When their mother dies suddenly, hit by a drunk driver, Will’s brother Adam finds refuge in friendships and “getting on with life.” Will’s father throws himself into his work so that he doesn’t have to face lonely nights. But as for 17-year-old Will, he isn’t content with picking up his life where it fell off a cliff that day. He’s always approached life from an unusual perspective; and now he’s approaching death the same way.

Will’s many questions—”Why do some get to live, and others die?” “What is my life worth?” “Can one life replace another?”—lead him on a wide-ranging journey, as he discovers the ways in which ancient and modern philosophers, Eastern and Western religions and ordinary people have sought their own answers to these fundamental questions. Along the way, Will also experiments with alcohol, drugs and sex, hoping to find in his body the answers to the questions that plague his mind.

At times, Will’s actions border on self-destructive, even as he falls in love for the first time. Will’s approach to his budding relationship may have readers asking their own questions, such as, “Is it possible to open yourself to love when you’re closed in by grief?” Will’s behavior is not always sympathetic or likable, but his process—both the things he does and the questions he asks—is a genuine, honest portrayal of how a thoughtful teenager might approach loss.

At times, the brief quotes from philosophers that Hills interweaves into the narrative can seem like sound bites, a superficial Cliff’s Notes version of Philosophy 101. When Will considers a book of aphorisms, however, he dismisses the sort of shallow satisfaction promised by a single sentence. What Will’s story demonstrates most successfully is the ongoing relevance of life’s greatest questions—and questioners—to today’s problems. Like countless thinkers before him, Will doesn’t find answers to every question, but that’s okay. His thoughtful approach to life and death might inspire readers to continue considering these fundamental questions, or even to come up with a few of their own.

Before even glancing at chapter one of Battle Dress, Amy Efaw’s sharply observed novel about the six weeks of New Cadet Basic Training at West Point (a ritual also known as “the Beast”), turn directly to the back of the book. There you’ll find a glossary of military terms and cadet slang that will be your life raft once the story gets under way.

For Andrea “Andi” Davis, the Beast is a ticket away from her miserable home life and a shot at something better, not just in terms of education but self-worth. Her crazy family is shown in the briefest of scenes, and it’s a relief when they leave the campus, for us as well as Andi. She immediately takes to the intense discipline and focus required of new cadets, and exceeds expectations as a scholar, athlete and potential soldier. But the transformation doesn’t take place overnight.

The first few days on campus are similar to those in other books and movies set among new recruits to the military: lots of being awakened in the middle of the night, punishments for seemingly ridiculous infractions and wildly theatrical insults screamed in ALL CAPS, all in an attempt to drive someone to quit or break down. Coming from a highly dysfunctional household, Andi takes to this regimen faster than most; when a cadet punishes her to the point of tears, then asks tauntingly, “Homesick?” her response is telling: “I shook my head from side to side. ‘No . . . sir . . . It’s . . . too much . . . like home.’ ”

Author Efaw attended West Point herself; as a Beast survivor, she captures the intensity of basic training in artful strokes, and keeps front and center the fact that this training is intense, meticulous and repetitive for a reason: The ultimate purpose of a soldier is to kill. Mistakes equal death. Precision, and personal accountability, are paramount in building trust on the battlefield, and that’s where Andi finds her biggest challenge. A star performer on her own, she needs to prove her leadership skills in a group where she’s one of only two girls. When her plan fails in a training exercise, harming a colleague, she’ll need to summon the ego needed to give orders and see them carried out. It brings a smart novel to a gripping conclusion. Battle Dress is a hoo-ah read from start to finish (look it up!).

Think Greek mythology is a thing of the past? Feel as if you’ve read everything on the shelf? Don’t despair. Doris Orgel’s new book, We Goddesses: Athena, Aphrodite, Hera explains the differences between the gods and goddesses; outlines the Olympians’ family tree; describes the differences in their moral values; and focuses on the women in the myths, particularly the three goddesses listed in the title. Orgel does a superb job retelling the myths from the goddesses’ viewpoint; you’ll feel as if you’re hearing their actual voices. Full of beautiful illustrations, the book is written for the novice as well as those who are more familiar with the myths. Teachers will find it a useful resource for the classroom.

