Much of Joss Aaronson’s life is defined by what she isn’t. She isn’t a proper comp, a user of antique screte, or a genetic monster created in a lab. She isn’t even a real-kid, and her legitimacy in school becomes questionable when she discovers that her mother may have bought her way into the Centre for Neo-Historical Studies. But she is the partner of the new alien student at the Centre, a student not so different from her, except that he who goes by the name of Mavkel has two noses, two mouths and huge, double-jointed ears. And he’s hermaphroditic. Mavkel, who hails from the planet Choria, has lost his twin, and since all Chorians must communicate telepathically, he feels isolated and is losing his will to live. To make matters worse, there’s an assassin on campus, and Joss comes to realize that she herself is the assassin’s quarry.

Offering much mystery, adventure and food for thought, Singing the Dogstar Blues is a rich, futuristic romp. Fans of M.T. Anderson’s Feed and Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion ought to feel right at home in the futuristic world Alison Goodman has conjured a world which, oddly enough, feels perfectly real in no time. The themes are normal enough: Joss is trying to figure out who she is and find a place in a world where she doesn’t quite fit. Her mother is a rising TV star who has no time for her, her father is a sperm donor unknown to her, and she is not like her classmates, who have been made by a "genetic potluck" from "the best of six or more people." And if Joss feels like an outsider, think of Mavkel, a real stranger in a strange land confronted by "Alien Go Home" demonstrations when he arrives at the Centre. Together, Joss and Mavkel travel back in time Joss to find her father, Mavkel to make a genetic connection to her or, at least, to her cells, which are stored in a petri dish. Together, they find what they’re looking for.

This debut novel from Goodman won Australia’s Aurealis Award for the Best Young Adult Novel in 1998, and readers will relish her sure command of a complex story combining science fiction, mystery, adventure and family drama.

Dean Schneider teaches middle school in Nashville.

A new recruit to the growing ranks of noted novelists tackling the young adult genre, best-selling author Francine Prose picks a timely topic: the tradeoff between security measures and personal freedom, particularly as they pertain to the daily routines of high school. It occurred to her post-9/11, as she notes in a foreword, that "the problematic aspects of our new lives baggage searches, metal detectors, incursions on our privacy were already part of our children’s lives, and had been for some time." In the wake of Columbine and comparable tragedies, students have come to expect certain infringements on their range of motion and self-expression. With After, Prose expands on this trend to create a semi-realistic scenario of escalating repression. Tom Bishop’s high school, Central, doesn’t seem to have any egregious problems at least none that the administration can’t handle using common sense. Once a shooting spree occurs at a school 50 miles away, however, it’s a whole new regime, spearheaded by one Dr. Willner, an ostensible grief counselor and certifiable control freak.

Prose deftly portrays the gradual erosion of seemingly petty privileges among 15-year-old Tom and his self-styled "smart-jock" friends: dress codes become draconian; drug testing is implemented; Catcher in the Rye is excised from the curriculum. Parents are deluged with cautionary e-mails. "If the school is going a little overboard to make sure its students are safe," Tom’s father rationalizes, "maybe that’s not so bad." But things take a different turn when students and teachers begin disappearing.

Prose seems to have perfect pitch for how today’s adolescents think, talk and act. As she nudges the book towards an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style denouement the 1956 classic happens to be a special favorite of Tom’s stoner friend Silas Prose forces her readers to consider the cost of sacrificing freedom for security. A chilling novel for young readers, After will definitely get kids talking.

This new offering from adult novelist Alice Hoffman is a haunting, beautiful post-9/11 fairy tale for our time. When Green’s parents and little sister, Aurora, go to the city for the day, Green stays home to work in the garden. But disaster strikes the city. The ground shakes, people jump from buildings, the whoosh of fire can be heard across the river, and ashes sweep across the water in "black whirlwinds." Embers fly into Green’s open window, set the ends of her hair on fire and burn her eyes, When looters threaten houses and it becomes clear that many people in the city have perished, Green becomes Ash. She wears her father’s black boots and leather jacket. She clips thorns from bare rose bushes and sews them to her clothes. She uses black ink and a pin to tattoo a raven, a bat and a rose on her arm.

