# Alex Awards

The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18". Since 2002, the Alex Awards have been administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association.
The awards, initially bestowed in 1998, were named after Baltimore librarian Margaret Alexander Edwards, who was known as "Alex". They are sponsored by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust and Booklist magazine. Books published during the previous year are eligible for the awards.

## Alex recipients

Alex Awards, 1998 to present :
| Year | Author | Title |
| 1998 | David Bodanis | The Secret Family: Twenty-four Hours inside the Mysterious Worlds of Our Minds and Bodies |
| 1998 | Rick Bragg | All Over but the Shoutin' |
| 1998 | Rebecca Carroll | Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black Girls in America |
| 1998 | Karin Cook | What Girls Learn |
| 1998 | Pete Hamill | Snow in August |
| 1998 | Sebastian Junger | The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea |
| 1998 | Jon Krakauer | Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster |
| 1998 | Velma Maia Thomas | Lest We Forget: The Passage from Africa to Slavery and Emancipation |
| 1998 | Dawn Turner Trice | Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven |
| 1998 | Connie Willis | To Say Nothing of the Dog; or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last |
| 1999 | Caroline Alexander | The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition |
| 1999 | James Finney Boylan | Getting In |
| 1999 | Andie Dominick | Needles |
| 1999 | John Gilstrap | At All Costs |
| 1999 | Jesse Lee Kercheval | Space |
| 1999 | Steve Kluger | Last Days of Summer |
| 1999 | Robert Silverberg | Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy |
| 1999 | Kim Stanley Robinson | Antarctica |
| 1999 | Esmeralda Santiago | Almost a Woman |
| 1999 | Danzy Senna | Caucasia |
| 2000 | David Breashears | High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places |
| 2000 | Orson Scott Card | Ender's Shadow |
| 2000 | Breena Clarke | River, Cross My Heart |
| 2000 | Esmé Raji Codell | Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year |
| 2000 | Jonathon Scott Fuqua | The Reappearance of Sam Webber |
| 2000 | Neil Gaiman | Stardust |
| 2000 | Linda Greenlaw | The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey |
| 2000 | Elva Trevino Hart | Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child |
| 2000 | Kent Haruf | Plainsong |
| 2000 | Connie Porter | Imani All Mine |
| 2001 | Darin Strauss | Chang & Eng |
| 2001 | Larry Colton | Counting Coup |
| 2001 | Juliet Marillier | Daughter of the Forest |
| 2001 | Alan Watt | Diamond Dogs |
| 2001 | James Bradley and Ron Powers | Flags of Our Fathers |
| 2001 | Tracy Chevalier | Girl with a Pearl Earring |
| 2001 | Nathaniel Philbrick | In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex |
| 2001 | Ben Sherwood | The Man Who Ate the 747 |
| 2001 | Gillian Bradshaw | The Sand Reckoner |
| 2001 | June Jordan | Soldier: A Poet's Childhood |
| 2002 | Geraldine Brooks | Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague |
| 2002 | William Doyle | An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi |
| 2002 | David Anthony Durham | Gabriel's Story |
| 2002 | Barbara Ehrenreich | Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in Boom-Time America |
| 2002 | Leif Enger | Peace Like a River |
| 2002 | Kobie Kruger | The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa's Wildlife |
| 2002 | Donna Morrissey | Kit's Law |
| 2002 | Mel Odom | The Rover |
| 2002 | Vineeta Vijayaraghavan | Motherland |
| 2002 | Rebecca Walker | Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self |
| 2003 | Lynda Barry | One! Hundred! Demons! |
| 2003 | Pat Conroy | My Losing Season |
| 2003 | Timothy Ferris | Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril |
| 2003 | Jasper Fforde | The Eyre Affair |
| 2003 | Mary Lawson | Crow Lake |
