Author Gary Schmidt has won many fans with his luminous, heartfelt novels, including two Newbery honor titles, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and The Wednesday Wars. His moving new book, Okay for Now, is a companion to the latter novel. It follows Holling Hoodhood’s friend, Doug Swieteck, who moves to the small town of Marysville, New York, which he at first calls “The Dump,” in the summer of 1968.

Like Holling, Doug faces challenges at home. His father, who keeps up a litany of complaints about his new job at the Ballard Paper Mill, is stern and abusive at home. Doug and his middle brother, Christopher, have learned to watch out for the moments where their dad’s hands might “flash out.” His older brother, Lucas, is fighting in Vietnam.

But in his first days in the new town Doug begins to find some unlikely friends, including a girl named Lil Spicer, who befriends Doug and gets him a job doing Saturday deliveries for her father’s deli (five dollars a Saturday, plus tips). There are also Mr. Powell and Mrs. Merriam at the town library, who prove to be unlikely allies in Doug’s journey from a lonely, embittered outsider to a kid who is fully part of his community.

Doug’s repeat visits to the library are rather a surprise to his brother—and to Doug himself. Doug is not a reader—far from it. The library offers a different kind of magic. When Doug wanders up the cool marble staircase to the second floor, he discovers a square table with a glass case on it. And in that glass case is the most terrifying and beautiful thing he has ever seen: an Arctic tern illustrated by John James Audubon. So terrifying and beautiful that Doug just has to try his hand at drawing it, under the patient guidance of the mild and friendly Mr. Powell.

Before long, Doug finds himself solving problems: how to draw feathers of a tern so they look as if they are “plunging against the air like all get-out” and how to draw the “stupid foot of the stupid puffin . . . who was trying not to drown.”

As the summer ends and Doug begins to endure the challenges of being the new eighth grader at Washington Irving Junior High School, his newfound abilities to solve problems as an artist begin, very slowly, to spill over into the problems in his life. In the process he is able to convert enemies into allies, to find a way to help his brother, Lucas, pick up the pieces of a new life, and to make something precious, yet broken, almost whole again.

Like all Gary Schmidt’s novels, this is a rich and multi-layered story that weaves together themes of redemption, creativity and possibility. Okay for Now reminds us that the best children’s literature is not just for young readers, but for all of us.

The course of true love, as Shakespeare wrote, never did run smooth, and nowhere is that truth more apparent than in Holly Goldberg Sloan’s debut novel, I’ll Be There. From the moment Emily—wracked with nerves while (badly) singing a solo at church—spots a scruffy but undeniably handsome boy in the back pew, her heart is his. And Sam, quiet and mysterious though he is, seems to really like her, too.

Sam and his near-mute little brother, Riddle, are taken aback by the generosity, kindness and normality of Emily’s family. After all, the only lessons they’ve learned on the road with their violent, thieving father are, according to Sam, “if you cared about something, it would be taken away. If you stood up for yourself, you would be beaten down. If you spoke out, you would be silenced.” The two boys have learned to keep secrets, stay out of the way and look after each other. So when they’re forced to go on the move again, can Sam find his way back into a normal life—and real love?

Holly Goldberg Sloan might be a first-time novelist, but she’s an experienced writer and director of many popular family films. No surprise, then, that I’ll Be There has a cinematic feeling, rapidly shifting setting and perspective in a free indirect style that helps reinforce the novel’s themes of interconnection. Are coincidences meaningful? What motivates people to help others, become friends, fall in love? Can those who have been deeply damaged seize a fresh start? Emily and Sam’s journey is a rocky one—literally so, for Sam—but it’s also romantic, heartfelt and deeply satisfying.

Shine is the story of a hate crime, or so it seems. Cat’s dear friend Patrick has been savagely beaten and left in a coma, and everyone in town knows it’s because he’s gay. But no one, including the sheriff, knows what actually happened—so Cat makes it her mission to find the attacker herself. This is serious stuff, and author Lauren Myracle doesn’t shy away from the tough emotions her characters face: “Why does God let bad things happen?” Cat wonders in anguish. “Could he not see her, or did he not care?”

