What if the only world you ever knew had a sky that was always blue, with puffy white clouds that never moved? What if every house on every street was exactly the same? What if your pets, your food, even your little sister arrived in a shipment from the dangerous, mysterious outside world—a world you had never seen? That's what life is like for Martin. He and his family have lived their entire lives in a domed "suburb," where neighbors gather for Sport Day and enjoy big meals (automatically selected by their slot-machine oven) on Rest Day. Their identical townhouses are decorated with pictures of seasonal flowers, and their school day is made up of endless drills conducted on handheld computers. Every morning, his parents use the family computer to vote on an issue of national concern, such as the color of the Oval Office's drapes.

Life in the suburb might seem orderly, but there's a darker side. What happens to the people who suddenly disappear? And why is the government threatening to recall the latest batch of Wonder Children, the precocious kids—like Martin's sister Cassie—who are asking too many questions? Martin might not have all the answers, but he is fiercely loyal to his sister, and he's determined to find her, even if it means leaving the domed world he's always known.

Clare B. Dunkle, author of the popular Hollow Kingdom fantasy trilogy, has created a richly imagined, thoroughly frightening society. Her novel takes place in a world much like our own, and its characters have believable strengths and weaknesses. Offering insightful commentaries into today's society and raising challenging questions about the future, The Sky Inside is the kind of science fiction novel that will encourage young readers to think about—and discuss—some of the larger issues in their own lives.

Norah Piehl is a writer and editor in the Boston area.

Fourteen-year-old Kayla Dean thought she had her future all mapped out. With the help of her Grandma JoJo and her best friend Rosalie, Kayla, a budding feminist, has been inspired to right wrongs through investigative journalism and to empower other young women through SPEAK (Sisters Providing Encouragement And Kindness). But now, as she's about to enter high school, Kayla's got a lot of questions. Is it so wrong to want to wear her This Is What a Feminist Looks Like t-shirt with a pair of really fabulous high heels? Would she be dishonoring her grandma's memory by choosing to tame her Afro just a little? And, most importantly, would it be the end of the world if Kayla, with her small breasts, queen-sized booty and incredible talent, made it onto the rump-shaking, super-sexy Lady Lions dance team and actually liked it?

Assigned to investigate the Lady Lions' sexist underpinnings, Kayla soon discovers that the team and its members are a lot more appealing than she had ever imagined. Can Kayla reconcile the two spheres of her life, mend fences with her staunchly feminist best friend and finally find her own voice? Along the way, Kayla just might end up re-defining feminism and herself on her own terms.

Kayla narrates her story with plenty of sass, energy and enthusiasm, and she's willing to laugh at her mistakes even as she struggles with her own internal conflicts. True to Kayla's journalistic ambitions, each chapter includes its own headline, just like a real newspaper story chronicling Kayla's mishaps and triumphs.

Few books for young readers take on feminism the way Sherri Winston does in The Kayla Chronicles. Kayla's story is sure to inspire young women to realize that feminists come in all shapes, sizes, colors and attitudes, and that before you can speak up for all women, you have to learn how to stick up for yourself.

Norah Piehl is a writer and editor in the Boston area.

The Wilder sisters love ballet. They lug their Capezio tote bags through the subway system to get to the Anna Pavlova Academy of Ballet, near Lincoln Center, to work up a sweat with pirouettes and arabesques. Their New York City lives are wrapped up in fashion, Starbucks lattes and their family's tiny apartment. But when Katie's older sister Michaela informs her that the family will be packing up for Fir Lake in rural upstate New York, the younger city girl is less than thrilled. Will there even be electricity in this Podunk town?

The Year My Sister Got Lucky is told in Katie's candid 14-year-old voice. She recounts how her overalls-wearing Fir Lake High School classmates perceive her decked out in a stylish blazer and bubble skirt on her first day of school in the new town. Making new friends is difficult for Katie, who misses her life back in the Big Apple, but Michaela is adjusting just fine: She instantly falls in with the popular group, takes up smoking, begins dating quarterback Anders Swensen and is crowned Homecoming Queen. Katie barely recognizes this new Michaela, and she misses the old days of heart-to-heart chats and dreaming about Julliard which Michaela hasn't even mentioned since the move to Fir Lake. The elder sister seems to have traded in her leotard and tights for parties with her new friends and dates with Anders. When Katie does a little snooping in Michaela's room, she learns a secret about her sister that makes her question the value of their relationship and just who this new version of her sister really is.

Teens will relate to Aimee Friedman's funny and believable story and the universal problems she presents: fitting into a new school, boys, an evolving sibling relationship, boys and what to do with the secrets you discover. The sisters make difficult choices that are not always right, but both adjust and Katie eventually finds that the move to Fir Lake may not have completely ruined her life after all.

Katie Lewis remains a wanna-be ballerina if only in her head.

