Age: 7th-10th grade
Series: #1
Awards: Printz Award (2011), YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2011), ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2011)

Tearing scrap parts from the belly of a rusty oil tanker is back-breaking business and only the smallest of kids can do it. Nailer just happens to be one of those small kids. Set in a near-future dystopian society after water levels have erased coastal lands and pacific islands and hurricanes reap cities to the ground, Nailer survives day-to-day with his crew tearing apart 100-year-old oil tankers. When he and his crewmate Pima find a shiny, new shipwreck they can't wait to scavenge the loot inside. What he doesn't expect to find is a rich girl his age. As Pima is about to cut off the girl's fingers to take her rings, her eyes open. Now Nailer is drawn to this mysterious girl as he tries to escape his maniacal father and help bring Nita, the rich girl, back home.

Forewarnings: This has light connections to steampunk with the clipper ships and their gears; includes more "adult" themes like drinking (a way to get by), alcoholism, drugs (as destructive), references to prostitution, and defensive murder by a teen (Nailer kills a stranger and his dad).