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throughout Indiana who are reading books nominated for this year’s Eliot Rosewater High School Book Award. Find all 25 books on display in Morton’s Library Media Center, and/or online -- for free at hammond.lib.overdrive.com. Questions?

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Why Did My Dad Beat Him Up?All American Boys. By Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Two teenage basketball teammates -- Rashad, who is black, and Quinn, who is white -- grapple with issues of racism and police brutality when Quinn's foster father, a police officer, , is implicated in the racially charged, unjustified beating of Rashad.

Quinn witnessed the brutal beating by his foster dad, as did a video camera, and soon the incident is all over the news. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team -- half of whom are Rashad’s best friends -- start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.

Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this four-starred book shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn, and shows how the complications from that single violent moment leave the boys’ school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

Story of the Man Behind Spider-Man Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir. By Stan Lee

In this gorgeously illustrated, full-color graphic memoir, Stan Lee -- comic book legend and co-creator of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, the Incredible Hulk, and a legion of other Marvel superheroes -- shares his iconic legacy and the story of how modern comics came to be.

Lee tells the story of his life with the same wit, energy, and offbeat spirit that he has brought to the world of comics. Moving from his impoverished childhood in New York to his early days writing comics, through his military training films during World War II and the rise of the Marvel empire in the 1960s to the current resurgence in movies, this book documents the life of a man and the legacy of an industry and career.

To Start From Inside A MazeBelievarexic. By J.J. Johnson

Jennifer can't go on like this -- binging, purging, starving, and all while trying to appear like she's got it all together. But when she finally confesses her secret to her parents and is hospitalized, her journey is only beginning.

As Jennifer progresses through her treatment, she learns to recognize what is healthy and unhealthy with food and friends. She has to learn to trust herself and her own instincts, but that's harder than it sounds. She has to believe -- after many years of being a believarexic.

Using her trademark dark humor and powerful emotion, author J. J. Johnson tells an inspiring story based on her own experience when she was hospitalized for an eating disorder as a teenager. The book’s innovative format uses a variety of writing styles and mirrors Jennifer's progress toward a healthy body and mind.

Moby Dick As Told in the FutureThe Beast of Cretacea. By Tod Strasser

When 17-year-old Ishmael wakes up from a deep sleep aboard the Pequod, he is amazed by how different this planet is from the dirty, dying, shroud-covered Earth he left behind.

But Ishmael isn’t on Cretacea to marvel at the fresh air, sunshine, and endless blue ocean. He’s here to work, risking his life to hunt down great ocean-dwelling beasts to harvest and send back to the resource-depleted Earth. Even though easy prey abounds, time and again the chase boat crews are ordered to pursue the elusive Great Terrafin. It’s rumored that the ship’s captain, Ahab, lost his leg to the beast years ago, and that he’s now consumed by revenge. But there may be more to Captain Ahab’s obsession. Dark secrets and dangerous exploits swirl around the pursuit of the beast, and Ishmael must do his best to survive, if he can.

Kids Took on Hitler By Themselves The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club. By Phillip Hoose

At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, 15-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: the boys' exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself, The Boys Who Challenged Hitler is a National Book Award winner.

Prejudice On and Off Football FieldCall Me By My Name. By John Ed Bradley

Growing up in Louisiana in the late 1960s, Tater Henry has experienced a lot of prejudice. His town is slow to desegregate and slower still to leave behind deep-seated prejudice.

Despite the town’s racism, Rodney Boulett and his twin sister Angie befriend Tater, and as their friendship grows stronger, Tater and Rodney become an unstoppable force on the football field. That is, until Rodney sees Tater and Angie growing closer, and Rodney’s world is turned upside down. Teammates, best friends -- Rodney’s world is threatened by a hate he did not know was inside of him.

As the town learns to accept notions like a black quarterback, some changes may be too difficult to accept.

The Katrina Nightmare, RevisitedDrowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. By Don Brown

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to live through a Category 5 hurricane, Drowned City gives readers a pretty good idea -- a simultaneous punch between the eyes and the gut, if you will.

Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans in 2005 as one of our country’s worst disasters and gave the city a pummeling it’s still recovering from. Author/illustrator Don Brown captures the shock, horror, frustration, bravery and hope of those caught in the storm. His stunning and powerful spread shows water everywhere, and people put in situations completely out of the context of normal living. People stranded on their roofs. People drowned in their attics. Thousands of people scrambling for shelter in the Super Dome, only to find little food, water and working sanitation. The many failures of President Bush, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Mayor Ray Nagin, and others are repeatedly noted, as is the heroism of various organizations and ordinary people. The final pages show the rebuilding efforts, but note the lasting effects of vastly decreased populations.

Start Something: See What HappensDumplin’. By Julie Murphy

Dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom, 16-year-old Willowdean has always been at home in her own skin. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked, until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant -- along with several other unlikely candidates -- to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the heck out of Clover City -- and maybe herself most of all.