| 2003 | Brian Malloy | The Year of Ice |
| 2003 | Julie Otsuka | When the Emperor Was Divine |
| 2003 | Ann Packer | The Dive from Clausen's Pier |
| 2003 | Martha Southgate | The Fall of Rome |
| 2003 | Joseph Weisberg | 10th Grade |
| 2004 | Amanda Davis | Wonder When You'll Miss Me |
| 2004 | Mark Haddon | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time |
| 2004 | Khaled Hosseini | The Kite Runner |
| 2004 | Audrey Niffenegger | The Time Traveler's Wife |
| 2004 | ZZ Packer | Drinking Coffee Elsewhere |
| 2004 | Mary Roach | Stiff |
| 2004 | Mark Salzman | True Notebooks |
| 2004 | Marjane Satrapi | Persepolis |
| 2004 | Jacqueline Winspear | Maisie Dobbs |
| 2004 | Bart Yates | Leave Myself Behind |
| 2005 | Steve Almond | Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America |
| 2005 | Lynne Cox | Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer |
| 2005 | Brendan Halpin | Donorboy |
| 2005 | Robert Kurson | Shadow Divers |
| 2005 | Kent Meyers | Work of Wolves |
| 2005 | Ann Patchett | Truth & Beauty: A Friendship |
| 2005 | Jodi Picoult | My Sister's Keeper |
| 2005 | Kit Reed | Thinner Than Thou |
| 2005 | Jim Shepard | Project X |
| 2005 | Robert Sullivan | Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants |
| 2006 | Judy Fong Bates | Midnight at the Dragon Café |
| 2006 | Kalisha Buckhanon | Upstate |
| 2006 | Neil Gaiman | Anansi Boys |
| 2006 | Gregory Galloway | As Simple As Snow |
| 2006 | Kazuo Ishiguro | Never Let Me Go |
| 2006 | A. Lee Martinez | Gil's All Fright Diner |
| 2006 | Susan Palwick | The Necessary Beggar |
| 2006 | Nancy Rawles | My Jim |
| 2006 | Julia Scheeres | Jesus Land: A Memoir |
| 2006 | Jeannette Walls | The Glass Castle: A Memoir |
| 2007 | John Connolly | The Book of Lost Things |
| 2007 | Ivan Doig | The Whistling Season |
| 2007 | Michael D'Orso | Eagle Blue: A Team, A Tribe, and A High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska |
| 2007 | Sara Gruen | Water for Elephants |
| 2007 | Pamela Carter Joern | Floor of the Sky |
| 2007 | John Hamamura | Color of the Sea |
| 2007 | Michael Lewis | The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game |
| 2007 | David Mitchell | Black Swan Green |
| 2007 | Ron Rash | The World Made Straight |
| 2007 | Diane Setterfield | The Thirteenth Tale |
| 2008 | Matthew Polly | American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China |
| 2008 | Matt Ruff | Bad Monkeys |
| 2008 | Jeff Lemire | Essex County Volume 1: Tales from the Farm |
| 2008 | Conn Iggulden | Genghis: Birth of an Empire |
| 2008 | Aryn Kyle | The God of Animals |
| 2008 | Ishmael Beah | A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier |
| 2008 | Lloyd Jones | Mister Pip |
| 2008 | Patrick Rothfuss | The Name of the Wind |
| 2008 | Thomas Maltman | The Night Birds |
| 2008 | Lisa Lutz | The Spellman Files |
| 2009 | David Benioff | City of Thieves |
| 2009 | Michael Swanwick | The Dragons of Babel |
| 2009 | Zoë Ferraris | Finding Nouf |
| 2009 | Hannah Tinti | The Good Thief |
| 2009 | Stephen King | Just After Sunset: Stories |
| 2009 | Hillary Jordan | Mudbound |
| 2009 | Todd Tucker | Over and Under |
| 2009 | Stephen G. Bloom | The Oxford Project |
| 2009 | Toby Barlow | Sharp Teeth |
| 2009 | Theresa Rebeck | Three Girls and Their Brother |
| 2010 | William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope |
| 2010 | Meg Rosoff | The Bride's Farewell |
| 2010 | Ron Currie Jr. | Everything Matters! |
| 2010 | David Finkel | The Good Soldiers |
| 2010 | Diana Welch and Liz Welch | The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir |
| 2010 | Lev Grossman | The Magicians |
| 2010 | Peter Rock | My Abandonment |
| 2010 | Gail Carriger | Soulless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel |
| 2010 | David Small | Stitches: A Memoir |
| 2010 | Kevin Wilson | Tunneling to the Center of the Earth |
| 2011 | DC Pierson | The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To |
