Matched by Ally Condie

It is Cassia's 17th birthday and the Society holds a banquet to let her know who her match is. Miraculously, her match is her best friend Xander, who she has known all her life. Cassia is thrilled until she sees a fleeting image of another boy on her data card. Could he be her real match? He is Ky, an introverted orphan from the outer provinces whom she also has known for several years. For the first time in her life Cassie starts to have doubts about the Society and the lack of choice it gives its citizens. Before her grandfather dies at his scheduled time on his 80th birthday he slips her an illegal poem that begins "Do not go gentle into that good night." Cassia can't get these words out of her head and she slowly begins a relationship with the forbidden Ky. Ally Condie has created an interesting Society, with obvious parallels to The Giver and other dystopian literature. What makes this story unique is the focus on relationships and poetry and Cassia's slow awakening to the possibilities of a different life. My disappointment with the book is that the ending is unresolved. The author is planning a trilogy, but I would have preferred more resolution in this first volume. Recommend this to readers from 7th through 12th grades—especially fans of romance.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Two kids from the Chicago suburbs meet in downtown Chicago. Both are having a bad night and both are named Will Grayson. The first Will Grayson is not gay but is best friends with Tiny Cooper, "the world's largest person who is really, really gay, and also the world's gayest person who is really, really large." The second Will Grayson is gay and struggling with depression and a friend who has betrayed him. The characters come together in their struggles for identity and it all comes to a head the night of Tiny Cooper's big musical extravaganza. It's hard to explain this book except to say that it's brilliantly written by two outstanding writers for teens and it manages to be both hilarious and poignant at the same time. If you like John Green you will certainly want to read his latest book. Recommended for high school and up.

Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Sent is the first sequel to Found, in which a group of adopted children find out that they share a mysterious past. Spoiler alert: stop reading now if you don't want to know what happens in Found. The children are all historical children who either died or went missing and were taken by time travelers who intended to save their lives. But now time is messed up and the kids need to go back and repair time. Jonah, Katherine, Chip and Alex land in 1483 London where Chip and Alex turn out to be the imprisoned princes Edward and Richard. They slip into their real identities—sort of— and Jonah and Katherine try to figure out how to keep them from being killed without messing up time too much. The actual explanation and functioning of time travel aren't well developed but the plot and the characters are strong and readers will learn (along with the characters) about British history. A fun and action-packed sci fi book appropriate for 5th-8th graders.