"Blood and ink. Darkness where before there had been patience, black where there’d once been green," Hoffman writes. Green’s change into the girl she names Ash mirrors the darkness of her ruined world. After the disaster, everything changes. A disfigured, hooded boy she names Diamond appears, and they become friends. They garden, bake bread, cook and look after neighbors. In the magic realism of the conclusion, the inky black vines on Ash’s body begin to turn green, the rose turns white, and she realizes more changes are in store for her. Metaphors of hope and renewal in the form of seasons, gardens and blank white pages that await stories signal Ash’s transformation back to Green. In its images of thorns and vines, embers in eyes, and flights of ravens, Hoffman’s tale has the visceral effect of a fairy tale on the reader’s consciousness, more powerful than most realistic renderings of current tragedies.

Following on the heels of Belle Teale, her acclaimed novel for preteens, Ann M. Martin has left the Babysitters Club for richer, more serious fare. A Corner of the Universe, set in 1960, brings us Hattie Owen, an almost-12-year-old who lives in the fictional town of Millerton. Hattie narrates this poignant story of truth, lies and one family's struggle to cope with a mentally ill relative. Hattie's world is made up of the residents in her parents' boarding house, her best friend Betsy and her grandparents, Hayden and Harriet Mercer, the wealthy, strait-laced pillars of Millerton society.

Out of the blue, Hattie's sheltered world is shaken up as she learns that she has a 21-year-old uncle named Adam who has been living in a special school in Ohio. The school is closing, forcing Adam to move home to Millerton with his parents, the stiff and patrician Nana and Papa. Hattie's mother tries to explain the situation, but the words she uses to describe Adam are unfamiliar and frightening: autistic, schizophrenic.

When Adam arrives, Hattie is unexpectedly enchanted. Reciting long passages from the I Love Lucy show and brimming with enthusiasm for Hattie and her parents, Adam is a burst of energy in contrast with his staid, controlled family. All smiles and excited words, he enthralls his niece, even as Nana is constantly reminding him of the rules of behavior and etiquette.

But there is another side to Adam. When frustrated or overwhelmed with sights and sounds, this boy-in-a-man's-body (or freak, as the mean girls in town call him) can suddenly be reduced to shaking tears and hysteria.

The complexity of this novel lies in the characters' responses to Adam. Nana appears tough and intolerant, but in the end it is her love for her troubled son that remains. Hattie's mother seems hardened and unattached to Adam, whom she says is difficult to love. But we learn that she was the one who stayed close to him during his long stay at the special school. Even Hattie herself, who loves and is so changed by Adam, harbors her own fears: She worries that she might be like him and wonders if there are any more secret uncles out there.

Without being didactic, Martin has told the story of one unforgettable summer in the life of a strong, mature heroine. This story will resonate with young readers.

In classrooms across the country, children and teens who are newcomers to the U.S. struggle to assimilate. In the process, the richness of their own experience is often devalued; their stories, lost. Edwidge Danticat’s first novel for young adults represents the initial entry in an admirable new series from Scholastic Books called First Person Fiction, in which notable authors from various backgrounds are asked to combine the themes of coming-of-age and coming to America. A writer of considerable complexity and style, Danticat here adapts the straightforward, occasionally ingenuous voice of young diarist Celiane Esperance in the fall of 2000 as she waits with her mother and 19-year-old brother, Moy, in a remote village in Haiti for the opportunity to join her father in New York City. They have not seen him for five years: He had to leave to seek work when the family farm could no longer support them.