Small Steps Added Up Turn MightyAn Ember in the Ashes. By Sabaa Tahir

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free. Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the destruction of all they hold dear. It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do. But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy. There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier -- and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined -- and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

This probably isn’t going to work, but… Everything, Everything. By Nicola Yoon

“My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in 17 years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla. But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He's tall, lean and wearing all black -- black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.”

Everything, Everything is an innovative, inspiring, and heartbreakingly romantic debut novel that unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, illustrations, and more.

It’s ah 1, ah 2, ah 1, 2, 3, 4 ThingGuitar Notes. By Mary Amato

On odd days, Tripp Broody uses a school practice room to let loose on a borrowed guitar. Eyes closed, strumming that beat-up instrument, Tripp escapes to a world where only the music matters.On even days, Lyla Marks uses the same practice room. To Tripp, she’s trying to become even more perfect -- she’s already a straight-A student and an award-winning cellist. But when Lyla begins leaving notes for him in between the strings of the guitar, his life intersects with hers in a way he never expected.

What starts as a series of snippy notes quickly blossoms into the sharing of interests and secrets and dreams, and the forging of a very unlikely friendship.

Challenging each other to write songs, they begin to connect even though circumstances threaten to tear them apart.

Funny and Sad: A Comic’s IronyHyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened.By Allie Brosh

Perhaps the best way to describe this offbeat book is to say that it’s one of a kind. A good chunk of it is the compilation of the blog written and illustrated by Web comic Allie Brosh. And Brosh’s brand of humor is, at least to some, hysterical. She takes on random subjects such as trying to train her dim-witted dog, and the “hyperglycemic fit” she put herself into as a 4-year-old after eating an entire birthday cake in one sitting. Or the time, also as a kid, that her Dad’s friend challenged her in a hot sauce-ingesting competition, which she won.

Brosh, though, also writes about depression, her own depression, and a particularly severe patch of it that she suffered through for 19 months. Her words and sketches still portray the irony of her more light-hearted subjects, but also add the touch that psychological professionals call one of the most clarifying expressions written of how it feels to be depressed.

One Chance to Win Money, Love, RespectInherit Midnight. By Kate Kae Myers

Outlandishly wealthy Grandmother VanDemere has decided to leave her vast fortune to the family member who solves puzzles and riddles on a whirlwind race around the globe.

There will be eight competitors, three continents, and a prize worth millions. Seventeen-year-old Avery is the black sheep of the VanDemere clan, and now she finally has a chance to prove herself, and to discover the truth about her long-lost mother.

Riley is the handsome son of Grandmother VanDemere's lawyer, and as the game progresses, Avery falls hard for Riley. Suddenly, losing the game might mean losing him, too. As the competition takes treacherous turns, it becomes clear there can only be one victor. Who can Avery truly trust? And is winning worth her life?

Injustice of Juvenile Justice SystemKindness for Weakness. By Shawn Goodman

Fifteen-year-old James idolizes his older brother, and when asked, he dutifully attempts to deliver drugs for him. The catch, though, is that James is caught by the cops, convicted and sentenced to a year in juvenile prison.

In the story that follows, author Shawn Goodman offers a searing indictment of the juvenile justice system, in which any attempt at kindness is perceived as weakness. James encounters flagrant injustices, leading readers to ask if James, who thinks he’s “a skinny, friendless loser,” will be able to transform himself, or will the system itself prove to be his undoing? Kindness for Weakness is told in James’ first-person voice, and the story his tells is a powerful one.

Is This The Disease, Or Is It Love?Made You Up. By Francesca Zappia

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be -- sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. This thought-provoking debut tells the story of Alex, a high school senior -- and the ultimate unreliable narrator -- unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out what is real and what is not. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8 Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She's pretty optimistic about her chances until she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She's not prepared for normal. Can she trust herself? Can we trust her?

When It’s Hard to Be HappyMore Happy Than Not. By Adam Silvera

In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again -- but he's trying. With the support of his girlfriend, Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely. When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself. Aaron can’t stay away from Thomas, or turn off his new-found feelings for him, and he’s not sure what this all means.

Why does happiness have to be so hard?

“No one gets something for nothing.”Need. By Joelle Charbonneau When NEED, a new social network, pops up promising to fulfill any need, 16-year-old Kaylee Dunham knows it's too good to be true. It's one thing to deliver new phones, computers, or sports equipment, but how can an anonymous site give Kaylee what she really needs -- a kidney for her little brother? Kaylee joins NEED, but starts to worry when NEED begins asking users to complete tasks in exchange for getting what they want. The tasks seem harmless enough at first, until a student turns up dead, and Kaylee finds out the lengths to which some people will go to get what they think they need. Kaylee finds herself facing down hateful classmates, a mother who doesn't trust her, and an out-of-control social network bent on turning everyone she knows into a killer. Told through the perspective of multiple students entangled in NEED, this book raises interesting questions about the real-life dangers that could arise from operating anonymously online. Well-defined conflict and plenty of action also make this book a good choice.

