High School KBA 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 while she fights for her life, vowing 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, includes a historical note.

Boy21 By Matthew Quick Finley, an unnaturally quiet boy who is the only white player on his high school's varsity basketball team, lives in a dismal Pennsylvania town that is ruled by the Irish mob, and when his coach asks him to mentor a troubled African American student who has transferred there from an elite private school in California, he finds that they have a lot in common in spite of their apparent differences.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone By Laini Taylor Seventeen-year-old Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters--the chimaerae who form the only family she has ever known.

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, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

DJ Rising By Love Maia Sixteen-year-old Marley Diego-Dylan's career as "DJ Ice" is skyrocketing, but his mother's heroin addiction keeps dragging him back to earth.

The Fault in Our Stars By John Green Sixteen year old Hazel, who has cancer, meets Augustus at a kids-with- cancer support group and as they fall in love they both wonder how they will be remembered.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children By Ransom Riggs Sixteen-year-old Jacob, having traveled to a remote island after a family tragedy, discovers an abandoned orphanage, and, after some investigating, he learns the children who lived there may have been dangerous and quarantined and may also still be alive.

The Name of the Star By Maureen Johnson Rory, of Boueuxlieu, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual investigation.

Recovery Road By Blake Nelson Seventeen-year-old Maddie meets Stewart in a rehabilitation facility for drug and alcohol abuse, and they begin a relationship, which they try to maintain after they both finish treatment.

What Can(t) Wait By Ashley Hope Perez Marooned in a broken-down Houston neighborhood--and in a Mexican immigrant family where making ends meet matters much more than making it to college--smart, talented Marissa seeks comfort elsewhere when her home life becomes unbearable.

KBA NOMINEES, 9-12 LIST Between Shades of Gray / Ruta Sepetys. Philomel Books Boy21 / Matthew Quick. Little, Brown Daughter of Smoke and Bone / Laini Taylor. Little, Brown Divergent / Veronica Roth. Katherine Tegen Books DJ Rising / Love Maia. Little, Brown The Fault in Our Stars / John Green Dutton Books. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children / Ransom Riggs Quirk Books. The Name of the Star / Maureen Johnson G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Recovery Road / Blake Nelson Scholastic Press. What Can(t) Wait / Ashley Hope Perez Carolrhoda Books.