1. South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees 2008- 2009

2. The SC Young Adult Book Award Nominee Books are 20 titles selected by a committee of Media Specialists, Teachers, Administrators, and Students.

3. Teenagers across South Carolina read the nominee books and vote in February for their favorite. The title with the most votes will receive the SC Young Adult Book Award in March at the South Carolina Association of School Librarians Conference.

4. To be eligible to vote, you must read at least 3 titles. See your school’s Library Media Specialist for additional details.

5. … Select your next great read from the following nominee titles…

6. Avalon High Meg Cabot Having moved to Annapolis, Maryland, with her medievalist parents, high school junior Ellie enrolls at Avalon High School where several students may or may not be reincarnations of King Arthur and his court.

7. Bad Kitty Michele Jaffe While vacationing with her family in Las Vegas, seventeen-year-old Jasmine stumbles upon a murder mystery that she attempts to solve with the help of her friends, recently arrived from California.

8. The Christopher Killer: A Forensic Mystery Alane Ferguson On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger.

9. Copper Sun Sharon Draper Two fifteen-year-old girls-- one a slave and the other an indentured servant-- escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.

10. Dairy Queen: A Novel Catherine Gilbert Murdock Being a self-proclaimed jock, fifteen-year old D.J. Schwenk has no regrets about living her life on her family’s Wisconsin farm until her father is injured and the work becomes her responsibility even after the coach sends the rival high school quarterback to help out.

11. Dead Connection Charlie Price A loner who communes with the dead in the town cemetery hears the voice of a murdered cheerleader and tries to convince the adults that he knows what happened to her.

12. Doppelganger David Stahler, Jr. When a sixteen-year-old member of a race of shape-shifting killers called doppelgangers assumes the life of a troubled teen, he becomes unexpectedly embroiled in human life-- and it is nothing like what he has seen on television.

13. Firestorm: The Caretaker Trilogy: Book 1 David Klass After learning that he has been sent from the future for a special purpose, eighteen- year-old Jack receives help from an unusual dog and a shape- shifting female fighter.

14. Hit the Road Caroline B. Cooney Sixteen-year-old Brittany acts as chauffeur for her grandmother and three other eighty-plus-year-old women going to what is supposedly their college reunion, on a long drive that involves lies, theft, and kidnappings.

15. Life As We Knew It Susan Beth Pfeffer Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

16. Money Town: The Summer of the Scopes Trial Ronald Kidd When her father hatches a plan to bring publicity to their small Tennessee town by arresting a local high school teacher for teaching about evolution, the resulting 1925 Scopes trial prompts fifteen- year-old Frances to rethink many of her beliefs about religion and truth, as well as her relationship with her father.

17. The Nature of Jade Deb Caletti Seattle high school senior Jade's life is defined by her anxiety disorder and dysfunctional family, until she spies a mysterious boy with a baby who seems to share her fascination with the elephants at a nearby zoo.

18. New Moon Stephenie Meyer When the Cullens, including her beloved Edward, leave Forks rather than risk revealing that they are vampires, it is almost too much for eighteen-year-old Bella to bear, but she finds solace in her friend Jacob until he is drawn into a "cult“ and changes in terrible ways.

19. Notes from the Midnight Driver Jordan Sonnenblick After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-year-old Alex befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz guitar playing, love, and forgiveness.

20. The Rules of Survival Nancy Werlin Seventeen-year-old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.

21. Scrambled Eggs at Midnight Brad Barkley Calliope and Eliot, two fifteen-year-olds in Asheville, North Carolina, begin to acknowledge some unpleasant truths about their parents and form their own ideas about love.

22. Sold Patricia McCormick Desperately poor thirteen- year old Lakshmi lives in a small hut in Nepal where her life is full of simple pleasures until her father says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.

23. Trigger Susan Vaught Teenager Jersey Hatch must piece his life back together after he tries to shoot himself in the head, and as he rebuilds his mind and his body, he learns some surprising truths about his former life.

24. The Warrior Heir Cinda Williams Chima After learning about his magical ancestry and his own warrior powers, sixteen- year-old Jack embarks on a training program to fight enemy wizards.

25. What Happened to Cass McBride? A Novel Gail Giles After his younger brother commits suicide, Kyle Kirby decides to exact revenge on the person he holds responsible.

26. South Carolina Young Adult Book Awards 2008-09 The Book Award Committees are made up of a cross section of media specialists, teachers, students, parents, administrators, public librarians, and college or university representatives. These individuals commit themselves for two years during which time they annually formulate the SCASL Book Award Program book lists. In order to accomplish this they must each read 100-250 titles each year which are then discussed and evaluated at regular meetings. It is their efforts which afford you each year's carefully selected reading list in each category: picture books, children, junior, and young adult. Media specialists, teachers, and students owe them a big vote of thanks!

27. Credits Book jacket photos and descriptions courtesy of Follett TitleWave PowerPoint created by Mary Silgals, Media Specialist, Trident Academy The reviews in this presentation were courtesy of Follett Titlewave.