The Tragedy of the “Best Books”

And why you need to know about them. Also, Aristotle's Poetics, George MacDonald, and how art moves us.

“It would be wicked to write a tale representing a man it called good as always doing bad things” —George MacDonald, “The Fantastic Imagination”

If you’ve tried googling “best books for young people,” you will be sorely disappointed. I did this—for you, dear reader. Let me just say that most folks out there are not turning to John Senior’s Thousand Good Books list. No, they’re looking to what Publishers Weekly and the American Library Association declare as the “best” books. If you are curious about what the worst books in 2025 are, have a look at these lists. They reveal a great deal about where the culture is—or at least where the “educated” elites would like it to be. These lists celebrate books that, if you didn’t know better, you might think I was making up just to be polemical.

For fun, here is a sample of some of the “winners” in the 2025 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults category from the American Library Association (the same organization that equates keeping libraries free from sexual content for children with “censorship”):

All the Fighting Parts by Hannah V. :

“Sixteen-year-old Amina Conteh clashes with her religious father in many ways, and is forced to spend more time at their church because of her rebelliousness. When she is assaulted by a church leader, Amina uses poetry to find her voice and seek justice for what happened to her.”

Libertad by Bessie Flores Zaldivar:

“Libertad Morazán creates an anonymous Instagram profile to share her political poetry about the 2017 Honduran presidential election, while trying to reconcile her feelings for her best friend, Cami, and her new girlfriend, Dani. After tragedy strikes her family, Libertad has to decide the best course of action for her future.”

The molotov cocktail represents the effect of this book on your soul.

Thirsty by Jas Hammonds

“As a biracial girl from a poor background, Blake Brenner has just wanted to feel seen. Now four years into a relationship with her beautiful and rich girlfriend who enables her drinking problem, Blake must navigate the summer before college and pledging a secret sorority for women of color.”

Twenty-Four Seconds from Now… : A Love Story by Jason Reynolds

“Neon is just twenty-four seconds away from losing his virginity to Aria, but nerves are getting the best of him. Told in reverse, the story unravels the moments that brought Neon to this moment, highlighting the relationship advice he receives from significant figures in his life.”

Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis

“Neely, still reeling from her brother's suicide, has been secretly living with schizophrenia. She finds comfort and stability working as a guide in the caverns--until her coworker and crush Mila is found brutally murdered and Neely begins to worry she's the one responsible.”

The flames of Hell consuming the poor reader of this book.

Keep in mind that they are recommending these books for children as young as 14. Whenever anyone gives me grief about homeschooling and “socialization”, I think about these book lists. If you are wondering if the public schools are okay, let this be your answer. These books are on the shelves of whatever libraries they still maintain.

Something that these authors would agree with me on is that these books are thoroughly revolutionary. Yes! They would exclaim. This oppressive, patriarchal, Christian culture needs to be dismantled. Yet these ideologically driven, poorly written stories top the charts thanks to ideological supporters in key positions. The experts. Thus, when hapless parents or grandparents are just looking for something that their screen-addled children will read, they turn to such lists for advice. Rather than wade through the morass of “young adult literature” on Amazon and try to figure out what’s what, they unknowingly go to Sauron himself for book recommendations.

The Left has all but captured the modern imagination industry. Their books, music, art, and films are very often funded and then aggressively promoted and catapulted onto “best” lists.

Yet this capture of the imagination of the West by revolutionaries is why we find ourselves at the present cultural juncture. Lies, sexual promiscuity, degeneracy, and ideological thinking are celebrated, promoted, and wrapped up in all of the trappings of “fantasy” so as to appeal to the child’s mind. By the time he or she graduates high school, it is too late. The imagination has already been formed. The Left’s hold over the imagination of the West surpasses even what the Soviets could have dreamed possible.