Gateway Readers Award 2011/2012 Nominees
What is the Gateway Readers Award? Each year, a committee within the Missouri Association of School Librarians creates a list of 15 new books that are of interest to high school students. High school students in Missouri who read at least three of the 15 nominated books can vote for their favorite in March. The book which receives the most votes in state-wide voting is declared that year's winner! Previous winners include Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (2008), Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (2009), Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (2010), and Hunger Games (2011). View previous Gateway nominees: 2008 2009 2010 2011
Videos Our videos are moving! In February, 2012 all our video links are changing since Mac is closing down the place we've had them. Our LSHS LMC page on Vimeo will have channels for each year of Gateway nominees, plus other book trailers for titles not on Gateway lists. See all the videos for the 2012 Gateway Nominees in our album, or scroll down to see each video embedded.
Watch a 60 second 'movie trailer' on each of this year's 15 nominated books. 2011 nominee book trailers were posted to our gallery beginning in September, 2010. Click on any book cover on the poster below, or for a general gallery of book trailers click here!
Click any book cover to watch a 60 second 'book trailer' through Vimeo, or look below for embedded videos.
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Brief descriptions of each nominee by LMS Michael Russell:
After, Amy Efaw (click to watch the 90 second video book trailer): Devon has been a star student, a star soccer player, but now she's in big trouble. The teenager tossed her newborn baby into the dumpster behind her apartment, yet claims she didn't know she was pregnant-- and has little memory of the birth or tossing the baby away. Readers get a sympathetic and behind-the-scenes view of the juvenile justice system in this dramatic book.
The Chosen One, Carol Lynch Williams: (click to watch the 58 second book video trailer) Kyra is a 13 year old girl living in a Utah polygamyst compound. The prophet tells her father that God has chosen Kyra as a bride for her 60 year-old uncle, and Kyra refuses. Yet it's not so simple, especially when the boy Kyra has a crush on is badly beaten and likely killed by the prophet's goons, known as the God Squad.
Fat Cat, Robin Brande(click to watch the 90 second video book trailer): Cat has one hour to select a science project based on a randomly selected photograph. The choice is huge; winners get scholarships and glory; non-winners don't get the recommendations needed for the top colleges. What Cat decides changes her life: she will recreate the existence of early human, meaning she'll walk to school and just about everywhere else, and she'll only eat foods that approximate what early humans ate
Flash Burnout, L.K. Madigan (click to watch the 90 second video book trailer): Blake, a budding young photographer, has a girlfriend (Shannon, uber hot) and a girl friend (Marissa, fellow photographer). In Blake's mind, there is no comparison: Shannon is his girlfriend, Marissa is a friend who is a girl. But of course it's never that easy in a high school relationship, and as Blake discovers more about his girl friend's life, his girlfriend gets more and more jealous. A funny and touching story about developing relationships, with a refreshing tie-in to photography.
Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have, Allen Zadoff (click to watch the 60 second video book trailer): Andrew Zansky is starting his sophomore year as the second fattest kid in school. At 15, he weighs 306.4 pounds and he isn't especially tall. But the day before school starts he meets April, an Asian American girl, at an event Andrew's mother is catering. Andrew starts thinking what it'd be like if he could date a girl like April-- and tells her he's an athlete, despite having no athletic prowess whatsover. The next day Andrew discovers April is a new student at his school, prompting Andrew to prove himself in ways he hadn't tried before in order to impress his potential girlfriend.
Hate List, LSHS Graduate Jennifer Brown (click to watch 56 second trailer) (listen to a podcast interview between Librarian Michael Russell and author Jennifer Brown): Valerie is starting school in the fall after her boyfriend Nick went on a shooting spree in the high school cafeteria at the end of the previous school year. Nick's primary targets were people that had picked on Valerie and Nick through the years, people whose names Valerie had written down on what came to be known as "the hate list." Valerie struggles internally with the guilt of what happened -- was it her fault?-- even as almost everyone else at the school seemingly hates her for returning to the scene of her crime.
Hold Still, Nina LaCour (click to watch the 90 second video book trailer): Caitlin's best friend Ingrid committed suicide, and months later Caitlin is still reeling from the impact and loss, as well as the overwhelming guilt that Caitlin might've missed the signs. The two loved photography, yet Caitlin is hesitant to continue exploring photographic art without Ingrid. Using Ingrid's journal as well as a new set of friends, Caitlin is able to begin to put together life after Ingrid.