Beyond the strife and violence, Shine is also a Southern story, a country story, refreshingly regional amid a sea of novels set in suburban Anywhere, USA. Black Creek, North Carolina, is a tiny village of 500, idyllic in setting but isolated, and with more than its share of poverty and problems. Myracle gets in all the details: the beauty of the woods and the comfort of home cooking, but also the drug use that threatens the community, and the embarrassed anger Cat feels at being thought of as a hillbilly by the people in town.

In becoming a small-town sleuth, Cat not only solves the mystery of the night her friend was attacked, but also confronts pain from her own past she hasn’t yet dealt with. She has an essential sweetness—and a bit of sass—that make her a winning main character. But the novel’s ending, while satisfying, has the main characters perpetuating a lie, which feels strange after so much truth-seeking. All in all, though, this is an engaging story with characters who really come to life.

As Ruby Red begins, Gwen Shepherd is just an ordinary 16-year-old living in London with her mother, brother and sister and her eccentric extended family in a “posh” house full of paintings and antique furniture. She attends St. Lennox High School with her best friend, Lesley.

But on closer inspection, “ordinary” may not be exactly the right word to describe Gwen. First, she just happens to be able to see and converse with James, a young local ghost. (“Like so many ghosts, he refused to accept that he wasn’t alive anymore.”) Second, although the family tradition predicts that her cousin Charlotte is meant to be the special one, destined for magic, something extraordinary is about to happen to Gwen.

One day in the school cafeteria, Gwen finds herself overcome by the strangest sensation: a dizzying feeling, a bit like swooping down from the top on a roller coaster ride. And suddenly she finds herself transported to the past. As Gwen discovers, it is she—not Charlotte—who has inherited the time-travel gene that runs through her family lineage.

Gwen has a lot of ground to make up. She must learn the rules of time travel—and fast, too—because Gwen and her time-traveling counterpart, a boy named Gideon, are at the center of a desperate quest to track all the previous time travelers to close the Circle so that the Secret of the Twelve will be revealed.

An enormous success in Germany where it was first published (the English version has been translated by Anthea Bell), Ruby Red ends on a cliffhanger, with many of its mysteries unresolved. Teen readers will be eager to find out what happens to Gwen and Gideon in their next adventures, to be revealed in the second book of the trilogy, Sapphire Blue, followed by Emerald Green.

McLean’s old life was normal, back before her mother left her father for another man. But after their sticky divorce, her dad, eager to get away, took a Gordon Ramsay-style job reorganizing failing restaurants that necessitated a long-distance move every few months. Against her mother’s wishes, McLean went with him. In three years she’s gone to four high schools in four suburbs, and each time she’s used a new name and adopted a different personality to go with it. But now they’ve landed in Lakeview, and thanks to the charming characters at the restaurant and the smart, quirky boy next door, this temporary home feels like a real one.

Readers will root for the likable McLean as she meets people and softens her defenses. As a narrator she’s authoritative and self-aware, sounding almost like a movie voice-over—not surprising, maybe, since Dessen’s first two books were made into the movie How to Deal. A nice subplot that has McLean and her friends building a model of their town gives her the opportunity to make poetic insights about community, family and home. Dessen’s confident style makes What Happened to Goodbye a smooth and entertaining read.

Deuce lives a grim, yet sheltered, life underground. Born into an enclave where no one survives past the age of 40, she must follow the enclave’s strict laws for her own protection. While her friends have been trained to build or breed, Deuce has learned to skillfully wield knives as a Huntress. She is partnered with Fade, a shunned Hunter and outsider. Together they have the gruesome task of hunting for meat in the dark tunnels surrounding the enclave while also combating Freaks—vampiric creatures who eat the living and the dead.

When Deuce and Fade are sent on a dangerous mission, they discover that the Freaks have wiped out a neighboring enclave. But the enclave’s elders dismiss Deuce’s report in an effort to maintain order, and she begins to question their leadership. When her friend is falsely accused of a crime, she and Fade lie to protect him and are immediately banished from the enclave. Now they have no choice but to attempt survival above ground, where Deuce has never been, and where unknown dangers lurk.

