2022 - 2023
South Carolina
Children’s Book Award Nominees
Amari & the Night Brothers
by B.B. Alston
Fantasy
Thirteen-year-old Amari, a poor Black girl from the projects, gets an invitation from her missing brother to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and join in the fight against an evil magician.
Becoming Muhammad Ali
by James Patterson & Kwame Alexander
Biographical Fiction, Verse
Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing. Readers will learn about Cassius' family and neighbors in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age twelve. Before long, he won his first Golden Gloves bout and began his transformation into the unrivaled Muhammad Ali.
Blue Skies
by Anne Bustard
Historical Fiction
France sends the Merci Train to the United States to thank America for helping France during and after WWII, and one of the train stops will be the small town of Gladiola, Texas, where ten-year-old Glory Bea hopes for the greatest miracle--that her missing-in-action father will be on the train.
Clean Getaway
by Nic Stone
Realistic Fiction
An eleven-year-old boy confronts the realities of race relations, past and present, and the mysterious agenda of his unconventional grandmother during an unplanned spring break road trip through the once-segregated American South.
Connect the Dots
by Keith Calabrese
Mystery
Experiencing an outbreak of random weirdness, from stolen lunches to the appearance of a giant dog, sixth graders Oliver and Frankie uncover the activities of a brainy but reclusive new classmate who needs help making friends.
Distress Signal
by Mary E. Lambert
Adventure
Lavender and the rest of the sixth graders are on a camping trip to the Chiricahua wilderness, but the trip seems cursed from the start. When a flash flood splits the group up, Lavender finds herself lost, together with her former best friend Marisol, mean-girl Rachelle, and a boy John, who has been behaving like a surly jerk since the start. They have only one pack of supplies and only the most basic wilderness knowledge, but if they are to survive, they need to put their differences aside and work as a team or all that will be left of them are their sun-bleached bones.
Echo Mountain
by Lauren Wolk
Historical Fiction
When twelve-year-old Ellie and her family lose their livelihood and move to a mountain cabin in 1934, she quickly learns to be an outdoors woman and, when needed, a healer.
Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox
by Michael Buckley
Science Fiction
When Earth is threatened by an invading race of bugs called the Plague, eleven-year-old Finn, his arch-nemesis, Lincoln, his crush, Julep, and one pink unicorn lunchbox become Earth's last best hope against destruction.
Hide and Seeker
by Daka Hermon
Horror
Joining his friends for a game of hide-and-seek at the welcome back party of a young neighbor who mysteriously went missing for a year and came back rather changed, Justin watches in horror as players are pulled into a nightmarish alternate world where they are terrorized by a mysterious Seeker.
In the Red
by Christopher Swiedler
Science Fiction;
Adventure
Stranded hours from their home on Mars with an already limited supply of food, water, and air, Michael and Lilith must risk everything if they're going to get back to the colony alive.
Isaiah Dunn is My Hero
by Kelly J. Baptist
Realistic Fiction
Referring to his late father’s journal for advice on how to be the man of the house, young Isaiah taps the support and ideas of two school friends who help him navigate rules and manage without superpowers.
Katie the Catsitter
by Colleen A.F. Venable
Graphic Novel, Humor
Twelve-year-old Katie is dreading the boring summer ahead until she realizes the mysterious neighbor who hired her to catsit is one of the city's greatest supervillains.
Prairie Lotus
by Linda Sue Park
Historical Fiction
In Dakota Territory in the 1880s, half-Chinese Hanna and her white father face racism and resistance to change as they try to make a home for themselves.
Railway Jack: The True Story of an Amazing Baboon
by KT Johnston
Narrative Nonfiction
Jim was a South African railway inspector in the late 1800s who lost his legs in an accident while at work. Unable to perform all his tasks with his disability but desperate to keep his job, Jim discovered a brilliant solution, a baboon named Jack.
Red, White, and Whole
by Rajani Larocca
Realistic Fiction, Verse
Reha feels torn between two worlds, but Reha's parents don't understand why she's conflicted. They only notice when Reha doesn't meet their strict expectations. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is sick. Really sick. Reha, who dreams of becoming a doctor even though she can't stomach the sight of blood, is determined to make her Amma well again. She'll be the perfect daughter, if it means saving her Amma's life.
Scritch Scratch
by Lindsay Currie
Horror
Haunted after helping her father on his ghost-themed Chicago bus tour, twelve-year-old Claire must discover what the spectral boy from the bus wants before it is too late.
The Total Eclipse of
Nestor Lopez
by Adrianna Cuevas
Fantasy
A Cuban American boy must use his secret ability to communicate with animals to save the inhabitants of his town when they are threatened by a tule vieja, a witch that transforms into animals.
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
by Carole Boston Weatherford
Narrative Nonfiction
A powerful look at the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation's history.
War Stories
by Gordon Korman
Historical Fiction
Visiting the small French village that his veteran grandfather helped liberate during World War II, an avid young player of war video games begins questioning his family's perspectives about his grandfather's heroism when he uncovers the rest of the story.
Winterborne Home for Vengeance & Valor
by Ally Carter
Mystery
After years in foster care, April gets to live in a mansion where she and four other children are caught up in a mystery related to a missing heir, a lost legacy, and the Phantom.
All media specialists should review all titles and add them to their collections only if the titles meet the criteria established by District Board Policy and Library Media Center Policy & Procedure guidelines. We recommend that others interested in purchasing these titles read reviews and scan materials to determine the appropriateness for their intended readers.
All photos and summaries are courtesy of NoveList K-8 Plus through sc.discus.org unless otherwise noted.