Jamie Whitfield teaches middle school English and literature.

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Sister Went Crazy, a series of poems, is Sonya Sones’ poignant story of her teenage years, during which time her sister had a nervous breakdown. The poetry describes the initial shock and confusion she felt as her sister’s odd behavior became more profound, the initial embarrassment and fear the diagnosis brought, and the eventual acceptance of her sister’s condition. It also deals with the opposite sex and homework, issues all teens face at some point.

Jamie Whitfield teaches middle school English and literature.

Living in upstate New York with a name like Mohammed Sami Sabiri, Sami has always felt like an outsider—the school nerd, a member of his school’s “leper colony” and the subject of constant taunting. His father fled Iran as a young man because of the secret police and has worked hard to fit into his community, where the Sabiris have become a respected family: original members of the Meadowville subdivision, father on the golf club’s planning committee, mother in the Ladies’ Invitational golf tournament. They send Sami to one of the most elite private boys’ academies in upstate New York.

But Sami feels he doesn’t know his father, and when Mr. Sabiri takes a mysterious trip to Toronto, he begins to wonder if his father is having an affair. So he starts to do a little undercover investigation of his father’s email messages and online accounts. Before he gets too far, the FBI storms the Sabiris’ residence, arrests Mr. Sabiri and confiscates all records that seem to incriminate him as part of a terrorist cell led by one Tariq Hasan. The fact that Mr. Sabiri is the research director at Shelton Laboratories, where anthrax, smallpox and other viruses are stored, escalates the hysteria about potential cross-border biological attacks.

But is Arman Sabiri a terrorist or a victim of a latter-day witch hunt, akin to the Salem Witch Trials, the Holocaust and the McCarthy hearings that Sami’s history teacher, Mr. Bernstein, has been discussing in class? In the context of a thrilling suspense story, Stratton explores the many ways people are separated from each other—the yearning of people like the Sabiris to simply fit in, the distance that secrets create and the evil dance of persecutor and victim, whether the Nazis, the KKK or the bullies at school who torment Sami and maneuver the firing of Mr. Bernstein. All is not what it seems with Mr. Sabiri, and Sami’s quest to clear his father’s name will carry readers along for an exciting ride.

Dean Schneider teaches middle school English in Nashville.

There’s something you should know: You probably won’t like Samantha Kingston very much, at least not the first time you meet her. But by the time you’ve met her for the third, or fourth, or seventh time, you might start thinking about Samantha a little bit differently. Because she sure starts to see herself that way.

If you’ve seen the movie Groundhog Day, you’ll be familiar with the basic structure of Lauren Oliver’s debut novel, Before I Fall. Samantha relives the same day seven times. She is the only one who’s aware that her life is stuck on repeat—everyone else just keeps living life, moving forward, unaware that for Samantha at least, there’s no such thing as tomorrow. Before I Fall takes a darker, more serious tone than the Bill Murray comedy, however—because what prompts Samantha’s string of “do-overs” is her own death in a car accident.

For so long, Samantha was one of the queen bees, someone who, by her own admission, “just followed along” in the wake of her beautiful, charismatic and sometimes mean friends. But what might happen if she makes different choices—if she takes another look at the boy she’s written off, or reaches out to the outcast, or challenges her best friends’ cruelty? And what will flash before her eyes in the moments before she dies? Samantha hopes it will be the best moments of her life—but what if, instead, her final hours are replayed ad infinitum, giving her the chance to make the right choices, to make amends, even to save someone else’s life, if not her own?

It’s remarkable that Oliver can plot the same day seven times and make each retelling engaging. But Before I Fall is not just a fascinating piece of storytelling; it’s also a thought-provoking commentary on the unintended, and sometimes profound, consequences of even the smallest actions or remarks, and a powerful testimony to people’s ability to make real, meaningful changes in their own behavior and outlook—changes that can deeply affect others’ lives as well.

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

On the brink of a new millennium, teenagers everywhere have opinions about the world that they are inheriting. From Johannesburg to Kiev, Belfast to San Francisco, teens worldwide offer an honest portrayal of the state of things in Hear These Voices: Youth at the Edge of the Millennium. Author Anthony Allison is a photographer and youth counselor who has traveled to various points on the map, talking to at risk children about their experiences and their hopes for the future. Complete with striking black-and-white photographs, Hear These Voices presents gripping stories in a forthright and respectable manner. Perfect for educators, counselors, or anyone else who is concerned about today’s youth.

