Like many adults who are responsible for turning “The Hunger Games,” “Twilight,” “The Book Thief,” and other young-adult titles into multigenerational bestsellers, we find that the stories and characters in YA literature are as compelling (sometimes more so) than novels written for our own demographic. By our conservative estimate, we probably read a bazillion young-adult books in 2012. Here are 10, some by award-winning veterans, others by debut authors, that made our lists of best reads. These are the ones we’re still thinking about. Meredith Goldstein

and Chelsey Philpot