Felix’s last season of high school football is all that matters. When he’s out on the field, he can forget about his older brother who never came back from the war, his mother who disappeared inside her own mind after losing her oldest son, and the mining town that seems to be crumbling around him. If he can just lead the Muckers team to victory, he knows everything will be all right.

But even as the Muckers win more games, it’s hard to ignore everything that’s going wrong in his small Texas town. The threat of communism has everyone on edge, and race relations in the multiethnic immigrant community are near a boiling point. One of his best friends is heading off to the Korean War to prove himself, and the town will never accept the fact that Felix is white and the only girl he wants to kiss is Mexican.

Muckers is a strong piece of young adult historical fiction that manages to touch on many topics without seeming disjointed. The frame of a local newspaper helps to add some extra historical content without forcing it into the dialogue.

The novel is strongest when it gets inside Felix’s head off the football field, when he’s forced to think about not only his painful past, but his future. His desire to honor his parents and brother is strong, but what makes him a truly compelling protagonist is his thirst to prove his worth to himself, and his determination to avoid a life in the mines.

Muckers will entertain anyone interested in 1950s America, but it will especially capture the attention of football fans and anyone who’s ever felt hometown pride.

The short, fragmented chapters in Julie Berry’s YA debut, All the Truth That’s in Me, fall like puzzle pieces, slowly revealing 16-year-old Judith’s difficult, veiled story. It all begins with an early memory of an ocean journey, when Judith and a group of pioneering families traveled far from their homeland, finally landing and forming a small, insular community.

Judith’s childhood friend, Lucas, has long been the love of her life, and she relates her story as if speaking to him directly. However, in reality, Judith cannot speak to Lucas at all. When she was 14, Judith was abducted and held captive for two years. The details of her abduction—the man who seized her, the place of her imprisonment and the atrocities performed upon her—are revealed gradually. When Judith finally escaped and staggered back home, she was nearly dead and half her tongue had been carved out.

A grim tone persists throughout All the Truth That’s in Me, much like the prolonged hardship Judith and her community face as soldiers attack and secrets poison from within. It becomes increasingly clear that only Judith knows the truth that will bring peace and justice—if only she could speak it.

Berry has created something unique in her story of fear and repression set in an unspecified time and place. Although Judith’s loneliness and longing are almost unbearable, readers sense that she has the strength and intelligence to overcome her handicap. The ever-present violence is reminiscent of Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series, but Judith’s uncompromising love for Lucas will sustain the most romantic of readers. All the Truth That’s in Me is a perfect emotional blend of horror and romance.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Q&A with Julie Berry for All the Truth That's in Me.

After an unsuccessful suicide attempt, 16-year-old Elise Dembowski realized she never really wanted to die; she just wanted to be noticed. Change seems impossible when the popular kids speak in a code she can’t crack; she’s often a little precocious when the world embraces ordinary; and a bully writes a fake blog in her name, making the school think she is unapproachable and suicidal again. However, when Elise accidentally discovers an underground dance party called Start, big changes happen when she least expects it.

In a voice that ranges from honest and heartbreaking to witty and hopeful, Elise relates her weekly secret escapes to Start, where she encounters Vicky and Pippa, her first friends, and DJ Char, who shares her first kiss (and more). Char and Elise also share a passion for music, and with Char’s help, Elise may become Start’s newest and hottest DJ. With song lyrics kicking off each chapter and heart-thumping descriptions, readers can almost hear the music in the background.

While being a DJ gives Elise her first sense of power, she uses the opportunity to find self-acceptance, to reconnect with her divorced parents and to look for the positive in her classmates. Her experiences will encourage young adults to find their own power and aspire for the extraordinary. Of course, they’ll also be inspired to download all the classic hits that make this novel rock on. This Song Will Save Your Life is for anyone who’s ever felt alone and just wanted to fit in. And who hasn’t?

