Alex Awards 2014 Nominations

In addition to the ten winning titles, the Alex Award committee also publishes a vetted list of official nominations. The following titles were official nominees for the 2014 award.

The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata

This best-selling Indonesian book tells the story of a group of poor islanders from the time they start school until they are adults.

Rage is Back by Adam Mansbach

Discovering your past, present and future in the graffiti of New York City.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

After 15-year-old Amelia allegedly jumps to her death, her mother must piece together what happened using Amelia’s social media accounts and diary entries.

The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski

Eleven-year-old Bonaventure Arrow’s extraordinary gifts may be the only thing that can free the people he loves from the sorrow they carry.

Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell

Based on the life of Queen Emma of Normandy during the years 1000-1005, this is historical fiction that reads like gripping fantasy.

Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende

Crippled by grief, 19-year-old Maya loses herself in a haze of drugs and crime until she is sent to live on a remote island.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

A young boy uncovers a neighbor’s supernatural family secret as he tries to make sense of the mystery of a local man’s death in England.

Lotería by Mario Zambrano

Eleven-year-old Luz, whose father is in jail, uses her journal and a deck of Lotería cards to explain why her sister is in the ICU.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Ruth finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox containing the diary of Nao, a lonely and bullied Japanese girl, and becomes obsessed with discovering Nao's true identity.

Y: a Novel by Marjorie Celona

Foster kid Shannon wonders about the parents who abandoned her and finally acts upon her desire to know who she is and where she belongs.

March (Book One) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell

This graphic autobiography traces the youth of Congressman John Lewis as he discovers the truth of the segregated world and begins to work for change.

Joyland by Stephen King

Devin spends the summer of 1973 working at an amusement park while mending his broken heart, helping a dying child, and solving a murder.

My Foreign Cities by Elizabeth Scarboro

The author recounts the bittersweet years spent with her high school sweetheart Stephen before he died of cystic fibrosis at the age of 30.

We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

When her sister Fern is sent away because of something Rosemary says, her family is irreparably broken and changed forever.

On the Come Up by Hannah Weyer

AnnMarie's universe is Far Rockaway, but her horizons broaden as she lands a part in an independent film and sees a future beyond her neighborhood.

Frozen in Time: an Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff

Past and present intersect in this gripping true tale of heroism, survival, and tragic loss on Greenland’s barren and isolated tundra.

Men We Reaped: a Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

A powerful memoir about growing up African American in Mississippi and what happened to five of the young black males in Ward's life.

Crapalachia: a Biography of a Place by Scott McClanahan

Scott McClanahan's hilarious and quirky rememberings of things passed.

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth: a Graphic Novel by Isabel Greenberg

Two lovers from Earth’s opposite poles can never touch. Three boys search for their single shared soul. Mythologies intertwine in this sweeping graphic novel.

Buck: a Memoir by MK Asante

A teenager in Philadelphia grows up with gangs, violence, and family dysfunction, but is saved by rap, poetry, and the power of the written word.

The Night Gwen Stacy Died by Sarah Bruni

Spinning a web of deceit, Midwestern teen Sheila reinvents herself as Spiderman character Gwen Stacy in hopes of saving her love Peter Parker.

A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett

On her fourth day in Somalia, aspiring journalist Lindhout was kidnapped and held for 460 days. This searing memoir recounts her torture, survival, and release.