Truman Reader Award
Truman Reader Award
Nominees 2016-2017
Nominees 2016-2017 Cont’d
The Blood Guard By Carter Ray Thirteen-year-old Ronan Truelove finds his life turned upside down when his father is kidnapped, and he learns that his mother is a member of an ancient order of knights, the Blood Guard, and now it is up to him with Greta and Ronan, his companions, to escape the Bend Sinister.
meets the eye in this hilarious mash-up of middle -school story and spy adventure novel.
but the pressures of the game pushed him too far, and he had to give up chess to save his life and sanity.
Falls the Shadow
I Have a Bad Feeling About This
By Stefanie Gaither When her sister Violet dies, Cate's wealthy family brings home Violet's clone who fits in perfectly until Cate uncovers something sinister about the cloning movement.
The Body in the Woods By April Henry While helping the Portland County Sheriff's Search and Rescue to seek a missing autistic man, teens Alexis, Nick, and Ruby find instead, abody and join forces to find the girl's murderer, forming an unlikely friendship, as well.
Buzz Kill By Beth Fantaskey Millie joins forces with her classmate, gorgeous but mysterious Chase Colton, to try to uncover who murdered head football coach "Hollerin' Hank" Killdare--and why.
Codename Zero By Chris Rylander Seventh-grader Carson Fender finds out there's more to his sleepy North Dakota hometown than
By Jeff Strand Everything unathletic Henry was dreading about survival camp turns out to be true--or even worse--when armed killers arrive and survival takes on a whole new meaning for the campers.
Famous Last Words By Katie Alender Willa has just moved to California with her mother and film director stepfather, and she will be attending a private school--but her real problem is that she keeps seeing things that are not really there, like a dead body in the swimming pool, and her visions may be connected to a serial killer that is stalking young girls in Hollywood.
Grandmaster By David Klass Daniel gets a chance to prove himself when the chess team invites him and his father to a weekendlong parent-child tournament. Daniel finds out as a teen his father was one of the most promising young players in America,
Just a Drop of Water
Summer 2016
uncanny ability to scale walls and bypass guards helps her take what she needs. But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she's not sure she wants to play by his rules.
Pieces of Me By Amber Kizer After a car accident leaves her brain-dead, Jessica tries to prevent her parents from donating her organs and tissues, but then follows the lives of four fellow teens who are able to survive because she did not.
By Kerry O'Malley Cerra Jake and Sam are best friends, but after the attacks on September 11, their friendship is in danger of crumbling as Sam and his Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek family succumb to hatred for being Muslim American. By Maya Van Wagenen Presents a memoir of a one year social experiment in Midnight Thief which teen author Maya By Livia Blackburne Van Wagenen followed a Growing up on Forge's streets has taught Kyra how 1950's popularity guide, to stretch a coin. And when written by former teen model Betty Cornell. that's not enough, her
ala.org/alsc/booklists Note: While these materials have been selected for grades 6th –8th, the titles on this list span a broad range of reading and maturity levels. We encourage adults to take an active role in helping individual teens choose those books that are the best fit for them and their families.
Parkway Summer 2016 Reading List
pkwy.info/parkwayreads #ParkwayReads
Summer Reading List Grades 6-8 Beetle Boy
Dead to Me
Fish in a Tree
The Iron Trial
Me & Miranda Mullaly
By M. G. Leonard A giant talking beetle and cast of crazy characters help Darkus search for his missing father, a famous entomologist.
By Mary McCoy Veronica Mars meets L.A. Confidential as sixteenyearold Alice tries to piece together the events that lead to her older sister winding up in a coma.
By Lynda Mullaly Ally struggles to hide her dyslexia by continually getting into trouble, until a substitute teacher discovers what she is really hiding.
By Holly Black & Cassandra Clare Despite his father’s warnings about the dangers of magic, Callum enrolls in the Magisterium and begins to learn about himself and his own bewildering powers.
By Jake Gerhardt Three boys all trying to gain the attention of the same girl become rivals in this hilarious tale of misunderstandings.