Eighteen-year-old Cath is not looking forward to her first year of college. Her twin sister Wren, who has always seemed like her other half, decides they should both use college as a time to meet new friends—separately. But even as she stresses about her sister’s distance or what living alone will do to her loving but scatterbrained father, she has one constant in her life to lean on: her fan fiction.

Cath has been writing Simon Snow fan fiction since she was a preteen, and she’s become a bit of a celebrity in the community. With the series finishing up in the spring, she’s desperate to finish her version of Simon’s story before the author ends his journey in canon. In fact, she’s so busy writing her final fanfic, she barely has time to deal with an absentee mother who suddenly wants to re-enter her life, an English professor who admires her writing but thinks fan fiction is plagiarism, or the attention of a boy who’s always coming to her rescue no matter how many times she pushes him away.

Rainbow Rowell’s latest YA novel is truly fantastic. She creates an incredibly relatable protagonist with Cath, a college freshman who would rather live off granola bars for the entire year than ask her intimidating roommate for directions to the cafeteria. Yet in spite of her social anxiety, Cath is a character with tremendous inner strength who comes to the aid of her family without a second thought and who finds her confidence with a pen in her hand.

Rowell also creates a very believable romance, with a slow build and false starts that seem genuine to the college experience. All stages of her developing relationship are equally important, from Cath’s disbelief that such a guy would be interested in her to her questions about his expectations.

Fangirl is bound to become a classic for anyone who grew up writing fan fiction and to all the teens scrolling though Tumblr, hoping to meet others who have decided that their favorite novel’s protagonist and antagonist are actually the romantic leads. Even readers who have never heard of fanfic will be drawn in by Cath’s witty, original voice and the sense of safety she feels when disappearing into the world of a book.

Molly Horan has her MFA in writing for children and young adults from The New School.

Readers of Nancy Farmer’s award-winning 2002 novel, The House of the Scorpion, are familiar with the country of Opium, epicenter of the Drug Confederacy, and an imagined future when drug lords have the power of kings. After the death of Matteo Alacrán (aka El Patrón), attendees at his funeral unknowingly consumed poisoned wine, killing all possible heirs to Opium, save one—El Patrón’s clone, 14-year-old Matt Alacrán.

In Matt’s earlier adventures in Opium, he was much maligned due to his clone status. Now, however, Matt is no longer a copy of an existing person, but a unique human being, a bona fide heir. But first Matt must prove himself worthy of command, facing both his own security force and menacing foreign drug lords.

Matt’s top priority becomes the fate of the eejits, people with microchips implanted in their brains, reducing them into soulless zombies, unable to act without command. With their spooky, unresponsive eyes, eejits appear to have lost all traces of personality. But when Matt tries to befriend a beautiful eejit called Waitress, he notices that she seems to “come alive” when eating baked custard. Is she connecting with her past?

Determined to discover the truth, Matt teams up with Cienfuegos, an intelligent, dry-witted soldier who is grappling with his own demons, and Listen, a smart and sassy 7-year-old. Matt is also reunited with Celia, his longtime caregiver; Maria, his true love; and his Lost Boy friends from the plankton factory.

As with The House of the Scorpion, The Lord of Opium encompasses great and relevant themes, such as ecology, autonomy, the greater good and absolute power. Suspenseful and creepy, funny and wise, Farmer delivers a sequel with all the satisfying clout of its predecessor.

Somewhere in the future, Em and her best friend Finn are imprisoned in adjacent cells and subjected to torture at the hands of a man called “the doctor.” Inside the drain in her cell, Em finds a piece of paper written in her own handwriting. Two things are clear: Time travel is possible, and the only option is to kill “him.” With the help of a guard, Em and Finn escape from their prison and access a time machine to take them four years into the past, where their actions could prevent a world war. In the days before impending disaster, Em and Finn’s loyal friendship may be the only thing strong enough to take on the untouchable doctor.

