VTPL 2024-25 Young Hoosier Book Awards

Vienna. 1936. Three young friends--Leo, Elsa, and Max--spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that events will soon mean that they are ripped apart from each other as their lives take very different directions. Inspired by a true story, this is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking and shows the bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to...

"Bree can't wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees--until she's stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule, the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she's forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta, an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain, is willing to help."--

"After her home is attacked by shapeshifting vampires, twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng is sent to live with her aunt and cousin in Maryland, but the aspiring vampire hunter discovers that middle school is harder than it appears on television, especially when she has to avoid detention and turn her classmates into warriors before they become vampire food."--

Fifteen-year-old Najwa Bakri is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend and Scrabble Queen, Trina, a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.

Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds, but when she falls under suspicion for helping a criminal escape prison she must, with the help of her new friends and her own growing powers, find a way to clear her family's name.

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, thirteen-year-old Matthew discovers a shocking secret about his great-grandmother's past as he learns about her life during the Holodomor famine in Soviet Ukraine.

In a future shaken by climate disasters, Yolanda Cicerón knows that nature is something to be feared. From the crops that don't grow to the terrifying creatures that roam the countryside, Yoly's life in the Valley is brutal and harsh. She dreams of leaving her farm to live in Silo--the most advanced town for miles around. But first, Yoly will need to prove she belongs in a place where only the smartest and most useful are welcomed. Between her razor-sharp...

STONEWALL HONOR BOOK ● From the author of the critically acclaimed novel For Black Girls Like Me and the Schneider Family Book Award Winner Forever Is Now, comes a coming-of-age story surrounding the losses that threaten to break us and the friendships that make us whole again.
Thirteen-year-old Andi feels stranded after the loss of her mother, the artist who swept color onto Andi's blank canvas. When she is accepted

...

"After witnessing a violent attack at school, Manuel struggles with anxiety but his cell phone camera helps him find anchors when he dissociates, and an unexpected friendship opens up new possibilities"--Title verso page.

Twelve-and-a-half year old Emelyn Ethrige lives with her widowed father in South Carolina, dreams of wheelchair motocross, and makes custom chair bags trying to earn enough money to buy a serious set of wheels; she has been in a wheelchair all her life, and is just fine getting around without help, but it seems that since her mother was killed in an accident everyone (father, grandparents, teachers, and classmates) have started treating her differently:...