| Paper Towns | Green, John | F Green |
| One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears. **2009 WINNER** |
| Down the Rabbit Hole | Abrahams, Peter | YA F Abrahams |
| Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls. **2006 Nominee** |
| Counterfeit Son | Alphin, Elaine Marie | YA F Alphin |
| When a serial killer is killed in a shoot-out with police, his abused son adopts the name of one of his victims in order to find a better life. **2001 WINNER** |
| The Last Treasure | Anderson, Janet | YA F Anderson |
| Thirteen-year-old Ellsworth leaves his father to visit the relatives he has never met and eventually joins forces with Jess, his distant cousin, to uncover family secrets and search for their ancestor's hidden treasure. **2004 Nominee** |
| Speak | Anderson, Laurie Halse | YA F Anderson |
| A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's first year in high school. **2000 Nominee** |
| Rat Life | Arnold, Tedd | YA F Arnold |
| After developing an unusual friendship with a young Vietnam War veteran in 1972, fourteen-year-old Todd discovers his writing talent and solves a murder mystery.**2008 WINNER** |
| Finn | Bacon, Katherine Jay | YA F Bacon |
| Unable to speak after his parents and sister are killed in a plane crash, sixteen-year-old Finn comes to stay with his grandmother on her Vermont farm, where his friendship with a neighbor, the activities of local drug dealers, and the actions of a hybrid wolf force him to deal with his grief.**1999 Nominee** |
| Story Time | Bloor, Edward | YA F Bloor |
| George and Kate are promised an excellent education but instead face obsessed administrators, endless tests, and evil spirits when they are transferred to Whittaker Magnet School. **2005 Nominee** |
| Tangerine | Bloor, Edward | YA F Bloor |
| Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eye sight.**1998 Nominee** |
| The Road of the Dead | Brooks, Kevin | YA F Brooks |
| Two brothers, sons of an incarcerated gypsy, leave London and travel to an isolated and desolate village, in search of the brutal killer of their sister. **2007 Nominee** |
| Cheating Lessons | Cappo, Nann Willard | YA F Cappo |
| When her team is announced as finalists in the state Classics Bowl contest, Bernadette suspects that cheating may have been involved. **2003 Nominee** |
| Safe House | Carroll, Jenny | YA F Carroll |
| Jess Mastriani reluctantly uses her psychic powers to search for the killer of popular cheerleader Amber Mackey, as well as Heather Montrose, another cheearleader who has just disappeared. **2003 Nominee** |
| Don't Tell | Chandler, Elizabeth | YA F Chandler |
| Returning home after her mother's mysterious death, Lauren is shocked by the suspicious relationships between her Aunt Jule, her children, and Nick, Lauren's childhood friend. **2002 Nominee** |
| Diamonds in the Shadow | Cooney, Caroline B. | YA F Cooney |
| The Finches, a Connecticut family, sponsor an African refugee family of four, all of whom have been scarred by the horrors of civil war, and who inadvertently put their benefactors in harm's way.**2008 Nominee** |
| Feast of Fools | Crowley, Bridget | YA F Crowley |
| In late thirteenth century England, a young chorister, outcast because of his crippled foot, sympathizes with the city's other outcasts, the Jews, and sets out to prove their leader innocent of murder. **2004 Nominee** |
| Hit and Run | Delaney, Mark | YA F Delaney |
| When his mother is falsely accused of a hit-and-run, Mattie finds himself investigating a car-theft ring. **2003 Nominee** |
| Bog Child | Dowd, Siobhan | YA F Dowd |
| In 1981, at the height of Ireland's "Troubles," eighteen-year-old Fergus is distracted from his upcoming A-level exams by his imprisoned brother's hunger strike, the stress of being a courier for Sinn Fein, and dreams of a murdered girl whose body he discovered in a bog. **2009 Nominee** |
| Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery | Feinstein, John | YA F Feinstein |
| After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan Carol are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game. **2006 WINNER** |
| Touching Snow | Felin, M. Sindy | YA F Felin |
| After her stepfather is arrested for child abuse, thirteen-year-old Karina's home life improves. And the severity of her older sister's injuries, the urging of her younger sister, an uncle, and a friend all tempt her to testify against him, but her mother and other well-meaning adults persuade her to claim responsibility. Who wins?**2008 Nominee** |
| The Christopher Killer: A Forensic Mystery | Ferguson, Alane | YA F Ferguson |
| On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger. **2007 Nominee** |
| The Big Splash | Ferraiolo, Jack D. | YA F Ferraiolo |
| Matt Stevens, an average middle schooler with a glib tongue and a knack for solving crimes, uncovers a mystery while working with "the organization," a mafia-like syndicate run by seventh-grader Vincent "Mr. Biggs" Biggio, specializing in forged hall passes, test-copying rings, black market candy selling, and taking out hits with water guns. **2009 Nominee** |
| Crunch Time | Fredericks, Mariah | YA F Fredericks |
