Green Mountain Book Award 08-09

These books, to be read during the 2010-2011 school year, comprise the master list for the award to be made in 2011. Voting forms will be made available to all Vermont schools and public libraries in the spring so that young adults can vote for their favorite book. The master list titles have been selected to satisfy the reading interests of young adults in grades 9-12, and include both adult and young adult books. All books on the list were first published in 2005-2009 and are available in paperback.

The TA Library has the complete collection of 2010-11 nominees. They are:

  • Aronson, Marc & Patty Campbell, eds. War Is...: Soldiers, Survivors and Storytellers Talk About War.

    Candlewick, 2009. $6.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-4231-0 (pap.); Candlewick, 2008. $17.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-3625-8.
    An anthology of fiction, speeches, poems and essays about war.

  • Benioff, David. City of Thieves.

    Plume, 2009. $15.00. ISBN 978-0-4522-9529-2 (pap.); Viking, 2008. $24.95. ISN 978-0-6700-1870-3.
    When a dead German paratrooper lands in his street, Lev is caught looting the body and dragged to jail, fearing for his life. He shares his cell with the charismatic and grandiose Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested on desertion charges. Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Lev and Kolya are given a chance at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt to find the impossible.

  • Booth, Coe. Tyrell.

    Push, 2007. $7.99. ISBN 978-0-4398-3880-1 (pap.); Scholastic, 2006. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-4398-3879-5 (pap.); Scholastic, 2006. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-4398- 3879-5.
    Fifteen-year-old Tyrell, who is living in a Bronx homeless shelter with his spaced-out mother and his younger brother, tries to avoid temptation so he does not end up in jail like his father.

  • Cashore, Kristin. Graceling.

    Graphia, 2009. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-5472-5830-0 (pap.); Harcourt, 2008. $17.00. ISBN 978-0-1520-6396-2.
    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, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

  • Green, John. Paper Towns.

    Speak, 2009. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-1424-1493-4 (pap.); Dutton, 2008. $17.99. ISBN 978-0-5254-7818-8.
    One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, QÕs neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

  • Kluger, Steve. My Most Excellent Year.

    Speak, 2009. $8.99. ISBN 978-0-1424-1343-2 (pap.); Dial, 2008. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-8037-3227-8.
    Three teenagers in Boston narrate their experiences of a year of new friendships, first loves, and coming into their own.

  • Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.

    Hyperion, 2009. $8.99. ISBN 978-0-7868-3819-6 (pap.); Hyperion, 2008. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-7868-3718-9.
    Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all-male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.

  • Marr, Melissa. Wicked Lovely.

    HarperCollins, 2008. $8.99. ISBN 978-0-0612-1467-7 (pap.); HarperCollins, 2007. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-0612-1465-3.
    Seventeen-year-old Aislinn, who has the rare ability to see faeries, is drawn against her will into a centuries-old battle between the Summer King and the Winter Queen, as the survival of her life, her love, and summer all hang in the balance.

  • McCaughrean, Geraldine. White Darkness.

    HarperTeen, 2008. $8.99. ISBN 978-0-0608- 9037-7 (pap.); HarperTeen, 2007. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-0608-9035-3.
    Taken to Antarctica by the man she thinks of as her uncle for what she believes to be a vacation, Symone, a troubled fourteen year old, discovers that he is dangerously obsessed with seeking SymmeÕs Hole, an opening that supposedly leads into the center of a hollow Earth.

  • Moore, Perry. Hero.

    Hyperion, 2009. $8.99. ISBN 978-1-4231-0196-3 (pap.).
    Thom Creed, the gay son of a disowned superhero, finds that he, too, has special powers and is asked to join the very League that rejected his father; it is there that Thom finds other misfits whom he can finally trust.

  • Novgorodoff, Danica, James Ponslodt, & Benjamin Percy. Refresh, Refresh.

    First Second, 2009. $17.99. ISBN 978-1-5964-3522-3 (pap.).
    While their fathers are fighting in Iraq, Josh, Cody, and Gordon are about to graduate from high school and struggle to make the big decisions about their futures.

  • St. James, James. Freak Show.

    Puffin, 2008. $8.99. ISBN 978-0-1424-1231-2 (pap.); Dutton, 2007. $18.99. ISBN 978-0-5254-7799-0.
    Having faced teasing that turned into a brutal attack, Christianity expressed as persecution, and the loss of his only real friend when he could no longer keep his crush under wraps, seventeen-year-old Billy Bloom, a drag queen, decides the only way to become fabulous again is to run for Homecoming Queen at his elite, private school near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

  • Sonnenblick, Jordan. Notes from the Midnight Driver.

    Scholastic, 2007. $6.99. ISBN 978-0- 4397-5781-2 (pap.); Scholastic, 2006. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-4397-5779-9.
    After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-year-old Alex befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz guitar playing, love, and forgiveness.

  • Tamaki, Mariko & Jillian Tamaki. Skim.

    Groundwood, 2010. $12.95. ISBN 978-0-8889- 9964-1 (pap.); Groundwood, 2008. $18.95. ISBN 978-0-8889-9753-1.
    "Skim" (Kimberly Keiko Cameron) is a not-slim would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls' school. When her classmate Katie is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself, the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. The popular clique stars a club to boost school spirit, but Skim sinks into an ever-deepening depression.

  • Yang, Gene Luen & Derek Kirk Kim. The Eternal Smile.

    First Second, 2009. $16.95. ISBN 978-1-5964-3156-0 (pap.).
    In three very different stories, master storytellers Gene Yang and Derek Kirk Kim pit fantasy against reality, for good or for ill.

    • Visit the official GMBA site.