that, sadly, doesn’t seem all that far away from the present. It’s a compelling look at the people behind one of our country’s controversial issues, people whose humanity is often forgotten and ignored in the midst of vitriolic political rhetoric.
Note that there is some profanity in the novel and there are two instances (not depicted) in which it’s clear that characters have been sexually assaulted.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
In Citra and Rowan’s world, death and disease have been conquered. Wonderful as this sounds, the world still has limited resources, so the government appoints scythes who are responsible for ending lives to keep the population under control. This power is meant to be treated with the utmost respect, but when Citra and Rowan are assigned to serve as interns to Scythe Faraday, they learn that not all scythes view their job this way. Read more here.
The Second Chance of Darius Logan by David F. Walker
Orphaned in an alien attack, Darius Logan is bounced around in the foster system until a run-in with the police brings him to the attention of Captain Freedom, the head of the Super Justice Force. Captain Freedom offers Darius a spot in the Super Justice Force’s Second Chance program, which offers jobs to convicted criminals, and the opportunity transforms Darius’s life. But his city continues to struggle after the alien attacks, and it becomes clear that all is not as it seems in the Super Justice Force, tasked with keeping the city safe. Read more here.
The Selection by Kiera Cass
America Singer is a Five in Illéa’s caste system: while not at the bottom (Eights are homeless), she and her family of musicians struggle to make ends meet in this dystopian version of the former United States. She’s in love with Aspen, a Six, despite her mother’s wishes that she will marry up in society.
When she receives a letter inviting her to be part of the Selection, a competition in which women of Illéa compete to be selected as the bride of Prince Maxon, America is determined not to sign up, even though her mother refuses to let the idea go. But when Aspen breaks her heart, she signs up—not because she hopes to marry the Prince but because participating in the Selection will provide much-needed money to her family.
America soon finds herself living in the beautiful Illéa Palace with dozens of other young women, all desperate to win Prince Maxon’s heart. America is only there for the money, not Prince Maxon, but Prince Maxon is quickly attracted to her candor and lack of polish, and agrees to keep her in the competition as his friend and advisor.
As the competition intensifies, however, America’s feelings toward Maxon change, and she now has to navigate those along with the series of rebel attacks on the castle.
This feels very much like a dating reality show (looking at you, Bachelorette) in a dystopian setting, which makes for a compelling story despite being a bit of a strange combination. There’s action, romance, and plenty of questioning society’s rules and structures, and we think many students will enjoy the first book in this five-book series.
Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou
When the moon split in three, ocean levels rose and flooded the world as we know it. Citizens traverse the city-nation of Alante on a series of bridges, the Fortuna gang uses brass knuckles to keep local order, and the world is full of other-born, descendants of the Fates, the Muses, the Keres, the Dioscuri, and the Horae. When a series of strange murders happens, Fortuna mob boss Bianca Rossi hires Io Ora, a descendant of the Fates, to figure out what’s going on. The murky political world she enters raises relevant questions about the way we treat minorities and immigrants in our less fantastical world. Read more here.
VIRCH by Laura Resau
Liv is illegally living in the Cove, an off-limits zone in a dystopian world where people struggle to survive, sifting through the e-waste generated by the “sharks,” the wealthy members of society who live in a highly technological world, increasingly reliant on virtual reality. But when her sister gets fatally sick and they can’t afford medicine, she gets an internship with Casper Palacios Lim Moiret, the 150-year-old founder of the Virch Empire, a giant corporation that essentially runs the modern world, in hopes of stealing the medication her sister needs. It’s not long, however, before Liv finds herself on a mission to stop the world from complete destruction. Read more here.
Whether you’re looking for literature circles to supplement a dystopia unit or just in need of engaging books to recommend to your students, we’re confident you can find something in this roundup of dystopian young adult novels that will work for you. What dystopian favorites of yours have we missed? Let us know at [email protected] or on Instagram @threeheads.works.
Hold your students accountable for their independent reading in a meaningful way with our Independent Reading Activities bundle, which includes an easy-to-use Reading Check-In form (with scoring rubric), our go-to end-of-novel flip book activity, and a set of reading-inspired posters for your classroom walls. Starting a dystopia unit? Our Characteristics of a Dystopia lesson introduces the key elements need to know in a quick but engaging set of activities.