Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Words in the Dust transports the reader to a village in Afghanistan and into the life of a girl born with a cleft palate. Zulaikha does not have an easy life with a stepmother who doesn't care much for her and brothers to take care of. She is not allowed to go to school and constantly told that she will never marry because of her facial deformity. When American soldiers see her and offer to repair her cleft palate she sees it as her chance to be "normal." The author, an American soldier who served in Afghanistan, captures the heartbreaks of Zulaikha and her sister, who goes through with an arranged marriage with some unhappy consequences. It's more than a story about a girl getting an operation—it's about a girl awakening to the possibilities that an education might bring her. I enjoyed the book a lot, and the middle school kids who read it this year loved it. For most, it was their first exposure to a culture very different from their own and they enjoyed the story and learned from it as well. Highly recommended for middle schoolers.

Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator

This is the first book in the Gilda Joyce mystery series. In it we meet Gilda, a precocious eighth grader who is honing her skills as a psychic investigator. She loves reading about communicating with spirits and she longs to find a ghost she can talk to directly. When she successfully invites herself to a long-lost relative's San Francisco mansion, she discovers that the ghost of a relative who jumped to her death from a tower may be haunting the house and appearing to a girl named Juliet who lives there with her father. Gilda and Juliet investigate with seances and a ouija board, and with the help of some mysterious dreams they solve the mystery. These books are breezy and fun, and as a long-time fan of Harriet the Spy I appreciate the connections between Harriet and Gilda Joyce. Recommended for middle school girls.

The Fighting Ground by Avi

This book covers 24 hours in the life of an American boy living in colonial America during the Revolutionary War. His father has been injured in the fighting and has forbidden Jonathan to fight because he is only 13 years old. But one day the tavern bell rings and Jonathan rushes to see what is happening. Enemy soldiers are approaching and Jonathan offers to take part in the battle. As much as he longs for excitement he has no idea that the next 24 hours will change his life forever. He encounters Hessian soldiers, a newly orphaned child, and "good guys" may not be so good after all. It's an accessible book for young readers about a complex and difficult topic. This would be a great book for middle schoolers who are studying the American Revolution.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

I am reading a lot of teen novels right now as a member of the Georgia Peach Teen Book Award Committee. I have to admit that I am getting tired of books with white girls in long dresses on the cover and also of dystopian books in which everyone dies from mysterious viruses. This book covers all of those bases. In a future United States scientists have messed around with genetics enough to cause a big problem. Males only live to be 24 years old and females live to be 20 years old. When they reach those ages they succumb to a mysterious virus that is always deadly. Older people (called first gens) are trying to save humanity, partly by kidnapping young girls to be polygamous brides to wealthy young men. The idea is for the girls to have as many babies as possible before dying at age 20. The main character of this book is Rhine, who has been kidnapped and made one of the three wives to a wealthy young man named Linden. She wants to hate him but it's really his father who is the evil one. Linden is rather weak and oblivious to his father's character, but treats his wives well. Rhine and her "sister wives" are pampered and live a privileged life, but Rhine is biding her time until she can escape and go in search of the twin brother she left behind. Fortunately, she connects with a servant named Gabriel and they plan to escape together. It was not a bad book, but the predictable plot did not make it stand out above all of the other similar dystopian books being published these days.

Starters by Lissa Price

In this dystopian story there are only two kinds of people left in the world—starters and enders. Everyone between the ages of 18 and 65 has died leaving behind only the young and the old, who had first access to the vaccination that saved them from a deadly virus. Callie is a teenager with no grandparents to claim her and her little brother so they live as squatters in a dangerous and violent city. Her brother is very ill and she decides to do something drastic to make some money. She goes to Prime Destinations, an illegal company that rents starter bodies to enders who want to reclaim their youth. However, due to a technological glitch she finds herself sharing her body with an ender who plans to use her body to commit murder. And the more she finds out about Prime Destinations the more she realizes that she may never get her body back and see her brother again. I have read a lot of dystopian novels lately in the wake of The Hunger Games and Divergent, and this is one of the better ones. Callie is an interesting character and the world she is in holds a lot of danger and suspense. Recommended for fans of dystopia (grades 7-up).

