Truman Award Nominees

2010-11

Chains

• Author: Laurie Halse Anderson• Thirteen-year-old Isabel is a slave trapped in New York

City in the early days of the American Revolution. She and her 5-year-old sister are sold to Loyalists when her former owner dies. She is offered the chance to spy for the Patriots. But does their talk of liberty really include her? What about the British, who promise freedom to slaves who join their fight against the rebels?

• Reading level: 5.2; AR points: 11.0

Compound

• Author: S. A. Bodeen• Eli, the 15-year-old son of a billionaire, has spent the last

six years with his family in the massive underground shelter after a nuclear war has destroyed the world he knows—and killed his grandmother and his twin brother, who couldn't reach the compound in time. As their food begins to run out, Eli grows suspicious about his father's claims about the outside world and realizes that it is his father who may be his enemy.

• Reading level: 4.1; AR points: 8.0

The Hunger Games

• Author: Suzanne Collins• In the future, the United States is gone,

and life in District 12 is hard for Katniss and her family. Since her father died, she has fed her mother and little sister Prim by hunting on forbidden land. Each year the government makes two children from each of the twelve districts compete against one another in a live reality show where only one will survive. When Prim's name is called, Katniss volunteers to compete alongside the baker's boy Peeta. Katniss will have to use all her brains, wits, and instincts to determine who to trust and how to outwit the game's creators.

• Reading level: 5.3, AR points: 15.0

Jump the Cracks

• Author: Stacy DeKeyser• Fifteen-year-old Victoria heads into

New York alone on the train to meet her dad, who hasn't "been there" for her much since her parents' divorce. She gets side-tracked by a toddler in an at-risk situation and when her dad fails to meet the train, she makes a snap decision to rescue little Wills. Victoria must find her way in a railway chase involving threatening characters, concerned relatives, and the police to keep herself and Wills safe.

• Reading level: 4.0, AR points: 6.0

Other Side of the Island

• Author: Allegra Goodman• Ever since Honor moved to Island 365 with

her parents from the wild Northern Islands,

she's been noticing that her parents don't quite fit in. Island life is peaceful and orderly since Earth Mother has created safe zones after a flood ruins most of the world’s lands. But her parents don't worship Earth Mother like everyone else does, and they don't follow the rules. And that scares Honor, because she learns that those who are unpredictable disappear - and they don't come back.

• Reading level: 4.5; AR points 9.0

Gone

• Author: Michael Grant• "One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War.

And the next minute he was gone." Just vanished—along with everyone else over the age of 13 around Perdido Beach, CA. The children left behind find themselves battling hunger, fear, and one another. Things go from bad to worse when some of the children begin exhibiting strange powers, animals show signs of freakish mutations, and people disappear as soon as they turn 14. Sam and his friends must use their powers to help the others survive.

• Reading level: 4.3, AR points: 18

Otherworldlies

• Author: Jennifer Kogler• She blisters after just moments in the sun,

communicates with her dog, and correctly predicts the weather. But that's not so weird, right? But when Fern begins to find herself transported to strange places, she realizes just how different she is. She learns that she is a special vampire, an otherworldly, and that she will soon have to choose between a life of good or a life of evil.

• Reading level: 5.5; AR points: 13

Boost

• Author: Kathy Mackel• After her father’s accident, Savvy and her family have

moved to a sheep ranch in Rhode Island. Thirteen years old, and already six foot two inches tall, Savvy plays basketball well enough to earn a place on an 18-and-under squad, The Fire. Her older sister Callie is a cheerleader and lands a spot on the varsity squad. However, when a rival player finds steroids in Savvy’s gym bag, she must defend herself and begins to question her family’s desire to win at all costs.

• Reading level: 3.0; AR points: 7.0

Suck It Up

• Author: Brian Meehl• Morning McCobb, graduate of the

International Vampire League Academy, where Leaguers - young vampires - learn to live secretly and drink animal rather than human blood. When the 16-year-old misfit among is given the opportunity to go public and be the first Leaguer to show the world that vampires are just another minority group, he jumps at the chance. But he finds that living in the open is harder than he thought.

• Reading Level: 5.2; AR Points: 11.0

Adoration of Jenna Fox

• Author: Mary Pearson• Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox awakens

after more than a year in a coma to find herself in a life—and a body—that she doesn't quite recognize. Her parents tell her that she's been in an accident, but most of her identity and current situation remains a mystery to her, Why has her family moved across the country? Why can’t she tell anyone about her past? As she watches family videos of her childhood, strange memories begin to surface, and she slowly realizes that her life is part of an experiment and that a huge secret is being kept from her.

• Reading level: 3.8; AR points: 9.0

White Gates

• Author: Bonnie Ramthun• Twelve-year-old Tor has recently moved

from southern California to a small ski resort in Colorado where his mother is a doctor. When her first patient, a high school student named Brian, unexpectedly dies, mother and son become aware all of the town’s doctors since the 1950s have been cursed. Tor, who just wants to snowboard, learns that it was a Native American woman who placed the curse. He and his friends must unlock the secrets of a lost mine and fight greedy developers to life the curse.

• Reading level: 5.1; AR points 8.0

Keeper of the Grail

• Author: Michael Spradlin• Book 1 of The Youngest Templar series• 1191 A.D. The orphan Tristan has joined

the Knights Templar as a squire, journeyingwith Richard the Lionhearted on his crusade to free the Holy Land from the Saracens. As defeat looms near, Tristan is entrusted with the most sacred of Christian relics, the Holy Grail. He must return it safely to Britain, but he must also keep it secret, because the Grail’s power will drive men to madness, and even his fellow Knights Templar will kill for it.

• Reading level: 5.6; AR points: 10.0