William C. Morris YA Debut Award
The William C. Morris YA Debut Award was established in 2009. It is sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association and is announced each year during the first week of December. It is awarded to a winner and up to four finalists that demonstrate excellence in young adult literature.
The award is named after publisher William C. Morris who had a passion for children and young adult literature.
More information about this award can be found at this site.
The award is named after publisher William C. Morris who had a passion for children and young adult literature.
More information about this award can be found at this site.
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Rez Ball by Byron Graves.
"These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team--even though he can't help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him. But stepping into his brother's shoes as a star player means that Tre can't mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with. After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon's dreams, their story isn't over yet"--Provided by publisher.
FINALISTS
- All the Fighting Parts by Hannah V. Sawyer.
In the wake of being sexually assaulted by her pastor, sixteen-year-old Amina struggles to regain her footing until she finds the strength within herself to confront her abuser in court. - Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef.
"Once was, once wasn't. So began the stories Marjan's father told her as a little girl--fables like the story of the girl who sprung a unicorn from a hunter's snare, or the nomad boy who rescued a baby shirdal. Tales of mythical beasts that filled her with curiosity and wonder. But Marjan's not a little girl anymore. In the wake of her father's sudden death, she is trying to hold it all together: her schoolwork, friendships, and keeping her dad's shoestring veterinary practice from going under. Then, one day, she receives a visitor who reveals something stunning: Marjan's father was no ordinary veterinarian. The creatures out of the stories he told her were real--and he traveled the world to care for them. And now that he's gone, she must take his place." -- Provided by the publisher. - Saints of the Household by Ari Tison.
"When brothers Max and Jay help a classmate in trouble, they struggle with the consequences of their violent actions and worry they may be more like their abusive father than they thought, so the brothers turn to their Bribri roots to find their way forward"--OCLC. - She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran.
Seventeen-year-old bisexual Jade Nguyrn is spending the summer in Vietnam at the French colonial house her estranged father is fixing up as a vacation rental, but unbeknownst to her family, the house and its ghosts have other plans.
2023
WINNER
FINALISTS
- The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum.
"Hoodie Rosen's life isn't that bad. Sure, his entire Orthodox Jewish community has just picked up and moved to the quiet, mostly non-Jewish town of Tregaron, but Hoodie's world hasn't changed that much. He's got basketball to play, studies to avoid, and a supermarket full of delicious kosher snacks to eat. The people of Tregaron aren't happy that so many Orthodox Jews are moving in at once, but that's not Hoodie's problem. That is, until he meets and falls for Anna-Marie Diaz-O'Leary--who happens to be the daughter of the headstrong mayor trying to keep Hoodie's community out of the town. And things only get more complicated when Tregaron is struck by a series of antisemitic crimes that quickly escalate to deadly violence. As his community turns on him for siding with the enemy, Hoodie finds himself caught between his first love and the only world he's ever known"--Provided by publisher.
FINALISTS
- The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson.
"Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She'll be working in her family's ice-cream shack with...her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago...But when she gets a letter from her biological father...Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him...While King's friendship makes Lou feel safer...when her family's business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can't ignore her father forever"--Provided by publisher. - Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne.
After dropping out of college, nineteen-year-old Laurel Early returns to her uncle's tobacco farm, where she encounters a monster as well as her mother's ghost, and soon Laureal realizes that she must tap into her own innate magic to save everyone she loves. - The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes.
Sixteen-year-old Mexican American Yami Flores starts Catholic school, determined to keep her brother out of trouble and keep herself closeted, but her priorities shift when Yami discovers that her openly gay classmate Bo is also annoyingly cute. - Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White.
"Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him--the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world's population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can't get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC's leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji's darkest secret: the cult's bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick's terms...until he discovers the ALC's mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own."--Amazon.
2022
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley.
Daunis, who is part Ojibwe, defers attending the University of Michigan to care for her mother and reluctantly becomes involved in the investigation of a series of drug-related deaths.
FINALISTS
- Ace of Spades by Faridah Abike-Iyimide.
Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, two students at Niveus Private Academy, are selected to be part of the elite school's senior class prefects and struggle against an anonymous bully who reveals all of their secrets. - Vampires, Hearts & Other Dead Things by Margie Fuston.
As her father lies gravely ill with pancreatic cancer, eighteen-year-old Victoria's last hope is to find a vampire in New Orleans, an impossible mission that rekindles a special friendship. - Me (Moth) by Amber McBride.
