2026-2027
South Carolina
Young Adult Book Award Nominees
All media specialists should review titles and add them to their collection only if the titles meet the criteria established by their district’s board policies and library policies and procedures guidelines.
By The Numbers
1
0
1
Titles on the consideration list (“long list”)
5
7
9
Total books read by the committee
Committee Members
Media Specialists
Teachers
Students
Parents
1
1
2
4
3
The Process
December 2024
“Long list” created by 23-24 committee
New team receives long list & books
March 2025
May 2025
August 2025
October 2025
December 2025
January 2026
1st round vote (6 readers; 50% yes)
2nd round vote (8 readers; 60% yes)
3rd round vote (8 readers; 60% yes)
Final round vote (8 readers; 60% yes)
YABA nominee list announced
20 nominees & 5 alternates selected
Nominees
A Deathly Compendium of Poisonous Plants
Nonfiction
A must for fans of science and history-and also armchair detectives-this entertaining and informative illustrated compendium delves into nature's deadliest plants and their fascinating histories as implements of medicine, warfare, and foul play.
Rebecca E. Hirsch
Summary from NoveList Plus
After Life
Amber bikes home one spring, seven years after she died after being hit by a car while riding that bike, and her return impacts those around her as she struggles to learn how and why she got a second chance.
Gayle Forman
Realistic Fiction
Summary from NoveList Plus
Better Must Come
Stumbling upon a badly wounded man who begs her to deliver a backpack to its original destination, not realizing the bag is stuffed with $500,000 American dollars, Jamaican girl Deja is forced to make a split-second choice to save the ones she loves most.
Adventure
Desmond Hall
Summary from NoveList Plus
The Black Girl Survives
in This One
Horror / Story Collection
Fifteen chilling and thought-provoking stories place Black girls front and center as heroes and survivors who slay monsters, battle spirits, and face down death. Prepare to be terrified and left breathless by the pieces in this anthology.
Desiree S. Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell
Summary from NoveList Plus
Blood at the Root
A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical. Enroll in this fresh fantasy debut unlike anything you've seen before.
LaDarrion Williams
Fantasy
Summary from NoveList Plus
Break to You
This highly compelling tour de force novel exposes what life is like in detention -- and reveals the hearts of two teens who are forced to live in desperate circumstances.
Realistic Fiction
Neal Shusterman
Summary from NoveList Plus
The Brightwood Code
Historical Fiction
Desperate to forget the circumstances that cut her time overseas short, former WWI switchboard operator Edda receives a panicked call from someone who utters the fateful code word "Brightwood" and must uncover what secrets may have followed her across the ocean.
Monica Hesse
Summary from NoveList Plus
Brownstone
In the summer of 1995, almost-fifteen-year-old Almudena is sent to live with her estranged Spanish-speaking father, and together they renovate a brownstone and build a relationship while Almudena navigates the Latin American side of her heritage for the first time.
Samuel Teer & Mar Julia
Graphic Novel
Summary from NoveList Plus
Cancelled
High school senior Brynn Whittaker faces a school-wide scandal when a viral video wrongly implicates her, prompting her and her friends to confront the school's misogynistic culture, while Brynn grapples with the decision to expose the true culprit.
Realistic Fiction
Farrah Penn
Summary from NoveList Plus
Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear
Fantasy
During a magical apocalypse, which has unleashed monsters and murderers, ordinary teen Sid Spencer teams up with a ragtag crew of would-be heroes to save the world as she knows it and do something extraordinary.
Robin Wasley
Summary from NoveList Plus
Dungeons and Drama
Riley can’t waste her time working at her dad’s game shop when she has a musical to save, so she convinces her coworker Nathan to cover her shifts and, in exchange, she’ll flirt with him to make his gamer-girl crush jealous.
Kristy Boyce
Romance
Summary from NoveList Plus
Fortune’s Kiss
Two best friends enter into a magical gambling den and wager their lives in exchange for their wildest dreams.