Their journey evolves in stages, each with its own challenges hence the title, drawn from the Haitian proverb, Behind the mountains are more mountains. Conditions in their village may be subsistence-level (with no power or telephone, their only way to communicate with Celiane’s father is via a battery-powered cassette machine), but she manages to glean delight from unlikely sources, for instance, from the red glow of discarded cooking cinders ( like finding stars on the ground ). The occasional visit with her aunt in town involves pleasures and stresses in equal measure; the latter prevail after the bus in which they’re traveling is hit by an election-protest pipe bomb. The disaster, as it turns out, has an up side, as it helps to speed their emigration application, and soon Celine must confront new fears: What is the plane falls out of the sky? . . . What if we hate New York? The joy of reunion is indeed quickly supplanted by family tensions, and Celiane is flummoxed by such seemingly easy tasks as figuring out how to catch a bus home from school. We know she will cope, and eventually prosper. However, anyone who has ever been in her shoes and that’s everyone who has ever left home will empathize, not just with Celiane but with brave voyagers everywhere.

M.T. Anderson has come up with a mantra for the 21st century: I wanted to buy some things, but I didn't know what they were. So says Titus, the protagonist of Feed, a very scary and provocative look at what the future might be like for teenagers. It's no wonder Titus wants to buy things; he's subject to a never-ending bombardment of advertisements that come through an internet hookup, or feed, hardwired into his brain. His every movement is tracked, his every taste is tallied and pandered to. He can barely read; he can't write, and his only thoughts are of what fun things he and his friends are going to do.

Titus and his pals begin this roller-coaster ride into the future by spending spring break on the moon. While there, he meets Violet, a shy, cerebral young girl who teaches him the importance of fighting against the power of the intrusive feed. Shortly after they meet, Titus and his friends are the victims of a creepy stranger's terrorist attack, the consequences of which affect all their lives, one of them tragically.

It's exhilarating to decipher Anderson's futuristic adolescent slang, but his story is a serious one. He has an uncanny gift for depicting how teenagers see the world. The way in which he envisions their future lifestyle feels believable. With a manipulative corporate monster that puts a trademark on both school and the weather, trips to the beach in protective suits and mysterious lesions that become fashion accessories, Titus and Violet's world seems ominously possible. Feed is a cautionary tale for young people, but be warned, parents this is a book for young adults. Feed has profanity, drinking and drug use, as well as sexual situations. You might want to read it yourself before passing it on to your youngster. It's certainly worth your time.

James Neal Webb has raised two teenagers.

Angel Morgan and her little brother Bernie have been dumped on their great-grandmother in rural Vermont. Their father is in jail, their mother is too irresponsible to care for them, and Grandma's not thrilled to have them. Angel feels alone. Ever the optimist, though, she tells Bernie they are in a make-your-own-adventure. You find yourself someplace weird and you, well, you just look around and decide what to do next. Then what you decide leads you into a big adventure. It's one of Katherine Paterson's favorite themes: children finding their way in a difficult world.

Failed by the adults in her life so far, Angel is used to being the responsible one. She takes care of herself, Bernie, and now Grandma. Yet she feels alone, an insignificant speck in a large universe. Though her own parents are ineffectual, she does find mentors. From Miss Liza, the librarian, she gets books, poetry and a model of a bent-over old woman who knows how to stand tall. From Ray Morgan, the mysterious stranger who, on clear nights, teaches Angel about the sparkling galaxy above them, she learns that we are small, but not insignificant; we are made from the same stuff as the stars.

By the end of the story, Angel no longer feels small and insignificant. She feels part of the grander scheme of the universe. Just as adults became her guides, so do the stars, and she feels that maybe she, too, might take her lead from those beaming celestial bodies. No matter what other people did or failed to do, you could try yourself to be something like Polaris, shining strong and bright and fixed in a swirling world of darkness. Two-time winner of the Newbery Medal, Katherine Paterson, author of the young adult classic Bridge to Terabithia, is in top form here with one of the best books of the year. For ages 10-14, this one's a winner.

Dean Schneider teaches English to seventh and eighth graders in Nashville.

