2. Ashfall
By Mullen
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of
Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most
people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large
that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It
just could be overdue for an eruption, which would
change the landscape and climate of our planet.
For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means
having the freedom to play computer games and
hang out with his friends without hassle from his
mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts,
plunging his hometown into a nightmare of
darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a
harrowing trek to search for his family and finds help
in Darla, a travel partner he meets along the way.
3. Boy 21 / Quick
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Basketball has always been an escape for Finley. He
lives in broken-down Bellmont, a town ruled by the
Irish mob, drugs, violence, and racially charged
rivalries. At home, his dad works nights, and Finley is
left to take care of his disabled grandfather alone.
He's always dreamed of getting out someday, but
until he can, putting on that number 21 jersey makes
everything seem okay.
Russ has just moved to the neighborhood, and the
life of this teen basketball phenom has been turned
upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he
knows, he won't pick up a basketball, but answers
only to the name Boy21--taken from his former jersey
number. As their final year of high school brings these
two boys together, a unique friendship may turn out to
be the answer they both need.
4. Curveball:
The Year I Lost My
Grip / Sonnenblick
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Meet Peter Friedman, high school freshman.
Talented photographer. Former baseball star.
When a freakish injury ends his pitching
career, Peter has some major things to figure
out. Is there life after sports? Why has his
grandfather suddenly given him thousands of
dollars worth of camera equipment? And is it
his imagination, or is the super-hot star of the
girls' swim team flirting with him, right in front
of the amazing new girl in his photography
class? Hilariously funny.
5. The Disenchantments / LaCour
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Colby and Bev have a long-standing
pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's
band, and then spend the year
wandering around Europe. But
moments after the tour kicks off, Bev
makes a shocking announcement:
she's abandoning their plans - and
Colby - to start college in the fall.
But the show must go on and The
Disenchantments weave through the
Pacific Northwest, playing in small
towns and dingy venues, while
roadie- Colby struggles to deal with
Bev's already-growing distance and
the most important question of all:
what's next?
6. Erebos / Poznanski
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Sixteen-year-old Nick gets a package
containing the computer game Erebos.
Players must obey strict rules: play alone,
never talk about the game, and never tell
anyone your nickname.
Curious, Nick joins the game and quickly
becomes addicted. But Erebos manipulates
players’ lives. Nick is banished from the game
when he refuses a deadly assignment.
Unable to play, Nick turns to a friend for help
in finding out who controls the game. The two
set off on a dangerous mission.
7. Every Day / Levithan
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
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.
8. The Fault in Our Stars / Green
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical
miracle that has bought her a few years,
Hazel has never been anything but
terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon
diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist
named Augustus Waters suddenly appears
at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story
is about to be completely rewritten.
9. The Girl of Fire and Thorns / Carson
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
A fearful sixteen-year-old princess
discovers her heroic destiny after being
married off to the king of a neighboring
country in turmoil and pursued by enemies
seething with dark magic.
10. The Good Braider / Farish
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
. Viola tells of her family's
journey from war-torn
Sudan, to Cairo, and
finally to Portland, Maine.
She dreams of South
Sudan while she tries to
navigate the strange
world of America - a world
where a girl can wear a
short skirt, get a tattoo or
even date a boy; a world
that puts her into sharp
conflict with her traditional
mother who, like Viola, is
struggling to braid
together the strands of a
displaced life.
11. Grave Mercy / LaFevers
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Seventeen-year-old Ismae
escapes from the brutality
of an arranged marriage to
the respite of the convent
of St. Mortain. Here she
learns that the god of
Death has blessed her with
dangerous gifts and a
violent destiny. To claim her
new life, she must destroy
the lives of others. But how
can she deliver Death’s
vengeance upon a target
who has stolen her heart?
