Male YA
This page is a list of Young Adult novels with male main characters. I’m not trying to discriminate against female characters or authors. But requests for good YA with male MCs are something I come across a lot, and it’s hard to find good comprehensive lists.
I have not read all of these novels, but they are all on my To Be Read list. There will be an asterisk next to the author if I have read it. Two if I enjoyed it.
I don’t particularly like Amazon, so I’ll be linking to the Goodreads pages for these novels. (Yes, I know Amazon bought Goodreads.)
(The position on the list is not in any way indicative of the quality of the novel.)
*I’ve only listed the first book if it’s part of series. Series will have the series title in parentheses.
1. The Book of Three (The Chronicles of Prydain) by Lloyd Alexander
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
3. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
4. Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson
5. Feed by M.T. Anderson
6. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
7. Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher**
8. Split by Swathi Avasthi
9. Ship Breaker (Series) by Paolo Bacigalupi
10. Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes
11. Gil Marsh by A.C.E Bauer
12. Going Nowhere Faster by Sean Beaudoin
13. Genesis by Bernard Beckett
14. The Reapers are the Angels (Reapers) by Alden Bell
15. You by Charles Benoit
16. The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
17. Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator by Josh Berk
18. Ashes (Series) by Ilsa J. Bick
19. White Cat by Holly Black
20. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
21. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
22. Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks
23. Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers
24. The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff
25. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
26. The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd
27. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
28. First Day of Earth by Cecil Castellucci
29. Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aidan Chambers
30. Breaktime by Aidan Chambers
31. Dance on My Grave by Aidan Chambers
32. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
33. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
34. Ready Player One by Earnest Cline
35. Lovesick by Jake Coburn
36. Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen
37. Struck by Lightning by Chris Colfer
38. Diary of a Wimpy Vampire (Series) by Tim Collins
39. Confessions of a Liar, Thief, and Failed Sex God by Bill Condon
40. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
41. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier**
42. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
43. After the Snow by S.D. Crockett
44. The Maze Runner (Series) by James Dashner*
45. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow**
46. Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
47. I’ll Get There, It Better Be Worth the Trip by John Donovan
48. I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle
49. The Byron Journals by Daniel Ducrou
50. Happyface by Stephen Emond
51. Being Billy by Phil Earle
52. Dark Life (Series) by Kat Falls
53. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
54. Incarceron (Series) by Catherine Fisher
55. 90 Packets of Instant Noodles by Deb Fitzpatrick
56. Also Known as Rowan Pohi by Ralph Fletcher
57. Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
58. Breaking Point by Alex Flinn
59. Beastly by Alex Flinn
60. Cloaked by Alex Flinn
61. Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford
62. Right Behind You by Gail Giles
63. Saint Iggy by K.L. Going
64. Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
65. Red Rising (Series) by Pierce Brown
66. Jumper by Stephen Gould
67. Gone (Series) by Michael Grant
68. Feed (Newsflesh) by Mira Grant
69. Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray
70. Paper Towns by John Green**
71. Looking For Alaska by John Green**
72. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
73. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green**
74. Swerve by Phillip Gwynne
75. Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
76. The Obsidian Blade (The Klaautu Diskos) by Pete Hautman
77. Godless by Pete Hautman
78. Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori) by Lian Hearn
79. Department Nineteen by Will Hill
80. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton**
81. The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
82. The Maze by Will Hobbs*
83. Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan
84. Stormbreaker (Alex Rider) by Anthony Horowitz
85. Stray (Touchstone) by Andrea K. Host
86. The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard
87. Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes
88. The Pearl Wars (Skyship Academy) by Nick James
89. Night Road by A.M. Jenkins
90. Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
91. My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T. Jeschonek
92. Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
93. Lexapros and Cons by Aaron Karo
94. Insignia (Series) by S.J. Kincaid
95. Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King
96. Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse by Lucas Klauss
97. My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
98. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
99. Stoner and Spaz by Ron Koertge
100. Personal Effects by E.M. Kokie
101. The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan
102. In Darkness by Nick Lake
103. Nostradamus and Instant Noodles by John Larkin
104. Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore) by Ursula K. Leguin
105. Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis
106. Are We There Yet? by David Levithan
107. Every Day by David Levithan
108. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
110. Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
111. Angry Young Man by Chris Lynch
112. Boy Toy by Barry Lyga
113. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga
114. I Hunt Killers (Jasper Dent) by Barry Lyga
115. Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
116. Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan
117. The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
118. Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
119. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
120. Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
121. Planesrunner (Series) by Ian McDonald
122. The Silver Child by Cliff McNish
123. Railsea by China Mieville
124. Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward MIller
125. Hero by Perry Moore
126. Lost Property by James Moloney
127. Break by Hannah Moskowitz
128. Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz
129. Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz
130. The King of Whatever by Kirsten Murphy
131. Ashfall (Series) by Mike Mullin
132. Monster by Walter Dean Myers
133. Rock Star Superstar by Blake Nelson
134. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness
136. A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix
137. Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien
138. This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel
139. Airborn (Matt Cruise) by Kenneth Oppel
140. Hatchet (Brian’s Saga) by Gary Paulsen
141. Five Parts Dead by Tim Pegler
142. Mexican White Boy by Matt de la Pena
143. The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater
144. King Dork by Frank Portman
145. Nation by Terry Pratchett
146. After by Francine Prose
147. Blaze of Glory (The Laws of Magic) by Michael Pryor
148. Boy 21 by Matthew Quick
149. Under the Wolf, Under the Dog by Adam Rapp
151. Fat Vampire by Adam Rex
152. Sons of the 613 by Michael Rubens
153. Spud by John van de Ruit
154. The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon
155. Maybe by Brent Runyon
157. The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
158. Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjami Alire Saenz
159. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
160. Henry Franks by Peter Adam Salomon
161. The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
162. Freefall by Mindi Scott
163. Revolver by Marcus Sedgewick
164. Scrawl by Mark Shulman
165. Unwind (Series) by Neal Shusterman
166. Intertwined (Series) by Gena Showalter
167. The God of War by Marisa Silver
168. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey69
169. Stitches by David Small
170. The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith
171. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
172. Freak Show by James St. James
173. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
174. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
175. The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
176. Blankets by Craig Thompson
177. Coda (Series) by Emma Trevayne
178. Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
179. The Thief (The Queen’s Thief) by Megan Whalen Turner
180. Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini
181. It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
182. Teen Angts? Naaah… by Ned Vizzini
183. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
184. I Am Not A Serial Killer (John Cleaver) by Dan Wells
185. Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
186. The Killer’s Cousin by Nancy Werlin
187. Adios, Nirvana by Conrad Wesselhoeft
188. So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld**
189. Boy Kills Man by Matt Whyman
190. Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger
191. Spanking Shakespeare by Jake Wizner
192. Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood
193. Kerosene by Chris Wooding
194. The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
195. Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones
196. American Born Chinese (Graphic Novel) by Gene Luen Yang
197. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
198. Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have by Allen Zadoff
199. I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
This list is obviously incomplete. If you have any additions to suggest, please let me know in the comments.
Atsiko's Chimney 
Anne Beamish
January 19, 2014 at 7:26 PM
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children has a male protagonist.
atsiko
January 19, 2014 at 9:06 PM
Thanks for the info!
what?
June 6, 2014 at 5:11 AM
Now what interests me the most is: Which of these are geared towards a female readership?
atsiko
June 6, 2014 at 8:38 AM
I didn’t really focus on that when creating the list.
Jordan Michael Johnson
July 21, 2014 at 3:57 PM
A comprehensive list! I totally thought I was going to be able to come up with lots you missed, but I was only able to come up with two. And they’re spec fic!
The Goodness Gene by Sonia Levitin http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/820890.The_Goodness_Gene
A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/391993.A_Crack_in_the_Line?from_search=true
atsiko
July 21, 2014 at 9:35 PM
I wasn’t trying to be comprehensive, just help people know that it does exist. But thanks for the suggestions!
I’m glad I seem to have hit most of the major ones.
Olivia
August 4, 2015 at 8:06 PM
Hi. 🙂 I noticed that you have Eon on here. (#65) The protagonist of the series is actually a girl disguised as a boy at first. (Not really a spoiler, it’s evident within the first few pages.) Hope this helps!
atsiko
August 4, 2015 at 8:11 PM
Thanks for the note.