2016 2017 Volunteer State Book Award Middle School

2016 -2017 Volunteer State Book Award Middle School Division

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander • Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier • Irish orphans Molly and Kip travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and secrets of the cursed house.

Kinda Like Brothers by Coe Booth • When his mother takes in a twelve-year-old foster child, Jarrett is forced to share his room and his friends with the new boy whom he does not like at first.

The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer • In an alternate nineteenthcentury America that is still a colony of Britain's industrial empire, sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees' struggle to survive is interrupted by a newcomer with no memory, bearing secrets about a terrible future.

Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela De. Prince • The autobiography of Michaela De. Prince, who lived the first few years of her life in war-torn Sierra Leone until being adopted by an American family. Now seventeen, she is one of the premiere ballerinas in the United States.

A Bird on Water Street by Elizabeth Dulemba • Jack lives in Coppertown, Tennessee, a community where mining has killed almost all of the vegetation. When the miners organize a strike, Jack’s life begins to change in ways he never thought possible.

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald • Her grandfather's dying words lead thirteen-year-old Theodora Tenpenny to a valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen, but it is her search for answers in her Greenwich Village neighborhood that brings a real treasure.

Space Case by Stuart Gibbs • Dashiell Gibson, who lives on Moon Base Alpha, has to solve a murder of one of the moon's most prominent doctors.

Greenglass House by Kate Milford • Milo and his parents are looking forward to Christmas vacation all to themselves at Greenglass House, the inn where they live and routinely host passing smugglers. When five unusual guests unexpectedly arrive, and their belongings—which all have something to do with the house —start to disappear, Milo finds himself at the heart of a real mystery.

Positive : Surviving My Bullies, Finding Hope, and Living to Change the World by Paige Rawl • The author writes about her experiences of bullying, being HIV positive and surviving the experiences to become a force for positive change in the world.

If You Are Reading This by Trent Reedy • For a responsible sixteen-yearold, Michael Wilson has a lot of problems--his father was killed in Afghanistan in 2005, his overworked and overprotective mother will not talk about their situation, and does not want him playing football, and he has suddenly started to receive letters that his father wrote before his death.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson • As Wild Chalklings threaten the American Isles and magicians called Rithmatists are humanity's only defense, Joel can only watch as students learn the art that he would do anything to practice.

Threatened by Eliot Schrefer • Luc is an orphan, living in debt slavery in Gabon, until he meets a Professor who claims to be studying chimpanzees, and they head off into the jungle--but when the Professor disappears, Luc has to fend for himself and join forces with the chimps to save their forest from poachers.

The Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheinkin • Sheinkin describes the fifty black sailors who refused to work in unsafe and unfair conditions after an explosion in Port Chicago killed 320 servicemen, and how the incident influenced civil rights.

Beneath by Roland Smith • Pat O'Toole has always idolized his older brother, Coop, right up until the day Coop ran away from their home just outside Washington, D. C. Now, a year later, he has received a package containing a digital voice recorder and a cryptic message from his brother, which will lead Pat on a strange and dangerous journey to the mysterious Community living beneath the streets of New York.

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier • In graphic format, Raina Telgemeier shares the story of her relationship with her difficult and grumpy younger sister.

Loot: How to Steal a Fortune by Jude Watson • When Alfie Mc. Quinn, the notorious jewel thief, is killed on a job, his last words to his son, March, are to "find jewels" and this instruction leads the boy to Jules, the twin sister he never knew he had--and the perfect partner to carry on the family business.

The Thickety: A Path Begins by J. A. White • When Kara Westfall was five years old, her mother was convicted of witchcraft and killed. Years later, Kara and her little brother are still shunned by the people of their village, who believe that nothing is more evil than magic…except, perhaps, the mysterious forest that covers nearly the entire island.

Revolution by Deborah Wiles • Sunny comes of age during theevents of Freedom Summer in Greenwood, Mississippi and struggles with her newly blended family and the tensions caused by the Civil Rights Movements.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson • Jackie Woodson shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South.