Evergreen Award Washington State Young Adult Book Nominees

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp.

As Lina fights for her life, she vows to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Seventeen-year-old Karou, a mysterious art student living in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters.

When a gorgeous male angel appears, Karou feels connected and is propelled on a quest to find answers about her heritage, rescue her family, and understand where she belongs.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

In a future Chicago, sixteen-year- old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life.

Beatrice’s decision is made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect as she once believed.

Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri

Cole is skipping school and misbehaving to the point that his mother drives him from Detroit to Philadelphia to live with a father that he has never known.

Soon Cole becomes involved with a group of African-American "cowboys" who rescue horses and use them to steer kids away from drugs and gangs.

I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Raised by an unstable father who keeps constantly on the move, Sam Border has long been the voice of his silent younger brother, Riddle.

Then everything changes when Sam meets Emily Bell and, welcomed by her family, the brothers are faced with normalcy for the first time.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In the year 2044, Wade Watts is a shy, overweight teen who, along with the rest of humanity, escapes reality to spend his waking hours in the limitless, utopian virtual world of OASIS.

But when OASIS creator and 1980’s pop culture enthusiast James Halliday intends to leave his vast fortune to the one who can unlock his fiendish puzzles, Wade is pitted against thousands of others, including those who will do anything to win.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Elisa is a young princess who has never done anything remarkable. Fearful after being married off to a weak king of a neighboring district, what does she possibly have to offer?

But Elisa was bestowed with a magical symbol and chosen to lead a kingdom, if she can survive the pursuits of evil forces and recognize her strengths.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

When the team bus crashes, one girl is killed and sixteen-year-old track star Jessica, loses a leg. In the aftermath, Jessica must face accepting and learning to use a prosthetic.

Then she must readjust to school and friends who don’t know how to react. But accepting and adjusting aren’t enough and with some unlikely allies, Jessica finds a way to rekindle her dream to run again.

The Silence of Murder by Dandi Daley Mackall

When the local baseball coach is murdered, sixteen-year-old Hope Long's brother is accused of the crime. Jeremy is autistic and has not spoken a word in over nine years.

Hope is certain that Jeremy did not commit the murder and embarks on a mission to uncover the truth, becoming a voice for her voiceless brother.

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

Victor and Konrad Frankenstein are inseparable twin brothers who stumble upon The Dark Library, where secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are housed.

Then Konrad falls gravely ill and Victor, along with confidants Elizabeth and Henry, seek a cure beyond traditional medicine. Thus begins the imagined teen apprenticeship of Mary Shelley’s infamous monster-creating scientist.