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).