Like the people whose birthday falls on or near a holiday, they’re often overlooked (but not always!) Books hit readers at opportune times or speak to an experience that connects to their life in a meaningful way. Here are a few that I wanted to give a little extra love to.

The creative juices flowing in these stories in how they’re told and what focus they took were what made these stellar additions to the top books of 2023 for teens.

You’ll notice the only format I didn’t focus specifically on was manga. I read widely in this format as well but often the series have been longstanding and thus not specifically published in 2023. There are always new series coming out as well but it’s hard to pinpoint publication when they are published in the United States. Yet I couldn’t not talk about my favorites of the year that may or may not have been published in 2023, but were read in 2023.