Eighteen-year-old Ben Wolf has just received a death sentence—he has an aggressive, terminal form of leukemia and at most a year to live but he's not about to take it lying down. "I'm not going bald and puking. I don't have anything to teach anyone about life, and I'm not brave, but I'd rather be a flash than a slowly cooling ember, so I'll eat healthy food, take supplements, sleep good, and take what the universe gives me. And I'm turning out for football."

Jockey-sized Ben has always run cross-country instead of playing football, but seeing as this is his last hurrah, Ben's determined to make the most of his senior year, because it's probably the last year he has left. Besides helping his eight-man team reach the state tournament, Ben's plans for the year also include reaching out to Rudy, the town drunk, confronting his narrow-minded civics teacher, and winning the heart of gorgeous volleyball star Dallas Suzuki, all without letting any of them or anyone else in the tiny town of Trout, Idaho discover his reasons for living each day as if it's his last. Ben does manage to get the girl, grow closer to his brother Cody as the two become an unstoppable force on the football field, and even forge an uneasy friendship with Rudy. But as other people confide their deepest, most troubling secrets to Ben, how can he continue to hide his own greatest secret from the people he loves?

In his latest novel, Deadline, Chris Crutcher revisits many of his familiar themes death, child molestation, censorship and sports but does so in the context of a startlingly heartrending plot that manages to be simultaneously wise, thought-provoking, occasionally maddening and frequently very, very funny. Ben's intelligence, zeal and sarcastic humor not only win him friends and help him cope with his diagnosis; they also make for an engaging narrative that balances wit with pathos. Ben's deadline year forces him to re-evaluate his decisions and discover that maybe his death or the way he lives his life has a lot to teach people after all.

Margo Lanagan’s Red Spikes is one of the best short story collections of the year in any genre. You might find it on the science fiction, fiction or young adult shelves of your local bookstore or library, depending on the whims of the shelver. These stories are deceptively simple yet this slim collection will be a prized possession long after other epic fantasies have been forgotten.

The author of two earlier story collections, Black Juice (winner of a Printz honor and two World Fantasy Awards) and White Time, Lanagan excels at dropping readers into situations which are seemingly familiar yet disturbingly different. The author is Australian, but only a few of her stories are so tied to place that the reader could say with any certainty where they are set. The story is what matters, not the setting, and Lanagan is one of the pre-eminent storytellers of the moment.

In Winkie, Lanagan throws Wee Willie Winkie on its side, fills it with panic and transforms it into something completely fresh. Hero Vale is a stand-out story, a re-imagining of the heroic quest, in this case beginning in a boarding school and moving to the depths of a forest where a boy discovers he had better be made of sterner stuff than he had previously realized. A couple of stories touch on religious themes. Under Hell, Over Heaven concerns those who ferry souls that have ended up in the wrong place to their rightful home. It is, as might be expected, beautiful and horrifying. In A Feather in the Breast of God, a tiny budgie stands in for God, while in Forever Upward a religion on the edge of extinction rewards one believer’s faith. Forever Upward is also one of Lanagan’s stories in which the reader feels the ache of characters who want something so badly they can barely stand their daily life. But all of these aspects the characters with overwhelming needs, the religions, the fear are barely describable elements of these 10 amazing stories which will reward the reader with unexpected places, unfamiliar feelings, new experiences. And after reading one, teen readers (and adults, too) will want more and more.

As Andie prepares for her freshman year of high school, her superstar sister Claire is gearing up for her first year at Yale. Since she’ll be away from home and unable to offer sisterly advice (i.e., bug her little sister), Claire has put together a how-to map of high school from orientation to graduation in the form of a field guide. The nature-based topics include Subtropical Shrubs (Breaks), Gilled Mushrooms Causing Sweating, Tears, and Salivation (Social Life) and Fruits or Seeds, Bright Red/Orange (School Spirit).

Andie devours Claire’s book cover-to-cover with her best friend Bess, who will be going to a different high school. The girls wonder if they’ll be able to remain friends despite all of the drama, hierarchy, pranks and rules of high school. And more importantly: Will they be able to survive these crucial four years without ruining their GPAs and reputations? Claire’s greatest advice comes at the end of the reading: She tells Andie to disregard everything she has just said because there is no definite route to take, and you learn the most by figuring it out on your own. But, she warns, you are bound to do best if you don’t talk about people behind their backs, as it always seems to lead to trouble.

