City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
Scholastic
Publication Date: August 28, 2018
ISBN: 9781338111033
After briefly dying, Cassidy can see ghosts, including her friend Jacob. When her parents receive a ghost hunting television job, the family go to Edinburgh, Scotland. There, Cassidy meets Lara, another person who can see ghosts. While learning about her abilities, Cassidy also runs into a ghost that eats souls.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, October 26 Edition
Lifel1k3 (Lifelike) by Jay Kristoff
Knopf Books for Young Readers / Random House
Publication Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 9781524713928
Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland after the robot uprising, humans and robots co-exist as best they can. Evie navigates this world by fighting robots in the WarDome. After a public display of her robot destroying abilities, she must flee for her life. On the run, she stumbles upon a “Lifelike” android that holds the secrets to her past that she could never remember. When the fight of human versus machine ensues, she fights to survive, and to find the truth.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, October 19 Edition
Isle of Blood and Stone by Makiia Lucier
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0544968578
King Ulises has been on the throne for one year, the throne intended for his older brothers who were murdered years ago, along with his father, by emissaries of a rival kingdom. His friend Elias lost his mapmaker father in the same attack. When Ulises’ cousin Mercedes comes across a strange map that seems to have been drawn by Elias’ father, the three friends suspect there is more to the story than they have been told, and leave on a quest to uncover the riddles hidden in the map.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, October 5 Edition
Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner
Macmillan / Feiwel Friends
Publication Date: June 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1250146021
After starting out as a class assignment, but turning into an unsent e-mail journal, Brynn Harper begins emailing Rachel Maddow as she works through her feelings while dealing with the death of her brother and a heated school election.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, September 28 Edition
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Book for Young Readers
Publication Date: April 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-0316262286
Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot and killed by a white police officer who says he felt threatened by a big, scary black man (Jerome is 12, 5′ tall, 90 lbs) with a gun (plastic). As a ghost, Jerome learns from the ghost of Emmett Till about the history of racism in America that led to his death, and tries to help his family heal.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, September 21 Edition
All of This is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor
HarperTeen
Publication Date: May 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-0062673653
Four high school friends are excited to hear that the author of their favorite book is coming to a local bookstore, and are even more thrilled when they are invited into the author’s world. Fatimo Ro asks the teens to be part of her new philosophy of being honest and open while she is writing a new book, allowing them to hang out at her house as they share their deepest secrets with her. But Fatima has secrets that she isn’t sharing, and when her new book reveals all that the teens have told her, the betrayal has ruinous consequences for all of them.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, September 14 Edition
The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
Delacorte Press / Penguin Random House
Publication Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1524718329
Five years after the deaths of five Sunnybook cheerleaders Monica, the sister of one of them, decides to look further into their deaths when she uncovers information that leads her to believe their deaths by car accident, murder, and suicide actually had fowl play involved.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, September 11 Edition
Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen
Viking Books for Young Readers / Penguin
Publication Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-0451478733
Readers who enjoy a little intrigue and action with their historical fiction will devour this gripping tale of a 15 year-old spy, set against the backdrop of Austria during WWII.
After her mother’s death, Jewish teen, Sarah, avoids capture by the SS thanks to a British spy named Captain Jeremy Floyd. Captain Floyd obtains a false identity for Sarah and convinces her to join help him infiltrate the home of one of Hitler’s nuclear scientists, Hans Schafer, by befriending Schäfer’s daughter. To do so, Sarah must enroll in a Nazi boarding school, where surviving and fitting in is tougher than Sarah could have imagine.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, August 31 Edition
From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon
Simon & Schuster / Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 22, 2018
ISBN: 978-1481495400
By writing to female directors in her journal, an aspiring filmmaker herself, Twinkle navigates friend, boy, and family drama all while directing her first short film with Sahil Roy, a fellow film lover who also harbors an unrequited crush on her. To complicate matters further Twinkle has a secret admirer who she suspects might be Neil Roy, Sahil’s twin brother and Twinkle’s own unrequited crush.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, August 24 Edition
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin
Publication Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-0399544682
Amal is a bright girl with a thirst for knowledge. Living in her Pakistani village with her family, she dreams of becoming a teacher someday, but must stop her education when her mother needs extra assistance at home after the birth of another sister. Things take a dire turn when Amal mistakenly insults a member of the powerful Khan family, and as punishment is forced into indentured servitude at the Khan estate. Surviving in a hopeless situation using her intelligence and determination, Amal begins to uncovers the corruption at the hands of the Khans and must choose to what to do about it.
Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, August 17 Edition