Aguirre skillfully juxtaposes Deuce’s gritty and incredibly violent life underground with the beauty of first love. By enclave law, Deuce cannot show affection for another person; only breeders can be intimate. But as she and Fade protect each other against the Freaks and gang members, Deuce cannot help but have romantic feelings for him. Also amidst the violence is the innocence of discovery. Deuce’s training has prepared her for violent combat, but not for understanding the world above the sewers. Whether she is seeing a toilet for the first time (“I pulled a handle down and was shocked that the stool responded with a gurgle of water. I squeaked in surprise. How was that possible?”) or a blanket of snow, she responds to her new environment with wonder and excitement. As Deuce embraces these new emotions and new experiences, so will readers.

Enclave is an impressive addition to the growing collection of dystopian young adult novels.

Learning that what you are is not based on what you have is a bold lesson for anyone to learn. But it’s particularly poignant for 13-year-old Irene, whose life in a posh Manhattan penthouse comes crashing down around her when her investment banker father loses his job.

As she watches her world collapse—her father can’t find work, her socialite mother won’t give up her extravagant ways—Irene wonders what will become of them all. With their belongings either stored or sold, Irene’s family drives a rented car out of the city to rural upstate New York to live with Irene’s grandfather on his farm.

Life as she once knew it is gone, but much to her surprise, Irene learns a lot about herself during this exiled summer, thanks to the new neighbors she meets and through the simple encounters of a slower, easier lifestyle.

Possessions no longer matter as much as friends. Family sticks together through good times and bad. And maybe the person Irene thought she was, was just a mirage seen through a gilded mirror.

Award-winning author Corinne Demas is careful not to stereotype Irene as a spoiled teen, full of angst and disrespect. That would be too easy. Instead, the author’s honest depiction of Irene, through authentic dialogue and voice, rings true—making readers honestly like her.

The bright and amiable teenager triumphs over her family’s tragedy, stands up for herself against the odds and, eventually, finds out exactly who she is. Losing it all and finding a new perspective is a topic addressed in many tween and YA novels. But Demas manages to avoid the clichés and create a solid storyline with a realistically drawn protagonist that tween readers will embrace.

Every good story has to have heroes, right? Wizards, crime-fighters, superheroes—the good guys. Not in A World Without Heroes, the first book in Brandon Mull’s exciting new Beyonders trilogy. Eighth grader Jason Walker discovers the world of Lyrian only after getting embarrassed in front of his crush, taking a baseball to the head in a batting cage and falling into the hippopotamus enclosure at the zoo where he volunteers. In fact, he falls not only into the enclosure, but into the gaping mouth of the hippo himself. Jason is not exactly hero material.

When he emerges from the hippo, Jason finds that he has been transported into the mysterious work of Lyrian. After stumbling upon a book bound in living skin that contains the first syllable of a powerful and extremely guarded word, he must make a choice: wait around and suffer a painful death, or attempt to be the hero Lyrian is looking for.

Jason is aided on his quest by a motley cast of characters. His companion for the story is Rachel, a ninth-grade homeschooled girl with a quick wit and (very) sharp tongue. Rachel is also the only other “beyonder,” or person from Earth, to have reached Lyrian in hundreds of years. The pair are joined at different times by Ferrin, a displacer with the ability to detach parts of his body at will, and Jasher, an Amar Kabal, who remains immortal so long as the seed at the base of his neck is replanted each time he dies. But the problem with a world where there are no more heroes is that Jason and Rachel have to figure out who they can trust—or if they can trust anyone.

Author of the best-selling Fablehaven series, Mull is not new to creating stories in which the world you live in is not quite what it seems. A World Without Heroes goes beyond that, transporting readers to an entirely new world filled with new discoveries and new dangers. Readers will be kept off-guard and on the edge of their seats from the first page. Perfect for fans of Rick Riordan and John Flanagan, this is an exhilarating debut in an exciting new series.

In the tradition of Ellen Hopkins and Patricia McCormick, Kimberly Marcus uses free verse to tell the realistic story of one teen’s plight in her debut novel, Exposed. High school senior Liz Grayson, aka Photogirl, lives to find the perfect photographic mood and shot, while her “forever-best friend” Kate has spent most of her life dancing. At their monthly sleepover, Liz berates Kate for her “whipped” boyfriend and for wanting to give up dance, and after the two argue, Liz storms off to sleep in her own bed, leaving Kate alone on the couch.

