2012-2013 Volunteer State Book Award Nominees

1. 2012-2013 Volunteer State Book Award Nominees High School Division Grades 9-12

2. Watersmeetby Ellen Jensen Abbott • Abisina, an outcast in her community which follows the repressive codes of Vran, sets out in search of the father she has never known, and learns along the way that she is not without her own prejudices.

3. Ship Breakerby Paolo Bacigalupi • In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.

4. They Called Themselves the KKKby Susan CampellBartoletti • This non-fiction title documents the history and origin of the Ku Klux Klan from its beginning in Tennessee and provides personal accounts, congressional documents, diaries, and more.

5. Hushby EishesChayil • 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 community, despite the rules of Chassidim that require her to be silent.

6. Matchedby Ally Condie • Cassia has always had complete trust in the Society to make decisions for her. After she is paired with her “ideal” mate, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility as she tries to decide which boy she truly loves.

7. We were hereby Matt de la Pena • After a judge sentences Miguel to spend a year in a group home and write in a journal, he makes plans to escape the youth detention center and escape to Mexico.

8. Revolutionby Jennifer Donnelly • An angry, grieving seventeen-year-old musician is facing expulsion from her prestigious Brooklyn private school and travels to Paris to complete a school assignment. There she uncovers a diary written during the French Revolution by a young actress attempting to help a tortured, imprisoned little boy--Louis Charles, the lost king of France.

9. The War to End All Wars: World War Iby Russell Freedman • A narrative history of World War I for young readers that features archival photographs, and describes how advanced military weaponry impacted the course of the war

10. Janeby April Lindner • A contemporary retelling of "Jane Eyre" in which an orphaned nanny becomes entranced with her magnetic and brooding employer, a rock star with a torturous secret from his past.

11. I am Number Fourby Petticus Lore • In rural Ohio, friendships and a beautiful girl prove distracting to a fifteen-year-old alien who has hidden on Earth for ten years waiting to develop the Legacies, or superpowers, he will need to rejoin the other six surviving Garde members and fight the Mogadorians who destroyed their home planet.

12. Notes from the Dogby Gary Paulsen • When Johanna shows up at the beginning of summer to house-sit next door to Finn, he has no idea of the profound effect she and her illness will have on his life by the time summer vacation is over.

13. The Things a Brother Knowsby Dana Reinhardt • Although they have never gotten along well, seventeen-year-old Levi follows his older brother Boaz, an ex-Marine, on a walking trip from Boston to Washington, D.C. in hopes of learning why Boaz is completely withdrawn.

14. Three Rivers Risingby Jame Richards • Celestia is a wealthy member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, where she meets and falls in love with Peter, a hired hand who lives in the valley below. When the torrential rains cause the dam to break, she finds herself fighting her survival and that of the victims.

15. A Map of the Known Worldby Lisa Ann Sandell • Devastated, along with her parents, by the death of her older brother and apprehensive about being a freshman in the same high school he attended, Cora finds unexpected solace in art.

16. Bruiserby Neal Shusterman • Inexplicable events start to occur when sixteen-year-old twins Tennyson and Bronte befriend a troubled and misunderstood outcast, aptly nicknamed Bruiser, and his little brother, Cody.

17. After Ever Afterby Jordan Sonnenblick • Although Jeff and Tad, encouraged by a new friend, make a deal to help one another overcome aftereffects of their cancer treatments in preparation for eighth-grade graduation, Jeff worries about Tad’s illness and his brother who is in Africa.

18. Somebody Everybody Listens Toby Suzanne Supplee • Upon graduating from high school in the tiny town of Starling, Tennessee, aspiring country singer Retta Lee Jones manages to get herself to Nashville, where, in spite of some bad luck and hard times, she tries to persevere in pursuing her dreams.

19. Lip Touch: Three Timesby Laini Taylor • This book contains three supernatural short stories, each one focusing on a paranormal kiss that has consequences for those involved.

20. The Mockingbirdsby Daisy Whitney • When Alex, a junior at an elite preparatory school, realizes that she may have been the victim of date rape, she confides in her roommates and sister who convince her to seek help from a secret society, the Mockingbirds.

21. The Curse of the Wendigoby Rick Yancey • Will Henry chronicles his apprenticeship with Dr. Warthrop, a New England scientist who hunts and studies real-life monsters, as they discover and attempt to destroy the Wendigo, a creature that starves even as it gorges itself on human flesh.