National Book Award for Young Adult Literature
Updated 9/3/08
National Book Award Winners and Finalists
Books available on Recorded Cassette (RC), in Large Print (LP), or in Braille (BR) and may contain strong language, violence and/or descriptions of sex.
2007 ~ 2006 ~ 2005 ~ 2004 ~ 2003 ~ 2002 ~ 2001 ~ 2000
(Winner) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. RC 65387 (2 c), LP 19628
Spokane Indian Reservation. Fourteen-year-old Junior--beset with physical problems caused by brain damage--transfers to an all-white town school. Called a traitor by his best friend and Tonto by his new classmates, Junior uses humor and wit to bridge the cultural divide. Some strong language.
Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. RC 66423 (3 c)
Paris, 1931. Orphaned Hugo survives inside a train station's walls, keeping the clocks running and stealing food and toys. His secrets--including a notebook of drawings and a mechanical man--are jeopardized when he becomes ensnared with a toy seller and his goddaughter Isabelle. Commercial audiobook.
(Winner) The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson. RC 64106 (2 c.), LP 18965
Eighteenth-century Boston. Sixteen-year-old slave Octavian, the son of an African princess, is educated as part of a scientific experiment researching the intelligence of African Americans. When the experiments change, Octavian escapes and joins the fight against the British. Some violence.
Keturah and the Lord Death by Martine Leavitt. BR 16898 (2 v)
When sixteen-year-old Keturah follows a hart into Lord Temsland's forest she becomes lost. Eventually Lord Death comes to claim her, but because she is able to charm him with her story, he gives her a twenty-four-hour reprieve to find her true love.
Sold by Patricia McCormick. RC 63793 (1 c)
Free verse poems tell the story of thirteen-year-old Nepalese schoolgirl Lakshmi who is sold into prostitution by her gambling stepfather. In India, Lakshmi discovers hope when an American comes to the brothel to rescue the girls. Some descriptions of sex and some violence.
Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. RC 63569 (2 c)
Boston. Teenaged Matthew and his two younger sisters struggle to protect themselves and one another from abuse by their mentally ill mother Nikki. Nikki's sister, ex-husband, and boyfriends ignore her cruelty for years, until a crisis forces them to act. Some violence.
Autobiography of My Dead Brother by Walter Dean Myers. RC 61458 (1 c), BR 16294 (1 v)
Childhood friends Jesse and Rise are growing apart. While fifteen-year-old Jesse develops his interest in art, Rise turns to the Harlem streets under pressure to be cool. When their long-established neighborhood social group becomes a gang, more violence enters their community. Violence.
Each Little Bird that Sings by Deborah Wiles. RC 61390 (1 c), BR 16186 (2 v)
Comfort Snowberger is well acquainted with death since her family runs the funeral parlor in Snapfinger, Mississippi. But it affects her differently when her own relatives die and she has to make a life-and-death choice during a flash flood.
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch. RC 61879 (1 c), LP 18211, BR 16460 (1 v)
High school senior and football star Keir believes he's a "good guy" who can do no wrong. When his behavior spins out of control, escalating into date rape on graduation night, Keir is forced to assess his morals. Some strong language.
(Winner) The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. RC 61553 (2 c), LP 18263, BR 16492 (2 v)
A widowed father takes his four daughters, aged four through twelve, and the family dog on a three-week vacation at a Berkshire Mountain estate cottage. The girls make friends with the owner's son, much to his snobbish mother's dismay.
Where I Want to Be by Adele Griffin. BR 16189 (1 v)
Two teenage sisters, one alive and one deceased, reach out to each other, sharing their lives. Jane, from the grave, relates what happened when she stopped taking her medication for mental illness. Lily tells about finding happiness with her boyfriend, Caleb.
(Winner) Godless by Pete Hautman. RC 59496 (1 c), LP 16628
Sixteen-year-old Jason Bock and his oddball friends Shin, Magda, and Henry create their own religion to worship the town's water tower. But what started out as a joke takes on a power of its own. Some strong language.
Harlem Stomp!: by Laban Carrick Hill. RC 59615 (1 c)
Describes the explosion of creativity that occurred in early twentieth-century Harlem when many African Americans moved north. Discusses the artistic, intellectual, literary, and political contributions of such figures as W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and musicians of the Jazz Age. Some strong language.
Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti. RC 59694 (2 c), LP 16848
Describes the explosion of creativity that occurred in early twentieth-century Harlem when many African Americans moved north. Discusses the artistic, intellectual, literary, and political contributions of such figures as W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and musicians of the Jazz Age. Some strong language.
The Legend of Buddy Bush by Sheila P. Moses. RC 61076 (1 c), LP 16994, BRU 7220 (1 v)
North Carolina; summer, 1947. Twelve-year-old Pattie Mae dreams of moving to Harlem where African Americans can live more freely than in the South. Especially after her Uncle Buddy is arrested for attempted rape of a white woman. Some strong language.
An American Plague: The Time and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy. RC 57418 (1 c), BR 17407 (2 v)
Describes the horrific events in Philadelphia in 1793 when citywide illness prevented Congress from convening. Thousands of people were dying, many unattended, and physicians of the time were unsure of the cause or treatment of the yellow-fever outbreak.
Breakout by Paul Fleischman. BR 15286 (1 v.)