Interspersed with pop culture references and the commentary of Andie and Bess as they read Claire’s guide, A Field Guide to High School cleverly relates the high school experience to the hierarchy found in nature and the animal kingdom. Andie’s nerves are slowly calmed as she realizes that she’ll fit into the order of things somehow and that if Claire could make it through, then so can she.

Marissa Walsh, a former children’s book editor, completes her funny and frank look at these complicated years by suggesting a summer reading list that includes Louise Rennison and Curtis Sittenfeld; movies and TV shows to pay close attention to, such as Freaks and Geeks ; and a back-to-school soundtrack featuring the White Stripes, Belle &andamp; Sebastian and Stevie Wonder. This is a book for anyone who is nervous about beginning high school and those who are relieved to have completed it. Katie Lewis survived high school in Nashville.

Ed Collier (Collie for short) is on a mission. The year is 1934, and a series of tragedies has pushed Ed's family to the brink. First his father died in a lumber accident; then his mother lost her job in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash; finally, Collie's older brother, Little Bill, turned to drink and violence before leaving home and devastating their mother. The family's breaking like a shattered plate, his mother despairs.

Determined to mend the broken pieces, Collie, like so many other young men and boys during the Depression, hits the rails to try to find his older brother and bring him back home to Wisconsin. At first, Collie jumps freight trains under the tutelage of a veteran train jumper known as Scarecrow. Although Scarecrow teaches Collie the best techniques for hopping a boxcar and shows him the ropes at the hobo camps (or jungles ), he also reveals himself to be a racist when a young black boy, Ike, winds up in their car. Following their detention at a Christian mission, Collie develops a friendship with Ike, and the two remain loyal friends and fellow travelers as they ride across the country. The two have their share of missteps, and always barely stay one step ahead of the law, but they share unforgettable adventures that, as one kindly character tells the boys, they'll be able to tell their grandchildren about one day.

The Train Jumper has the flavor of old-time family stories passed down from one generation to another. In an author's note, Don Brown credits the most precious of gems, those who lived history with inspiring many of the anecdotes in its pages. The novel is full of authentic historical color, from mulligan stew and dust storms to tent revivals, minstrel shows and racial slurs. Thanks to these period details, Collie's larger-than-life adventures feel convincingly grounded in Depression-era realities. What's more, with its fast-paced narrative, adventure-laden scenes and suspenseful plot, The Train Jumper will move even reluctant readers along at a speed as breathlessly exhilarating as an express locomotive.

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

Tim Rickard’s comics may not be for everyone, but the combination of black humor and absurdism in Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! will appeal to a certain mentality. On board the spaceship R.U. Sirius, captain Brewster Rockit bumbles his way through Star Trek-style missions with the dubious help of Cliff Clewless, security chief Pamela Mae Snap and some poor kid named Winky who does all the dirty work. This is the kind of comic in which, during a diplomatic meeting, Brewster accidentally cooks and eats the leader of the Ewoks. Ready for blastoff!

A new graphic novel from the ambitious and wide-ranging First Second, the Roaring Brook imprint that published Gene Luen Yang’s National Book Award-winning graphic novel American Born Chinese, is Sardine in Outer Space 3, written and illustrated by Emmanuel Guibert and Joann Sfar (The Rabbi’s Cat). This is the latest in a wacky series that relates the adventures of a space-pirate girl named Sardine and her cohorts as they come up against all manner of oddball characters and dodgy situations, such as defeating Supermuscleman, Chief Executive Dictator of the Universe, in the Space Boxing Championship.

Garage Band, by the acclaimed author/illustrator Gipi, addresses the constant teenage tug-of-war between having fun, following your dreams and learning to behave like an adult. Narrator Giuliano’s dad agrees to let him and three friends use a garage for band practice. When the band runs into an equipment problem and tries to solve it by taking a shortcut, the boys learn that it’s just as bad to abandon responsibility for the sake of dreams as the other way around. Composed of lovely sketched-and-painted pages in muted colors, the book is not only a lesson and an inspiration, but a real work of art.

The Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel is part of a cool new line of graphic novels from Minx, the much-buzzed-about DC Comics imprint aimed at teenage girls. Conceived as an alternative to the ultra-popular Japanese manga, Minx’s black-and-white books are smart and hip, with fast-paced storylines, strong characters and sharp, realistic dialogue. The Re-Gifters focuses on Jen Dik Seong, also known as Dixie, the daughter of Korean immigrants and a talented student of the martial art hapkido. Dixie gets thrown off balance by a crush on hunky Adam, but eventually discovers via bad boy Dillinger that misplaced admiration can be a serious weakness.