Survive by Alex Morel

I love survival stories but haven't read many of them written for teens. I've been reading a lot of young adult novels lately, many of them dystopian and many of them pretty mediocre, and I was so happy to finally read a completely different book that I can say that I really liked a lot. Jane is a smart, manipulative, troubled girl who is planning to kill herself in an airplane lavatory. She has been released from a mental health facility, purchased the pills she needs, and is ready to do it once and for all. But just as she is swallowing the pills the lights go out, the plane jerks, and Jane passes out. She wakes unharmed in the airplane lavatory only to find that the plane crashed in the snowy mountains and split into three pieces. She finds only one other survivor, and he is still buckled into his seat and perilously perched on a precipice. She must save Paul and together they must try to get to safety. At first their personalities clash but as they get to know each other they find that both of them are haunted by ghosts of the past. Their emotional journey is just as compelling as their physical journey. As I said, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to high school students.

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams

London is devastated by the death of her brother Zach. It has been months and she is still living a daily nightmare. Her missionary father hardly speaks, her mother ignores her and blames her for his death, and she is cut off from other students at school. This novel in free verse explores how to find healing in the midst of so much grief. London begins to recover due to the support of her ex-boyfriend Taylor and two newcomers to her town who reach out to her and accept her without knowing much of her back story. The details of Zach's death unfold slowly which makes this introspective story more compelling. It's a sad but not depressing story that takes a hopeful turn at the end.

Getting Over Garrett Delaney by Abby McDonald

This book will appeal to anyone who has ever had a totally one-sided crush on someone. Sadie has been in love with her best friend Garrett for two years. They watch art movies, write poetry, and spend much of their time together. Unfortunately, she's the best friend who's always there to sympathize as he talks about his problems and successes with other girlfriends. When Garrett goes off to a summer writing program and Sadie is left behind for the summer she decides it's time for a Garrett detox. No more thinking about him, dreaming about him, and hearing about his new girlfriends. With the help of Sadie's new friends at the coffee shop where she works and her old friend Kayla she puts the twelve step plan into action. This was a humorous book with good writing and it kept me interested till the end. It would be good for teens who like chick lit and realistic fiction.

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine

Dit lives in Alabama in the early 1900s with his 9 siblings. He has high hopes for a new boy moving in nearby, but when the new postmaster arrives Dit is surprised to find that the family is African American, and instead of a son they have a smart, proper, opinionated daughter named Emma. As you might expect, Dit and Emma forge an unlikely friendship and Dit learns a great deal about the racism of the society he lives in. When a black barber shoots a cruel white man in self-defense, he is sentenced to death. Dit and Emma make a plan to save the innocent black man's life. Emma and Dit's friendship is authentic and, of course, troubling to those around them. Readers will get a taste of race relations in the last century, albeit with an improbable dose of optimism. It's a good story and will probably appeal to kids who might not normally be interested in historical fiction.

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

This graphic novel is a must-read for middle schoolers who are into theater. Raina Telgemeier already has many fans of her first book, Smile, and this is another look at the joys and heartaches of being in middle school. Callie, a 7th grader, loves working on the stage crew for her school's drama department. She's a bit unlucky in love but a real go-getter with lots of talent. The plot centers around the school musical and the middle schoolers who make up the cast and crew. Callie is designing sets and creating a functional cannon for the stage while juggling friendships and crushes and learning to accept people as they are. Two things I really appreciated about this book were that Callie's interests and talents were what mattered in the end—not what boy she ended up with. I also appreciated the honest and accepting attitude toward the gay characters in the story. While Smile was aimed at a slightly younger audience, I would recommend Drama to 6th-8th graders.