Moth, who lost her family in an accident, and Sani, who is battling ongoing depression, take a road trip that has them chasing ghosts and searching for ancestors, which helps them move forward in surprising, powerful and unforgettable ways. - What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson.
Living in harsh poverty during a brutal Idaho winter, Jack searches for the drug money that sent his father to prison in order to keep his brother out of foster care, while Ava, under the control of her merciless father, makes a wrenching choice to help the brothers survive.
2021
WINNER
FINALISTS
- If These Wings Could Fly by Kyrie McCauley.
Living in a house that magically conceals the damage inflicted by her volatile father’s rampages, Leighton Barnes finds nothing strange in the thousands of crows descending on her town. As tensions mount in town and at home, she struggles with simultaneously wanting to escape and to protect her mother and younger sisters. Through haunting, lyrical prose McCauley builds a devastatingly authentic tale of intergenerational trauma and violence and society’s “blind eye” that perpetuates it
FINALISTS
- Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard by Echo Brown.
In this beautifully written, unflinching tale, Brown relays her wizarding journey of hope and self-awareness as a young Black woman growing up on Cleveland’s East Side. Using magical realism, Brown explores the intersection of racism, poverty, sexual assault, and intergenerational trauma, as well as the strength and power that women wield as they navigate these challenges. - The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed.
Set against the LA riots in 1992, this historical yet timely novel follows Ashley through her senior year at her predominantly white, privileged school and wealthy neighborhood. Pulling away from her white friends, she gravitates towards the group of black students and identifies how racial bias, microaggressions, and her own complicity shape her relationships at home and school. Hammonds Reed’s honest, vivid descriptions of a city in chaos mirror Ashley’s own journey as her detached tone begins to crumble on her path toward growth and awakening. - It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood.
Devastating acne during her adolescence left Natalie with low self-esteem. Now, as if the news of her parents’ divorce isn’t enough, Natalie feels like a third wheel with her best friends, is anxious about an unknown future after high school, and is confused by romantic feelings for her best friend's brother. A surprising romance begins, challenging Natalie to examine the kind of person her acne has formed her into versus who she really is. Told with snarky humor and vulnerability, Kenwood examines the often confusing yet empowering transition into adulthood. - Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibanez.
After the Indigenous Llacsans rebel and overthrow Illustrian rule, Ximena’s people are forced into exile. When the Llacsan king demands Illustrian Condesa’s hand in marriage, Ximena takes her place, intending to spy for the Illustrians and relay information to them through beautifully woven tapestries made from moonlight. This lush and descriptive story celebrates Bolivian culture and history while highlighting the impact of colonization.
2020
WINNER
FINALISTS
- The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe.
Norris Kaplan, a Black French-Canadian teen, moves to Austin, Texas and tries to survive American high school life by notating his observations, most of which are based on clichés from U.S. movies and television shows. However, as he gets to know the so-called jocks, cheerleaders, loner, and Manic Pixie Dream Girl better, the hilarious but cynical Norris slowly realizes that he shouldn't judge others based on labels and first impressions.
FINALISTS
- The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad.
Orphaned in an ongoing war between djinn and humans, Fatima undergoes a magical transformation that can save her family and beloved city of Noor. A devout Muslim, she lives harmoniously in this southeast Asian community amongst others from various cultures and religions, learning the importance of languages, names, and stories. When the needs of the djinn and the lives of humans collide, Fatima must decide how much of her identity she is willing to sacrifice. - Frankly in Love by David Yoon.
Frank Li is a Korean-American high school student torn between two lives. At school, he's part of a diverse group of smart friends. At home, he tries to be a model son - working in his parents' store, socializing with other Koreans, and following his immigrant parents' expectations. When Frank begins a relationship with a white girl, he and Korean-American Joy Song begin fake dating as a cover for their parents. Frank is soon forced to reconsider everything he thought he knew about relationships, identity, and race. - Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams.
Genesis has a list of reasons to hate about herself, started by girls in a Detroit school she attends, and she keeps adding to it. Born dark-skinned in a family that values light-skin black people, Genesis craves to feel loved by her alcoholic, gambling-addicted father. Amidst verbal abuse and poverty, thirteen-year old Genesis struggles to find her voice and story of her family with the help of her music teacher, friends, and mother. - There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool.