Twenty-five-year-old Del writes a play describing her time as a runaway teenage foster child who finds herself in a massive traffic jam on a Los Angeles freeway. Some strong language.
(Winner) The Canning Season by Polly Harvath. RC 56625 (1 c), LP 15715, BR 15263 (2 v)
Thirteen-year-old Ratchet's summer visit in Maine to her eccentric great-aunts, Tilly and Penpen, is filled with their strange stories from the past and unusual, colorful characters stopping by. Ratchet feels so at home that she stays for many annual cannings of blueberry jam.
Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson. RC 56304 (1 c)
In a collection of different types of poems eleven-year-old Lonnie writes about his life. After his parents' death he is separated from his sister and lives in a foster home, where writing eases his pain.
The River Between Us by Richard Peck. RC 57400 (1 c), BR 15090 (1 v)
Illinois, 1861. Tilly Pruitt's mother accepts two mysterious young women from New Orleans, Delphine and Calinda, as boarders in the early Civil War days. Fifteen-year-old Tilly finds them fascinating, but townspeople think they are Confederate spies. Their secrets emerge after Tilly's brother, a Union army soldier, is wounded.
Feed by M.T. Anderson. RC 55687 (1 c)
In the future, most people have computer implants in their heads streaming information. Titus has had his since birth, while home-schooled Violet received hers later. When the "feed" is attacked by a hacker, Titus's system shortly recovers but Violet's continues to malfunction. Strong language.
(Winner) The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. RC 55927 (3 c), LP 14979, BR 17298 (3 v)
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt has special privileges as the young clone of El Patron--the 140-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire. When Matt gets a glimpse of his fate, he rebels. Some violence and some strong language.
Hush by Jacqueline Woodson. BR 14515 (1 v)
When Toswiah Green's family enter the witness protection program, they are uprooted from a comfortable life in Denver, breaking all ties with their past. They each respond to this identity crisis in different ways, while trying to start a new existence in unfamiliar circumstances.
19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye. RC 55344 (1 c)
Sixty poems reflect Nye's affection for the Middle East and her feelings as an Arab American who fervently wishes for peace. The collection was prompted as solace for the September 11, 2001, tragedies.
This Land Was Make for You and Me by Elizabeth Partridge. RC 55433 (1 c)
Biography of Woody Guthrie (1912-1967), the Oklahoma singer, writer, and musician, who composed more than three thousand songs and ballads as he traveled around the United States, including "This Land Is Your Land" and "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh."
Carver: A Life in Poems by Narilyn Nelson. RC 53915 (1 c), BR 17282 (1 v)
Award-winning poet's series of poems portraying incidents in the life of multitalented George Washington Carver (1864?-1943), the botanist and inventor. Covers his start as an orphaned slave eager for education, his friendship with Booker T. Washington, and his career as a researcher at Tuskegee Institute.
A Step From Heaven by An Na. RC 53115 (1 c), LP 14138
Young Ju and her parents move to California from Korea when she is small. They struggle with a strange language and culture, but Young Ju becomes a top student. Over the years her father becomes more and more abusive. Some strong language.
The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. RC 54216 (1 c), BRU 7123 (1 v)
Sixth-grader Rob Horton and classmate Sistine Bailey, the new and unhappy kids in a small Florida town, discover a real live tiger in a cage near Rob's home. They struggle over its fate as well as their own.
(Winner) True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff. RC 52298 (1 c), LP 13262
Now fifteen in this sequel to Make Lemonade (RC 40705), LaVaughn clings to her main goal, to attend college. At the same time, she questions her religious beliefs, her friendship with Myrtle and Annie, and why it's so difficult to have a boy friend.
We Were There Too! by Phillip Hoose. RC 54504 (3 c)
Biographies of dozens of young people who made a mark in American history between 1492 and the 1990s. Includes explorers, planters, sailors, spies, cowpunchers, soldiers, sweatshop workers, and civil rights activists.
The Book of the Lion by Michael Cadnum. RC 52423 (2 c)
Medieval England. Seventeen-year-old apprentice Edmund is forced to join the Crusades as a squire to Sir Nigel, a knight. Edmund endures storms at sea, travel through foreign lands, and exposure to fighting and bloodshed for his king, Richard Lionheart. Some violence.
Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian. RC 52396 (2 c)
Vahan Kenderian is the twelve-year-old son of a rich and respected Armenian family when the 1915-1918 Turkish massacre of the Armenians begins. Suddenly Vahan becomes an orphan struggling for survival and witnessing the atrocities of war. Violence.
(Winner) Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan. RC 50592 (1 c), LP 14131, BRU 7053 (2 v)
When Koly turns thirteen, her parents arrange a marriage for her according to the custom in India. But Koly's young husband is seriously ill and may die. She hides a pair of silver earrings--her only possession of value--as a precaution against an uncertain future.
Hurry Freedom by Jerry Stanley. RC 53156 (1 c)
Recounts the history of African Americans in California during the gold rush of the nineteenth century. Focuses on the life and work of Mifflin Gibbs, a prosperous businessman, who lobbied to pass bills that would improve the living standards of black Californians.
Many Stones by Carolyn Coman. RC 52044 (1 c), LP 13256
Over a year after her older sister, Laura, was murdered in South Africa, Berry is still depressed and numb. On a trip with her estranged father to the school where Laura worked, Berry gradually becomes reconciled with her grief and her father.