2015-16 South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominees

Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg Macallan and Levi are best friends from the first day they meet in seventh grade, but over the years their close friendship keeps interfering with their dating life because everyone else regards them as a couple. http://www.elizabetheulberg.com/books/better-of-friends/

Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible ... On Shindler’s List by Leon Leyson Leon Leyson describes growing up in Poland, being forced from home to ghetto to concentration camps by the Nazis, and being saved by Oskar Schindler. http://sfi.usc.edu/news/2013/08/schindler%E2%80%99s-list-survivor%E2%80%99s-memoir-boy-wooden-box-published-today

Counting by 7’s by Holly Goldberg Sloan Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident. http://hollygoldbergsloan.com/counting-by-7s.php

Eruption! Volcanos and the Science of Saving Lives by Elizabeth Rusch Follows volcanologists Andy Lockhart and John Pallister as they helicopter onto active volcanoes to install equipment, climb into blast zones to collect ash samples, and endure suspense as they wait to find out if their predictions are accurate. http://www.elizabethrusch.com/MyBooks/AllBooks/EruptionVolcanoesandtheScienceofSavingLive.aspx

Falcon in the Glass by Susan Fletcher Horn Book (Spring 2014) In fifteenth-century Venice, Renzo strives to become a glassmaker's apprentice. His efforts are complicated by the mysterious homeless children whom he secretly shelters in the glassmaker's shop. Inexplicably attended by various birds, they--and their grandmother, imprisoned in the dungeon of the Doge's palace--are threatened with execution as witches. http://www.susanfletcher.com/books/bk_falcon.html

Far Far Away by Tom McNeal When Jeremy Johnson Johnson's strange ability to speak to the ghost of Jacob Grimm draws the interest of his classmate, Ginger Boltinghouse, the two find themselves at the center of a series of disappearances in their hometown. http://mcnealbooks.com/Book.aspx?id=19

Gated by Amy Christine Parker Seventeen-year-old Lyla feels ambivalent when the charismatic leader of her isolated suburban community is told that the end of the world is near and when it arrives they must all be ready to defend themselves against the unchosen. http://www.amychristineparker.com/#!books/cnec

Great Trouble by Deborah Hopkinson Horn Book (Spring 2014) Thirteen-year-old Eel is a "mudlark," gleaning bits of rope, rags, and coal from the River Thames. He's also loading bodies into coffins as cholera has hit London. A parallel story line involves a secret Eel is keeping. Hopkinson constructs a historical novel of Dickensian fashion, with twists and turns, an accumulation of odd coincidences, and an earnest protagonist readers will root for. http://www.deborahhopkinson.com/New%20Books/trouble.html

The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe by Dan Poblocki Since eighth-grader Gabriel Ashe moved into his grandmother's house he has been spending a lot of time playing in the woods with his new friend Seth, but the games Seth invents involve a child-eating monster called the Hunter, and Gabriel is not sure how much is imagination and how much real. http://thehauntingofgabrielasheharper.weebly.com/

Jungle of Bones by Ben Mikaelsen When sullen teenager Dylan Barstow is caught joyriding in a stolen car, he is sent to his ex-Marine uncle for the summer, but soon they are on the way to Papua, New Guinea, in search of a World War II fighter plane and, Dylan discovers that defiance is not a survival skill when you are lost in a jungle. http://www.benmikaelsen.com/#!jungle-of-bones/c1752

Lawless by Jeffrey Salane M Freeman has been homeschooled her entire life and when she leaves home to attend the prestigious Lawless School she realizes that her parents and tutors have been preparing her for a life of crime. http://jeffreysalane.com/

“The President Has Been Shot !”: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson Looks at the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and related events, including his funeral and the apprehension of his killer. http://www.abbythelibrarian.com/2013/10/the-president-has-been-shot.html

Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz Based on the life of Jack Gruener, this book relates his story of survival from the Nazi occupation of Krakow, when he was eleven, through a succession of concentration camps, to the final liberation of Dachau. http://alangratz.blogspot.com/2011/01/prisoner-b-3087.html

QB1 by Mike Lupica Jake Cullen, fourteen, lives in the shadows of his father and older brother until he becomes the starting quarterback for the high school football team and finally has his chance to shine. http://www.mikelupicabooks.com/books.html

SYLO by D.J. MacHale They came from the sky parachuting out of military helicopters to invade Tucker Pierce's idyllic hometown on Pemberwick Island, Maine. They call themselves SYLO and they are a secret branch of the U.S. Navy. SYLO's commander, Captain Granger, informs Pemberwick residents that the island has been hit by a lethal virus and must be quarantined. Now Pemberwick is cut off from the outside world. http://www.sylobooks.com/

Tesla’s Attic by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman Horn Book (Fall 2014) After his mother dies, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and their father move into Great-aunt Greta's old house. The junk-filled attic includes items that were made by Nicola Tesla himself--and that have mysterious powers. A baseball glove with its own magnetic pull attracts the attention of shady scientists called the Accelerati. Likable Nick's strong narrative voice propels the well-paced story. http://teslasattic.com/

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald Her grandfather's dying words lead thirteen-year-old Theodora Tenpenny to a valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen, but it is her search for answers in her Greenwich Village neighborhood that brings a real treasure. http://www.lauramarxfitzgerald.com/#!books/cnec

Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski Horn Book (Fall 2014) Kestrel is inexplicably moved to pay an exorbitant price for Arin, a handsome, musically gifted Herrani slave. The tables are turned when the Herrani take over the city. Kestrel uses her skills as a gambler and military strategist to negotiate a peaceful resolution. http://marierutkoski.com/books/the-winners-curse-2/

Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz Eleven-year-old Annie and her younger brother are being raised by their Gran and are surrounded by family secrets, but everything changes when an escaped criminal shows up at their house and takes them all hostage. http://www.adinagewirtz.com/zebra_forest_116354.htm

Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi While practicing for their next baseball game, thirteen-year-old friends Rabi, Miguel, and Joe discover that the nefarious activities of the Delbe, Iowa, meatpacking plant have caused cows to turn into zombies. http://www.zombiebaseballbeatdown.com/

Summaries from Google Slide Presentation produced by Michele Bates, Media Specialist, Northside Middle School Summaries from Follett Titlewave and Hornbook