This is a list of the 2019-2020 Iowa High School Book Award nominees. The nominees are selected by the Iowa Association of School Librarians. In March 2020, students in grades 9-12 may vote for their favorite book from the list. For more information about voting, please visit this site: https://www.iasl-ia.org/awards/book-awards/iowa-high-school-book-award-9-12
Dear Martin
Nic Stone
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Stone Nic
Young Adult
Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face the reality of race relations today and how they are shaping him.
The end of our story
Meg Haston
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Haston Meg
Young Adult
Bridge and Wil are separated by a devastating betrayal before a family tragedy compels them to reconcile a year later, a situation that puts both of them in danger.
The Forgetting
Sharon Cameron
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Cameron Sharon
Young Adult
Canaan is a quiet city on an idyllic world, hemmed in by high walls, but every twelve years the town breaks out in a chaos of bloody violence, after which all the people undergo the Forgetting, in which they are left without any trace of memory of themselves, their families, or their lives--but somehow seventeen-year-old Nadia has never forgotten, and she is determined to find out what causes it and how to put a stop to the Forgetting forever.
The hate u give
Angie Thomas
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Thomas Angie
Young Adult
After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died.
Long way down
Jason Reynolds
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Reynolds Jason
Young Adult
As Will, fifteen, sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know.
The radium girls : the dark story of America's shining women
Kate (Writer and editor) Moore
363.1799 /Moore
Science
As World War I raged across the globe, hundreds of young women toiled away at the radium-dial factories, where they painted clock faces with a mysterious new substance called radium. Assured by their bosses that the luminous material was safe, the women themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered from head to toe with the glowing dust. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" were considered the luckiest alive--until they began to fall mysteriously ill. As the fatal poison of the radium took hold, they found themselves embroiled in one of America's biggest scandals and a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights. The Radium Girls explores the strength of extraordinary women in the face of almost impossible circumstances and the astonishing legacy they left behind.
Renegades
Marissa Meyer
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Meyer Marissa
Young Adult
The Renegades are human, but with extraordinary abilities. They emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone... except the villains they once overthrew. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and is on a mission for vengeance. Adrian is a Renegade boy who believes in justice-- and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.
The serpent king : a novel
Jeff Zentner
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Zentner Jeff
Young Adult
The son of a Pentecostal preacher faces his personal demons as he and his two outcast friends try to make it through their senior year of high school in rural Forrestville, Tennessee without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self.
Turtles all the way down
John Green
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Green John
Young Adult
It all begins with a fugitive billionaire and the promise of a cash reward. Turtles All the Way Down is about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and tuatara. But at its heart is Aza Holmes, a young woman navigating daily existence within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
Underwater
Marisa Reichardt
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Reichard Marisa
Young Adult
Ever since the mass shooting at her California high school, junior Morgan Grant has become increasingly agoraphobic until even the idea of stepping outside her door can bring on a panic attack, a situation not made any easier by the fact that her parents are divorced--but when Evan moves in next door she finds herself attracted to him and begins to find herself longing for the life she has been missing.
Warcross
Marie Lu
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Lu Marie
Young Adult
"When teenage coder Emika Chen hacks her way into the opening tournament of the Warcross Championships, she glitches herself into the game as well as a sinister plot with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire"--
When we collided
Emery Lord
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Lord Emery
Young Adult
Can seventeen-year-old Jonah save his family restaurant from ruin, his mother from her sadness, and his danger-seeking girlfriend Vivi from herself?