| Four students, who have formed a study group to prepare for the SAT exam, sustain each other through the emotional highs and lows of their junior year in high school.**2007 Nominee** |
| Who Killed Mr. Chippendale | Glenn, Mel | YA F Glenn |
| A mystery story told in free verse poems describes the reactions of students, colleagues, and others when a high school teacher is shot to death as the school day begins.**1997 Nominee** |
| Quid Pro Quo | Grant, Vicki | YA F Grant |
| When his twenty-eight-year-old mom, a former street kid who became an activist lawyer, disappears, thirteen-year-old Cyril becomes involved in a web of intrigue and deceit. **2006 Nominee** |
| Blood Brothers | Harazin, S. A. | YA F Harazin |
| With his best friend on life-support after taking drugs at a party, seventeen-year-old Clay, a medical technician, recalls their long friendship, future plans, and recent disagreement, and tries to figure out who is responsible for the accidental overdose.**2008 Nominee** |
| Mr. Was | Hautman, Pete | YA F Hautman |
| After a strange encounter with his dying grandfather, a teenage boy discovers a door that sends him fifty years into the past.**1997 Nominee** |
| Flyers | Hayes, Daniel | YA F Hayes |
| While filming a moving for a school project, Gabe and his friends discover mysterious activities at a supposedly vacant house.**1997 Nominees** |
| The Night the Penningtons Vanished | Heusler, Marianna | YA F Heusler |
| When a mysterious woman asks her for a favor, Isabella becomes involved in an adventure filled with murder, disappointment, conspiracy, and intrigue. **2003 Nominee** |
| SilverFin | Higson, Charlie | YA F Higson |
| Young James Bond, while attending boarding school at Eton in the 1930s, must battle against an insane arms dealer who, by using killer eels, is attempting to create a race of indestructible soldiers on the eve of World War II. **2006 Nominee** |
| Ghost Canoe | Hobbs, Will | YA F Hobbs |
| Fourteen-year-old Nathan, fishing with the Makah in the Pacific Northwest, finds himself holding a vital clue when a mysterious stranger comes to town looking for Spanish treasure. **1998 WINNER** |
| The Maze | Hobbs, Will | YA F Hobbs |
| Rick, a fourteen-year-old foster child, escapes from a juvenile detention facility near Las Vegas and travels to Canyonlands National Park in Utah where he meets a bird biologist working on a project to reintroduce condors to the wild.**1999 Nominee** |
| In Darkness, Death | Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas | YA F Hoobler |
| In eighteenth-century Japan, young Seikei becomes involved with a ninja as he helps Judge Ooka, his foster father, investigate the murder of a samurai. **2005 WINNER** |
| The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn | Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas | YA F Hoobler |
| Seikei, a merchant's son who wants to be a samurai, attempts to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel by joining a group of kabuki actors in 18th century Japan.**2000 Nominee** |
| Fragments | Johnston, Jeffry W. | YA F Johnston |
| Chase wishes he could remember the events of his accident, but when the memories begin to come back in his dreams, Chase must face the reality of his past and finally deal with the part he played in the tragic event.**2008 Nominee** |
| Getting the Girl | Juby, Susan | YA F Juby |
| Ninth-grader Sherman Mack investigates the "Defilers," a secret group at his British Columbia high school that marks certain female students as pariahs, at first because he is trying to protect the girl he has a crush on, but later as a matter of principle. **2009 Nominee** |
| Silent to the Bone | Konigsberg, E.L. | YA F Konigsberg |
| When he is wrongly accused of injuring his half-sister, thirteen-year-old Branwell loses his power of speech. Only his friend Connor can reach him to uncover the truth about what really happened. **2001 Nominee** |
| Yesterday's Child | Levitin, Sonia | YA F Levitin |
| After her mother's sudden death, high school student Laura starts hunting for information about her mother's mysterious past, and in searching, uncovers some terrible secrets.**1998 Nominee** |
| Buried | MacCready, Robin Merrow | YA F MacCready |
| When her alcoholic mother goes missing, seventeen-year-old Claudine begins to spin out of control, despite her attempts to impose order on every aspect of her life. **2007 WINNER** |
| Prophecy Rock | MacGregor, Rob | YA F MacGregor |
| When Will investigates the murder of a man found near a sacred place on the Hopi Reservation, he gets caught up in ancient prophecies and mystical visions. **1996 Winner** |
| Hawk Moon | MacGregor, Rob | YA F MacGregor |
| Will is suspected of the murder of his girlfriend and must find the real killer.**1997 Nominee** |
| Torn to Pieces | McDonnell, Margot | YA F McDonnell |
| When her mother disappears during a business trip, seventeen-year-old Anne discovers that her family harbors many dark secrets. **2009 Nominee** |
| Acceleration | McNamee, Graham | YA F McNamee |
| Stuck working in the Lost and Found of the Toronto Transit Authority for the summer, seventeen-year-old Duncan finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him. **2004 WINNER** |