Four years earlier, Marina is the typical girl next door in love with her cute neighbor, James, made all the cuter because he has remained clueless for years. Things look like they may be finally falling into place for James and Marina, but life begins unraveling when tragedy strikes. Someone tries to kill James’ brother, and James struggles to discover the secrets behind the assassination attempt. Marina wants to be there for James, but standing beside him is not always a safe place to be. As the future begins catching up with James and Marina, they will be forced to grow up quickly, but they may not like what they discover about themselves. Love and friendship bind them, but is anything permanent with the invention of a time machine?

Great time travel stories are rife with spoilers, so little more of the plot can be shared. Cristin Terrill’s fast-paced debut novel, All Our Yesterdays, is a multilayered tale that goes beyond entertaining. Incorporating the paradoxes of time travel, evil doctors and secret government operations, this novel has a bit of everything for any reader seeking adventure.

Francesca Lia Block has made a trademark of twining myth and reality so snugly it’s difficult to figure out where one ends and the other begins. Love in the Time of Global Warming blends an emergency road trip into Homer’s The Odyssey, with home and family—who and wherever they are—firmly at the heart of the story.

The Earth Shaker and tidal wave that wiped out Los Angeles destroyed Penelope’s home and scattered her mom, dad and brother to the four winds. No longer safe among the dwindling emergency supplies in her family’s basement, she cuts off her long hair and hits the road, hoping for signs of life. The ruined landscape she travels, complete with genetically engineered giants who scarf humans like Buffalo wings, is bleak. However, fantastical and sometimes funny parallels to The Odyssey are a pleasure to follow. Pen encounters tranced-out “lotus eaters” crashing in an abandoned hotel, and sirens who—well, the chapter’s titled “The Real Sirens of Beverly Hills,” which pretty much says it all. She also meets Hex, who becomes not just her traveling companion but a love interest strong enough to ease an old heartache from the time before.

A story so harsh could be terribly depressing to read, but Block has always been able to find hope in the bleakest realities, and Global Warming is no different. Pen doesn’t get her old life back, but by story’s end she’s reclaimed some of her history and is no longer running scared but living with an eye toward the future. This is a fine adventure story that leaves the question of what comes next in the reader's hands. You can read it in an afternoon, but you’ll be thinking about it for days afterward.

Hamlet may be one of the best known tales in Western literature, so any reworkings of this famous play carry high expectations. Other recent YA retellings have focused on Ophelia (like Dating Hamlet by Lisa Fiedler and Ophelia by Lisa M. Klein), but none tackle Shakespeare’s lovelorn and possibly mad heroine quite like Dot Hutchison's debut novel, A Wounded Name.

Set among the squabbling administration of the prestigious boarding school Elsinore Academy, A Wounded Name opens after the sudden death of the school’s headmaster. Ophelia, a sophomore, knows that her father Polonius, the Dean of Curriculum, wants her to take her pills to keep her wild visions at bay, but other temptations beckon. The former headmaster’s son Dane, a senior, has the potential to become more than a friend. Dane’s mother quickly remarries to keep her position as chief hostess, the only role she’s ever known. Fellow senior Horatio balances studies with his devotion to his grieving best friend.

A reader familiar with Hamlet will appreciate the way in which details from the play are translated into a boarding school setting (Fortinbras heads a rival school; Laertes attends a study abroad program in France), but what truly sets this retelling apart are the faerie creatures that only Ophelia can see and hear. Although none of these creatures—including the wailing bean sidhe, the water-bound morgens or ghostly figures on an endlessly unresolved Hunt—appear in the original play, they complement the story so naturally that readers might suspect that they were always there, just never mentioned. And although Ophelia still seeks final sanctuary in the lake, Hutchison undermines our assumptions about what awaits her under the water’s surface . . . and what might have driven her there. This is a highly recommended retelling by an author to watch.

After shattering his leg in a car accident the summer before his senior year of high school, former varsity tennis star Ezra Faulkner is forced to take a step back from living on the ledge of a life rife with drunken parties, shallow girls and his own excessive popularity. Abandoned by his supposed friends and teammates while recuperating, Ezra reverts to his former, unpopular self while trying to rekindle both old desires and forgotten friendships. When the unorthodoxly beautiful and witty Cassidy Thorpe transfers to Ezra’s sheltered high school, she opens up a whole new world of possibility for Ezra, one filled with genuine conversations, the debate team, really bad puns and the lunch table of misfit kids.

