The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.
2017 winners:
Arena by Holly Jennings
A fast-paced and gripping near-future science fiction debut about the gritty world of competitive gaming ... Every week, Kali Ling fights to the death on national TV. She's died hundreds of times. And it never gets easier ... The RAGE tournaments--the Virtual Gaming League's elite competition where the best gamers in the world compete in a no-holds-barred fight to the digital death. Every bloody kill is broadcast to millions. Every player is a modern gladiator--leading a life of ultimate fame, responsible only for entertaining the masses. And though their weapons and armor are digital, the pain is real. Chosen to be the first female captain in RAGE tournament history, Kali Ling is at the top of the world--until one of her teammates overdoses. Now, she must confront the truth about the tournament. Because it is much more than a game--and even in the real world, not everything is as it seems. The VGL hides dark secrets. And the only way to change the rules is to fight from the inside.
Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded by Hannah Hart
As a professional Internet personality, Hannah Hart spends a lot of time walking the line between public and private. Here, she shares stories from her life that have taken her time to process, in the hope that it will help readers do some internal processing of their own.
Die Young With Me: A Memoir by Rob Rufus
Part memoir, part love song, and part tale about overcoming the odds, this is not a cancer story but an account of a teenager's life becoming derailed and the one thing that helped him pull it back together: music. Punk's not dead in rural West Virginia. In this blistering literary debut, it screams from the basement of Rob and Nat Rufus--identical twin brothers with spiked hair, black leather jackets, and the most kick-ass record collection in Appalachia. To them, school (and pretty much everything else) sucks. But what can you expect when you're the only punks in town? When the brothers start their own band, their lives begin to change: they meet friends, attract girls, and get invited to join a national tour and escape their rat-box little town. But their plans are cut short when Rob is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that has already progressed to an advanced stage. Not only are his dreams of punk rock stardom completely shredded, but there is a very real threat that this is one battle that can't be won. While Rob suffers through nightmarish treatments and debilitating surgery, Nat continues on their band's road to success alone. But as Rob's life diverges from his brother's, he learns to find strength with himself and through his music. Die Young with Me is an intimate account of teen angst, the unique bond of identical twins, and music's ability to get us through the darkest of days.
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Children have always disappeared from Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere ... else. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced ... they change a person. The children under Miss West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. No matter the cost.
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero
Diane Guerrero, the television actress from the megahit Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, was just fourteen years old on the day her parents and brother were arrested and deported to Colombia while she was at school. Born in the U.S., Guerrero was able to remain in the country and continue her education, depending on the kindness of family friends who took her in and helped her build a life and a successful acting career for herself, without the support system of her family. In the Country We Love is a moving, heartbreaking story of one woman's extraordinary resilience in the face of the nightmarish struggles of undocumented residents in this country. There are over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US, many of whom have citizen children, whose lives here are just as precarious, and whose stories haven't been told. Written with Michelle Burford, this memoir is a tale of personal triumph that also casts a much-needed light on the fears that haunt the daily existence of families likes the author's and on a system that fails them over and over.
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach
Seventeen-year-old Ivan Isaenko is a life-long resident of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. Born severely deformed, yet mentally keen with a frighteningly sharp wit, strong intellect, and a voracious appetite for books, Ivan is forced to interact with the world through the vivid prism of his mind. For the most part, every day is exactly the same for Ivan. That is until the seventeen-year-old Polina arrives at the hospital. At first, Ivan resents Polina. She steals his books. She challenges his routine. The nurses like her. But eventually, he is drawn to her and the two forge a romance that is tenuous and beautiful and everything they never dared dream of. And now Ivan wants something, whereas before he survived by being utterly detached from things and people: Ivan wants Polina to live. Hilarious and full of heart, The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko is a story about finding hope within the most desperate of circumstances, and it is one that readers won't soon forget.
The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst
In Renthia, everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river. But the spirits of the land want to rid it of all humans. The queen is the only woman who stands between the spirits and the end of humankind, and no matter how strong or good the queen is, the threat of danger always looms. And so, Daleina is one of the young women chosen and trained as heirs to the throne. She joins forces with Ven, a disgraced champion who has nevertheless spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. The partners embark on a quest to find the source of the spirits' restlessness, which will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land.
The Regional Office is Under Attack! By Manuel Gonzales
When a prophecy suggests that an insider might bring about the downfall of a powerful underground organization known as the Regional Office, devoted recruit Sarah and young assassin Rose find their respective lives clashing in a dispute that threatens everything they know.
Romeo and/or Juliet: A Choosable-Path Adventure by Ryan North
The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar: Evolution's Most Unbelievable Solutions to Life's Biggest Problems by Matt Simon
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