Fantasy
Amber Clement
Summary from NoveList Plus
The Glass Girl
Realistic Fiction
When 15-year-old Bella turns to alcohol to cope with the pressures of life, she soon finds herself struggling with a life-threatening addiction. A candid, deeply compassionate exploration of the forces pushing young women toward addiction and self-harm.
Kathleen Glasgow
Summary from NoveList Plus
Looking for Smoke
When a classmate is murdered during a traditional Blackfeet giveaway, Mara, Loren, Brody and Eli, the last people to see her alive, must take matters into their own hands and clear their names -- even though one of them may be the killer.
K.A. Cobell
Mystery
Summary from NoveList Plus
Now,
Conjurers
Following the murder of their leader and friend, a tight-knit coven of queer teens takes on a wish-granting demon lurking in their town.
Horror
Freddie Kölsch
Summary from NoveList Plus
Two Sides to
Every Murder
Thriller
Born during the infamous Camp Lost Lake murders, 17-year-old Olivia wants answers about her bloodline, while Reagan seeks to clear her mother's name in the long-ago massacre, but when the camp reopens, both girls realize someone will commit murder to keep the past hidden.
Danielle Valentine
Summary from NoveList Plus
Unbecoming
Working on an illegal guide to abortion in Texas for those in need in an America where abortions are prosecuted and the right to choose no longer exists, two best friends fight for what they believe in while one of them harbors a painful secret.
Seema Yasmin
Realistic Fiction
Summary from NoveList Plus
The Unboxing of
a Black Girl
Written as a collection of vignettes and poetry, The Unboxing of a Black Girl is a creative nonfiction reflection on Black girlhood. The title is a love letter to Black girls set in New York City and serves as a personal and political critique of how the world raises Black girls.
Memoir
Angela Shanté
Summary from NoveList Plus
Under the
Surface
Adventure
On their way to a mystery boy's exclusive party in the Paris catacombs, Ruby and her friends get lost in the endless maze of bones and uncover dark secrets about the catacombs--and each other--as something sinister chases them, determined to stop them from seeing another day.
Diana Urban
Summary from NoveList Plus
While in the woods, Rhi stumbles upon a pack of wolves guarding four feral and majestic girls. After Rhi gains their trust, they reveal that they're princesses from another land, raised by a magical prophet they call Mother--and they're convinced Rhi is their lost fifth sister.
Madeline Claire Franklin
Mystery
The Wilderness of Girls
Summary from NoveList Plus
Alternates
Another First Chance
Forced to join a research study observing teens who are "struggling socially," River befriends charming quarterback Nash but must decide how far he's willing to go for another chance at first love when he discovers what the researchers are actually studying.
Science Fiction
Robbie Couch
Summary from NoveList Plus
Dragonfruit
Fantasy
Forced into a life of exile, Hanalei of Tamarind is reunited with her childhood best friend Sam to find a rare dragonfruit whose magic can save his mother, the princess — offering Hanalei the chance to return home and right a terrible wrong.
Makiia Lucier
Summary from NoveList Plus
Fueling all his anxieties into his comic book series, Brett must face the painful truths of his real life and his escalating eating disorder when someone posts his journal--and his deepest insecurities--online.
Josh Galarza
Realistic Fiction
The Great Cool Ranch
Dorito in the Sky
Summary from NoveList Plus
Not About a Boy
Placed with a new foster family among Manhattan's elite, Mel must navigate through grief and depression as the anniversary of the worst day of her life approaches, before she loses herself and those she loves.
Realistic Fiction
Myah Hollis
Summary from NoveList Plus
The Notes
Realistic Fiction
A reserved Chinese American teen at a Southern performing arts boarding school comes into her own under the tutelage of a glamorous new piano teacher while grappling with her first love, adolescent and academic pressures, and mysterious, personal notes.
Catherine Con Morse
Summary from NoveList Plus
Programming Ideas
Curriculum Tie Ins
Your Turn!
Questions?