Feed by M. T. Anderson

"I cried, sitting by her bed, and I told her the story of us. 'It's about the feed,' I said. 'It's about this meg normal guy, who doesn't think about anything until one wacky day, when he meets a dissident with a heart of gold.' I said, 'Set against the backdrop of American in its final days, it's the high-spirited story of their love together, it's laugh-out-loud funny, really heartwarming, and a visual feast."

In a time, not to far in the future, almost everybody has a 'feed'. A transmitter implanted directly into your brain, the feed enables you to communicate instantaneously with any other user, making conversation unnecessary. The feed can find the answer to any question for you, making school unnecessary. And, above all, the feed is a marvelous tool for making all of those important shopping decisions. When Titus, an "meg normal" guy meets Violet, an unusual girl, he begins to understand some unsettling things about his America. Anderson has created an entertaining, yet chilling, satire about where our country--and our youth--are headed. This book belongs on any bookshelf with Huxley, Orwell, and Vonnegut. For a truly enjoyable experiences, listen to the audio book, which adds a special zing to all of that consumerism.

SLJ recommends grades 8 and up.

Learn more at HCL and here.

Abundance of Katherines by John Green

"When it comes to girls (and in Colin's case, it so often did), everyone has a type. Colin Singleton's type was not physical but linguistic: he liked Katherines. And not Katies or Kats or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kays or Kates or, God forbid, Catherines. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. He had dated nineteen girls. All of them had been named Katherine. And all of them--every single solitary one--had dumped him."

Colin is a child prodigy--or rather was a child prodigy. Child prodigies are young people who can memorize an extraordinary amount of information. It takes a leap of original creative thought to mature from a prodigy to a genius--and how humiliating would it be if Colin, child prodigy, never moved on to become a genius? On the heels of his most recent Katherine break up, Colin embarks on a road trip with his closest friend, Hassan. ("Hassan Harbish. Sunni Muslim. Not a terrorist.") During that trip Colin and Hassan meet new friends, cope with impending adulthood, and make a discovery that just might take Colin to the realm of genius. John Green's clever use of footnotes and mathematical formulas...and his off beat sense of humor...make this a one-of-a-kind coming-of-age story.

SLJ recommends grades 9 and up.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

All the Way by Andy Behrens

"Ian began describing his courtship with Danielle, selecting the details carefully. He portrayed their relationship as something that had evolved slowly, naturally, and sweetly (when in fact it had evolved in a week, largely through deception, ans mostly because Ian had been a complete sphincter). Still, Ian gushed to his friends about all the good qualities he could only hope Danielle possessed."

Poor Ian. He's got no luck with girls. His friends have all been out of town for the summer. And he has spend most of his vacation behind the counter at Dunkin Donuts (except for the parts that he's spent inside the giant donut costume!) When he accidentally meets a real-live college girl over the internet, he can't help but tell a few fibs to make himself seem like a catch. Before he knows it, he's planning and end of the summer road trip to meet up with this mystery girl. And then his two best friends find out about it. Then things get really complicated! Andy Behrens spins a laugh out loud tale about two boys, two girls, one car, and a sad, sad donut costume.

SLJ recommends grades 9 and up.

Learn more at HCL, and Amazon.

Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

"Wilcox had books but no family. Minnie had a family now, but those babies would keep her from reading for a good long time. Some people, like my aunt Josie and Alvah Dunning the hermit, had neither love nor books. Nobody I knew had both."

It is the early twentieth century, and Mattie Gokey is a farm girl in the Adirondacks. Mattie is brilliant and filled with potential, but tied to her father's farm since the death of her mother and her brother's desertion. Her seemingly impossible dreams of college in New York City conflict with her loyalty to her family and her duties on the farm. When she takes a job at the Glenmore Hotel, Mattie finds herself entangled in the aftermath of a young woman's mysterious death. Mattie's story voice examines feminism, poverty, and racism set against Donnelly's romantic description of the Adirondacks at the turn of the century. I found myself wondering the same as Mattie, why can't a girl have books and boys? Oh, and the part about the mysterious death is a true story!

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

SLJ reccommends grades 8 and up.

First Part Last by Angela Johnson

"Fred and Mary sat real still, and for a while I thought what I just told them about Nia being pregnant had turned both of them to stone.
It had been a long time since either of them ever agreed on anything.
So I waited. I waited to hear how they'd been talking to me for years about this . How we all talked about respect and responsibility. How Fred and me had taken the ferry out to Staten Island and talked about sex, to and from the island. And didn't we go together and get me condoms? What the hell about those pamphlets Mary put beside my bed about STDs and teenage pregnancy?
How did this happen? Where was my head? Where was my sense? What the hell were we going to do?
And then, not moving and still quiet, my pops just starts to cry."

Three-time Coretta Scott King Award winning author, Angela Johnson is a master at packing a powerful wallop into just a few short pages. The First Part Last is the powerful story of a Bobby, a 16-year-old parent, told in alternating chapters--"then" and "now". "Now", of course, deals with bone-tired Bobby's foray into the first few weeks of parenthood. Not only is he a teen parent, but he is a single parent, too. It is unclear what became of the baby's mother, but she is definitely not in the picture. And Bobby's mother makes it quite clear that "in the dictionary next to "sitter", there is not a picture of Grandma." "Then" deals with the months leading up to fatherhood: their parents' disappointment, their plans to give the baby up for adoption, and their mad, deep, young love. Eventually past and present collide and we come to understand exactly what this baby means. I have already used more words than Johnson, and with only a fraction of her efficiency or emotion. Just read it.

