2013-2014 Volunteer State Book Award Nominees

1. 2013-2014 Volunteer State Book Award Nominees High SchoolDivision Grades 9-12

2. Forgeby Laurie Halse Anderson • Curzon is stationed with the army at Valley Forge where he worries that someone will learn he is a runaway slave. He is also trying to understand his troubled relationship with fellow runaway Isabel.

3. My Name Is Not Easyby Debby Dahl Edwardson • Alaskans Luke, Chickie, Sonny, Donna, and Amiq relate their experiences in the early 1960s when they are forced to attend a Catholic boarding school where, despite different tribal affiliations, they come to find a sort of family and home.

4. The Fault in Our Starsby John Green • Hazel, a cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at a support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

5. Five Flavors of Dumbby Antony John • Piper, who is hearing impaired, becomes the manager for her classmates' popular rock band Dumb. Now she has the chance to prove her capabilities to her parents and others, if only she can convince the band members to get along.

6. The Name of the Starby Maureen Johnson • Rory is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with a very unusual and somewhat supernatural investigation.

7. Amy & Roger’s Epic Detourby Morgan Matson • After the death of her father, Amy sets out on a carefully planned cross-country trip with Roger. They wind up taking many detours, forcing Amy to face her worst fears and come to terms with her grief and guilt.

8. Hold Me Closer, Necromancerby Lish McBride • Sam discovers that he has the power to raise the dead and becomes involved in a world of harbingers, werewolves, satyrs, and other necromancers.

9. Under the Mesquiteby Guadelupe Garcia McCall • Lupita, an aspiring actress and poet in a close-knit Mexican American family, comes of age as she struggles with her responsibilities during her mother's battle with cancer.

10. Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins • Two Burmese boys, one a Karenni refugee and the other the son of an imprisoned Burmese doctor, meet in the jungle and must learn to trust each other to survive.

11. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs • Jacob travels to a remote island after a family tragedy and discovers the abandoned orphanage where his grandfather grew up. He then finds a time portal to the Home of Peculiar Children.

12. Divergentby Veronica Roth • In a futuristic society, Beatrice must choose among five factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she does not fit into any one group. She soon learns that her world is not so perfect after all.

13. Bluefishby Pat Schmatz • Travis longs for his old life in the country and struggles to hide the fact that he cannot read. A persistent teacher and a special girl soon open his eyes to a new world.

14. Okay for Nowby Gary Schmidt • Doug faces many challenges, including an abusive father, a brother traumatized by Vietnam, suspicious teachers and police officers, and isolation, but when he meets Lil, he develops a close relationship with her and finds a safe place at the local library

15. Between Shades of Grayby RutaSepetys • In 1941, fifteen-year-old artist Lina, her mother, and her brother are taken from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards, first to a work camp in Siberia and then to exile within the Arctic Circle.

16. The Scorpio Racesby Maggie Stiefvater • Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races.Both riders face injury and death from the dangerous water horses.

17. Daughter of Smoke & Boneby Laini Taylor • Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters, the chimaerae who are the only family she has ever known.

18. The Running Dreamby Wendelin Van Drannen • When Jessica loses her leg in a bus accident, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and doubts her personal identity. Her track team then finds a wonderful way to help rekindle her dream of running again.

19. Written in Boneby Sally Walker • Sally Walker works alongside scientists investigating colonial-era graves near Jamestown, Virginia: a teenage boy, a ship's captain, an indentured servant, a colonial official and his family, and an enslaved African girl.

20. Where Things Come Backby John Corey Whaley • Cullen's summer in Arkansas is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, the alleged spotting of an ivory-billed woodpecker, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.

21. How To Save a Lifeby Sara Zarr • Jill, in grief over the loss of her father, and Mandy are thrown together when Jill's mother agrees to adopt Mandy's unborn child, but nothing turns out as they had anticipated.