Truman Nominees 2012-13

Most of the books - minus 3

Hopefully this year you will get the opportunity to read all of these books to the left (plus the three not pictured).  Why?  Because you get to help decide which one will win the Truman Award for 2012-13.  What are the Truman Awards?  From the Missouri Association of Librarians (www.maslonline.org/?page=truman_award) I found the following information:

About the Truman Readers Award

Age Level

The winner of the annual Truman Readers Award is selected by students in grades six through eight.

Vision

The Truman Readers Award encourages students in the early teen years to express their unique voice through exploring new literary genres, communicating with their peers about young adult literature, and honoring authors writing for young teens.

Guidelines for Choosing Books

1. Books should interest early teens in grades six through eight.
2. Books should be written by an author living in the United States.
3. Books should be of literary value which may enrich early teens' personal lives.
4. Books should be published two years prior to nomination on a Master List of 12 nominees.
5. Some consideration should be given to genre diversity, gender representation, range of reading level, racial diversity, and diversity of social, political, economic, and religious viewpoints.

The final list is about 12 books, down from a preliminary list of 25.  Both lists can be found at the Missouri Association of Librarians website, but to make it easy I am also going to list the 12 finalists, along with their Author and a quick synopsis (which I am getting from amazon.com). 

• After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick (April 1, 2011)



http://www.jordansonnenblick.com/wp-content/book-images/after_ever_after.jpg

• Jeffrey isn't a little boy with cancer anymore. He's a teen who's in remission, but life still feels fragile. The aftereffects of treatment have left Jeffrey with an inability to be a great student or to walk without limping. His parents still worry about him. His older brother, Steven, lost it and took off to Africa to be in a drumming circle and "find himself." Jeffrey has a little soul searching to do, too, which begins with his escalating anger at Steven, an old friend who is keeping something secret, and a girl who is way out of his league but who thinks he's cute. (http://www.amazon.com/After-Ever-Jordan-Sonnenblick/dp/0439837081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338595974&sr=8-1) 

• Bruiser by Neil Shusterman (October 4, 2011)



http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1318261800l/1931915.jpg

• There's a reason why Brewster can't have friends—why he can’t care about too many people. Because when he cares about you, things start to happen. Impossible things that can’t be explained. I know, because they’re happening to me. When BrontË starts dating Brewster “Bruiser” Rawlins—the guy voted Most Likely to Get the Death Penalty—her twin brother, Tennyson, isn’t surprised. But then strange things begin to occur. Tennyson and BrontË’s scrapes heal unnaturally fast, and cuts disappear before their eyes. What at first seems like their good fortune turns out to be more than they bargained for . . . much more. (http://www.amazon.com/Bruiser-Neal-Shusterman/dp/0061134104/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338596109&sr=1-1)

• Dark Life by Kat Falls (February 1, 2011)



http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328837536l/7027735.jpg

• Dive deep into the vivid underwater world of Dark Life!
  
  The oceans rose, swallowing the lowlands. Earthquakes shattered the continents, toppling entire regions into the rising water. Now, humans live packed into stack cities. The only ones with any space of their own are those who live on the ocean floor: the Dark Life.
  
  Ty has spent his whole life living deep undersea. When outlaws attack his homestead, he finds himself in a fight to save the only home he has ever known. Joined by Gemma, a girl from Topside, Ty ventures into the frontier's rough underworld and discovers some dark secrets to Dark Life. Secrets that threaten to destroy everything. (http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Life-Book-Kat-Falls/dp/0545178150/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338599483&sr=8-1) 
• Girl, Stolen by April Henry (March 13, 2012)



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• Sixteen–year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of a car while her mom fills her prescription for antibiotics. Before Cheyenne realizes what’s happening, their car is being stolen. Griffin hadn’t meant to kidnap Cheyenne, but once his dad finds out that Cheyenne’s father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes—now there’s a reason to keep her. How will Cheyenne survive this nightmare? Because she’s not only sick with pneumonia—she’s also blind. (http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Stolen-April-Henry/dp/0312674759/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338599528&sr=1-1)
• Heist Society (Heist Society #1) by Ally Carter (February 9, 2010)



http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news_img/16927/heist_society_16927.jpg