It's 1875 and the wounds from the Civil War are still raw for the poor and struggling folks of Mississippi. The houses have been razed, the trees burned for fuel, and the men are injured, maimed and mired in sadness. Times are tough and life is full of danger from ruffians and vigilantes. The slaves have been freed, but they are just as tied to white landowners as they ever were. Across the swamp is a wooded no-man's-land called No-Bob, populated by the O'Donnells, a family known for their cruelty, bloodthirstiness and constant unpleasant presence, usually begging for money and food. They marry young, bear children and marry them off to each other.

Addy's father is the meanest and fiercest of all the O'Donnells, and when he leaves his wife and heads for Texas, his bereft wife abandons her daughter to follow him. This leaves Addy in the care of newlyweds Frank and Irene, the schoolmaster and his wife. Addy's extremely rough upbringing has prepared her well she knows how to build a fire, keep a house, build a shed and keep herself alive on next to no food. When her father resurfaces, stealing eggs from Frank's chicken coop, Addy must return to No-Bob with him. Pappy. He is bad and mean and dangerous, but he is still my Pappy, she says. When Addy discovers a devastating secret about her father and his connection to the violence that is running rampant in the area, she makes the hardest decision of her life.

In this sequel to her Civil War novel, How I Found the Strong, Margaret McMullan has created a deeply philosophical, first-person account of life in the Reconstruction era that is heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Echoes of the present are impossible to miss life under occupation, the reaction of the insurgent Klan, and aching poverty. It's the kind of book I love, one that makes me want to read everything McMullan has written. Twice.

Newbery Medal winner Linda Sue Park starts it all with a girl named Maggie; her grief for her grandfather, world-renowned photojournalist George Gee Keane; and her inheritance, a puzzling wooden box of seven shells. Simply titled Click, this collaborative novel to benefit Amnesty International continues Gee's adventures in chapters written by 10 critically acclaimed authors from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, including Eoin Colfer, Tim Wynne-Jones, Ruth Ozeki, Nick Hornby and Gregory Maguire.

Gee loves the feeling of moving through the world, light and free, moving through other people's stories. This love takes him to a Russian prison just after the breakup of the Soviet Union, where he meets Lev, a 17-year-old inmate incarcerated for simply trying to survive in his war-torn country. He meets other young people during his global travels, such as Vincent in Dublin for the 1972 Muhammad Ali fight at Croke Park and Jiro in Tokyo while photographing the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs.

Gee makes the biggest impact, however, on his own family. Maggie, through her study of Gee's works, and her adopted brother, Jason, through his own budding career as a photographer, discover Gee's never-ending mysteries and the power of photography. Throughout the novel, this power has a way of recognizing and healing grief and abuse, forming identity and family, and finding understanding and even joy in a time of war.

While readers might expect a folktale-like narrative from a writer like David Almond, an irreverent working-class family from Roddy Doyle or a magical, parallel world from Margo Lanagan, they couldn't possibly predict how each author will weave details from previous chapters into his or her own part of the story. The chapters, like single snapshots, form an exhibition of Gee's life, at times mystical or heart-wrenching, at other times amusing or fantastical, but always intriguing.

Angela Leeper is an educational consultant and writer in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

It is rewarding as a reader to encounter a unique story, and Jenny Downham's Before I Die is one such find. Downham has constructed a teen novel that is neither overly sweet nor patronizing—instead, Before I Die offers a candid and piercing view of the way a teenager's mind works.

Tessa, a 16-year-old battling cancer, makes a list of the things she wants to experience before her life ends: Sex, drugs and love are all on the agenda. There is no surprise happy ending here, but the journey of the novel itself is emotionally surprising. Tessa is sarcastic, rude and bitter—all that we expect a teenager to be—yet as the novel progresses, her anger at her failing health evolves into an appreciation of the smaller joys life presents. She notices the way the sunlight looks in her tea, appreciates the taste of kiwi and hears someone moving dishes in the kitchen.

Downham's prose is poetic, and her images are vivid. The reader sees Tessa, hears her breathe, experiences her first love and holds her hand as her body gives up. The most remarkable relationship in the novel is that of Tessa and her next-door neighbor, Adam. Though the romantic relationship is initiated and determined by the strong-willed narrator, it is an extraordinary pairing. Adam is patient with Tessa's fluctuating consciousness toward the end, and he remains by her side throughout night sweats, hospital stays and final moments. Their hearts seem to have known one another for an impossibly long time, and it is this blending of the soul where the edges of each individual are indecipherable that is the most devastating aspect of Tessa's demise.

This is an exceptional story, one that will bring tears to the eyes of adults as well as younger readers. The novel moves relentlessly toward the brink and develops a set of unforgettable characters. I am pleased to have known Tessa—as I feel that I have—and I am carrying her with me.

Katie Lewis is a student at Saint Louis University.