VSBA 2025-2026 -- High School Nominees

"In this non-fiction book for teens, readers are guided through the development of this world-changing technology, exploring how AI has touched every corner of our world, including education, healthcare, work, politics, war, international relations, and even romance. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how artificial intelligence got here, how to make the best use of it, and how we can expect it to transform our lives"-- Provided...

"Joaquin Zoido is out and proud of it. And while he knew his dad and sister, Carmen, would be super supportive, he wasn't quite ready for them to surprise him with a queerceañera, a coming out party to celebrate him. Between all the talks of tastings and venues, and the chirping of his family's RSVP texts, the question of who will be his chambelán is on everyone's minds. What Joaquin is decidedly trying to not think about is whether his mom is...

In 1955, a Black family relocates to the suburbs where they must pass for white, but dark secrets about the town and its inhabitants threaten their new home.

"In the old tales, it is written that the egg of a seadragon, dragonfruit, holds within it the power to undo a person's greatest sorrow. But as with all things that offer hope when hope has gone, the tale comes with a warning. Every wish demands a price. Hanalei of Tamarind is the cherished daughter of an old island family. But when her father steals a seadragon egg meant for an ailing princess, she is forced into a life of exile. In the years that...

In the all-white Missouri town of "Calico Springs, Willie's life has been defined by two powerful forces: God and the river. The 'miracle boy' died for five minutes as a young child, and ever since, Willie is certain he survived for a reason, but that purpose didn't become clear until he found the Game. The Game is called Manifest Atlas, and the concept is simple: enter an intention and the Game provides a target--a blinking blue dot on the map. Willie's...

When her boyfriend excludes her from participating in a roleplaying game, high school senior Hollie joins an all-girls group where an in-game romance has the potential to be more than just pretend.

"Set in New York City in the '90s, Angela Shanté's poems and stories paint a mosaic of childhood that is shaped by the past and reverberates into the present. As Shanté navigates the city through memory, this timeless book illuminates the places where Black girls are nurtured or boxed in, through stories and poems about expectations, exploitation, love, loss, and self-realization. Her poems center on pivotal moments of Black childhood, using footnotes...

Queer teens Abby and Leo spend a life-changing day together lost in New York City.

Paula Yoo's latest is a compelling, nuanced account of Los Angeles's 1992 uprising and its impact on its Korean and Black American communities. In the spring of 1992, after a jury returned not guilty verdicts in the trial of four police officers charged in the brutal beating of a Black man, Rodney King, Los Angeles was torn apart. Thousands of fires were set, causing more than a billion dollars in damage. In neighborhoods abandoned by the police,...

"Marked Man tells the propulsive story of Frank Serpico who, in the 1960s, single-handedly rooted out systematic corruption in the New York Police Department. Since the NYPD was formed in 1845, the famous "pad" was as much a criminal ring as it was a legitimate police force. As the decades wore on, corruption became so out of hand that cops were regularly demanding payments from brothels, bars, pool halls, and gambling joints to keep them out of trouble...