In the days and weeks that follow, Kate is unusually reluctant to make up with Liz. Thinking Kate’s ongoing avoidance is due to their fight, Liz is shocked when her friend accuses her college-age brother Mike (on whom Kate has had a longtime crush) of raping her the night of the sleepover. Mike denies the accusation, even after being arrested. In Marcus’ searing poems, Liz agonizes over her own culpability about the situation (would anything have happened if she hadn’t fought with Kate?) and who to side with (“So which one’s telling lies?”). Her first-person narration also reveals her anguish as she endures endless school gossip (“Good-bye, Photogirl. / Hello, / Sister of a Rapist.”) and loses her best friend, the brother she thought was easygoing and even her love for photography.

Yet her photography serves as a fitting metaphor for the chaos surrounding her as she comes to realize that an entire story lies beneath a single snapshot and that the story, unlike her black-and-white pictures, is filled with shades of gray. Called to be a witness at her brother’s trial, she doesn’t know how to fit her years of memories into yes-or-no responses. If she can ever return to photography, she knows that she’ll have trust her own point of view. Liz’s hard-hitting, multifaceted dilemmas will undoubtedly provoke reactions from readers, who will wonder if justice has been served in the end. 

Escaping an abusive stepfather has left Brent Conboy a homeless street kid. When he tries to swipe some breakfast leftovers off a hotel’s room service tray, he stumbles onto the scene of a crime in progress . . . only the truth is nothing like what’s being reported on the news.

Kitty Pettigrew ran from a terrible mistake made in her childhood and has been running, and making more dangerous mistakes, ever since. Stealing her violent drug-dealer boyfriend’s money and hitting the road is only the most recent.

When these two cross paths, sparks fly. Welcome to the nonstop action of Blink & Caution.

Author Tim Wynne-Jones has created two winning stories here, and combined them into an artful whole. When Kitty—aka Caution, as in “Contents under pressure”—first spots Brent, she easily robs him of a recent ill-gotten windfall. But a lingering sense of responsibility draws her back to him. And Blink (who has a nervous facial tic) tempers his resentment, since having someone so quick on her feet in his corner can only help him. If you smell a love story brewing, you’re not wrong, but it’s an unconventional one to say the least.

Blink & Caution begins in downtown Toronto, portrayed as unsparingly harsh; when the twosome follow up on the crime Blink saw, they’re led into the wilderness. Though they are in grave danger, the trees, water and air are a saving grace that seems to clear Blink’s head, enabling him to strategize instead of merely reacting to whatever happens around him. And Caution’s role as his “guardian angel” is a chance to put right the terrible thing she did years ago.

A fast-paced mystery with intelligence and heart, Blink & Caution snags readers and doesn’t let go. 

Just when you thought it was safe to take off that turtleneck, along comes another teen vampire novel. Throat brings a new twist to the popular genre with the introduction of 17-year-old Emma Cooper, who would like to be recognized for her achievements on the soccer field, but is better known for the “curse” she suffers: not vampirism but epilepsy.

When she’s attacked by Wirtz, a menacing vampire, his meal is cut short when Emma suffers a grand mal seizure. This isn’t such a bad thing; she ends up with heightened senses and powers, but no taste for blood. Even better, she has no problem with sunlight that a pair of shades won’t fix. But Wirtz plans to come back and finish the job, and eat Emma’s kid sister for dessert.

Out of concern for her family’s safety, Emma makes base camp at a NASA space center. With the help of an intern at the center, three vampire “friends” and a Home Depot theft of amazing proportions, she prepares a fortress and waits for Wirtz to find her. The showdown that follows is a doozy.

R.A. Nelson brings work and home together in Throat. The author lives in north Alabama and works at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and both locales are central to the plot. The mix of modern science and vampire lore gives the genre a new twist, and Emma’s hot temper adds a layer of suspense. Will she exercise good judgment or make a fatal mistake by blowing her top? A fast-paced blend of myth and science, Throat grabs readers from the first page and won’t let go.