Thumbs Up! Book Award 2010

The Thumbs Up! Book Award is an annual Michigan award celebrating fantastic teen literature.   All Michigan Teens (ages 12-18) can vote on their favorite book from the top 20 titles published in 2009.  Here is the list! Download your ballot here!

Click on the titles to see each book in the library catalog.  Some audio-books are available.

Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott

Absina has fled her village of Vranille and her life of prejudice and violence, along with a dwarf named Haret, to seek out the father she’s never known in a place called Watersmeet.  Along the way she meets amazing fantastical creatures and embarks on an epic journey where she learns about friendship and the power of forgiveness.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Lia feels extreme guilt over her estranged best friend’s death.  On the night of her death, Cassie called Lia 33 times and she never answered.  Now Lia deals with her friend’s death from bulimia as she also struggles from her own eating disorder.

.

Fat Cat by Robin Brande

Cat is smart, sassy, and funny, but thin she’s not. Her class science project requires that she lives, and eats, like the hominids, our earliest ancestors.  Can Cat survive 207 days without junk food and modern electronics?

.

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Valerie Leftman was a normal teenager, until her boyfriend decided to bring a gun to school and shoot their classmates and teachers based on a “Hate List” that she helped him create. Valerie, her family, and her classmates try to come to grips with the aftermath and decide if she is a hero or contributor to the shooting.

Swim The Fly by Don Calame

Fifteen-year-old Matt Gratton has two goals this summer.  The first is a vow he made with his friends: they must see a real, live naked girl by the end of the summer.  The second is to swim the 100 yard butterfly to impress a girl on his swim team.  A series of hilarious mishaps along the way to accomplishing these goals make this side-splitting story irresistible.

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Fire tells the tale of the Dells, a land full of monsters that look like various animal species. Fire is the last remaining human monster and while this brings her many unusual talents, she also gets drawn into the conflict in her world.

.
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane

“You don’t throw a butterfly, you release it”.  Molly is a pitcher who can throw the difficult knuckle ball pitch. Who would guess you can learn life’s lessons while being a part of the team?

.

The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford

Christopher gets the perfect summer job working at the morgue, but what happens when he learns of a murder cover-up?  He teams up with eccentric newspaper reporter, Tina, to solve this dangerous mystery, no matter what the cost.

.

If I Stay: a Novel by Gayle Forman

Mia, a talented cellist, lies in a coma after a terrible car crash destroyed her family.  As friends and family visit her in the hospital, she remembers moments of her life, both profound and mundane.  As her spirit relives the past, she must ask herself if she has the strength to stay and face the future.

.

The Brooklyn Nine: a Novel in Nine Innings by Alan Gratz

In nine innings, this novel tells the stories of nine successive Schneider kids and their connection to Brooklyn and the national pastime of baseball.

.

.

Project Sweet Life by Brent Hartinger

Three teenage boys just want to live the sweet life during the summer, so they work very hard trying to avoid taking paying jobs. The results are hilarious as they deceive their parents with their crazy schemes.

.

.

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A. S. King

Three hundred years ago, Emer Morrisey was one of the most feared pirates of the salty seas. Ruthless in her plundering, ship after ship fell before Emer and her crew. Ultimately, the tides turned, and in her dying moments, Emer heard herself cursed to live the lives of one hundred dogs.  Now, the curse expired, memories of both her pirating and dog days intact, Emer has returned as Saffron Adams, American teen. She’s got one thing on her mind: booty, yarrr! Pirate treasure!

.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

17-year-old Micah is a compulsive liar, and everyone knows it.  When a popular boy is found murdered, her secret relationship with him is exposed.  The police consider her a suspect.  She knows she has to tell the truth.  But can she?

.

.

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

The efforts to stop global warming have failed. In a drastic move to make a difference, Great Britain begins carbon rationing.  Everything has a carbon price, including making breakfast in the morning, taking a nice hot shower, working out at the gym or jamming with your band mates.  Exceed your rations and it’s all shut off.  In addition to all this, Laura is dealing with the normal craziness of teen life; from family crisis to having a crush on the boy next door.

.

Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

Seventeen-year-old Samar Ahluwahlia opens the door one day to find her Uncle Sandeep, whom she hasn’t seen since her mother’s divorce. Her efforts to reunite her family are complicated by the prejudice and tension created by people still shaken by the September 11th attacks.

.

Love You, Hate You, Miss You by Elizabeth Scott

Amy left the party drunk. Amy survived the crash. Her best friend, Julia, did not. Sober and weighted with guilt, Amy feels the eyes and hears the hushed whispers of gossip from her classmates. Feeling alone and ostracized, she begins writing letters to Julia. As the correspondence continues, the recollections of the past become clearer and Amy learns how to live again.

.

Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-year-old GI by Ryan Smithson

When high school student Ryan Smithson first entered his American History class on the day of the 9/11 attacks, his teacher told the class “you guys are living history”.  That day changed his life forever.  With a deep desire to “do something” he joined the Army Reserves and within 2 years was deployed to Iraq as an Army engineer. The reader marches right along side Smithson as he retells his experiences in boot camp training, facing combat, and finally his return home to the States.

.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear. This is part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify. During the summer before his senior year, Marcelo’s father wants him to work in the mailroom at his law office and experience “the real world”.  If he succeeds, Marcelo can choose to spend his senior year at his comfortable special school or at the local high school.

.

Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

This eclectic book is composed of 15 short tales, each enhanced by a variety of drawings.  All of the stories are composed of symbolic elements of realism and fantasy. They tackle topics involving suburban life leaving the reader in thought and sometimes puzzlement.

.

The Monstrumologist: William James Henry by Rick Yancey

An orphaned boy working as an apprentice to a mysterious man whose life’s work is studying monsters gets caught up in the hunt for Anthropophagi, a large and terrifying species.