Three compelling new books for teens written by popular adult authors offer the perfect opportunity to get your kids started on summer reading. But don't be surprised if you find them staying up late to finish these stories, just as you did on long-ago summer nights.

In Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez, author of the adult novels In the Time of the Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, has crafted a poignant, suspenseful tale based on her childhood in the Dominican Republic. As the story opens in 1960, 12-year-old Anita de la Torre's world is starting to fall apart. Her cousin's family leaves suddenly for the United States, her favorite uncle has disappeared and her parents, who oppose the country's dictator, seem nervous and fearful. While the political situation and life in the Dominican Republic are both portrayed with authenticity by Alvarez, they never overwhelm the vibrant characters. Anita emerges as a girl with the normal concerns of other pre-teens: a crush on a neighborhood boy and confused feelings about her changing body. Yet as the situation around her worsens, and her family becomes directly involved in an attempt to overthrow the ruler, Anita must summon resources and courage she didn't know she had.

A different kind of courage is explored in Big Mouth & Ugly Girl, a fascinating and provocative novel by the well-known writer Joyce Carol Oates. A National Book Award-winning author, Oates has tried her hand at every genre, from gothic fiction to journalism. Big Mouth & Ugly Girl is sure to endear her to a whole new generation of readers. Set in an affluent New York suburb called Rocky River, the story opens as Matt Donaghy is suspended for allegedly making threatening remarks about blowing up his high school. Matt, an aspiring playwright, is shocked that his joking remarks have been taken out of context. Worse still is the isolation he experiences from family and friends. As the controversy swirls around Matt, the only person to come to his defense is the "Ugly Girl" of the title, Ursula Riggs, an intense, sometimes bitter young woman with problems of her own. Oates explores the complexities of this situation and its effect not only on Ursula and Matt, but also on their parents and classmates. At the same time, as Ursula and Matt are drawn together, they find that even the worst circumstances offer opportunities for growth and change. Big Mouth & Ugly Girl is a rich, deftly crafted story that offers a myriad of opportunities for late night discussion.

If vacation plans take you to the beach or lake, Alice Hoffman's Indigo is the perfect book to bring along. This small, handsome volume tells the story of three friends in the town of Oak Grove, a place where everyone dreads water. Well, almost everyone. Thirteen-year-old Martha Glimmer's two best friends, Trevor and Eli McGill, seem to long for water and anything to do with the ocean. They love a diet of fish and even drink salted water. Strangest of all, the boys sport a thin webbing of skin between their fingers and toes. Readers of Hoffman's earlier book for young readers, Aquamarine, will enjoy the mysterious, magical story of the McGill boys.

Deborah Hopkinson's latest books for children are Pioneer Summer and Cabin in the Snow, part of Aladdin Paperbacks' Prairie Skies Series.

Linger, the much-anticipated sequel to Maggie Stiefvater’s New York Times bestseller Shiver, finds Grace and Sam still in love—and still human. While Sam tries to convince himself that the cure he endured at the end of Shiver actually did turn him from a werewolf back into a human being, Grace continues to struggle with her relationship with her parents. Sam is no longer a part of the pack, but he does not feel free of the ties that bind him to the wolves. He feels responsible for the newest wolves, and he struggles with his new post-mythological-being identity.

Linger explores Sam and Grace’s romance more explicitly than Shiver, making this installment in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series more appropriate for slightly older audiences. The addition of two new points of view, those of Isabel and Cole, could have made the story cumbersome to read. Instead, it is the new voices that drive the intense feeling of secrecy and intrigue. Bad-girl Isabel, one of Grace’s friends, becomes almost likable as more of her personality is revealed, while the introduction of a new werewolf, Cole, is by far the book’s most enticing storyline. Cole’s history as a damaged and dysfunctional rock star is exciting, making Linger not only a fantastic sequel to Shiver, but also a stand-alone thriller of a story.