The Age of Darkness is upon us, so says a secret prophecy foretold generations ago by the Seven Prophets. Five lives - an exiled prince, a serial killer known as the Pale Hand, a terminally ill girl, a gambler on the run, and a paladin in search of the Last Prophet who can either save or destroy the world - intersect in a race to prevent the prophecy from becoming reality.
2019
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram.
Marked by depression and high-school unpleasantness, Darius’ lackluster existence takes an unexpected turn when he travels to Iran to meet his grandparents for the first time. There, a meaningful friendship opens up new possibilities to Darius, whose sensitive soul-searching will resonate with many teens.
FINALISTS
- Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough.
In this novel, told primarily in verse, history’s Artemisia Gentileschi is developing into a brilliant artist when the teacher hired by her father sexually assaults her. Finding courage and strength in the stories of other women, Artemisia bravely accuses her attacker in court, an act unheard of in the 1600s. - Check, Please!: #Hockey written and illustrated by Ngozi Ukazu.
Using witty dialogue, a subtle gay romance, and lots of references to Bitty's baking, Ukazu dives deep into bro-culture and demolishes toxic masculinity in this well-crafted graphic novel, which follows Eric "Bitty" Bittle and his hockey team through their years at Samwell University. Teens will be ready to devour the next installment of this unabashedly charming story. - Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.
In Orïsha, diviners and maji were revered for their abilities, until tyrannical King Saran forced magic from the kingdom. When his daughter, Amari, flees the palace with an ancient relic, she meets 17-year-old diviner Zélie. Together, they undertake a quest to restore the kingdom’s magic, but Amari’s brother is determined to keep his father’s legacy intact. - What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper.
This is a haunting, first-person account of Gerta, a musically talented teenager, who learns of her Jewish heritage only after being sent to Auschwitz and, later, Bergen-Belsen. Torn from her father, she clings to his viola and discovers her own voice and strength after the liberation. Lovely, lyrical prose and ethereal illustrations make Stamper’s unusual story sing.
2018
WINNER
FINALISTS
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.
Starr Carter has learned to live in two worlds, managing her life as a prep-school student by day while returning each night to the low-income neighborhood she calls home. After witnessing the murder of her unarmed friend Khalil by a police officer, these two worlds collide, and Starr must decide what risks she is willing to take to pursue justice.
FINALISTS
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone.
Justyce McAllister is captain of the Braselton Prep debate team and an honor roll student. But after being profiled by the police and ending up in handcuffs, Justyce turns to the legacy of Dr. King, hoping King’s teachings can help him navigate today’s world. But when Justyce and his best friend are caught in the cross-hairs of a violent misunderstanding, Justyce is forced to deal with the media fallout that threatens to destroy his future. - Devils Within by S. F. Henson.
After Nate Fuller kills his father in self-defense, he must find a way to redefine what’s right and wrong and learn to trust again. But when two followers of The Fort, his father’s white supremacist group, arrive in Nate’s new town, he knows blood is going to spill—he’s just not sure whose. - Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali.
Bookish 15-year-old Janna Yusufis an Arab American hijabi teen struggling with friendships, crushes, and reconciling her place in and loyalty to her Muslim community. After she is sexually assaulted by “the Monster,” the seemingly devout cousin of her best friend, she must find the strength to stand up for herself. - Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman.
Kiko Himura knows the key to escaping her narcissistic mother is getting into her dream art school. When her rejection letter and abusive uncle both arrive at her home at nearly the same time, Kiko flees with her childhood crush to California, where she meets a famous artist and at last begins to find her own voice.
2017
WINNER
FINALISTS
- The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner.
In a small southern town, senior year finds three misfit friends facing the prospect of their separate futures with both hope and dread. Dill fears he will never escape his snake-handling father’s poisonous legacy. However, Lydia, a fashion blogger, and Travis, a fantasy warrior, foresee hopeful futures.
FINALISTS
- Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard.
Gender expansive Pen wants to be seen for who she is, not defined by her appearance. Her Portuguese parents want a traditional girl; her friend Colby treats her like one of the gamer guys. But it’s Blake who helps Pen learn to respect herself and “man up.” - Rani Patel in Full Effect by Sonia Patel.
After a devastating family blowup, Rani, aka MC Sutra, shaves her head, stops hiding her love of writing dope rhymes, and attracts attention with her new look and rapping skills. Despite finding a community where she can express herself through poetry and rap, the years of abuse take their toll. - The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock.