Breaking Up, a graphic novel written by Aimee Friedman and illustrated by the much-lauded Christine Norrie, has a storyline that will appeal to teenage girls and beautiful illustrations that will appeal to just about everyone. Narrated by a timid, artsy girl named Chloe, it’s the story of four best friends in their junior year at Georgia O’Keeffe School for the Arts (dubbed Fashion High ). As they grow up and start wanting different things popularity, a boyfriend, freedom from parents their tight-knit group starts to drift apart. Friedman is smart enough not to impose a sweet-and-tidy ending on the realistic tale; instead, feelings get hurt, and forgiveness takes a long time to arrive.

Every year millions of families visit a magical place Walt Disney World in Orlando. But do they ever stop to think about what life might be like for the people who make that magic happen, for the Snow Whites and Plutos who work there? That’s the premise of Dream Factory, in which Cinderella and Prince Charming or at least the people who play them might not live happily ever after after all.

When Disney’s regular costume characters go on strike, the company hires kids from around the country to fill in. The show must go on! Cinderella is played by Ella, a wistful girl whose family history haunts her, even in the happiest place on earth. Her Prince Charming is a Disney insider named Mark, who has royal good looks but fails to set Ella’s world on fire. Also on the staff is Luke, whose Disney stint is a way to delay his future career in the family business, which seems planned out, down to his wing-tipped shoes. His future is ideal, but is it possible that Luke might want a future that’s less than perfect on paper, but just right for him? Written in alternate chapters in Luke’s and Ella’s voices by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler, this behind-the-scenes novel is both a touching love story and a commentary on a culture that treasures fairy-tale endings, sometimes at the expense of real life. Dream Factory has plenty of funny, imaginative details about theme park trivia, insufferable guests and characters who go naked under their costumes, but it also has a serious message about creating an authentic life, far away from fairy land.

Best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman has become a household name to fans of the genre, with books and graphic novels such as The Sandman, Coraline and Anansi Boys. As a child, Gaiman found that short stories were ideally suited to how he read, offering potent mouthfuls of other worlds, just the right size to be swallowed whole before lights-out. Another benefit of story collections is their diversity if one tale doesn't suit, the reader can always skip ahead to the next. Both of these elements make Gaiman's inventive new collection, M Is for Magic, a particularly good choice for summer reading.

One of my favorite stories is "Chivalry," in which an elderly widow purchases the Holy Grail from her neighborhood thrift shop. An errant knight appears and attempts to win the Grail from her, only to be put to work on delightfully mundane tasks, his offers staunchly refused. A favorite of a different sort, "The Price" leaves readers with an unsettled chill. A devoted rescuer-of-cats learns that a favorite stray is actually rescuing him, fighting a losing battle with the devil, who is stalking the narrator's family. And then there's the dreamy, utterly terrifying "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," where two would-be Romeos crash the wrong party in search of some action and end up angering a universe.

"Horror stays with you hardest," Gaiman says. "Fantasy gets into your bones." Stories can terrify or entrance; in M Is for Magic, they do both at once.

Fifteen-year-old Kendra Bishop is sick and tired. She’s sick of her parents, high-powered Manhattan bankers and exercise junkies who always have time to run another marathon but can’t spare a second to give Kendra a hug. She’s tired of living according to the rules her parents keep in a binder and expect her to follow without question. So when Kendra sees an ad for the reality show The Black Sheep, in which teenagers from wildly different environments switch families, she writes a heartfelt letter of application. When Kendra is actually picked for the show, she has second thoughts about spending time in California, with the crunchy-granola Mulligans, a free-wheeling family with a full house, few rules and a kleptomaniac ferret. She’s especially put off by Judy, the show’s producer, who’s so determined to create a good story that she has entirely lost sight of, well, reality. After a few days with the Mulligans, though (and especially with their hot teenage son Mitch), Kendra’s determined to see her Black Sheep experience as an opportunity: A Black Sheep tosses out her parents’ rule book and invents her own. The sassy, sharp-tongued narrator of The Black Sheep will appeal to teen readers. Kendra’s transformation into a passionate, independent thinker reminds us of the ways in which all young people eventually define themselves as individuals even if it means being the black sheep of the family for a while.