- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Its young protagonist must survive a deadly system through quick thinking, alliances, and hard choices.
- by Veronica Roth
A divided dystopian society and dangerous tests drive this brisk young adult adventure.
- by Michael Grant
When adults vanish from a sealed-off town, young people must cooperate amid escalating dangers.
- by William Golding
This classic offers a darker, more literary exploration of how isolated young people build and fracture a society.
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
A young protagonist uncovers the truth behind an orderly society in this influential dystopian novel.
- by Jeanne DuPrau
Two young friends follow clues toward escape from a failing underground city.
- by Patrick Ness
A perilous flight through an unfamiliar world combines intense action with questions of trust.
- by William Sleator
Five teenagers awaken in a bizarre, stair-filled environment where the rules of survival are unclear.
- by Joelle Charbonneau
A young woman faces a sequence of dangerous assessments in a tightly controlled future society.
- by Alexandra Bracken
A group of young people flee a repressive system and form fragile alliances on the road.
- by Scott Westerfeld
A teenager’s encounter with life beyond her controlled community turns into a fast-moving escape story.
- by Ellen Raskin
Its cast of competitors must cooperate and think laterally to solve an elaborate puzzle.
- by Neal Shusterman
Three teenagers on the run must rely on one another in a disturbing near-future society.
- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
A gifted young recruit faces increasingly demanding simulations in an isolated military school.
- by Nancy Farmer
A young protagonist questions his identity while navigating a tightly controlled and dangerous world.
- by Trenton Lee Stewart
A team of clever children tackles tests and secret missions in an eccentric, puzzle-filled adventure.
- by S. A. Bodeen
A teenager begins to question the safety of the isolated underground refuge where his family lives.
- by Emma Clayton
Young characters challenge a segregated society in a suspenseful story of separation and resistance.
- by Gary Paulsen
A boy with no memory finds himself stranded in an unfamiliar world and must learn how to survive.
- Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells
This classic brings a stranded outsider into a controlled, unsettling environment shaped by scientific experiments.
- by T. A. Barron
A boy with a blank past journeys through a strange land while trying to discover who he is.
- by O. T. Nelson
After a catastrophe leaves children on their own, a resourceful girl organizes a community for survival.
- by Monica Hughes
A group of young adults enter an enigmatic game that tests their ingenuity and ability to work together.
- by Stephen King
Its dystopian contest turns endurance and the shifting bonds among competitors into the central tension.