Every Day by David Levithan

Imagine being a person with no body of your own. The main character in this story, who calls himself A, finds himself in a new body each and every day. He takes over the person't life for one day, then at midnight (usually when A is asleep) he enters a new person's body for the next 24 hours. He is always careful not to mess up the lives of the people he inhabits. He goes to school and sports practices and family dinners so that no one is the wiser. A really has no gender—some days he is male and some days female. He has been blind and a drug addict and a victim of abuse. He can wake up as a person of any race or ethnicity, but he always returns somewhere within a few hundred miles of his previous body. One day A wakes up in the body of a tough guy with a girlfriend named Rhiannon. She is special and she and A spend a magical day together skipping school and going to the beach. Of course, Rhiannon just thinks her boyfriend has suddenly become a nice guy, but the truth is she is connecting with A. From that day on, A starts breaking the rules and trying to connect with Rhiannon. But how can love survive with a person who has no physical body? It's a great premise that's well executed. The author sticks to the rules he has set up for A's life and it's fun to read about each new day in A's life. Recommended for high school readers.

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

Gene has learned how to survive in a hostile world. He never lets anyone see him sweat. He makes no facial expressions. He scratches his wrists when something is funny. He never eats fruits or vegetables or drinks water in public. If the people around him discover that he is a "heper" (their word for human) they will devour him instantly in a frenzy of blood and gore. Gene goes to high school and tries to avoid notice. But when he wins a lottery and is chosen for the heper hunt, he can't hide any more. He will be expected to hunt and kill the last known hepers in the world. This is the story of Gene's training and the eventual heper hunt. It's full of suspense and action, and is already very popular, especially among guys at my school. The word vampire is never used, but the bloodthirsty people who control Gene's world clearly bear a lot of similarities to vampires. At first glance this didn't sound like it would be my kind of story, but the author really drew me in and made me care about Gene and the other hepers. Fans of dystopian fiction will enjoy this even though it's in a slightly different genre. Recommended for 7th-12th graders.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Waverly is a 15-year-old girl who was born in outer space. She is currently on the space station Empyrean hurtling away from earth and toward a new future on a distant planet called “New Earth.” It will be her job to marry and have lots of babies in order to keep the human race alive. Her boyfriend, Kieran, seems made for her. He loves her and will be the future captain of their ship. But she can’t help noticing the darkly intriguing Seth who is also on board. Everything changes in an instant when the Empyrean is hijacked by its sister ship, the New Horizon. All of the adults are killed or have disappeared and the girls of the Empyrean are kidnapped and taken to the New Horizon where they will be used as breeders. On the New Horizon Waverly struggles to lead a rebellion of the kidnapped girls and back on the Empyrean, Kieran and Seth battle to take control of the remaining boys left on the spaceship. Both are caught in a life-and-death struggle in the unforgiving and dangerous realm of outer space. While I found some of the action unbelievable at times and the secondary characters poorly fleshed-out, it's a fast-paced read and an intriguing concept that would be appropriate for 7th-12th graders.

A Certain October by Angela Johnson

A Certain October is a small and unassuming book. It paints an intricate picture of Scotty and her friends and family as she navigates through a difficult month in her life. Scotty's younger brother with autism steals cookies and runs naked through the neighborhood. Her best friend Misha is preparing for the homecoming dance where she is a rebellious homecoming queen candidate. Scotty's other best friend, Falcone, has broken up with his boyfriend and trying to find a way to visit his estranged older sister. Everyone is going about their normal lives when Scotty and her brother are in a train wreck. The book is about how she deals with the resulting injuries, death, and guilt. It's not a sad book, though. It shows how ordinary people can go on living in spite of difficult circumstances Angela Johnson's writing style is spare and deceptively simple, at times poignant and often humorous. It's a beautiful and rewarding book that will most certainly win some literary awards this year. Recommended for grades 9-up.

BZRK by Michael Grant

This book at times blew my mind and went right over my head. It's about two rival factions of futuristic scientists who have developed nanobots that can be controlled by human brains and sent into other people's bodies, usually for evil purposes. Smart young kids are the best at controlling these nanobots but they frequently go insane after a few years of piloting the bugs through human flesh. (Lots of gross descriptions of this here, by the way.) A war is on and this book is all action and intrigue as they battle for world domination. I totally see the appeal to teens but honestly, it was a little hard for me to follow this crazy story. Recommended for grades 9-up.