Young+Hoosier+Books

Middle Grades Young Hoosier Book Award Nominees 2010-2011

Adam Canfield, Watch Your Back! by Michael Winerip Candlewick Press, c2007, 329 p. (978-0-7636-2341-8) - A much-welcomed snow day turns into an embarrassing nightmare for middle-grader Adam Canfield when, after being mugged by high school bullies for his snow-shoveling money, he becomes the focus of major media attention just as his co-editors at The Slash are launching a contest to oust bullies at their school. All Shook Up by Shelley Pearsall Alfred A. Knopf, c2008, 261p. (978-0-375-93698-2) -  When thirteen-year-old Josh goes to stay with his father in Chicago for a few months, he discovers--to his horror- -that his dad has become an Elvis impersonator. Battling in the Pacific: Soldiering in World War II by Susan Provost Beller Century Books, c2008, 112p. (978-0-8225-6381-5) -  Contains first-person accounts and commentary that describe various aspects of life for American soldiers fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II on land, at sea, and in the air. Bodies From Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Rediscovery of the Past by James M. Deem Houghton Mifflin, c2008, 58p. ( 13: 978-0-618-80045-2)  -  Examines the science of glaciers and looks at some of the discoveries of the past that have been made as the ice masses move and melt, including the preserved frozen remains of Otzi, the oldest human mummy ever found in ice, believed to be at least 5,300 years old. The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti Scholastic Press, c2008, 202p. (978-0-439-68013-4) -  Novel based on the true story of a Hitler Youth. In October 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuth Hubener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to the German people. Cover-Up by John Feinstein Knopf, c2007, 298p. (978-0-375-94247-1) -  Two teenagers learn that every player on a professional football team--which is supposed to play in the Super Bowl--has failed their drug test and the owner has covered up the results, and now they must find a way to prove it. The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein Random House, c2008, 325p. (978-0-375-94697-4) -  When eleven-year-old Zack Jennings moves to Connecticut with his father and new stepmother, they must deal with the ghosts left behind by a terrible accident, as well as another kind of ghost from Zack's past. Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney Delacorte Press, c2007, 228p. (978-0-385-73261-1) -  The Finches, a Connecticut family, sponsor an African refugee family of four, all of whom have been scarred by    the horrors of civil war, and who inadvertently put their benefactors in harm's way. Finding Stinko by Michael De Guzman Farrar, Straus and Giroux, c2007, 136p. (978-0-374-32305-9) -  Having spent his life trying to escape the foster care system, eventually becoming mute to keep out of trouble, twelve-year-old Newboy finally hits the streets, where a discarded ventriloquist's dummy gives him back his voice and his hope. Football Hero by Tim Green HarperCollins, c2008, 297p., (978-0-06-112274-3) - When twelve-year-old Ty's brother Thane is recruited out of college to play for the New York Jets, their Uncle Gus uses Ty to get insider information for his gambling ring, landing Ty and Thane in trouble with the Mafia.