As his dream girl, Cassidy becomes the catalyst for all of Ezra’s positive life changes, but in his idolizing, Ezra begins to neglect her humanity, ignore her cryptically tragic past and obscure her forewarned shortcomings. The wiser and more melodramatic Cassidy gradually morphs into a cautionary example of the dream girl archetype, one that shows the full extent of her power as a force for both good and bad, and Ezra starts to realize that maybe the only validation he needs is from himself.

In her first young adult novel penned under her own name (she wrote the middle grade Knightley Academy series under her pseudonym, Violet Haberdasher), actress and videoblogger Robyn Schneider collects her distilled wisdom on finding and being true to oneself, even when that discovery stems from loss. Though The Beginning of Everything centers around Ezra, Schneider shares that “it’s a totally embellished and wildly unfaithful adaptation of eight years of my life condensed into eight months of someone else’s.”

The Beginning of Everything gets off to a slow start, but as Ezra’s narration builds pace, it begins skipping around chronologically and careening through a year of high school drama. Even with all that build-up, the story comes to an end similar to Ezra’s car crash—abruptly and with only slight resolution. Nevertheless, readers will find The Beginning of Everything to be a clever and comical exploration into high school life on both sides of the popularity divide.

Outside their high school, two boys—armed with their friends, some sympathetic teachers and a carefully devised plan—start to kiss. Their goal? To break the world record for longest kiss, clocking in at 32 hours, 12 minutes and 10 seconds. Craig and Harry, the two boys in question, used to be a couple. Now, though, they are aiming to break this specific record as friends, both to honor their mutual friend Tariq, who has recently been the victim of gay bashing, and, as Craig eventually comes to realize, to honor the sheer joy of being and feeling alive.

Craig and Harry’s story is interspersed with those of other boys—kissing, wanting to be kissed or being terrified to kiss. Neil and Peter have been a couple long enough that dating no longer feels like dating, but Neil’s parents refuse to acknowledge that Peter is his boyfriend. Avery and Ryan, who just met at a regional gay prom, are tentatively exploring their new feelings for each other, both hesitant to reveal too much of themselves. And Cooper, after being caught cruising gay sex sites by his father, runs away from his parents’ anger, fear and rejection—but to what?

Levithan’s powerful, multifaceted novel explores just how far things have come for many gay teens—and how far things still need to go. The most poignant aspect of Two Boys Kissing is its narrator—or rather, narrators, as the stories are told by a Greek chorus composed of the generation of gay men who lost their lives to AIDS. These narrators mourn the all-too-familiar scenes of violence and despair, and marvel at the freedom and acceptance they could only have imagined.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Q&A with David Levithan for Two Boys Kissing.

Elizabeth Wein’s previous WWII novel, Code Name Verity—which garnered multiple awards, including a 2013 Michael L. Printz Honor—is a singular reading experience. The story of Verity, a spy caught behind enemy lines, is intense, suspenseful and authentic. In this companion novel, Wein revisits the topic of women pilots in the war, and readers who loved Code Name Verity won’t be disappointed: Rose Under Fire is equally good. It might even be better.

Eighteen-year-old American pilot and amateur poet Rose Justice has pulled some strings to land a spot with Great Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). As the daughter of a flight school director, she has been flying since she was 12, and after three months with ATA, she can deliver new and repaired Spitfire fighter planes to airfields without batting an eyelash. But even Rose is surprised to learn that the death of a fellow ATA pilot might have been the result of an attempt to “tip” or ram a German V-1 flying bomb out of the sky. However, when given the chance, she can’t resist trying the same thing—an incident with disastrous consequences. Rose is captured in enemy territory and imprisoned in Ravensbrück, a Nazi concentration camp for women that holds many political prisoners and “Rabbits,” victims of heinous medical experiments.

