2023 Tween Nominees
Printable Poster
Bookmarks
Becoming Muhammad Ali: a Novel by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander, 2020
Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing. Readers will learn about Cassius' family and neighbors in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age twelve. Before long, he won his first Golden Gloves bout and began his transformation into the unrivaled Muhammad Ali.
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson, 2020
ZJ's friends Ollie, Darry and Daniel help him cope when his father, a beloved professional football player, suffers severe headaches and memory loss that spell the end of his career.
The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman, 2020
Told in alternating perspectives among three girls--Valentina and Oksana in 1986 and Rifka in 1941--this story shows that hatred, intolerance, and oppression are no match for the power of true friendship.
Float by Laura Martin, 2018
Emerson can float…he just can’t do it very well. His uncontrollable floating is his RISK factor, which means that he deals with Reoccurring Incidents of the Strange Kind. The last place Emerson wants to be is at a government-mandated summer camp for RISK kids like him, so he’s shocked when he actually starts having fun at camp—and he even makes some new friends.
Pippa Park Raises Her Game by Erin Yun, 2020
Life is full of great expectations for Korean American Pippa Park. So when she gets a mysterious basketball scholarship to Lakeview Private, she jumps at the chance to reinvent herself. At Lakeview, Pippa juggles old and new friends, a crush, and the pressure to perform at school while keeping her past and her family’s laundromat a secret from her elite classmates. When social media threatens Pippa’s persona, she wonders if she can keep it together.
This is Your Brain on Stereotypes: How Science is Tackling Unconscious Bias by Tanya Lloyd Kyi, 2020
Explores how to recognize stereotypes, why they can be harmful and how to combat them.
Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of "The Children's Ship" by Deobrah Heiligman, 2019
A true account of the attack and sinking of the passenger ship SS City of Benares, which was evacuating children from England during WWII.
What's the Point of Math? by Ben Ffrancon Davies, 2020
Provides an introduction to mathematics and its uses, discussing numbers and counting, shapes and measurements, patterns and sequences, data and statistics, and probability and logic.
Wink: Surviving Middle School with One Eye Open by Rob Harrell, 2020
After being diagnosed with a rare eye cancer, twelve-year-old Ross discovers how music, art, and true friends can help him survive both treatment and middle school.
Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor by Ally Carter, 2020
After years in foster care, April gets to live in a mansion where she and four other children are caught up in a mystery related to a missing heir, a lost legacy, and the Phantom.
