The award is established to affirm new talent and to offer visibility to excellence in writing and/or illustration, from 1995 to the present.
Legendborn
Excellently paced novel about a teen who, while mourning her mother’s death, stumbles into the reality of magic and discovers how it ties into her life. Full of mystery, suspense, romance and friendship, the start of this series will have you turning the pages well into the night.
Monday's Not Coming
Claudia and Monday are best friends and inseparable. However, Monday is nowhere to be found on the first day of school and as the weeks go by she does not appear. Claudia begins a journey to discover where and what happened to her best friend but unfortunately gets no help from anyone including her mother and sister. A dark and deep mystery that looks at how easily people vanish and the effects that it has on a community.
The Sun is Also a Star
Told over several hours on an ordinary day in New York, teens Natasha and Daniel meet, and discover the universe, which in its own extraordinary way, has brought them into each other’s lives.
When I Was the Greatest
Set in Brooklyn, fifteen-year-old Ali and his two best friends, brothers Needles and Noodles, learn about themselves and each other after they get caught up in a dangerous situation that tests their friendship.
Zora and Me
Gr. 5 and up. A coming of age novel about the life of a young Zora Neale Hurston as told from the perspective of her best friend Carrie. Zora uses folkloric stories to explain what she does not yet fully understand - class struggles, racial tensions, murder, and death while growing up in Eatonville, Florida, one of the nation's first all-black towns.
Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in it
Mixed-race Brendan loves science, Tae Kwon Do and his family, and he's very surprised to learn that the president of the local rock collectors' club is the white grandfather he's never met.
The Skin I'm In
Maleeka is embarrassed by her extremely dark skin, but she gets encouragement from a teacher who has appearance issues herself.