Find your next great read for National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month by exploring my reviews of these YA books about bullying.

Bullying is a problem that spans generations. Everyone understands what it’s like to be bullied—or perhaps to be the bully and later regret those actions. What makes bullying different today is that it can lead teens to depression, violence, and even suicide.

Reading YA books about bullying can shed light on the complex worlds facing teens so we can recognize the signs and offer the right kind of help. Cyberbullying and technology in general takes the problem to a whole new level.

Here are my top personal recommendations for the best YA books about bullying that are guaranteed page-turners. The list includes complex stories with both bullies and the bullied that are sure to generate discussion. 

Unquiet Riot by Khristina Chess

“When you’re the smallest and ugliest kid in third grade, you can’t stare blankly out the window like an alien pod person awaiting the return of the mother ship; that was a fast jaunt to a bloody playground brawl.” ― Khristina Chess, quote from Unquiet Riot

Riley’s life is filled with mind-numbing boredom until Henry arrives at his school.

Henry’s amazing! Henry believes the world is populated by robots posing as humans. He believes the shadows in his room are monsters escaping from the electrical wires, and he sleeps with knives under his mattresses. For Riley, visiting Henry’s world is like being a tourist in a foreign land.

Henry’s strangeness makes him a target for the same slander, harassment, and assault that Riley has been suffering for most of his school life.

But when the bullies take it too far, Henry decides to strike back.

Exhilarating and mind-bending! What I love most about Unquiet Riot is the slow unfolding of the friendship between the boys and the way Henry’s mental illness becomes revealed a little at a time. I worried for him. Riley is a great unreliable narrator who is witty and scary. This is the kind of authentic novel that really shows how factors like bullying, mental illness, and lack of teacher and parental involvement can allow an environment for a mass school violence event to occur.

You won’t want to miss this powerful YA book about bullying that explores the consequences of remaining silent. Fans of My Sister Rosa will love this psychological thriller.

By The Time You Read This I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters

I want to tell them, "Chip, Kim, there is no way to suicide-proof a person.” ― Julie Anne Peters, quote from By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Dead

Daelyn is going to kill herself in 23 days.

Daelyn is a bullied girl who failed her first suicide attempt but intends to get it right the next time. A website named Through the Light provides support to wanna-be suicide “completers” like Daelyn, and she spends a lot of free time there. Counting down the days.

Then she meets a boy. She tries to ignore him, but he’s pushy. Persistent. Charming, even.

But is he charming enough to keep her from going through the light when the countdown ends?

This short, brutal novel is a fast read. It’s not easy, happy, or hopeful, but it’s a raw and real look at suicide. If you are looking for an unflinching YA book about bullying its consequences on teens, this one is a must-read!

The Truth about Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

“There is one thing I've learned about people: they don't get that mean and nasty overnight. It's not human nature. But if you give people enough time, eventually they'll do the most heartbreaking stuff in the world.” ― Jennifer Mathieu, quote from The Truth About Alice

Told through multiple points of view, this YA novel tells the story Alice, a girl who is being bullied and shamed by her classmates because of sex. Each of the four narrators have a different perspective of Alice and what happened the night of the party, but because of their agendas, they are unreliable narrators. The worst ones are the girls who create the cloud of hate and shame around Alice.

The narrators are cruel and generally unlikeable people who spend their time justifying their actions. At the same time, because the book is short, there isn’t enough depth for them to do this adequately. I wish I’d had a little more.

In the end, only Alice can tell us what really happened—in her own voice.

You won’t want to miss this challenging YA book about bullying and the peer pressure, lying, and groupthink to cover up the truth.

Tease by Amanda Maciel

“Emma was a boyfriend-stealing bitch right up until the day in March when she killed herself. I didn’t do anything wrong, but she totally ruined my life.” ― Amanda Maciel, quote from Tease

In this YA book about bullying, readers get a chance to take the bully’s journey and explore the escalation of events through a different set of eyes. How did things go so far? Why? This book does something important in showing that children do evil things, but that doesn’t make them evil. They take actions without thinking of consequences, and in their world they have tools to do tremendous harm—even push others to kill themselves.

The protagonist Sara demonstrates the most beautiful change through the story, and the last few scenes brought tears to my eyes because her speech was very powerful and honest. The fact that she was often quite unlikeable was real, even if difficult to read. Her friend Brielle was horrible and even a bit over-the-top, but I still thought that the story itself was very resonant and thought-provoking.

All the Rage by Courtney Summers

"What a stupid thing it is, to care about a girl." ― Courtney Summers, quote from All the Rage

This book tells the story of a girl who was raped at a party by a boy she thought was beautiful. And then, she loses her best friend for telling about it. And everyone in the school begins bullying her about it. And she ends up at another party in the same situation, only this time her ex-best friend turns up missing.

The plot alternates between bewildering and breathtaking. Who was the rapist? What happened to Penny? Will there be justice? Is the girl going to be okay?

I felt sorry for Romy because of what happened to her and what continued to happen as she suffered bullying by the other girls. At times, she is a difficult protagonist to embrace because she's a person in deep pain. She's not always nice. She doesn't make good decisions. She hurts kind people who care about her.

Although this is a fast read, the ending wasn't what I expected or hoped. I felt things remained unresolved. Still, if you're looking for an emotional roller coaster about rape, victim blaming, and bullying, All the Rage is definitely worth checking out.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

“But before you start pointing fingers, let me ask you: is what I did really so bad? So bad I deserved to die? So bad I deserved to die like that? Is what I did really so much worse than what anybody else does? Is it really so much worse than what you do?”  ― Lauren Oliver, quote from Before I Fall

Samantha Kingston is dead.

In this YA-version of Groundhog Day, a “mean girl” gets a chance to relive her last day and the party she attended with her friends before the fatal car crash. She has an opportunity to make the same choices over and over, until she makes different ones.

This beautiful novel is an atypical mystery about redemption as the reader follows Samantha’s journey to figure out how she died. Her character arc really blew me away, and although I disliked her in the beginning, I was cheering for her by the end, and I love the way Lauren Oliver wrote the ending.

Don’t miss this YA book about bullying that shows the consequences of the bully’s actions.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

“You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything… affects everything.” ― Jay Asher, quote from Thirteen Reasons Why

Hannah Baker committed suicide, and she left behind 13 tapes explaining why she did it.

When Clay receives these tapes, he goes on a journey to understand why she did it. It’s a terrible story involving crimes, and with every tape, there is suspense in wondering how Clay contributed to this girl’s death.

Clay is a nice guy. He has a thing for Hannah. It doesn’t seem he could have anything to do with it, but this story shows how you often don’t know what another person is going through.

Jay Asher’s popular novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, is one of the best YA books about suicide, and it’s one of the most popular YA books about bullying. It became a super-popular series on Netflix; there’s a reason it has become a #1 New York Times and International Bestseller. If you somehow missed it, you should definitely check it out.

Other YA Books about Bullying

Goodreads also has lists on YA Bullying Books and Cyber Bullying Books. You might also be interested in my post, Other Good Reads, which has a comprehensive list of reviews of YA books by type of tough topic impacting teens.

Do you have any personal YA books about bullying to recommend for my list? I’m always looking for another great read in this category.

Khristina Chess is the award-winning author of several YA novels about troubled teens turning corners. You can find her on Amazon, Goodreads, and Twitter as an active daily contributor in the #5amwritersclub.