2011-2012SC Junior Book

AwardNominees

All the Broken Pieces: A Novel in Verse

by Ann E. Burg

Two years after being airlifted out of Vietnam in 1975, Matt Pin is haunted by the terrible secret he left behind and, now, in a loving adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events forces him to confront his past.

Lexile 680

Also Known as Harperby Ann Leal

Writing poetry helps fifth-grader Harper Lee Morgan cope with her father's absence, being evicted, and having to skip school to care for her brother while their mother works, and things look even brighter after she befriends a mute girl and a kindly disabled woman.

Lexile 800

Anything But Typicalby Nora Baskin

Jason, a twelve-year-old autistic boy who wants to become a writer, relates what his life is like as he tries to make sense of his world.

Lexile 640

Bystanderby James Preller

Thirteen-year-old Eric discovers there are consequences to not standing by and watching as the bully at his new school hurts people, but although school officials are aware of the problem, Eric may be the one with a solution.

Lexile 600

Callie’s Rulesby Naomi Zucker

Eleven-year-old Callie Jones tries to keep track of all the rules for fitting in that other middle school students seem to know, but when the town decides to replace Halloween with an Autumn Festival, Callie leads her large family in an unusual protest.

Lexile

The Demon Kingby Cinda Chima

Relates the intertwining fates of former street gang leader Han Alister and headstrong Princess Raisa, as Han takes possession of an amulet that once belonged to an evil wizard and Raisa uncovers a conspiracy in the Grey Wolf Court.

Lexile 760

Faith, Hope, and Ivy Juneby Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

During a student exchange program, seventh-graders Ivy June and Catherine share their lives, homes, and communities, and find that although their lifestyles are total opposites they have a lot in common.

Lexile 900

Heart of a Shepardby Roseanne Parry

Ignatius "Brother" Alderman, nearly twelve, promises to help his grandparents keep the family's Oregon ranch the same while his brothers are away and his father is deployed to Iraq, but as he comes to accept the inevitability of change, he also sees the man he is meant to be.

Lexile 850

If the Witness Liedby Caroline Cooney

Torn apart by tragedies and the publicity they brought, siblings Smithy, Jack, and Madison, aged fourteen to sixteen, tap into their parent's courage to pull together and protect their brother Tris, nearly three, from further media exploitation and a much more sinister threat.

Lexile 670

The Indigo Notebookby Laura Resau

Fifteen-year-old Zeeta comes to terms with her flighty mother and their itinerant life when, soon after moving to Ecuador, she helps an American teenager find his birth father in a nearby village.

Lexile 780

Leviathanby Scott Westerfield

In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Lexile 790

Lifting the Skyby Mackie D’Arge

Twelve-year-old Blue, always on the move with her ranch-hand mother, yearns for a real home where her father can find them, and on a remote ranch on a Wyoming reservation she finds that and more, including a mystical ability to heal injuries.

Lexile 800

Marching for Freedom:walk together, children, and

don't you grow weary by Elizabeth Partridge

Recounts the three months of protest that took place before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s landmark march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery to promote equal rights and help African-Americans earn the right to vote.

Lexile 960

Mission Control, This is Apolloby Mackie D’Arge

Recounts various important events from the history of space exploration, covering the Mercury missions, the voyage of Apollo 17, and more, with illustrations by ex-NASA astronaut Alan Bean, who walked on the moon during the Apollo 12 mission.

Lexile 1150

Operation Redwoodby Susannah French

In northern California, Julian Carter-Li and his friends old and new fight to save a grove of redwoods from an investment company that plans to cut them down.

Lexile 700

The Potato Chip Puzzlesby Eric Berlin

Winston and his friends enter an all-day puzzle contest to win fifty-thousand dollars for their school, but they must also figure out who is trying to keep them from winning. Puzzles for the reader to solve are included throughout the text.

Lexile 650

Skeleton Creekby Patrick Carman

Although housebound following an eerie accident, teenaged Ryan continues to investigate the strange occurrences in his hometown of Skeleton Creek, recording his findings in a journal and viewing email video clips sent by fellow detective Sarah.

Lexile

Slobby Ellen Potter

Picked on, overweight genius Owen tries to invent a television that can see the past to find out what happened the day his parents were killed.

Lexile 740

A Taste for Redby Lewis Harris

When some of her classmates disappear, sixth-grader Svetlana, along with her new friends go in search of the missing students using her newfound ability as an Olfactive, one who has heightened smell, hearing, and the ability to detect vampires.

Lexile 720

War Games:A Novel Based on a True Story

by Audrey Couloumbis

What were once just boys' games become matters of life and death as Petros and his older brother Zola each wonder if, like their resistance-fighter cousin, they too can make a difference in a Nazi-occupied Greece.

Lexile 720