The Georgia Book Award highlights the best current literature for students in 4th--8th grades.

• Drita, my homegirl
  

  When ten-year-old Drita and her family, refugees from Kosovo, move to New York, Drita is teased about not speaking English well, but after a popular student named Maxie is forced to learn about Kosovo as a punishment for teasing Drita, the two girls soon bond.

  
  
  
• Phineas L. MacGuire...erupts!
  

  Readers are invited to meet Phineas L. MacGuire: scientist, boy-genius, allergic to purple. This funny middle-grade novel comes complete with tantalizingly gruesome experiments, including one on how to blow up a volcano. Illustrations.

  
  
  
• The amazing flight of Darius Frobisher
  

  In this offbeat tale by a Grammy(-nominated storyteller, a young boy's hopes and an unusual bicycle bring about magical results.

  
  
  

• Defiance
  

  In this honest and life-affirming novel for young readers, an unforgettable 11-year-old boy who has cancer learns about the importance of letting things happen on their own and listening to his heart.

  
  
  
• Do not pass go
  

  The author of "The Year of Miss Agnes" delivers a strong and accessible novel that sheds light on the tumultuous experience of having a parent in jail, and gives insight into the everyday lives of the prison inmates and the stories behind what brought them there.

  
  
  
• Happy kid
  

  All cynical Kyle wants is to get through seventh grade unnoticed, but a self-help book from his well-meaning mother changes all that. Magically the book seems to know all about him and it wants to help him through his misery.

  
  
  
• Peak
  

  The emotional, tension-filled story of a 14-year-old boy's attempt to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest is an action-packed adventure about friendship, sacrifice, family and the drive to take on Everest, despite the incredible risk.

  
  
  

• Blood on the river: James Town 1607
  

  From the award-winning author of "Stealing Freedom." When 12-year-old Samuel Collier boards a ship bound for the New World, he can't believe his good fortune. Collier learns he can be whomever he wants in the New World settlement of Jamestown.

  
  
  
• Heat
  

  Michael Arroyo grows up in the shadows of hallowed Yankee Stadium, a boy forever on the outside looking in. His only chance to see his field of dreams? Pitch his Bronx all-star team to the district finals and a shot at the Little League World Series.But there is a problem. Michael is good– "too "good. Rival coaches and players can't believe a boy could be this good and be only twelve yea read more ...
  
  

  Michael Arroyo grows up in the shadows of hallowed Yankee Stadium, a boy forever on the outside looking in. His only chance to see his field of dreams? Pitch his Bronx all-star team to the district finals and a shot at the Little League World Series.But there is a problem. Michael is good– "too "good. Rival coaches and players can't believe a boy could be this good and be only twelve years old. And Michael has no way to prove it– no mother, no father, and a birth certificate that is stuck home in his native Cuba. If the people from social services find out his secret, he will have an even worse problem: being separated from the only family he knows, his older brother Carlos. Baseball can be a game of heroes, of champions who refuse to lose. Or it can be a field of crushed dreams. For one boy, the game is about to turn serious.

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• Journey to the blue moon
  

  Time gets out of hand in a witty, suspenseful new fantasy from the author of "The Dragon of Lonely Island."

  
  
  
• Letters from Rapunzel
  

  This debut novel follows a young girl who calls herself Rapunzel and wishes her life was more fairy tale than real. When an evil spell is cast over her father, a mysterious letter falls into her hands--one that may help break the spell.

  
  
  
• Rules
  

  Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules-from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"-in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and  read more ...
  
  

  Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules-from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"-in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

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• Shield of stars
  

  This first installment of a brand-new trilogy introduces Weasel, a former pickpocket saved from the streets by Justice Holis. When Holis is accused of treason, Weasel is determined to save him with a legendary shield that bestows power on whoever holds it.

  
  
  
• So B. It
  

  You couldn't really tell about Mama's brain just from looking at her, but it was obvious as soon as she spoke. She had a high voice, like a little girl's, and she only knew twenty-three words. I know this for a fact, because we kept a list of the things Mama said tacked to the inside of the kitchen cabinet. Most of the words were common ones, like good and more and hot, but there was one word  read more ...
  
  

  You couldn't really tell about Mama's brain just from looking at her, but it was obvious as soon as she spoke. She had a high voice, like a little girl's, and she only knew twenty-three words. I know this for a fact, because we kept a list of the things Mama said tacked to the inside of the kitchen cabinet. Most of the words were common ones, like good and more and hot, but there was one word only my mother said, soof. Although she lives an unconventional lifestyle with her mentally disabled mother and their doting neighbor, Bernadette, Heidi has a lucky streak that has a way of pointing her in the right direction. When a mysterious word in her mother's vocabulary begins to haunt her, Heidi's thirst for the truth leads her on a cross-country journey in search of the secrets of her past. A dramatic tour de force by the best-selling author of Regular Guy.

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• The lightning thief
  

  Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

  
  
  
• The runaway princess
  

  Coombs weaves a magical tale full of pesky princes, enchanted frogs, a beady-eyed scarf, and invisibility juice--a tale of wonder, but a story familiar to all who struggle to find their own place in the world.

  
  
  
• The story of Jonas
  

  In the mid-1800s, a slave boy dreams of escaping to freedom while on a journey from Missouri to the gold fields of Kansas Territory with his master's n'er-do-well son.

  
  
  
• The thing about Georgie
  

  The thing about poodles is that Georgie Bishop hates to walk them. The thing about Jeanie the Meanie is that she would rather write on her shoe than help Georgie with their Abraham Lincoln project. The thing about Georgie's mom is that she's having a baby-a baby who will probably be taller than Georgie very, very soon. The thing about Georgie . . . well, what is the thing about Georgie?

  
  
  
• Truth and salsa
  

  Having moved temporarily from Michigan to live with her grandmother in Mexico, twelve-year-old Hayley tries to sort out her feelings about her parents' separation while also helping some townsmen who have run into trouble while working in the United States.

  
  
  
• Way down deep
  

  "Both fable and mystery, "Way Down Deep" is simply irresistible, as plucky orphan Ruby June searches for the secret of her past, deeply entwined with an entire community worthy of Dickens. Funny, sweet, and filled with the heart's own truths, this is the best book yet from the queen of Appalachian storytelling." — Lee Smith, author of "On Agate Hill" and "Fair and Tender Ladies"

  
  
  

Check out the Georgia Children's Book Award Winners in the Library Catalog!

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