State Award Reading List
New Jersey State Reading Lists
Garden State Children's Book Award
2012 Garden State Children's Book Award Nominees
Grades 6-8
Anything But Typical
By: Nora Raleigh Baskin
This edition: Hardcover, 208 pages
Publication date: March 24, 2009
Ages: 10 - 14
Jason Blake is an autistic 12-year-old living in a neurotypical world. Most days it's just a matter of time before something goes wrong. But Jason finds a glimmer of understanding when he comes across PhoenixBird, who posts...
The Summer I Turned Pretty
By: Jenny Han
This edition: Hardcover, 288 pages
Publication date: May 5, 2009
Ages: above 12
Belly’s never been the kind of girl that things happen to. Year after year, she’s spent her summers at the beach house with Conrad and Jeremiah. The boys never noticed Belly noticing them. And every summer she...
Leviathan
By: Scott Westerfeld
Illustrated by: Keith Thompson
This edition: Hardcover, 448 pages
Publication date: October 6, 2009
Ages: above 12
It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ...
The Rock and the River
By: Kekla Magoon
This edition: Hardcover, 304 pages
Publication date: January 6, 2009
Ages: 9 - 14
The Time: 1968 The Place: Chicago For thirteen-year-old Sam it's not easy being the son of known civil rights activist Roland Childs. Especially when his older (and best friend), Stick, begins to drift away from him for no...
Grades 9-12
The Monstrumologist
(Part of Monstrumologist, The)
By: Rick Yancey
This edition: Hardcover, 448 pages
Publication date: September 22, 2009
Ages: above 14
These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for nearly ninety years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . ....