SLJ recommends grades 8 & up.

Learn more at HCL, Barnes and Nobel, and here.

Wabi by Joseph Burchac

"'Young one, do you hearrr meeee?'
I turned my head to listen more closely to that voice. It was a voice I had never heard before. It was...strange. I might have said it was pleasant, but somehow it made me feel uneasy. Yet is was an attractive voice, a voice that made me curious. I knew immediately that I wanted to see the one who had that voice.
'Young one, come hhhhhheeeerrre," it trilled, "into the swaaaammmp. I have something forrrr you.'"

Wabi is an owl. Or is he a human? Joseph Bruchac spins a tale of an owl who becomes a man through the magic of the seven stones and through his own battles against monsters like Mamaskwa, the Toad Woman, and Mojid, the Greedy Eater. Bruchac combines a respect for the natural world, the elements of the heroic journey, and just a dash of love with the style of a Native American storyteller to produce a story that is in turn exciting and mystical. Wabi will appeal to fantasy fans, adventure readers, and nature lovers.

SLJ recommends grades 5 to 8.

Learn more at HCL, Barnes and Noble, and here.

What are You Afraid of? Stories about phobias editted by Donald R. Gallo

"Phoebe knelt and held out her hand. But instead of going up to her, the creature padded toward me. As I stood there, trying to decide what to do, he put both his front paws on my leg, stretched, and extended he claws. He stared at me with the cold eyes of a serial killer."

Are you afraid of small spaces (claustrophobia)? How about large spaces (agoraphobia)? Knives (aichmophobia)? Cats (elurophobia)? String (linonophobia)? Everything (panophobia)?!? Everyone is afraid of something! And in 10 short stories written by 10 different authors you can read about some of them. Reading about Will's fear of clowns, will certainly make you feel better about the little terrors that plague your own life! And reading a collection of short stories is always a great way to discover new authors.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

SLJ recommends grades 6 to 9.

Beating Heart by A. M. Jenkins

"I never felt the knots
till they
unraveled

never saw the ties
till they
dropped loose

never knew that I was
clinging to debris
in someone else's wake."

In the wake of her divorce, Mom quits her job to pursue her dream of becoming a writer and moves 17-year-old Evan and his little sister Libby into her dream house. The house is old, dilapidated, and long empty. Some pricey renovation begins to return the house to a livable state, but it's original occupant is still attached to the past. Soon the lives and feelings of Evan and a long-dead Victorian ghost become intertwined. This sensual novella is written both in poetry prose.

Learn more at HCL, Barnes & Noble, and here.

SLJ recommends grades 9 & up.

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

"At 7:46, Marv gets out of the car and stands there. "Good luck" I say. God, I can hear his heart from inside the cab. It's a wonder it isn't bludgeoning the poor guy to death. He stands there. Three minutes. He crosses the road. Two attempts. The yard is different. First go--a surprise."

Ed Kennedy is the epitome of average--a classic example of a slacker--until the day of the bank robbery. After becoming an unwitting hometown hero that day, Ed begins receiving cryptic "messages" that he must deliver. Although the messages are all meant for other people, each one has an effect on our hero. Set in Australia, I am the Messenger is a story about change told with humor and truth.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

SLJ recommends grades 9 & up.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

"My mother once explained to me why she married my father. 'Of all the Ph.D. students at the university, he had the thickest glasses,' she said."

Ah, poor Jin Wang! As the American born son of Chinese parents, life in the thick of a suburban middle school is not always easy. He wants cooler friends. He wants the attention of a pretty girl. And he wants to be accepted. But, then again, who doesn't? Jin Lan's story overlaps and intertwines with a tradational Monkey King tale and with the story of hopelessly over-stereotyped cousin Chin
Kee. This graphic novel is an uncomfortably amusing reflection of adolesence AND a cautionary tale for those that would hide from their true selves.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

SLJ recommends grades 7 & up.

All Rivers Flow to the Sea by Alison McGhee

"Because Ivy and I had an accident. It was the end of the winter, dusk in Adirondacks, and we came around a curve. And then Ivy wasn't moving, and she wasn't answering, and was she breathing? Blood. My window was broken and I broke it more. I punched it with my jacket wrapped around my hand, punched and punched, and I crawled out and fell up. We were upside down? How had that happened? I ran."

Rose and Ivy were in a car accident. Ivy now lies in a vegetative state in a nursing home. Rose must cope with survivor's guilt, her mother's growing distance, and the fact that half of herself, her sister Ivy, won't ever return. Rose is still water, trapped behind a dam, and all she wants is to flow to the sea.

Alison McGhee lyrically, yet succinctly, tells the story of one girl's healing process.

(McGhee is the author of several novels for adults, several novels for teens, and one of my favorite picture books, "Countdown to Kindergarten".)

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

Subjects: Sisters, Traffic Accidents, First Love, Death, Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.)

(SLJ recommends this for 9 & up.)

Where I Want to Be by Adele Griffin

In the last days of her high school career Jane is hit by a car and killed. All her life she had been unable to discern reality from illusion, becoming trapped in a confusing world of her own creation. Her younger, prettier, more likeable sister, Lily left behind and suffering survivor's guilt falls in love for the first time and finally begins to heal. Their story unfolds in alternating first-person chapters, culminating in a mildly supernatural confrontation.

The Lily portions of the book will appeal to chick-lit fans, while Jane's perspective is considerably darker and weirder.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

Subjects: Young Adult Fiction, Sibling Rivalry, Death, Ghosts, First Love, Grandparents

(SLJ recommends this book for grades 7 & up.)