2024 - 2025 Truman Nominees
Air
by Monica Roe
Twelve-and-a-half-year-old Emelyn Ethrige lives with her father in South Carolina, dreams of wheelchair motocross, and makes custom chair bags trying to earn enough money to buy a serious set of wheels; she has been in a wheelchair all her life and is just fine getting around without help, but it seems that since her mother was killed in an accident everyone (father, grandparents, teachers, and classmates) have started treating her differently: urging caution and trying to help and for an independently-minded girl who loves speed and big air tricks it is frustrating--so Emelyn and her best friends come up with a plan to change their minds.
Fourteen-year-old star freshman quarterback Caleb Springer watches his father deteriorate from injuries he suffered playing the very same sport, forcing Caleb to consider whether playing football, the sport of his dreams, is worth risking irreparable physical harm.
Ode to a Nobody
by Caroline Brooks DuBois
Before the storm, thirteen-year-old Quinn was happy flying under the radar. She was average. Unremarkable. Always looking for an escape from her house, where her bickering parents fawned over her genius big brother.
Inside our broken home / we didn’t know how broken / the world outside was.
But after the storm, Quinn can’t seem to go back to average. Her friends weren’t affected by the tornado in the same way. To them, the storm left behind a playground of abandoned houses and distracted adults. As Quinn struggles to find stability in the tornado’s aftermath, she must choose: between homes, friendships, and versions of herself.
Nothing that was mine / yesterday is mine today.
Told in rich, spectacular verse, Caroline Brooks DuBois crafts a powerful story of redemption as Quinn makes her way from Before to After. There’s nothing average about the world Quinn wakes up to after the storm; maybe there’s nothing average about her, either. This emotional coming-of-age journey for middle grade readers proves that it’s never too late to be the person you want to be.
Problem With Prophecies
by Scott Reintgen
The Problem With Prophecies is the first book in the Celia Cleary Series. On Celia's 4,444th day of her life, something special is supposed to happen. Every other generation in her family inherits the ability to have visions of the future on this day. Celia stays home from school with her grandma and when the vision comes, it isn't something she was ready for at all.
Celia sees that a neighbor boy is going to die! She is bound and determined, even against her grandmother's warnings to change how this vision plays out. For each prophecy she avoids, another one putting her neighbor, Jeffrey, in harm's way takes its place. As a seventh grader, Celia already has a lot on her plate and since fate isn't cooperating, Celia isn't sure what she is going to do about it.
Thirteen-year-old Rain, who struggles with low self-esteem, must overcome sadness after her older brother Xander is severely beaten up at a frat party, but through the help of an after-school circle group, Rain finds the courage to help herself and her family heal.
Thirteen-year-old Annabella Ballinkay has never been normal, even by her psychic family's standards. Every generation uses their abilities to help run the Ravenfall Inn, a sprawling, magical B&B at the crossroads of the human world and the Otherworld. So when fourteen-year-old Colin Pierce arrives at Ravenfall searching for his missing older brother and the supernatural creature who killed their parents, Anna jumps at the chance to help. But the mysteries tied to Colin go much deeper than either of them expects.
Five middle schoolers find a fully stocked bomb shelter constructed decades ago in the local woods by an eccentric tycoon and lost until a hurricane exposes the entrance. So, how to keep the hideout secret from interfering grown-ups--and, more particularly, from scary teen psychopath, Jaeger Devlin.
The Last Hope in Hopetown
by Alan Gratz
Twelve-year-old Sophie and her 300-year-old best vampire friend Delphine break into a secret government facility to find a cure for the illness causing vampires to go rogue.
The Marvellers
by Dhonielle Clayton
Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts. Despite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first isn't easy--some Marvellers mistrust her magic. Eventually, she finds friends in elixirs teacher, Masterji Thakur, and fellow misfits Brigit and Jason. When a dangerous criminal escapes prison, supposedly with a Conjuror's aid, Ella becomes the target of suspicion. Worse, Masterji Thakur mysteriously disappears while away on a research trip. With the help of her friends and her own growing powers, Ella must find a way to clear her family's name and track down her mentor before it's too late.
On the day of Henry Ludd's thirteenth birthday, the power goes out. No phones, no news, people descending in lawlessness-- and in the chaos, Henry's father has gone missing.
When three children endure separate climate change disasters--a wildfire in the California woods, a close encounter with a hungry polar bear in Canada, and a massive hurricane in Florida--they emerge from their experiences committed to changing the world.
Undercover Latina
by Aya (Novelist) De León
Fourteen-year-old Andrea Hernandez-Baldoquin hails from a family of spies working for the factory, an international organization dedicated to protecting people of color. Andrea has dreamed about getting her first solo mission, but she never imagined that she would have to straighten her hair and go undercover as a white girl to befriend the estranged son of a dangerous white supremacist. In order to gain the boy's trust, Andrea finds herself doing a deep dive into the world of comic books and fantasy gaming, all while trying to keep her true identity a secret from her targets adorable Latino best friend. Can Andrea keep her head, her geek cred, and her code-switching on track to trap a terrorist?