All American Boys
by Jason Reynolds; Brendan Kiely
When Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend.
All the Bright Places
by Jennifer Niven
Theodore and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school--both teetering on the edge--it's the beginning of an unlikely relationship and a desire to save one another.
Bone Gap
by Laura Ruby
Finn is the only witness to the abduction of town favorite Roza, but when his inability to distinguish between faces makes it difficult for him to help with the investigation, people begin to question his story.
The Crossover
by Kwame Alexander
Twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with the highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.
An Ember in the Ashes
by Sabaa Tahir
In the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire, Laia's brother is arrested for treason, forcing her to go undercover as a slave in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim they can save her brother.
Everything, Everything
by Nicola Yoon
Maddy is allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she finds her insular world becoming stifling and complicated.
Finding Audrey
by Sophie Kinsella
Fourteen-year old Audrey is making slow but steady progress dealing with her anxiety disorder when Linus comes into the picture and her recovery gains momentum.
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces
by Isabel Quintero
Gabi chronicles her senior year as she copes with her best friend's pregnancy, friend Sebastian's coming out, her father's meth habit, ad her own challenges of growing up.
House Arrest
by K. A. Holt
Timothy is sentenced to house arrest after impulsively stealing a credit card, where he is forced to keep a journal into which he pours all his thoughts, fears and frustrations.
I Am Princess X
by Cherie Priest
Years after writing stories about a superheroine character with a best friend who dies in a car accident, May is shocked to see impossible images of the superheroine appearing around Seattle.
Illuminae
by Amie Kaufman; Jay Kristoff
The planet Kerenza is attacked, and Kady and Ezra find themselves on a space fleet fleeing the enemy, while their ship's artificial intelligence system and a deadly plague may be the end of them all.
A Night Divided
by Jennifer A. Nielsen
When the Berlin Wall went up, it divided Gerta's family. Now four years later, Gerta sees her father on a viewing platform and thinks he is sending her a secret code telling her to tunnel to freedom.
Nimona
Nimona is an impulsive shape shifter with a knack for villainry. Lord Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. Together they will wreak havoc in this graphic novel adventure.
Noggin
by John Corey Whaley
After dying at 16, Travis Coates' head was removed and frozen for five years before being attached to another body, and now the old Travis must learn to navigate his new life.
The Rest of Us Just Live Here
by Patrick Ness
What if you aren't the Chosen One? The one fighting vampires, zombies, or whatever else? What if you're just like Mikey, who just wants to graduate and go to prom before someone blows up the high school?
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
by Stephanie Oakes
A handless teen escapes from a cult, only to find herself in juvenile detention and suspected of knowing who murdered her cult leader.
The Thing about Jellyfish
by Ali Benjamin
Suzy wades through her intense grief over the loss of her best friend by investigating the rare jellyfish she is convinced is responsible for her friend's death.
Through the Woods
by Emily Carroll (Illustrator)
A graphic novel collection of five spine tingling, horror filled short stories
What We Saw
by Aaron Hartzler
Life has changed for Piddy. Her best friend moved away, she starts a new school, and she is bullied by a girl she doesn’t even know. What else can possible go wrong?
Books For Sports Fans
A Diamond in the Desert
by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, thirteen-year-old Tetsu and his family are sent to the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona where a fellow prisoner starts a baseball team, but when Tetsu's sister becomes ill and he feels responsible, he stops playing.
Fantasy League
by Mike Lupica
In Los Angeles, Charlie's skill at fantasy football gains the attention of both the local media and the owner of a professional football team.
The Final Four
by Paul Volponi
The championship is so close they can taste it. And for four key players, it's about more than just winning. They're fighting for pride, love, recognition, and stardom. But who will come out on top?
Game Seven
by Paul Volponi
A sixteen-year-old shortstop in Cuba who dreams of playing with the pros must choose between his country and his father who defected to the United States.
Hit Count
by Chris Lynch
Arlo Brodie loves being at the heart of the action on the football field, getting hit hard and hitting back harder.
Kick
by Walter Dean Myers; Ross Workman
Thirteen-year-old soccer star Kevin and police sergeant Brown, who knew his father, try to keep Kevin out of juvenile hall after he is arrested on very serious charges.
Out of Nowhere
by Maria Padian
Performing community service for pulling a stupid prank against a rival high school, soccer star Tom tutors a Somali refugee with soccer dreams of his own.
The Running Dream
by Wendelin Van Draanen
When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and her track team finds a way to help rekindle her dream of running again.
Swagger
by Carl Deuker
High school senior point guard Jonas Dolan is on the fast track to a basketball career until an unthinkable choice puts his future on the line
Award Winners
All Involved
by Ryan Gattis
Los Angeles, 1992: in the chaos of a rioting city, between settling scores and surviving another day, 18 young men and women—gangbangers, a nurse, an artist, a dreamer—give intense and sometimes brutal voice to their complex human experiences.
Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Coates writes to his 15-year-old son about the inborn hazards of being black in America and his own intellectual, political and emotional confrontation with the need to live fully, even in the face of racialist culture.
Bones and All
by Camille DeAngelis
Sixteen-year-old Maren literally eats the ones who love her, bones and all. When her mother abandons her, Maren sets out to find the father she has never met, hoping he can help her understand why she is a monster.
Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits
by David Wong
Zoey never had much ambition beyond being a barista, but when her father leaves her in control of the lawless city of Tabula Ra$a, she goes from steaming milk to slaying supervillains
Girl at War
by Sara Novic
Ana's early life was ravaged by the 1991 Balkan wars. Now a college student, Ana relives her war and its consequences as she unravels the mystery of herself and the meaning of home.
Half the World
by Joe Abercrombie
A bloodthirsty girl and a reluctant warrior are recruited by a cunning minister for a mission that will either save or doom their kingdom.
Sacred Heart
by Liz Suburbia
Adults have disappeared, and Ben Schiller is trying to keep things together until their return in this unsettling graphic novel. A series of mysterious deaths may be a sign of impending doom for Alexandria’s troubled kids.
The Unraveling of Mercy Louis
by Keija Parssinen
Mercy, a high school basketball star, lives under the thumb of her grandmother, a fierce believer in Y2K as the apocalypse. The year 1999 alters Mercy’s life in a small Texas refinery town and gives her a future beyond it.
Nonfiction
Stonewall
by Ann Bausum
ISBN: 9780670016792
A riveting exploration of the Stonewall Riots and the national Gay Rights movement.
Humans of New York
by Brandon Stanton
In pictures and interviews that captivate, puzzle and reveal, photojournalist Brandon Stanton collects an immeasurable range of human emotions and perspectives. The photos draw us in and their subjects’ words leave us wondering and cheering at the variety of humanity.
The Family Romanov
by Candace Fleming
The story of the Russian Revolution as it unfolded. Describes both the luxurious lives of the Romanovs and the plight of Russia's peasants and their eventual uprising.
Undocumented
by Dan-el Padilla Peralta
Overstaying his visa in the U.S. before he was in kindergarten, Padilla Peralta joined other young DREAM Act scholars to erase his illegal status. His humor, wisdom, success and very American boyhood smash anti-immigration stereotypes.
Rock 'n' Roll Soldier
by Dean Ellis Kohler; Susan VanHecke
The author shares his experiences as a rock and roll musician and soldier assigned to play for the troops in Vietnam.
Titanic
by Deborah Hopkinson
Pieces together the story of the TITANIC and that fateful April night, drawing on the voices of survivors and archival photographs.
This Star Won't Go Out
by Esther Earl; Lori Earl; Wayne Earl; John Green (Introduction by)
A memoir told through the journals, letters, and stories of young cancer patient Esther Earl
Unlikely Warrior
by Georg Rauch
A memoir of an 18-year old part-Jewish youth who, despite his heritage, is drafted into Hitler's army and sent to serve on the Russian front.
Friday Night Lights
by H. G. Bissinger
Follows the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas, exploring the lives of the players and the impact of the championship team on the small town.
The Prisoners of Breendonk
by James M. Deem
Relays the history of Fort Breendonk in Antwerp, Belgium. Breendonk was no less brutal than official concentration camps. About 3,600 prisoners were held there - just over half of them survived.
Symphony for the City of the Dead
by M. T. Anderson
A brilliant and riveting account of the Siege of Leningrad and the role played by Russian composer Shostakovich and his Leningrad Symphony.
Popular
by Maya Van Wagenen
ISBN: 9780525426813
Publication Date: 2014-04-15
With mixed results and many surprises, Maya attempts to become part of the "in" crowd by following advice found in a 1950's popularity guide in this humorous memoir.
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
by Phillip Hoose
The true story of a group of boy resistance fighters in Denmark after the Nazi invasion during World War II.
The Borden Murders
by Sarah Elizabeth Miller
Discusses the trial of Lizzie Borden and the murders of her parents.
Bomb
by Steve Sheinkin
The true story of the creation of the nuclear bomb including the espionage involved.
Most Dangerous
by Steve Sheinkin
A thrilling journalistic account of government insider Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers and exposed the questionable decisions that led to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.
The Port Chicago 50
by Steve Sheinkin
Describes the fifty black sailors who refused to work in unsafe and unfair conditions after an explosion in Port Chicago killed 320 servicemen, and how the incident influenced civil rights.
Beyond Magenta
by Susan Kuklin (Photographer)
Six transgender or gender-neutral young adults share their personal journeys.
Credits
Book summaries from http://www.ricat.net, http://riteenbookaward.org, and http://www.ala.org