Life in 1970s Alaska proves difficult for teens, native and non-native alike. In four distinct voices, Ruth, Alyce, Dora, and Hank express the heartbreak and tragedy altering their lives forever—poverty, unwanted pregnancy, death, and abuse. However, when their lives intertwine like invisible threads, each may receive a chance for redemption. - Tell Me Something Real by Calla Devlin.
The Babcock sisters—brash Adrienne, faithful Marie, and shy Vanessa—spend their summer waiting while their mother slowly wastes away from leukemia. When shocking and devastating information about their mother’s illness surfaces, the girls turn to each other for the love and support they don’t find at home.
2016
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli.
On the brink of coming out, Simon's plans are derailed by a scheming classmate who learns about Simon's email exchanges with a mysterious boy that Simon may just be falling in love with.
FINALISTS
- Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas.
Ollie is allergic to electricity and lives in isolation with his mother. Moritz was born with no eyes, has a pacemaker, and is bullied at school. They become pen pals and unlikely friends as they learn more about one another. - Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert.
Braden is firm in his convictions; he trusts his father, believes deeply in God, and is dedicated to a future playing baseball. His faith, truth, and justice are tested when his father is accused of murder. - The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes.
After spending most of her life in the Kevinian Cult, Minnow loses her family, her freedom, and her hands. Now Minnow is behind bars, recounting her life in the cult and facing what really happened the night the camp burned down, leaving the Prophet dead. - The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore.
Lace and Cluck are from rival performing families. The troupes only cross paths once a year, but tensions mount and fights break out. When tragedy strikes during a performance, fate thrusts them together and the star-crossed pair are forced to deal with their families' feuding past.
2015
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero.
Aspiring poet Gabi Hernandez is having a complicated senior year: One of her best friends is pregnant, and the other just came out. Even as her mother worries that she will become a "bad” girl, Gabi adds romance and the quest for college to her already full plate.
FINALISTS
- The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley.
In 1993, the grunge movement is at its height and Maggie Lynch is living comfortably in Chicago, near Nanny Ei and Uncle Kevin, her musical guru. After her impulsive mother marries and moves the family to a tiny Irish village, Maggie struggles to adjust to the changing world around her. - The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim by E. K. Johnston.
Owen is training to be a dragon slayer, a crucial job in a world where dragons bring death and destruction. With help from their friends and family, Owen and his bard Siobhan seek the source of a growing dragon threat. - The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos.
In a college admission essay, Harry Jones reveals the physical and psychological scars of his childhood and the solace and self-confidence he found in friendship and punk music. - The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton.
Born with a pair of wings, sixteen-year-old Ava Lavender inherits a rich family history and a legacy of heartbreak. After a young man becomes convinced she is an angel, can Ava survive his obsession intact?
2014
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn.
A lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy must either surrender his sanity to the wild wolves inside his mind or learn that surviving means more than not dying.
FINALISTS
- Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross.
Sixteen-year-old Maude Pichon, a plain, impoverished girl in Belle Epoque Paris, is hired by Countess Dubern to make her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, look more beautiful by comparison but soon Maude is enmeshed in a tangle of love, friendship, and deception. - Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos.
A sixteen-year-old boy wrestling with depression and anxiety tries to cope by writing poems, reciting Walt Whitman, hugging trees, and figuring out why his sister has been kicked out of the house. - In the Shadow of Blackbirds: A Novel by Cat Winters.
In San Diego in 1918, as deadly influenza and World War I take their toll, sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort and, despite her scientific leanings, must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns. - Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian.
Sex has always come without consequences for Evan. Until the night when all the consequences land at once, leaving him scarred inside and out.
2013
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Seraphina by Rachel Hartman.
In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can assume human form, Seraphina, whose mother died giving birth to her, grapples with her own identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals, while she struggles to accept and develop her extraordinary musical talents.
FINALISTS
- After the Snow by S. D. Crockett.
Fifteen-year-old Willo Blake, born after the 2059 snows created a new ice age, searches for his family, who mysteriously disappeared from their frozen mountain home, and encounters outlaws, halfmen, and an abandoned girl along the way. - Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo.
A fifteen-year-old Australian girl gets her first job and first crush on her unattainable university-aged co-worker, as both search for meaning in their lives. - The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth.