If I Grow Up, Todd Strasser (click to watch the 90 second video book trailer): DeShawn lives in the projects, fighting to stay out of gangs. He can see how devastating the gangs are and why no one can break out of the cycle of poverty thanks to them. Yet when his only male role model is the gang leader, and when he is faced with allowing his family to starve or get money by working with the gang, how can he decide?
If I Stay, Gayle Forman (click to watch the 90 second video book trailer): Mia is struggling with a difficult decision-- go to Juliard, where she'll likely be accepted as a cello virtuoso, or stay in Oregon to be with her rock star boyfriend. Yet that decision, and all others, become unimportant after a car crash leaves Mia clinging to life.
King of the Screwups, K.L. Going (click to watch the 60 second video book trailer): Liam Geller. Liam Geller seems to have it all. Immense popularity, good looks, a supermodel mom, a rich genius CEO dad. What he can't seem to get is his father's approval. When his dad catches Liam with a barely-clothed girl on his dad's office desk, his dad declares Liam banished from the household. Rather than live with his crodgy grandparents, Liam arranges to move in with his mom's estranged brother, the cross-dressing lead singer of a failed glam-rock cover band who lives in a trailer. "Aunt" Pete is a culture shock for Liam, but it is there that he discovers what is important. A laugh-out-loud story with characters that any high school student can relate to.
The Morgue and Me, John C. Ford (click to watch the 70 second video book trailer) Christopher's summer job is a bit unusual: he works in the city morgue, which is how he stumbled on a murder conspiracy. A man shot five times was declared a suicide, and the coroner had thousands of dollars in cash right afterward. Chsristopher knows something is seriously wrong here, and sets out to uncover the truth. A young reporter looking for her big break, Tina, gets in on the action and together they try to unravel the mystery. A well-paced mystery that keeps readers guessing, with just enough romance, intrigue, and humor to make it a worthwhile read.
Muchacho, Louanne Johnson (click to watch the 93 second book video trailer): Eddie attends an alternative school in New Mexico, barely earning enough credits to graduate. He takes ballroom dancing to earn a fine arts credit-- but really, it's because he knows he can meet (and touch!) girls that would otherwise ignore him. This is a very funny book with great voice, as it's told in first-person by Eddie. This is Mr. Russell's favorite of the nominees!
Purple Heart, Patricia McCormick (click to watch the 60 second video book trailer) Private Matt Duffy is injured in Iraq while patrolling. He's not entirely certain what happened; his injuries include traumatic brain injury, which doesn't help him remember. Yet as he goes back out on patrol he remembers more and more about the incident involving a young Iraqi child who died as a result of a bomb.
Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater (click to watch the 90 second video book trailer): Grace has spent much of her life in Minnesota watching the wolves in the woods from her house, but there is one in particular that she thinks of as her wolf. That particular yellow-eyed wolf seems to watch her back, and Grace thinks she has some sort of a connection to that wolf-- but can't explain why. When wolves kill the arrogant son of the richest man in town, his family is out for vengeance. Grace quickly realizes there is more at stake than just the lives of a few wolves, and discovers that the wolf who has watched over her for so long is really Sam, the love of her life, who transforms into a werewolf when the weather gets too cold.
We Were Here, Matt de la Pena (click to watch the 90 second video book trailer) : Three young men, Miguel (aka Mexico), Rondell, and Mong, all 100% American but each of a different ethnicity: Latino, Chinese, and African-American, escape from a group home in California in hopes of making it to Mexico to start a new life.
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Earn this patch for your letterjacket! Just read all 15 nominated books by April 1 and you'll get the patch at the LMC awards in May. Keep track of what books you've read by getting a sheet from the circulation desk, which we'll hang on the LMC Podcast Suites. Each time you finish a book, you'll get a sticker with the book cover on it to put on your sheet. Read at least three and you're qualified for the Gateway voting pizza party in March, where high school students from across the state cast their votes for the book that will win the Gateway Award. |
Additional information on LSHS and the Gateways.
See past Gateway winners at the MASL Website.