The Bitter Side of Sweet By Tara Sullivan Putnam Amadou and his brother, Seydou, are modern-day child slaves on a cacao plantation, until Khadija arrives. The three band to make their escape from the Ivory Coast to freedom.
Dream On, Amber By Emma Shevah Amber’s father left when she was little, so now she fills in the frustrating gap in her life with imagined conversations to help her deal with art projects, bullies, and little sisters.
Booked By Kwame Alexander The thrill of a soccer tournament, the pressure of family expectations, the social minefield of crushes and bullies, and the beauty of words are all explored in this exciting, extraordinary novel in verse.
Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary By Gail Jarrow Learn about this dreaded disease that ravaged our country early in the twentieth century in this nonfiction title that reads like a medical mystery.
The Boys Who Challenged Fearsome Creatures of Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Lumberwoods the Churchill Club By Hal Johnson By Phillip Hoose A group of teenagers in Denmark resist the Nazi invasion of their country and inspire others to follow suit in this award-winning nonfiction book.
This reworking of American tall tales features stories of fearsome legendary creatures of the wooded wilds of early North America, including the snoligoster, the hodag, and the hoop snake. Glow-in-the dark illustrations add to the alternately fun and creepy tone of this collection of stories.
The Great Greene Heist By Varian Johnson Jackson Greene vowed never to get involved in another middle-school con, but he is put to the test when the girl of his dreams runs for class president.
Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel By Megan Morrison After leaving her tower for the first time, Rapunzel joins Jack Beanstalker on a perilous journey through the lands of Tyme.
Lost in the Sun By Lisa Graff Trent blames an unfortunate event for his misfortunes and tries to turn things around. He is able to make that turn when he meets Fallon, and together they help him find the healing and redemption he seeks.
By Lindsay Eagar Carol is stuck in the New Mexican desert one summer with her family and her grandfather, who suffers from dementia. Her world is rocked by the stories he tells her during that time.
By Steve Sheinkin From the Oval Office to the editor’s office of the New York Times, Sheinkin tells a gripping tale of government secrecy and manipulation that is still relevant today.
The Night Gardener
By Jaleigh Johnson When plucky machinist Piper saves Anna after a meteor shower, both girls stow away on an armored train to escape the man chasing them.
By Jonathan Auxier Molly and Kip are orphaned and must find a way to take care of themselves. Molly finds work as a maid but soon discovers the family is being haunted, and she and her brother are soon targeted by the Night Gardener as well.
Mark of the Thief By Jennifer A. Nielsen Nic, a slave in the mines of ancient Rome, escapes after discovering a magical amulet.
Masterminds
By Gordon Korman After living in a perfect town I Kill the Mockingbird his whole life, Eli discovers By Paul Acampora there are secrets that will Over summer break, Lucy, Elena, change everything. and Michael launch a campaign to make a beloved teacher’s favorite book “go viral.”
By Robert Beatty At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old secretly living in the basement of the Biltmore Estate solves an ancient evil and unravels her family history.
Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War Some Kind of Courage
The Mark of the Dragonfly
Hour of the Bees
Serafina and the Black Cloak
By Dan Gemeinhart Bears, bandits, and raging rapids can’t stop Joseph from searching for what’s left of his family— his beloved horse, Sarah— across the American Northwest frontier.
Tesla’s Attic By Neal Shusterman & Eric Elfman When Nick holds a yard sale to get rid of the junk in the attic of his new home, he realizes too late that all the objects have mysterious powers and he needs to get them back.
The Night Parade By Kathryn Tanquary Saki Yamamoto doesn’t want to spend her summer vacation visiting her grandma’s small village. Things get more interesting than she expected when she unintentionally invokes a death curse, and she must enter the dangerous spirit world at the Night Parade to break the curse.
This Summer Reading Book List was created by the Association for Library Service to Children’s Quicklists Consulting Committee and the School Age Programs and Services Committee through a 2013 Carnegie Whitney Grant funded by the American Library Association Publishing Committee. This list was updated by ALSC’s Quicklists Consulting Committee. For more booklists visit ala.org/alsc/booklists