In the early 1990s, when gay teenager Cameron Post rebels against her conservative Montana ranch town and her family decides she needs to change her ways, she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center. - Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby.
Portia Remini, having escaped from McGreavy's Home for Wayward Girls, joins Mosco's Traveling Wonder Show and searches for answers about the disappearance of her father, while hoping Mister does not find her before she can learn the truth.
2012
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.
Seventeen-year-old Cullen's summer in Lily, Arkansas, is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.
FINALISTS
- The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson.
A fearful sixteen-year-old princess discovers her heroic destiny after being married off to the king of a neighboring country in turmoil and pursued by enemies seething with dark magic. - Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard.
In 1982 Buncombe County, North Carolina, sixteen-year-old Alex Stromm writes of the aftermath of the accidental drowning of a friend, as his English teacher reaches out to him while he and a fellow boarding school student try to cover things up. - Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall.
Throughout her high school years, as her mother battles cancer, Lupita takes on more responsibility for her house and seven younger siblings, while finding refuge in acting and writing poetry. - Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys.
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family, includes a historical note.
2011
WINNER
FINALISTS
- The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston.
Suffering from a crippling case of post-traumatic stress disorder, sixteen-year-old Loa Lindgren tries to use her problem solving skills, sharpened in physics and computer programming, to cure herself.
FINALISTS
- Hush by Eishes Chayil.
After remembering the cause of her best friend Devory's suicide at age nine, Gittel is determined to raise awareness of sexual abuse in her Borough Park, New York, community, despite the rules of Chassidim that require her to be silent. - Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey.
Eighteen-year-old New Zealand boarding school student Ellie Spencer must use her rusty tae kwon do skills and new-found magic to try to stop a fairy-like race of creatures from Maori myth and legend that is plotting to kill millions of humans in order to regain their lost immortality. - Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride.
Sam LaCroix, a Seattle fast-food worker and college dropout, discovers that he is a necromancer, part of a world of harbingers, werewolves, satyrs, and one particular necromancer who sees Sam as a threat to his lucrative business of raising the dead. - Crossing the Tracks by Barbara Stuber.
In Missouri in 1926, fifteen-year-old Iris Baldwin discovers what family truly means when her father hires her out for the summer as a companion to a country doctor's invalid mother.
2010
WINNER
FINALISTS
- Flash Burnout by L. K. Madigan.
Fifteen-year-old amateur photographer Blake gains self-awareness through his relationships with a girlfriend and a friend who he helps come to terms with her feelings about her homeless, methamphetamine-addicted mother.
FINALISTS
- Ash by Malinda Lo.
Consumed with grief after the death of her father, Ash's only escape from her harsh life and cruel stepmother comes from re-reading the fairy tales that her mother once told her and hoping against hope that the fairies will appear to her. When the fairy Sidhean appears, Ash hopes that he will steal her away to his enchanted world; but when she meets the King's Huntress, Kaisa, she realizes that staying in her own realm can also lead to beauty, romance, and perhaps even love. - Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday. - The Everafter by Amy Huntley.
After her death, seventeen-year-old Maddy finds a way to revisit moments in her life by using objects that she lost while she was alive, and she thereby attempts to figure out the complicated emotions, events, and meaning of her existence. - Hold Still by Nina LaCour.
Caitlin wrestles with her feelings of devastation and helplessness after her friend Ingrid commits suicide, and she turns to her family and newfound friends for help while encountering love, broadening her horizons, and using Ingrid's journal to heal.
2009
WINNER
FINALISTS
- A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.
Upon the death of her father, seventeen-year-old Charlotte struggles to keep the family's woolen mill running in the face of an overwhelming mortgage and what the local villagers believe is a curse, but when a man capable of spinning straw into gold appears on the scene she must decide if his help is worth the price.
FINALISTS
- Graceling by Kristin Cashore.
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace of killing and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king. - Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne.
In the beach town of Neptune, New Jersey, Phoebe's life is changed irrevocably when her gay cousin moves into her house and soon goes missing. - Madapple by Christina Meldrum.
A girl who has been brought up in near isolation is thrown into a twisted web of family secrets and religious fundamentalism when her mother dies and she goes to live with relatives she never knew she had. - Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine.
Sixteen-year-old Londoner Lucas Swain, left in possession of the ashes of Violet Park, becomes convinced that Violet is communicating with him, initiating a voyage of self-discovery that forces him to finally confront the events surrounding his father's sudden disappearance.