I (Jen Robinson) was privileged to be the coordinator for this year’s Young Adult Fiction category. After reshuffling nominations better suited to the Middle Grade or Fantasy/Science Fiction categories, and dropping a few nominations that were not eligible for this year’s awards, we’re left with a marvelous list of 80 titles.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed suggestions for this list, and to all of the wonderful publishers who have been sending us review copies of these titles. The nominating committee has been, and will be, reading like crazy to evaluate these titles, and filter this list down to their top five.
Young Adult Fiction
Abundance of Katherines, An
written by John Green
Dutton Juvenile
Accidents of Nature
written by Harriet McBryde Johnson
Henry Holt
Adios to My Old Life
written by Caridad Ferrer
MTV Press
After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away
written by Joyce Carol Oates
HarperTeen
Alice in the Know
written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Atheneum
Angel’s Choice
written by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Simon Pulse
Angelmonster
written by Veronica Bennett
Candlewick
Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, The
written by Barry Lyga
Houghton Mifflin
Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Vol. 1: The Pox Party
written by M.T. Anderson
Candlewick
Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, A
written by Tanya Lee Stone
Wendy Lamb Books
Bad Kitty
written by Michele Jaffe
HarperCollins
Beast
written by Ally Kennen
Push (Scholastic)
Becoming Chloe
written by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Between Mom and Jo
written by Julie Ann Peters
Little, Brown Young Readers
Blind Faith
written by Ellen Wittlinger
Simon & Schuster
Book Thief, The
written by Markus Zusak
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Born to Rock
written by Gordan Korman
Hyperion
Boy Book, The: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them
written by E. Lockhart
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
written by John Boyne
David Fickling Books
Braid, The
written by Helen Frost
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, A
written by Dana Reinhardt
Wendy Lamb Books
Christopher Killer, The
written by Alane Ferguson
Viking Juvenile
Dairy Queen
written by Catherine Murdock
Houghton Mifflin
Dirty Liar
written by Brian James
Push (Scholastic)
Enthusiasm
written by Polly Shulman
Putnam Juvenile
Estrella’s Quinceanera
written by Malin Alegria
Simon & Schuster
Eva Underground
written by Dandi Daley Mackall
Harcourt Children’s Books
Extraordinary Adventures of Horatio Lyle, The
written by Catherine Webb
ATOM
Fringe Girl
written by Valerie Frankel
NAL Trade
Going Under
written by Kathe Koje
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Goy Crazy
written by Melissa Schorr
Hyperion
Grist
written by Heather Waldorf
Red Deer Press
Hattie Big Sky
written by Kirby Larson
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Hollywood Sisters: Backstage Pass
written by Mary Wilcox
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
How It’s Done
written by Christine Kole MacLean
Flux
How to Be Popular
written by Meg Cabot
HarperTeen
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You
written by Ally Carter
Hyperion
Incantation
written by Alice Hoffman
Little, Brown Young Readers
In the Garage
written by Alma Fullerton
Red Deer Press
It’s Kind of a Funny Story: A Novel
written by Ned Vizzini
Miramax
Just In Case
written by Meg Rosoff
Wendy Lamb Books
Just Listen
written by Sarah Dessen
Viking Juvenile
King Dork
written by Frank Portman
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet
written by Kashmira Sheth
Hyperion
Lorenzo and the Turncoat
written by Lila Guzman and Rick Guzman
Arte Público Press (Piñata Books)
Love Curse of the Rumbaughs, The
written by Jack Gantos
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Loving Will Shakespeare
written by Carolyn Meyer
Harcourt Children’s Books
More Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet
written by Lola Douglas
Razorbill
Murder Of Bindy Mackenzie, The
written by Jaclyn Moriarty
Arthur A. Levine Books
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Notes From The Midnight Driver
written by Jordan Sonnenblick
Scholastic
Nothing But the Truth (and a Few White Lies)
written by Justina Chen Headley
Little, Brown Young Readers
Ophelia
written by Lisa Klein
Bloomsbury
Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You
written by Hanna Jansen
Carolrhoda Books
Paranoid Park
written by Blake Nelson
Viking Juvenile
Plenty Porter
written by Brandon Noonan
Amulet
Private
written by Kate Brian
Simon Pulse
Pursuit of Happiness, The
written by Tara Altebrando
MTV Press
Queen of Cool, The
written by Cecil Castellucci
Candlewick
Rash
written by Pete Hautman
Simon & Schuster
Real Question, The
written by Adrian Fogelin
Peachtree
Returnable Girl
written by Pamela Lowell
Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books
Rules of Survival, The
written by Nancy Werlin
Dial
Runaway
written by Wendelin Van Draanen
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Samurai Shortstop
written by Alan M. Gratz
Dial
Simply Divine
written by Jacquelin Thomas
Pocket Books
Skin
written by Adrienne Maria Vrettos
Margaret K. McElderry
Sold
written by Patricia McCormick
Hyperion
Stay With Me
written by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Houghton Mifflin
Tallulah Falls
written by Christine Fletcher
Bloomsbury
This Is All
written by Aidan Chambers
Amulet
This Time, Last Year
written by Kitt Raser Kelleher
Authorhouse
Traitor
written by Gudrun Pausewang
Carolrhoda Books
Trigger
written by Susan Vaught
Bloomsbury
True and Faithful Narrative, A
written by Katherine Sturtevant
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
TTFN
written by Lauren Myracle
Amulet
Unresolved, The
written by T. K. Welsh
Dutton Children’s Books
Viking Warrior
written by Judson Roberts
HarperCollins
Waiting for Eugene
written by Sallie Lowenstein
Lion Stone Books
Wish House, The
written by Celia Rees
Candlewick