| 2011 | Liz Murray | Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard |
| 2011 | Jean Kwok | Girl in Translation |
| 2011 | Peter Bognanni | The House of Tomorrow |
| 2011 | Steve Hamilton | The Lock Artist |
| 2011 | Aimee Bender | The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake |
| 2011 | Matt Haig | The Radleys |
| 2011 | Alden Bell | The Reapers Are the Angels |
| 2011 | Emma Donoghue | Room |
| 2011 | Helen Grant | The Vanishing of Katharina Linden |
| 2012 | Rachel DeWoskin | Big Girl Small |
| 2012 | Jo Ann Beard | In Zanesville |
| 2012 | David Levithan | The Lover's Dictionary |
| 2012 | Brooke Hauser | The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens |
| 2012 | Erin Morgenstern | The Night Circus |
| 2012 | Ernest Cline | Ready Player One |
| 2012 | Daniel H. Wilson | Robopocalypse |
| 2012 | Jesmyn Ward | Salvage the Bones |
| 2012 | Caroline Preston | The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures |
| 2012 | Roland Merullo | The Talk-Funny Girl |
| 2013 | David Zimmerman | Caring Is Creepy |
| 2013 | Tupelo Hassman | Girlchild |
| 2013 | Richard Ross | Juvenile in Justice |
| 2013 | Robin Sloan | Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore |
| 2013 | Derf Backderf | My Friend Dahmer |
| 2013 | Chris Ballard | One Shot at Forever |
| 2013 | Julianna Baggott | Pure |
| 2013 | Louise Erdrich | The Round House |
| 2013 | Carol Rifka Brunt | Tell the Wolves I'm Home |
| 2013 | Maria Semple | Where'd You Go, Bernadette? |
| 2014 | Mark Slouka | Brewster |
| 2014 | Lisa O'Donnell | The Death of Bees |
| 2014 | Abigail Tarttelin | Golden Boy |
| 2014 | John Searles | Help for the Haunted |
| 2014 | Max Barry | Lexicon |
| 2014 | Wesley Chu | Lives of Tao |
| 2014 | Koren Zailckas | Mother, Mother |
| 2014 | Lucy Knisley | Relish: My Life in the Kitchen |
| 2014 | Katja Millay | The Sea of Tranquility |
| 2014 | Gavin Extence | The Universe Versus Alex Woods |
| 2015 | Anthony Doerr | All the Light We Cannot See |
| 2015 | Kate Racculia | Bellweather Rhapsody |
| 2015 | James A. Levine | Bingo's Run |
| 2015 | Kanae Minato | Confessions |
| 2015 | Celeste Ng | Everything I Never Told You |
| 2015 | John Scalzi | Lock In |
| 2015 | Andy Weir | The Martian |
| 2015 | Zak Ebrahim | The Terrorist's Son: A Story of Choice |
| 2015 | Michael Koryta | Those Who Wish Me Dead |
| 2015 | John Darnielle | Wolf in White Van |
| 2016 | Ryan Gattis | All Involved |
| 2016 | Ta-Nehisi Coates | Between the World and Me |
| 2016 | Camille DeAngelis | Bones & All |
| 2016 | David Wong | Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits |
| 2016 | Sara Nović | Girl at War |
| 2016 | Joe Abercrombie | Half the World |
| 2016 | Brandon Stanton | Humans of New York: Stories |
| 2016 | Liz Suburbia | Sacred Heart |
| 2016 | Dan-el Padilla Peralta | Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League |
| 2016 | Keija Parssinen | The Unraveling of Mercy Louis |
| 2017 | Sarah Beth Durst | The Queen of Blood |
| 2017 | Manuel Gonzales | The Regional Office Is Under Attack! |
| 2017 | Diane Guerrero with Michelle Burford | In the Country We Love: My Family Divided |
| 2017 | Hannah Hart | Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded |
| 2017 | Holly Jennings | Arena |
| 2017 | Seanan McGuire | Every Heart a Doorway |
| 2017 | Ryan North | Romeo and/or Juliet: A Choosable-Path Adventure |
| 2017 | Rob Rufus | Die Young with Me: A Memoir |
| 2017 | Matt Simon | The Wasp that Brainwashed the Caterpillar |
| 2017 | Scott Stambach | The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko |
| 2018 | Martha Wells | All Systems Red |
| 2018 | Daniel H. Wilson | The Clockwork Dynasty |
| 2018 | Seanan McGuire | Down Among the Sticks and Bones |
| 2018 | Eve Ewing | Electric Arches |
| 2018 | Melissa Fleming | A Hope More Powerful than the Sea |
| 2018 | Joey Comeau | Malagash |
| 2018 | Jeff Lemire | Roughneck |
| 2018 | Jordan Harper | She Rides Shotgun |