• When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.
• Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat's dad needs her help. For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in history--or at least her family's (very crooked) history. (http://www.amazon.com/Heist-Society-Ally-Carter/dp/B003TO6D2I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338599591&sr=1-1)
• Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1) by Kiersten White (July 26, 2011)



goodreads.com

• Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only one who can see through glamours.
• But now Evie’s dreams are filled with haunting voices and cryptic messages—and she’s realizing that she may be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
• So much for normal.
• Scrawl by Mark Shulman (September 14, 2010)
• Tod Munn is a bully. He's tough, but times are even tougher. The wimps have stopped coughing up their lunch money. The administration is cracking down. Then to make things worse, Tod and his friends get busted doing something bad. Something really bad.  Lucky Tod must spend his daily detention in a hot, empty room with Mrs. Woodrow, a no-nonsense guidance counselor. He doesn't know why he's there, but she does. Tod's punishment: to scrawl his story in a beat-up notebook. He can be painfully funny and he can be brutally honest. But can Mrs. Woodrow help Tod stop playing the bad guy before he actually turns into one . . . for real? Read Tod's notebook for yourself. (http://www.amazon.com/Paranormalcy-Kiersten-White/dp/0061985856/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338599669&sr=1-1)

• Soccerland by Beth Choat (September 2010)



luvs2readbooks.blogspot.com

• One day I’m going to play for the U.S. Women’s National Team. That’s what Flora Dupre promised her mom, before her mom died of cancer. Flora and her mom had created a place called Soccerland, an escape world where they went and just talked soccer. And now Flora’s dream of playing for the U.S.A. might be coming true. Flora’s received the invitation of a lifetime: the chance to try out for the Under-15 U.S. Girls’ Soccer Team, an opportunity that could put Flora on the road to making her dream a reality and reaching the real “Soccerland.” But when Flora arrives at the International Sports Academy, Flora struggles to hold her own, grappling with new positions on the pitch, injuries, a frustrating coach, and contempt from other players. But Flora is a big, strong Dupre girl—and she’s not going to go down easy. (http://www.amazon.com/Soccerland-International-Sports-Academy-Choat/dp/0761457240/ref=sr_1_1_title_2_har?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338599726&sr=1-1)
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• The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen (March 1, 2011)



book-crazy.com

• Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener. Will Mason be forced to destroy the thing he’s longed for most? (http://www.amazon.com/The-Gardener-S-A-Bodeen/dp/0312659423/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338599804&sr=1-3)

• The Grimm Legacy by Polly Schulman (July 7, 2011)
• Elizabeth has just started working as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repository - a lending library of objects, contemporary and historical, common and obscure. And secret, too - for in the repository's basement lies the Grimm Collection, a room of magical items straight from the Grimm Brother's fairy tales. But the magic mirrors and seven-league boots and other items are starting to disappear. And before she knows it, she and her fellow pages - handsome Marc, perfect Anjali, and brooding Aaron - are suddenly caught up in an exciting, and dangerous, magical adventure. (http://www.amazon.com/The-Grimm-Legacy-Polly-Shulman/dp/0142419044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338599872&sr=1-1)

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• The Lost Hero (The Heros of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan (October 12, 2010)



rickriordan.com

• After saving Olympus from the evil Titan lord, Kronos, Percy and friends have rebuilt their beloved Camp Half-Blood, where the next generation of demigods must now prepare for a chilling prophecy of their own:
• Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
• To storm or fire the world must fall.
  An oath to keep with a final breath,
  And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.
  
  Now, in a brand-new series from blockbuster best-selling author Rick Riordan, fans return to the world of Camp Half-Blood. Here, a new group of heroes will inherit a quest. But to survive the journey, they’ll need the help of some familiar demigods. (http://www.amazon.com/The-Heroes-Olympus-Book-One/dp/1423113462/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338599930&sr=1-1
• Virals by Kathy Reichs (November 2, 2012)



goodreads.com

• Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.
• As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot--if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent.

  
  

  Fortunately, they are now more than friends--they're a pack. They are Virals. (http://www.amazon.com/Virals-Kathy-Reichs/dp/B0078XOME2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338599990&sr=1-1)

  
  
  
  
  That's our 12 finalists - read a few or read them all.  The more you read, the better you will be able to judge which one you believe is best.  As for me, I will be spending the next several posts talking about each of these books, their authors, and any other details that I hope you will find interesting.  Well, I better get reading, as Phineas and Ferb say "there are only 104 days of summer vacation..."
  
  
  
  
  Did you know The Hunger Games won the Truman Award in 2011?