2018-2019 Young Adult Nominees
The Forgetting
by Sharon Cameron
Canaan is a quiet city on an idyllic world, but every twelve years the town breaks out in a chaos of bloody violence, after which all the people undergo the Forgetting, in which they are left without any trace of memory of themselves, their families, or their lives. Somehow seventeen-year-old Nadia has never forgotten, and she is determined to find out what causes it and how to put a stop to the Forgetting forever.
Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II
by Alan Gratz
In 1943 thirteen- year-old Michael O'Shaunessey, son of the Irish ambassador to Nazi Germany in Berlin, is a spy for the British Secret Service. He has joined the Hitler Youth and pretends that he agrees with their violence and book-burning, but when he is asked to find out more about "Projekt 1065," both his and his parents' lives get a lot more dangerous.
When Friendship Followed Me Home
by Paul Griffin
Ben Coffin, a former foster kid, keeps his head down at school to avoid bullies and spends his afternoons reading sci-fi books at the library. But that all changes when he finds an abandoned dog and befriends the librarian's daughter, Halley. For the first time Ben starts to feel like he belongs, but when everything changes he suddenly feels more alone than ever.
Girl in the Blue Coat
by Monica Hesse
In 1943 Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, teenage Hanneke, a 'finder' of black market goods, is tasked with finding a Jewish girl a customer had been hiding, who has seemingly vanished into thin air. Hanneke is pulled into a web of resistance activities and secrets as she attempts to solve the mystery and save the missing girl.
Ryan Quinn and the Rebel's Escape
by Ron McGee
Ryan Quinn is the son of a United Nations worker. But when his father disappears and his mother is abducted, Ryan discovers his parents actually work with an underground organization that has performed dangerous rescue missions since World War II, and they've been training Ryan to follow in their footsteps. Now he must trust his training and perform a daring rescue mission in a thrilling race for freedom.
Ghost
by Jason Reynolds
Ghost wants to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school track team, but his past is slowing him down. He is often the one causing problems, and running away from them, until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who blew his own shot at success by using drugs, and who is determined to keep other kids from blowing their shots at life.
Scythe
by Neil Shusterman
In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed ('gleaned') by professional reapers ('scythes'). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe--a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn't.
Desert Dark
by Sonja Stone
At Desert Mountain Acadamy, sixteen-year-old Nadia Riley begins a punishing routine to become an undercover CIA agent. When a double-agent is reported on campus, she is the top suspect.
Wolf Hollow
by Lauren Wolk
Twelve-year-old Annabelle must learn to stand up for what's right in the face of a manipulative and violent new bully who targets people Annabelle cares about, including a homeless World War I veteran.
The Girl I Used to Be
by April Henry
When Olivia's mother was killed, everyone suspected her father of murder but his whereabouts remained a mystery. Fourteen years later new evidence proves Olivia's father was actually murdered on the same day her mother died. That means there is a killer still at large. It is up to Olivia to uncover the killer, but can she do that before the killer tracks her down?