Two Sisters Rely on One BodyOne. By Sarah Crossan

Tippi and Grace. Grace and Tippi. For them, it's normal to step into the same skirt. To hook their arms around each other for balance. To fall asleep listening to the other breathing. To share. And to keep some things private. Each of the 16-year-old girls has her own head, heart, and two arms, but at the belly, they are conjoined, as in conjoined twins. But the girls are happy, never wanting to risk the dangerous separation surgery.

However, the girls' body is beginning to fight against them. And Grace doesn't want to admit it. Not even to Tippi. How long can they hide from the truth -- how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives?

Author Sarah Crossan gives us a story about unbreakable bonds, hope, loss, and the lengths we will go to for the person we love most.

Beg, Borrow, Steal For a BirthdayPaper Hearts. By Meg Wiviott

Making a birthday card as a prisoner in Auschwitz during World War II was a crime punishable by death. But that is exactly what Zlatka did in 1944 for her best friend, Fania. Zlatka stole and bartered for paper and scissors, and secretly created an origami heart. Then she passed it to every girl at the work tables to sign with their hopes and wishes for happiness, for love, and most of all -- for freedom.

Fania knew what that heart meant, for herself and all the other girls. And she kept it hidden, through the bitter days in the camp and through the death marches. She kept it always.

This novel is based on the true story of Fania and Zlatka, the story of the bond that helped them both to hope for the best in the face of the worst. Their heart is one of the few objects created in Auschwitz, and can be seen today in Canada’s Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre.

Moms Make Girls Ugly to Protect Them Prayers for the Stolen. By Jennifer Clement

Ladydi Garcia Martínez was born into a world where being a girl is a dangerous thing. In the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, women must fend for themselves, as their men have left to seek opportunities elsewhere. Here in the shadow of the drug war, bodies turn up on the outskirts of the village, and school is held sporadically. In Guerrero, the drug lords are kings, and mothers disguise their daughters as sons, or when that fails they “make them ugly” -- cropping their hair, blackening their teeth -- anything to protect them from the cartels. And when the black SUVs roll through town, Ladydi and her friends burrow into holes in their backyards like animals, tucked safely out of sight. Despite living almost like prisoners, Ladydi and her friends dream of a future that holds more promise than mere survival. So when Ladydi is offered work as a nanny for a wealthy family in Acapulco, she seizes the chance, and finds her first taste of love with a young caretaker there. But when a local murder tied to the cartel implicates a friend, Ladydi’s future takes a dark turn. Despite the odds against her, this spirited heroine’s resilience and resolve bring hope to otherwise heartbreaking conditions.

Color of Blood Determines Your LifeRed Queen. By Victoria Aveyard

Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood. There are the elite, who are Silver-blooded and gifted with superhuman abilities. And then there’s everyone else, who are Red-blooded and serve the elite.

Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. There, before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own. To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess, and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard -- a growing Red rebellion -- even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, and in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.

This sweeping story of palace intrigue, class hierarchy, and deception is Book 1 in the Red Queen series.

Human Spirit vs. The Worst of WarSalt to the Sea. By Ruta Sepetys

World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff. The three find strength, courage, and trust in each other, but just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes in the form of three torpedoes from a Soviet submarine making direct contact with the ship. Not country, culture, nor status matter as all 10,000 people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival. Told in alternating points of view, this masterful work of historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff -- the worst maritime disaster in history. Author Ruta Sepetys unearths a shockingly little-known casualty of a gruesome war, and proves that humanity can prevail, even in the darkest of hours.

“OMG! I Can’t Believe Everyone Knows!”Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. By Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he's pushed out without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he's never met. Incredibly funny and poignant, this 21st century coming-of-age, coming-out story wrapped in a geek romance is a knockout of a debut novel by Becky Albertalli.

Like Thrillers? This Book Has 14 ‘Em!Slasher Girls and Monster Boys.Stories Selected by April Genevieve Tucholke

A host of the sharpest young adult authors come together in this collection of terrifying tales and psychological thrillers. Each author draws from a mix of literature, film, television, and music to create something new and fresh and unsettling. Clever readers will love teasing out the references and can satisfy their curiosity at the end of each tale, where the inspiration is revealed. There are no superficial scares here. These are stories that will make you think even as they keep you on the edge of your seat. From blood horror, to the supernatural, to unsettling, all-too-possible realism, this collection has something for anyone looking for an absolute thrill.

Revenge Worth Its Weight in GoldVengeance Road. By Erin Bowman

When her father is murdered for a journal revealing the location of a hidden gold mine, 18-year-old Kate Thompson disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers -- and justice. What she finds are untrustworthy strangers, endless dust and heat, and a surprising band of friends, among them a young Apache girl and a pair of stubborn brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, a startling truth becomes clear: some men will stop at nothing to get their hands on gold, and Kate’s quest for revenge may prove fatal.

Stop by the Library Media Center with your student ID to check out any of these books. Or, download them (for free) at

hammond.lib.overdrive.com

Text adapted from AmazonBooklistThe Globe and MailGoodreads.comPermaboundSchool LIbrary JournalSchool LIbrary Journal (Brittany Staszak, St. Charles Public Library, IL)Wikipedia

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