The VSBA award list is unique. The list below consists of the 25 nominees for this school year. The award will be presented to the book that has the most student votes. Students who read at least three books from the list below can submit their vote to Ms. Chandler by April 1, 2010. Remember, every school that submits votes is entered into a drawing to win a set of next year's nominated books!
1. Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
2. Bingham, Kelly. Shark Girl.
After a shark attack causes the amputation of her right arm, fifteen-year-old Jane, an aspiring artist, struggles to come to terms with her loss and her plans for the future.
3. Bowers, Laura. Beauty Shop for Rent… Fully Equipped, Apply Within.
Raised by a great-grandmother and a bunch of beauty shop buddies, fourteen-year-old Abbey resolves to overcome her unhappy childhood and disillusionment with the mother who deserted her.
4. Carey, Janet Lee. Dragon’s Keep.
In 1145 A.D., as foretold by Merlin, fourteen-year-old Rosalind, who will be the twenty-first Pendragon Queen of Wilde Island, has much to accomplish to fulfill her destiny.
5. Crutcher, Chris. Deadline.
Given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, high school senior Ben Wolf decides to fulfill his greatest fantasies, ponders his life's purpose and his legacy.
6. Fogelin, Adrian. The Real Question.
Fisher Brown, a sixteen-year-old over-achiever, is on the verge of academic burnout when he impulsively decides to stop cramming for the SATs for one weekend and accompany his ne'er-do-well neighbor to an out-of-town job repairing a roof.
7. Giles, Gail. Right Behind You.
After spending over four years in a mental institution for murdering a friend in Alaska, fourteen-year-old Kip begins a completely new life in Indiana with his father and stepmother.
8. Godbersen, Anna. The Luxe.
In Manhattan in 1899, five teens of different social classes lead dangerously scandalous lives, despite the strict rules of society and the best-laid plans of parents and others.
9. Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Uprising.
Mrs. Livingston reluctantly recalls her experiences at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, including miserable working conditions that led to a strike, then the fire that took the lives of her two best friends.
10. Hale, Marian. Dark Water Rising.
While salvaging and rebuilding in the aftermath of the Galveston flood of 1900, sixteen-year-old Seth proves himself in a way that his previous efforts never could.
11. Hale, Shannon. Book of a Thousand Days.
Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Saren's years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love.
12. Houston, Julian. New Boy.
As a new sophomore at an exclusive boarding school, a young black man is witness to the persecution of a Jewish student.
13. Johnston, Tony. Bone by Bone by Bone.
In 1950s Tennessee, ten-year-old David's racist father refuses to let him associate with his best friend Malcolm, an African American boy.
14. Key, Watt. Alabama Moon.
After the death of his father, Moon is sent from their forest shelter home to an Alabama institution where he soon escapes.
15. Koja, Kathe. Kissing the Bee.
While working on a bee project for her advanced biology class, quiet high school senior Dana reflects on her relationship with her best friend Avra and Avra's boyfriend Emil.
16. Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life As We Knew It.
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
17. Salisbury, Graham. Night of the Howling Dogs.
In 1975, eleven Boy Scouts, their leaders, and some new friends camping at Halape, Hawaii, find their survival skills put to the test when a massive earthquake strikes, followed by a tsunami.
18. Schmidt, Gary D. The Wednesday Wars.
During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare.
19. Smith, Roland. Peak.
A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.
20. Sonnenblick, Jordan. Notes From the Midnight Driver.
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.
21. Tharp, Tim. Knights of the Hill Country.
In his senior year, high school star linebacker Hampton Greene finally begins to think for himself and discovers that he might be interested in more than just football.
22. Wittlinger, Ellen. Parrotfish.
Grady, a transgendered high school student, yearns for acceptance by his classmates and his family.
23. Wolf, Joan M. Someone Named Eva.
In 1942, eleven-year-old Milada is taken to a school in Poland to be trained to be "proper" for adoption by German families.
24. Zarr, Sara. Story of a Girl: A Novel.
In the three years since her father caught her in the back seat of a car with an older boy, sixteen-year-old Deanna's life at home and school has been a nightmare.
25. Zevin, Gabrielle. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac.
After a nasty fall, Naomi realizes that she has no memory of the last four years and finds herself reassessing every aspect of her life.