Although the harrowing story of what happens to Rose and the other Ravensbrück women is fictionalized, Wein says in her author’s note, “I didn’t make up Ravensbrück. I didn’t make up anything about Ravensbrück.” But we, as readers, already sense this. It is impossible to read Wein and not understand that paying witness to the truth is essential to what she does.

Wein, an avid flyer herself, is a powerful, compelling storyteller whose work, like that of Suzanne Collins, will no doubt fly off the young adult shelves and find an eager general audience. As we near the 75th anniversary of the start of World War II in 2014, the timing couldn’t be better to remind ourselves that there are still hard aspects left to tell and to learn.

A confession: I picked up If You Could Be Mine knowing only that it was about two teenage girls in love in Tehran. While homosexuality is a crime in Iran, transsexuals are tolerated if not enthusiastically embraced, so one of the girls contemplates sex change surgery for the chance to love without risk of death. I assumed the book would be grim and possibly preachy—how else could you tell a story with so much at stake? Thankfully, I could not have been more wrong. If You Could Be Mine is at once dazzling and funny and heartbreaking and wise.

Sahar and Nasrin have been best friends—and girlfriends—since early childhood. When Nasrin’s parents arrange a marriage for her, Sahar considers changing her gender in order to try to stop the wedding. The people she meets at a transgender support group question her motivation, but reluctantly offer their help. When one who comes to meet her at an underground gay bar is openly hostile to the crowd—it’s not just elitism but Muslim law that separates gay and transgender people—Sahar’s gay cousin Ali intervenes. When the woman explains she came to deliver hormones to Sahar, “Ali looks at me like I have just told him I have killed Britney Spears, Madonna, and Lady Gaga.”

A girl considers extreme lengths for love in Farizan's debut.

Things only get more difficult from there. Sahar’s relationship with Nasrin suffers as the wedding approaches, and at home she tries to wake her widowed father from a five-year period of mourning and detachment. Eventually she begins to carve out a new life for herself, and a new relationship with Nasrin.

This is Sara Farizan’s first novel, and what a debut it is. The Iran revealed through the eyes of her teenaged characters is a place of oppression and great risk, but the Ayatollahs are viewed as little more than cranky grandfathers. The West is regarded with a mix of awe at the freedom allowed there and disgust that it is so unappreciated.

Sahar and Nasrin’s circumstances differ from those of most Americans in drastic ways, but their love, heartbreak and redemption will resonate with anyone. If You Could Be Mine is a beautiful, compassionate, must-read novel.

Seth drowns in a furious ocean, his body battered by freezing waves and sharp rocks. But as his consciousness gradually returns, he finds himself in a world that’s both foreign and eerily familiar. It appears to be a long-abandoned version of his childhood hometown, the British village full of painful memories that his family left eight years ago to start a new life far away. Strangest of all, this alternate, desolate world seems to respond directly to Seth’s thoughts, putting everything from supplies to companions in front of him just as he needs them.

As Seth and two other mismatched teens band together to avoid a terrifying menace, all three are haunted by frighteningly realistic dreams of their previous lives. Issues of forbidden love, unwavering friendship, complex family dynamics, the difference between childhood and adulthood, violent abuse and teen suicide dovetail as the three survivors gradually figure out where they really are . . . and what they might be able to do about it.

Artsy, creepy and full of psychological suspense, More Than This from Carnegie Medal-winning author Patrick Ness combines the science-fiction/thriller aspects of Robison Wells’ Variant with the surreal, trauma-induced alternate realities of Andrew Smith’s The Marbury Lens. As readers familiar with the Chaos Walking trilogy know, Ness specializes in writing post-apocalyptic worlds where things are rarely as they seem. When the truth—or what might be the truth—is finally revealed, the answers are both fitting and surprising. The dizzying ending brings the characters to the narrow edge between inevitable outcomes and hope for second chances—and challenges readers to form their own conclusions.