| Monster | Myers, Walter Dean | YA F Meyers |
| While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the court room.**2000 Nominee** |
| Jude | Morgenroth, Kate | YA F Morgenroth |
| Still reeling from his drug-dealing father's murder, moving in with the wealthy mother he never knew, and transferring to a private school, fifteen-year-old Jude is tricked into pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit.**2005 Nominee** |
| The Body of Christopher Creed | Plum-Ucci, Carol | YA F Plum-Ucci |
| Torey Adams, a high school junior struggles with doubts about the mysterious disappearance of the class outcast. **2001 Nominee** |
| The Night My Sister Went Missing | Plum-Ucci, Carol | YA F Plum-Ucci |
| When his sister goes missing under mysterious circumstances, seventeen-year-old Kurt spends a night at the local police station overhearing statements from a variety of witnesses that reveal the deep prejudices and shocking secrets of his small beach community. **2007 Nominee** |
| Death and the Arrow | Priestley, Chris | YA F Priestley |
| After his friend Will, a pickpocket 18th century London, is murdered as part of a series of mysterious deaths, fifteen-year-old Tom Marlowe asks his friend Dr. Harker to help find the killer. **2004 Nominee** |
| Thin Ice | Qualey, Marsha | YA F Qualey |
| When Arden's missing brother's snowmobile is found at the bottom of a river, she suspects that the incident was not an accident.**1998 Nominees** |
| Paperquake: a Puzzle | Reiss, Kathryn | YA F Reiss |
| Certain that she is being drawn by more than coincidences into the lives of people living nearly 100 years ago, Violet, who feels like the odd sister in a set of triplets, searches for clues to help her avert an imminent tragedy.**1999 Nominee** |
| Twisted Summer | Roberts, Willo Davis | YA F Roberts |
| Hoping for romance, fourteen-year-old Cici instead spends summer vacation with her extended family at Crystal Lake trying to solve a murder which occurred there the year before. **1997 WINNER** |
| The Book of Dead Days | Sedgwick, Marcus | YA F Sedgwick |
| With the help of his servant and an orphan girl, a magician named Valerian searches graveyards, churches, and underground waterways for a book he hopes will save him from a pact he has made with evil. **2005 Nominee** |
| Witch Hill | Sedgwick, Marcus | YA F Sedgwick |
| After his house burns down, twelve-year-old Jamie is sent to stay with relatives in an English village, where a legendary witch begins to pursue him in terrifying nightmares. **2002 Nominee** |
| Deal With a Ghost | Singer, Marilyn | YA F Singer |
| Sixteen-year-old Delia is more eager to play a manipulative dating game than to adapt to her new school, but then she finds that she has a personal connection to the ghost said to be haunting the school.**1998 Nominee** |
| Live and Let Shop | Spardin, Michael P. | YA F Spardin |
| Beverly Hills teenager Rachel Buchanan gets in trouble with the law and winds up at mysterious Blackthorn Academy in Pennsylvania, where she uncovers secrets about the school and becomes entangled in a case of international espionage. **2006 Nominee** |
| Uncovering Sadie's Secrets | Sternberg, Libby | YA F Sternberg |
| Bianca's ear for gossip turns her into an information-hungry private investigator, or at least a PI-in-training. She befriends Sadie, only to learn that this strange new classmate from California is concerned about a "friend" being accused of murder. **2004 Nominee** |
| For Mike | Sykes, Shelley | YA F Sykes |
| When Jeff's best friend Mike disappears in the fall of their senior year in high school, Jeff has disturbing dreams in which Mike urges him to come get him, and a secret begins to unfold.**1999 Nominee** |
| Never Trust a Dead Man | Vande Velde, Vivian | YA F Vande Velde |
| Convicted of murder and sealed in a tomb with a dead man, seventeen-year-old Selwyn enlists the help of a witch and the resurrected dead man to find the true killer.**2000 WINNER** |
| Missing Abby | Weatherly, Lee | YA F Weatherl |
| As the last one to see thirteen-year-old Abby, Emma is determined to discover the truth about her mysterious disappearance, spurred in part by her feelings of guilt over ending their friendship in order to ensure popularity at her new school. **2005 Nominee** |
| Locked Inside | Werlin, Nancy | YA F Werlin |
| Sixteen-year-old Marnie competes avidly in the online computer game Paliopolis. When she is kidnapped during a school holiday, her only hope for rescue is her online competitor. **2001 Nominee** |
| The Killer's Cousin | Werlin, Nancy | YA F Werlin |
| After being acquitted of murder, seventeen-year-old David goes to stay with relatives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he finds himself forced to face his past as he learns more about his strange young cousin Lily. **1999 WINNER** |
| The Boy in the Burning House | Wynne-Jones, Tim | YA F Wynne-Jones |
| Trying to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance from their rural Canadian community, fourteen-year-old Jim gets help from Ruth Rose, who suspects her stepfather, a local pastor, is involved in the crime. **2002 WINNER** |