| 2018 | Tasha Kavanagh | Things We Have in Common |
| 2018 | Kat Howard | An Unkindness of Magicians |
| 2019 | P. Djèlí Clark | The Black God's Drums |
| 2019 | Meghan MacLean Weir | The Book of Essie |
| 2019 | Madeline Miller | Circe |
| 2019 | Tara Westover | Educated: A Memoir |
| 2019 | Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil | The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After |
| 2019 | Sam Graham-Felsen | Green |
| 2019 | David Small | Home After Dark |
| 2019 | N. K. Jemisin | How Long 'til Black Future Month? |
| 2019 | Jonathan Evison | Lawn Boy |
| 2019 | Naomi Novik | Spinning Silver |
| 2020 | C.A. Fletcher | A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World |
| 2020 | Temi Oh | Do You Dream of Terra-Two? |
| 2020 | Angie Cruz | Dominicana |
| 2020 | Maia Kobabe | Gender Queer: A Memoir |
| 2020 | Tegan and Sara | High School |
| 2020 | AJ Dungo | In Waves |
| 2020 | Seanan McGuire | Middlegame |
| 2020 | Colson Whitehead | The Nickel Boys |
| 2020 | Casey McQuiston | Red, White & Royal Blue |
| 2020 | Lisa Lutz | The Swallows |
| 2021 | Rebecca Roanhorse | Black Sun |
| 2021 | TJ Klune | The House in the Cerulean Sea |
| 2021 | Colin O'Brady | The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice - Crossing Antarctica Alone |
| 2021 | Derf Backderf | Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio |
| 2021 | Gretchen Anthony | The Kids Are Gonna Ask |
| 2021 | Stephen Graham Jones | The Only Good Indians |
| 2021 | Emily M. Danforth | Plain Bad Heroines |
| 2021 | Tochi Onyebuchi | Riot Baby |
| 2021 | Allie Brosh | Solutions and Other Problems |
| 2021 | Quan Barry | We Ride Upon Sticks: A Novel |
| 2022 | Ryka Aoki | Light from Uncommon Stars |
| 2022 | Marianne Cronin | The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot |
| 2022 | Genevieve Gornichec | The Witch's Heart |
| 2022 | T. L. Huchu | The Library of the Dead |
| 2022 | Will Leitch | How Lucky |
| 2022 | Everina Maxwell | Winter's Orbit |
| 2022 | Kate Quinn | The Rose Code |
| 2022 | Kareem Rosser | Crossing the Line: A Fearless Team of Brothers and the Sport That Changed Their Lives Forever |
| 2022 | Rachel Smythe | Lore Olympus, Vol. 1 |
| 2022 | Heather Walter | Malice |
| 2023 | Sophie Irwin | A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting |
| 2023 | R. F. Kuang | Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution |
| 2023 | Jennette McCurdy | I'm Glad My Mom Died |
| 2023 | Jarrett Melendez, illus. by Danica Brine | Chef's Kiss |
| 2023 | Sara Nović | True Biz |
| 2023 | Jamila Rowser, illus. by Robyn Smith | Wash Day Diaries |
| 2023 | John Scalzi | The Kaiju Preservation Society |
| 2023 | James Spooner | The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere. |
| 2023 | Sue Lynn Tan | Daughter of the Moon Goddess |
| 2023 | Javier Zamora | Solito: A Memoir |
| 2024 | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | Chain-Gang All-Stars |
| 2024 | Darrin Bell | The Talk |
| 2024 | Jessica George | Maame |
| 2024 | Jessica Johns | Bad Cree |
| 2024 | Khashayar J. Khabushani | I Will Greet the Sun Again |
| 2024 | Daniel Kraus | Whalefall |
| 2024 | Oksana Masters | The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph |
| 2024 | John Scalzi | Starter Villain |
| 2024 | Jade Song | Chlorine |
| 2024 | Rebecca Yarros | Fourth Wing |
| 2025 | Melissa Blake | Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability |
| 2025 | David F. Walker, illus. by Marcus Kwame Anderson | Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined |
| 2025 | Eve J. Chung | Daughters of Shandong |
| 2025 | P. Djèlí Clark | The Dead Cat Tail Assassins |
| 2025 | Kristen Perrin | How to Solve Your Own Murder |
| 2025 | Lara Pickle | I Feel Awful, Thanks |
| 2025 | Stephen Graham Jones | I Was a Teenage Slasher |
| 2025 | Rosie Hewlett | The Witch of Colchis |
| 2025 | Henry H. Neff | The Witchstone |
| 2025 | Marjane Satrapi, trans. by Una Dimitrijević | Woman, Life, Freedom |