Previous Winners2007-2013

Kentucky Bluegrass Awards 2014

Mary ParkerNorth Bullitt High School

Book summaries from www.amazon.comBook covers from http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Book trailers from www.youtube.com

2014 KBA Nominee

Beneath a Meth MoonBy

Jacqueline WoodsonGenre: Contemporary Fiction

Laurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she's still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel's new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past.

When T-Boom introduces Laurel to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past. But as she becomes alienated from her friends and family, she becomes a shell of her former self, and longs to be whole again. With help from an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee, she's able to begin to rewrite her story and start to move on from her addiction.

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

30 sec Book Trailerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWIX_tnT0Qw

3 min Author Talkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=871qCwT7ry4

“Perhaps it is possible to write pain ‘into the past, leave some of it there,’

and reimagine a future.”

Ke

2014 KBA Nominee

Code Name VerityBy

Elizabeth Wein

Genre: Historical Fiction

60 second recaphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tfj2qznVZM

Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

Genre: Historical Fiction

2 min Book Trailerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGHFFNPJ8ps

2014 KBA

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

Genre: Mystery/Historical Fiction

Book Trailer – 1 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBenU9-0yYc

Author Talk – 4 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3wdRPSsqTQ

2014 KBA

Every day a different body. Every day a different life.

Every day in love with the same girl.

There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

Genre: Romance

Book Trailer – 2 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k3FeBovKOQ

2014 KBA

Four players with one thing in common: THE WILL TO WIN!

Malcolm wants to get to the NBA ASAP. Roko wants to be the pride of his native Croatia.

Crispin wants the girl of his dreams. MJ. just wants a chance.

March Madness is in full swing, and there are only four teams left in the NCAA basketball championship. The heavily favored Michigan Spartans and the underdog Troy Trojans meet in the first game in the semifinals, and it's there that the fates of Malcolm, Roko, Crispin, and M.J. intertwine. As the last moments tick down on the game clock, you'll learn how each player went from being a kid who loved to shoot hoops to a powerful force in one of the most important games of the year. Which team will leave the Superdome victorious? In the end it will come down to which players have the most skill, the most drive, and the most heart.

Genre: Sports Fiction

Book Trailer – 1 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQSqY2-BtHI

2014 KBA

It was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful field.

Except for the body.

Jazz is a likable teenager. A charmer, some might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, "Take Your Son to Work Day" was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminals' point of view.

And now, even though Dad has been in jail for years, bodies are piling up in the sleepy town of Lobo's Nod. Again.

In an effort to prove murder doesn't run in the family, Jazz joins the police in the hunt for this new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

Genre: Mystery

Book Trailer – 1 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wwRp7Ou53E

Author Talk – 1 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMNSuwfoWho

2014 KBA

When sheltered American good girl Allyson first encounters laid-back Dutch actor Willem at an underground performance of Twelfth Night, there’s an undeniable spark. So when fate brings them together a second time, Allyson takes an uncharacteristic leap, changes course, and follows Willem to Paris. After just one day together, the spark bursts into a flame . . . until Allyson wakes up after a whirlwind day shocked to discover that Willem is gone.

A life upended in one day turns into a year of self-discovery as Allyson embarks on a journey to break free from a lifetime of limits in order to find her true passions, and maybe even a true love.

Genre: Intrapersonal Relationship

Book Trailer – I minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8H25zcIVv0

Author Talk – 11 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s8zSeurUoo

2014 KBA

A masterful poetic exploration of the impact of Matthew Shepard’s murder on the world.

On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die.

October Mourning, a novel in verse, is a deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself. More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life.

Genre: Poetry

Book Trailer – 2 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XFdG3Id9Sg

2014 KBA

Growing up, Gaby Rodriguez was often told she would end up a teen mom. After all, her mother and her older sisters had gotten pregnant as teenagers; from an outsider’s perspective, it was practically a family tradition. Gaby had ambitions that didn’t include teen motherhood. But she wondered: how would she be treated if she “lived down” to others’ expectations? Would everyone ignore the years she put into being a good student and see her as just another pregnant teen statistic with no future? These questions sparked Gaby’s high school senior project: faking her own pregnancy to see how her family, friends, and community would react. What she learned changed her life forever—and made international headlines in the process.

Genre: Memoir

Book Trailer – 1 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAqelk0_Uk

Author Talk – 2 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dlg9KHrKw0

2014 KBA

So wrong for each other…and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can PUSH THE LIMITS and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her HOW TO LOVE AGAIN.

Genre: Romance

Book Trailer – 1 minhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STLPst06GuU

Author Talk – 1 min

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V35NhiYWaE

Works Cited

"Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson Book Trailer." YouTube. YouTube, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Beneath a Meth Moon [Hardcover]." Beneath a Meth Moon: Jacqueline Woodson: 9780399252501: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."CODE NAME VERITY - Book Trailer." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."[ Code Name Verity ] CODE NAME VERITY by Wein, Elizabeth ( Author ) ON May - 15 - 2012 Hardcover [Hardcover]." Amazon.com: [ Code Name Verity ] CODE NAME VERITY by Wein, Elizabeth ( Author ) ON May. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein--Jenny Sawyer's Pick Of The Week!" YouTube. YouTube, 29 Dec. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."THE DIVINERS by Libba Bray." YouTube. YouTube, 30 July 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."The Diviners [Hardcover]." The Diviners: Libba Bray: 9780316126113: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Every Day by David Levithan Book Trailer." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Every Day [Hardcover]." Amazon.com: Every Day (9780307931887): David Levithan: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Final Four, by Paul Volponi." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."The Final Four [Paperback]." The Final Four: Paul Volponi: 9780142423851: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (Author Video 1)." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."I HUNT KILLERS by Barry Lyga (Book Trailer)." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."I Hunt Killers [Paperback]." I Hunt Killers: Barry Lyga: 9780316125833: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

"Interview with Gayle Forman." YouTube. YouTube, 25 Apr. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Jacqueline Woodson Discusses BENEATH A METH MOON." YouTube. YouTube, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Just One Day by Gayle Forman." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Just One Day [Hardcover]." Just One Day: Gayle Forman: 9780525425915: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

"Libba Bray on The Diviners and YA Authors' Responsibility To Readers." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard [Hardcover]." October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard: Leslea

Newman: 9780763658076: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir [Paperback]." Amazon.com: The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir (9781442446236): Gaby Rodriguez, Jenna Glatzer: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."The Pregnancy Project Lifetime Movie Sneak Peek." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."The Pregnancy Project." YouTube. YouTube, 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Pushing the Limits Author Katie McGarry." YouTube. YouTube, 17 July 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (Book Trailer)." YouTube. YouTube, 26 June 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013."Pushing the Limits (Harlequin Teen) [Paperback]." Pushing the Limits (Harlequin Teen): Katie McGarry: 9780373210862: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

"Kentucky Bluegrass Award." Clip Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013

Resources available at KBA homepage

http://kbs.nku.eduKBA Lists--Sample Ballots--Clip Art

PowerPoints--Spine Labels--Teacher Materials