Mercy Falls remains a sad and lonely place, full of mystery and longing. The presence of the wolves is never far from the thoughts of the citizens, regardless of whether they are aware of their supernatural characteristics. While Shiver left the reader hoping for a sequel, Linger leaves the reader needing a sequel. There are so many questions unanswered—and there is a strong desire to read more of Grace and Sam’s love story. Linger is a gift to those that love Shiver, and it is yet another remarkable piece of poetic and beautiful writing from the supernaturally talented Maggie Stiefvater.

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Read an interview with Maggie Stiefvater about Linger.

How far would you go to get into a prestigious university? Author Eireann Corrigan considers the possibilities in the nail-biting thriller Accomplice. Down-to-earth Finn and charm queen Chloe have been inseparable best friends since Chloe’s family bought and renovated Finn’s family barn in rural Colt River, New Jersey. Finn has always been content with the way she and Chloe have cared for their horses and sheep and the way both of their families have evolved into one. When their college seminar instructor encourages their junior class to find a unique slant to their college applications, Chloe—drawing upon the media frenzy over a recently kidnapped girl who was returned in shock but alive—concocts an elaborate plan certain to draw national attention and ensure a ticket into any university.

While Chloe hides out in Finn’s grandmother’s basement, eating junk food and catching snippets about herself on The L.A. Price Show, a television series about missing children, Finn is left to keep up the mounting lies and deal with the emotional fallout of a devastated family and community. Their seemingly foolproof plan spins out of control when Dean, a boy the girls flirted with, lands in jail as a suspect and is ostracized by the entire town. As the pair revises their efforts, taking on more risks, Finn begins to wonder if Chloe is ruining innocent lives without knowing—or without caring. As much as this psychological story is about Chloe’s fulfillment of the American Dream, it’s also about Finn’s awakening to her own needs and desires and the true nature of friendship.

Fans of Ellen Hopkins, Laurie Halse Anderson and Gail Giles will be drawn to this hard-hitting, realistic novel that explores small-town life and the impact of fame and lies. From the mysterious beginning to the well-crafted conclusion, they will anxiously await each twist that weaves this original page-turner.

Doug Lee is always going to be as he is right now—short, doughy and 15. And if high school sucks for many kids, it especially does now for Doug: He is a vampire. But this vampire story doesn’t follow in the tracks of so many others of late. Readers will be howling with laughter through many scenes, but author Adam Rex balances the humor with plenty of seriousness and social commentary for readers to sink their teeth into, as well.

Early in the tale, Doug, a newly-created vampire, is trying to figure out who or what to feed upon. In a series of misadventures, he gets sucker-punched by a panda at the San Diego Zoo, is thwarted in his attempt to raid a bloodmobile by a nurse with an attitude, and witnesses two Kool-Aid Men fighting at a comic book convention. Later, his friend Jay tries out some traditional anti-vampire devices on Doug, just to learn more about his dilemma. A silver crucifix has no effect, but then Doug is Jewish; however, a Star of David doesn’t work either. Garlic? Doug loves garlic. In fact, he picked up his nickname “Meatball” because he smelled like Italian food. Jay tosses a pile of rice at Doug’s feet and asks Doug how many grains there are. Doug says, “I don’t know—I’m not autistic, I’m a vampire.”

Doug is attracted to Sejal, an exchange student from India, but Sejal is creeped out by him, though all of her friends agree that Doug has looked different lately—better looking, more confident, with a certain animal magnetism about him. It’s the language and sexual jokes among Sejal and her friends that make this a story for older readers, but those readers will eat this up, enjoying the high-stakes drama as Doug tries to take charge of his destiny.

In Gayle Forman’s best-selling If I Stay, Adam stood over the bed of his comatose girlfriend Mia, promising to do whatever it would take, even leaving or letting her go, if she’d just choose to live despite the accident that claimed the rest of her family. It’s three and a half years later in the equally compelling sequel, Where She Went, and Adam should be having the time of his life since his grunge band just scored a Grammy for Best New Artist and he knows that Mia is alive. Instead, he’s chain-smoking, popping pills for anxiety, moving in with an actress in L.A. and trying to figure out why Mia, after suffering through intense rehab in order to start at Juilliard on time, left for the East Coast and never came back.

