YRCA - Intermediate
Here are the 2025 Intermediate Nominees for the Young Reader's Choice Award
Echoes and empires
Rhodes, Morgan, author
2022
Snarky seventeen-year-old Josslyn Drake gets infected by a dangerous piece of forbidden magic and teams up with wanted criminal Jericho Nox to remove the spell corrupting her soul.
The elephant girl
Patterson, James, 1947- author
2022
Clever, sensitive Jama likes elephants better than people. While her classmates gossip - especially about the new boy, Leku - Jama takes refuge at the watering hole outside her village. There the twelve-year-old Maasai girl befriends a baby elephant she names Mbegu, Swahili for seed. When Mbegu's mother, frightened by poachers, stampedes, Jama and Mgebu are blamed for two deaths-one elephant and one human. Now Leku, whose mysterious and imposing father is head ranger at the conservancy, may be their only lifeline.
The girl who fell beneath the sea
Oh, Axie, author
2022
In this retelling of the Korean legend The tale of Shim Cheong, sixteen-year-old Mina is swept away to the Spirit Realm, where, assisted by a motley crew of demons, gods, and lesser spirits, she sets out to awaken the sleeping Sea God and save her homeland and family from deadly storms.
Messy roots : a graphic memoir of a Wuhanese American
Gao, Laura, author, artist
2022
After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrates to Texas. In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as the girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter.
Places we've never been
West, Kasie, author
2022
While on a cross-country RV trip with her family, aspiring video game animator Norah reunites with an old friend, prepares for her college interview, and encounters unexpected romance and revelations.
A song called home
Zarr, Sara, author.
2022
aReceiving a mysterious guitar the night before she leaves the city to live with her mom and new stepdad, Lou believes that if she learns how to play it, she can bring a piece of her old life home.
The stars did wander darkling
Meloy, Colin, author.
2022
The adults in town are acting strangely. An ancient, long-buried evil has been unleashed upon the community, and it's up to Archie Coomes and his friends to stop it before it's too late.
The Sunbearer Trials
Thomas, Aiden, author
2022
Transgender demigod Teo is unexpectedly selected for the Sunbearer Trials, a fierce competition among demigod heroes where the winner sacrifices the loser to Sol, their blood fueling the Sun Stones that protect Reino del Sol.