12. The Hunt / Fukuda
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Gene is different from
everyone else around
him. He can’t run with
lightning speed, sunlight
doesn’t hurt him and he
doesn’t have an
unquenchable lust for
blood. Gene is a
human, and he knows
the rules. Keep the
truth a secret. It’s the
only way to stay alive in
a world of night—a
world where humans
are considered a
delicacy and hunted for
their blood.
13. I Hunt Killers / Lyga
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Jazz is a likable teenager.
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.
14. The Language of Flowers / Diffenbaugh
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
The Victorian language of flowers was
used to convey romantic expressions:
honeysuckle for devotion, asters for
patience, and red roses for love. But for
Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in
communicating mistrust and solitude. After
a childhood spent in the foster-care
system, she is unable to get close to
anybody, and her only connection to the
world is through flowers and their
meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated
from the system with nowhere to go,
Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping
others through the flowers she chooses for
them.
15. Leverage / Cohen
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
A book about bullies, their
victims, and a high school
football team where winning is
the only thing that matters. At
Oregrove High, there's an
extraordinary price for victory,
paid both on and off the
football field, and it claims its
victims without mercy. When
the unthinkable happens, an
unlikely friendship is at the
heart of an increasingly
violent, steroid-infused power
struggle.
16. My Book of Life by Angel / Leavitt
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
When sixteen-year-old Angel meets
Call at the mall, he buys her meals
and says he loves her, and he
gives her some candy that makes
her feel like she can fly. Pretty soon
she's addicted to his candy, and
she moves in with him. As a favor,
he asks her to hook up with a
couple of friends of his, and then a
couple more. Now Angel is stuck
working the streets at Hastings and
Main, a notorious spot in
Vancouver, Canada, where the girls
turn tricks until they disappear
without a trace.
17. My Life Next Door / Fitzpatrick
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
The Garretts are everything the Reeds are
not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate.
And every day from her balcony perch,
seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed
wishes she was one of them . . . until one
summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her
terrace and changes everything. As the two
fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes
Samantha one of their own. Then in an
instant, the bottom drops out of her world
and she is suddenly faced with an
impossible decision. Which perfect family
will save her? Or is it time she saved
herself?
18. Never Fall Down / McCormick
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
When soldiers arrive at his hometown in Cambodia, Arn is just a kid. But after the
soldiers march the entire population into the countryside, his life is changed forever. Arn
is separated from his family and assigned to a labor camp: working in the rice paddies
under a blazing sun, he sees the other children, weak from hunger, malaria, or sheer
exhaustion, dying before his eyes. He sees prisoners marched to a nearby mango
grove, never to return. One day, the soldiers ask if any of the kids can play an
instrument. Arn's never played a note in his life, but he volunteers. In order to survive, he
must quickly master the strange revolutionary songs the soldiers demand—and steal
food to keep the other kids alive. He lives by the simple credo: Over and over I tell
myself one thing: never fall down.
Based on the true story of Arn Chorn-Pond
19. Pink / Wilkinson
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Ava is tired of her ultracool attitude,
ultraradical politics, and ultrablack
clothing. She's ready to be someone
new. Someone who fits in, someone
with a gorgeous boyfriend, someone
who wears pink.
But Ava soon finds that changing
herself is more complicated than
changing her wardrobe. Even
getting involved in the school
musical raises issues she never
imagined. As she faces surprising
choices and unforeseen
consequences, Ava wonders if she
will ever figure out who she really
wants to be.
20. The Raven Boys / Stiefvater
Calla and Ren have
been raised knowing it's
their destiny to mate
with one another and
rule over their
shapeshifting wolf pack,
but when a human boy
arrives and vies for
Calla's heart, she's
faced with a decision
that could change her
whole world.
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
21. UnWholly / Shusterman
GA Peach Book Award Nominee 2013-2014
Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa—and
their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack
Harvest Camp—people can no longer
turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding
society of troublesome teens while
simultaneously providing much-needed
tissues for transplant might be
convenient, but its morality has finally
been brought into question. However,
unwinding has become big business, and
there are powerful political and corporate
interests that want to see it continue.