T.A. (Tom) Barron brings middle-grade readers more epic adventures of England’s great wizard in book three of The Lost Years of Merlin. Young Merlin, age 14 in this latest title, continues his quest for the Galator pendant once the possession of his grandfather Tuatha. The series has proven so popular that it is now projected to include five titles, and Barron seems to outdo himself with each new title.

The book opens as Merlin is putting the final string on his handmade psaltery and preparing to play it for the first time. Just as he strikes the first chord for his mother, the poet Cairpre, and his friend Rhia, he is attacked by a kreelix, one of the flying maggots that live by devouring the magic of others; the kreelix almost succeeds in killing young Merlin. The attack sets off a series of exciting events that readers have come to expect from Barron a narrow escape from a living stone; confrontation with the treacherous Urnalda, ruler of the dwarves, who insists that Merlin honor his promise to help fight the ancient evil dragon Valdearg; Merlin’s rescue by a brother and sister from the deer people, who give him power to be transformed into a deer and then swiftly lead him across the River Unceasing; a terrible whirlwind; and a final encounter with the Wheel of Wye, where he almost succeeds in regaining the Galator, and Valdearg. Like the travels of Ulysses and Dante’s Inferno, each event is filled with unearthly creatures, magical components, and terrible threats on every side. Yet it is Merlin’s practical knowledge of herbs and his compassion in saving Valdearg’s last surviving hatchling that result in Merlin’s own final escape. Magic is a tool, he declares near the end. But whether it’s ultimately good or evil well, that depends on the person who wields it.

Young readers with a taste for mythical adventures will devour Barron’s books, perhaps without realizing the strong undergirding they give to the courage, humility, and integrity Merlin displays. Perceptive readers will also notice the occasional interweaving of environmental and vegetarian causes. And everyone will want to know if and when Merlin ever possesses the Galator.

Etta Wilson is an author, editor, and cheerleader for children’s books.

In Loraille, the Dead are dangerous. If they’re not interred with the proper rites, dead souls can return in the form of spirits, ranging from harmless shades to rare and apocalyptically powerful Revenants. People blessed with the Sight can be possessed by the risen Dead, so Sighted children are brought into convents or monasteries to receive training.

At the Gray Sisters convent, Artemisia is different from many of her peers. She spent much of her childhood possessed by a violent spirit before the nuns found her. Now Artemisia has trouble connecting with others and no strong desire to try. She just wants a quiet life, performing rites and interacting with as few people as possible.

But lately, the Dead have been behaving more aggressively than they have in years, and the convent is unsettled by a harrowing attack. Amid the chaos, Artemisia is sent to fetch the convent’s most powerful relic, which contains a trapped Revenant. When the nun in charge of the relic dies, Artemisia must wield it to defend both the convent and herself against the onslaught. With no training in controlling the Revenant, however, she must rely on her natural ability and instinct to forge a tenuous and potentially heretical alliance with an unconventional, maddening spirit—an alliance that could be the only path to salvation.

Author Margaret Rogerson excels at creating fantasy worlds that feel lived in. In Vespertine, she draws on familiar influences, including medieval France, necromantic magic and a theocratic society, so that readers can fully engage in the world of the novel from the very first page. The book is remarkably psychologically grounded as well, unfolding in a first-person narrative that keeps readers close to Artemisia’s thoughts and her conversations with the Revenant. It’s a nuanced depiction of a protagonist who has been shaped by trauma and who seems, at times, neurodivergent. Artemisia’s intimate narration differentiates her journey in Vespertine from typical “chosen one” tropes and endears her to the reader.

Rogerson clearly delights in the gruesome and the grotesque, meting out choice details about horrifying spirits and unsavory causes of death. A few supporting characters (somewhat predictably to experienced fantasy readers) defy expectations and prove heroic in their own right. Vespertine blends darkness, thrills and satisfying characterization for an engrossing fantasy tale.