Briefly in New York to tie up last-minute details before starting a grueling tour, Adam takes in a performance by now-rising star cellist Mia at Carnegie Hall. When she calls him backstage after the show, the two spend the rest of the night on a whirlwind tour of the city, taking in Mia’s favorite sights. Chapters alternate between past and present, revealing more details about the days and months after Mia’s awakening, Adam’s mounting isolation after Mia’s departure—and the searing truth that erupts as they face each other once again.

As the two former young lovers reconnect, Adam realizes that Mia was not the only victim who suffered a loss, felt grief and anger or needed closure. Perhaps there’s still time to remember, forgive and love again—together. With beautiful yet achingly realistic storytelling, Where She Went is a page-turner, tearjerker and romance all in one, and the pace doesn’t let up until the final sentence. Have some tissues ready.

The other day, my college student daughter and I were driving along when we saw a young girl, maybe 13 or 14, walking down the sidewalk following her father, who was at least 30 feet ahead of her. The reason she was so far behind was that she had her nose in a book, reading as she walked. It reminded me a lot of the young lady that sat beside me. And when I was a kid, I read just about everything still do, when you get right down to it. The biggest difference between now and then, apart from the obvious change in reading level, was that I would stick with one genre for months at a time biographies, science fiction, mysteries. I’d read until I was satiated and then would move on to something else. I wondered if anyone else read like that, and if kids do so today.

I remember devouring the Hardy Boys and tons of imitators; maybe those plots were pretty simple, but those were simpler times. Which brings us to the subject at hand Joyce McDonald’s new book for young readers, Shades of Simon Gray, a spooky and suspenseful tale of computer hacking, a 200-year-old murder, teen angst and an initiating event so random and odd it will give you the creeps even if the rest of the book doesn’t. Throw in some ghosts, a tragic accident and a deadly plague, and you’ve got quite a bit to digest, even for a teenage reader. Call it the The Babysitter’s Club meets Stephen King.

Simon Gray is a high school senior with his share of personal problems; his mother has died, and the members of his family have retreated, his sister into drugs and his father into bitter grief. So too, has Simon, though he doesn’t realize it, by compromising his principles in order to be liked by a girl who is obviously using him. When he ends up in a coma after wrecking his car, the lives and schemes of those around him start to unravel, and he finds himself trapped in a strange netherworld that looks like his hometown, but where time and space mean different things to different people. Trapped with him is the ghost of a wrongly hanged man, who may have the key to Simon’s escape.

Populating the book is a realistic group of teenagers; some are bright, some are ambitious, some just want to get by any way they can. The adults as well are a normal assortment of everyday folks. Perhaps that’s what makes Shades of Simon Gray so believable most of the characters aren’t caricatures, and their motivations aren’t that hard to understand.

The book is a lot like its title; it can be read in a number of ways and levels. On the surface, it’s a suspense novel, but it also could be called a thriller or a mystery or a ghost story. Also, are the shades referring to real ghosts or imagined ones? Or maybe the shades are the many parts of Simon Gray himself. You’ll have to decide.

Joyce McDonald has done a super job; she’s up-to-date without being trendy, and her prose is simple and straightforward, but not dumbed-down. Teens will find this book relevant and true; McDonald covers a lot of bases and has some opportunities to be preachy, yet refuses to do so, letting readers make their own judgments. And maybe it’s just me, but there’s a subtle undercurrent that made me think of the tragedy of Columbine not that anything like that happens here but her characters are real enough that you could see how, given a few plot twists, history could repeat itself.

That’s not what McDonald is after, however; she wants to show us that all deeds engender regrets, and that we all are the sum of the choices we make. An admirable trait in a book for young people.

James Neal Webb is the father of two teenagers pray for him.