2020 Lincoln Award: Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award




 

Punching The Air by Ibi Zoboi

The story that I thought was my life didn’t start on the day I was born Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Taken from Goodreads.com

 

Frankly In Love by David Yoon

High school senior Frank Li is a Limbo--his term for Korean-American kids who find themselves caught between their parents’ traditional expectations and their own Southern California upbringing. His parents have one rule when it comes to romance--“Date Korean”--which proves complicated when Frank falls for Brit Means, who is smart, beautiful--and white.

 

We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez

Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña have no false illusions about the town they've grown up in and the dangers that surround them. Though their families--both biological and found--create a warm community for them, threats lurk around every corner. And when those threats become all too real, the three teens know they have no choice but to run: for the border, for the hope of freedom, and for their very lives.

 

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she's determined not to get too close to anyone. Because the secret that Amanda's been keeping? It's that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love?

 

Sorcery Of Thornsby Margaret Rogerson

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power. Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital.

 

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds

Distinguished author Jason Reynolds writes a remix version of Stamped from the Beginning, written by Ibram X. Kendi, to share with young people how and why racism was created, and how and why it has plagued this country and people of color for so long. This is NOT a history book...although it does relive history and tells straight-talking truths. Listening to Jason Reynolds himself read for the audiobook will certainly have you captivated.

 

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A black French Canadian, he’s plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat. Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Yet, against all odds, those labels soon become actual people to Norris. Then, on prom night, Norris screws everything up royally. As he tries to pick up the pieces, he realizes it might be time to stop hiding behind his snarky opinions and start living his life—along with the people who have found their way into his heart.

 

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes and hallway harassment. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules. Viv’s mom was a punk rock Riot Grrrl in the ’90s, so now Viv takes a page from her mother’s past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She’s just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. Pretty soon Viv is forging friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, and she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.

 

#NotYourPrincess by Lisa Charleyboy

Native American women have been stereotyped and sexualized since colonization. In this collection, many share their opinions, hearts, and experiences in an array of powerful writing and media. Readers will see how indigenous doesn’t mean historical, indigenous doesn’t mean stereotypical, and indigenous doesn’t mean inferior. Indigenous means unique, worthy, courageous, and so much more.

 

Catfishing On CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

Steph doesn’t know her father’s name or where he lives. All she knows is that he’s dangerous, and that keeps her and her mother on the road. Never time to do well in school or make friends, or even have a crush on someone, Steph has succumbed to the nomad life, until she meets Rachel, a classmate who could be a true, in-the-flesh friend. Her only other longtime friends exist online on CatNet. Yes, they’re real people, but she’s never met them in person. And actually, one of them seems to have an uncanny knack for finding information...could her online friend CheshireCat be something she never expected? And is her father actually dangerous...or is her mother irrational and paranoid?

 

Dig. by A.S. King

Only a generation removed from being simple Pennsylvania potato farmers, Gottfried and Marla Hemmings managed to trade digging spuds for developing subdivisions and now sit atop a seven-figure bank account, wealth they've declined to pass on to their adult children or their teenage grandchildren. As the rot just beneath the surface of the Hemmings’ precious white suburban respectability begins to spread, the far flung grandchildren gradually find their ways back to each other, just in time to uncover the terrible cost of maintaining the family name.

 

Alledgedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

Mary B. Addison killed a baby. Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: A white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? She wouldn’t say.

 

The Dark Matter of Mona Starr by Laura Lee Gulledge

Mona has had a difficult time making friends and, just in general, feeling like she fits into the world, except with her amazing, geektastic friend Nash. But, Nash is moving across the country, so she’s left alone right before the first day of school. Her overwhelming self-doubt kicks in and her “dark matter”, what she names her depression, goes into overdrive. Can she overcome another tough season? Can she make a friend who accepts her, all parts of her? Read this graphic novel to find out!

 

Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes

Told through essays and poetry, Nikki Grimes re-lives heart wrenching experiences from her childhood. She takes readers through memories of her schizophrenic mother, her longtime absent father, the neighborhood gangs that stood at each end of the street, and the reason she slept with a knife underneath her pillow. How did she survive--no, thrive--despite it all? Find out in her memoir.

 

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Isabelle just cut off her toes to deceive the handsome prince into wedlock--her toes! Soon the entire town learns what she’s done, and not only that, everyone learns how Isabelle, her sister Octavia, and their mother have been treating sweet Cinderella these past several years. It doesn’t take long for Isabelle to lose nearly everything and ally. But this might be the perfect time for her to put the pieces of her heart together again...and save the whole country of France.

 

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

Mara loves her twin brother Owen, even when he’s being an arrogant chump. They’ve had each other’s backs since birth. Then, Mara’s friend, also Owen’s girlfriend, accuses Owen of raping her. Mara wants to do the right thing. She wants to hold tightly to the brother she cherishes. He would never do something like that...right? And she wants to be a supportive ally to the survivor, her sweet, funny friend. She wouldn’t lie...right? All the while, Mara discovers that her own past trauma can’t be kept a secret anymore.

 

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Meet Avery Kylie Grambs. She has nothing. Meet the Hawthorne family. They have everything. After the shocking reading of Tobias Hawthorne’s will, a U.S. billionaire, Avery and the four Hawthorne brothers find themselves in a race to discover why. Why Tobias Hawthorne disinherited all of his relatives, and instead left his fortune to a young girl he didn’t even know. Avery already finds herself woozy over the sheer size of the Hawthorne mansion (which she must reside in for a year if she wants to receive any of the money) and the enchanting brothers Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander, not to mention completely mystified by riddles upon riddles that Tobias Hawthorne left behind. So, what’s a girl to do? Play the game. And play it to win.

 

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu

With her one-of-a-kind wit and dazzling drawings, celebrated graphic novelist Pénélope Bagieu profiles the lives of these feisty female role models, some world-famous, some little known. From Nellie Bly to Mae Jemison or Josephine Baker to Naziq al-Abid, the stories in this comic biography are sure to inspire the next generation of rebel ladies.

 

The Companion by Katie Alender

The other orphans have really begun to dislike Margot. When she arrived at the girls’ home, no one could get any sleep because her screaming nightmares kept them awake. Margot doesn’t want to be there either. She wants to be with her family...but they’re dead. At the bottom of the lake. When Margot is chosen quickly to live under the care of The Suttons, a wealthy and prestigious family, she feels uneasy. Everyone else says she’s lucky. She’ll have new clothes, better food, and her own room. While all that’s true, Margot can’t shake an eerie feeling that her new caretakers aren’t as generous as they seem. Or the frightening message in her room. Or Laura’s sharp gaze. Or Agatha’s desperate attempt to tell her something. Only time will tell if her recurring bedtime nightmare has morphed into a living one.

 

With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Emoni had a baby as a freshman in high school, and she’s been overcoming challenges and judgment ever since. She’s now a senior, trying to answer the questions everyone keeps asking: What college are you attending? What career are you going to pursue? Can you even go to college while caring for a child? She has a lot on her mind, so when a new culinary class is offered, she decides quickly that she doesn’t have time to play around when she needs to support Babygirl and her ‘Buela. Even though she cooks from her soul, even though she creates memories with her food, even though this could be exactly the right path for her and her family.