When German-born Eva Gerst arrives at Powell House in New York in the wake of the Second World War, she’s on a mission—but not the mission the United States government thinks they’ve enlisted her for. Yes, she’s searching for the Nazi leader they’ve asked her to find, but she has no intention of turning him over to them as instructed. She knows they’ll only protect him. Worse, they’ll allow him to continue his grotesque psychological experiments, like the ones he conducted on the people imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, in the interest of staying one step ahead of the Soviets. No, Eva is determined to bring this Nazi to justice herself.

In Bluebird, author Sharon Cameron (The Light in Hidden Places) dives deep into the dark, little-recognized period immediately following WWII, when the U.S. raced to secure German technology, including Nazi expertise, equipment and strategy, both for its personal use and to keep it out of Soviet hands. The depth of Cameron’s research on this historical era results in a completely immersive novel. Readers will find themselves dropped directly into postwar Germany and New York City alongside Eva as she witnesses the atrocities of the concentration camps and the racist attitudes of both Germans and Americans. They’ll also find beacons of hope among the American Friends Service Committee, which welcomes Eva to Powell House when she first arrives in America. The AFSC, writes Cameron in a lengthy author’s note, was a real organization that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for its efforts during both world wars and was “one of the few organizations willing to work immediately with non-Jewish German immigrants” after WWII.

Cameron pulls no punches in Bluebird. Although the novel is rarely graphic and never gratuitous, many of Eva’s experiences, including her physically and psychologically abusive parents and the aftermath of her best friend’s sexual assault, resonate viscerally. Despite the novel’s weighty material, Cameron never loses sight of the heart at the center of the story. Eva’s loyalty to her best friend, her struggle to understand her identity and her budding romance with Jacob Katz, whom the AFSC has assigned to help her settle into her new life in America, all keep Bluebird grounded, providing touchstones of warmth amid the horrors of Eva’s past. And when it comes to the impossible decisions Eva must make, Cameron ensures that readers will be searching for the “right” choice right along with her.

After writing four YA novels featuring contemporary realism and romance, Robyn Schneider is throwing her outsiders-in-love antics back—way back. In The Other Merlin, Schneider makes her first foray into fantasy, retelling the legend of King Arthur for today’s teens. The first book in a planned trilogy, it contains enough mystery, sex, mistaken identities and scandalous clashes of class and nobility that it could be titled Bridgerton: Knights of the Round Table.

The titular “other” Merlin is Emry, a highly skilled teenage wizard who spends her days performing special-effects illusions on the sly at her local theater while her father, the O.G. Merlin, trains her less talented twin brother, Emmett. After Merlin vanishes, the king sends a request for Emmett to take Merlin’s place at court. But when Emmett is incapacitated by a spell that backfires, Emry decides to fill in for her brother, chopping off her hair and binding her chest to look the part. She wants to ensure that her family stays in the king’s good graces, but she also sees an opportunity to nurture her talents, since girls aren’t allowed to learn or practice magic.

Meanwhile, Prince Arthur has just pulled that silly sword out of the stone. This stuns his family, who don’t think much of Arthur’s love for books and gardening, not to mention his buddy-buddy relationship with an unfairly dishonored Lancelot. When Emry arrives, the three become fast friends. They form a team of outsiders who are trying to grow into the best versions of themselves, fate be damned. Can Arthur be a good king if he defies his father’s wishes? Can Lancelot be a knight if he loves another man? Can Emry be a great wizard like her father even though she’s a woman? As she explores the answers to these questions, Schneider reworks the classical hero’s journey through an unapologetically feminist lens.

Though her author’s note mentions working on The Other Merlin in 17th-century libraries, Schneider is hardly precious with her source material. She maneuvers deftly through conversations about gender, sexuality and equity in a medieval setting that feels grounded and relatable. Is any of it canonical? Probably not, but who cares! In a world filled with wizards, spells and glowing magical swords, why can’t everyone be bisexual? It certainly makes for more interesting love triangles, which are plentiful. Arthurian legend, after all, is basically a centuries-old soap opera, so why not make it extra soapy?

Funny, thrilling, brave and bold, The Other Merlin is the perfect way to pass the time until the next Renaissance Faire. Schneider’s Arthurian tale stands out amid a crowd of old, dusty duplicates.