Hawksong
by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

In this engaging fantasy, Danica Shardae is an avian shapeshifter. She is a princess of her people who, like the birds they become, is reserved and disciplined, yet full of passion. Her people have been at war with the serpiente, a people who shapeshift into serpent forms, for so many years that no one remembers how it all started. The hatred and bloodshed have taken a heavy toll on both sides, and Danica and Zane Cobriana, a prince among the serpiente, are determined to stop it, at any cost. He is the last of his line as is Danica and so he proposes that the avian and serpiente royalty meet at a neutral place and seek mediation to end the war. The mediator proposal-that Danica and Zane marry-is so crazy and repugnant a plan that both parties leave immediately.

24 Girls in 7 Days
By Gail Giles

There are few things sadder than Jack Grammar's love life. So when his friends take it upon themselves to get him a date to the prom by placing an intensely humiliating ad in the school paper, they think they are doing him a favor. Jack doesn't agree. But then the most amazing thing happens: responses to the ad are overwhelming. So overwhelming, in fact, that Jack must narrow the list down. A lot. Turns out, the girls at City High are quite competitive. From drive-by flashings to breaking and entering to cell phone stalkers, these potential prom dates will stop at nothing to snag the suddenly popular Jack. How will he ever choose just one?

Daniel Half-Human and the Good Nazi
By David Chotjewitz

In Hamburg, Germany, in the 1930's, Daniel enjoys being part of the Hitler Youth until he discovers his mother is Jewish and he is thrown out of his elite school. He still has fun with his best friend, Armin, who falls in love with Daniel's Jewish cousin; but tension mounts, racism is rampant, and Armin begins to stay away, though he takes risks and warns his friend to hide. Daniel's return to Hamburg in 1945 as interpreter for the Allies frames the novel, which switches among the viewpoints of too many characters, including Daniel's parents, who fight about whether to leave the country.

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters
By Gail Giles

Sunny's older sister has been presumed dead for several months when Sunny receives a letter from Jazz explaining that she was away working in a repertory theater when her apartment burned to the ground. Then Jazz, or Not-Jazz as Sunny calls her, returns home. Her mother has become addicted to sleeping pills and Dad has fallen back into the bottle since his daughter's "death." Sunny and her father soon realize that the young woman is indeed not Jazz, even though she knows a great deal about their family history and secrets. As Sunny investigates, she begins to discover who this imposter is and how she knows so much about their family.

Monsoon Summer
By Mitali Perkins

Fifteen-year-old Jasmine ("Jazz") is conflicted about spending the summer in Pune, India, where her mother has received a grant to work at the orphanage where she had lived as a child. Jazz would rather spend the summer at home in California, with Steve, the best friend she secretly love. Jazz has always identified more with her tall, shy, "bulky" father than with her slight, "do-gooder" mother, but as she forms new friendships in Pune and delves deeper into her Indian heritage, she discovers her own strong beauty as well as the confidence to help others. Although Jazz's loving, altruistic, multiethnic family is a bit idealized, this debut novel, written in Jazz's smart, funny, self-deprecating voice, vividly evokes the smells, sights and sound of India in the monsoon season.

My Sister's Keeper
By Jodi Piccoult

Conceived in vitro, 13-year-old Anna Fitzgerald has decided to sue her parents to stop them from using her as "spare parts" for her older sister, Kate, who suffers from leukemia. After years of having her bone marrow and blood used to keep Kate alive, Anna now refuses to donate a kidney and strives for her own personal freedom. She hires lawyer Campbell Alexander to represent her, even as her own mother, a former civil defense attorney, fights her in court.

Pool Boy
By Michael Simmons

Fifteen-year-old Brett Gerson is the kind of kid you love to hate. He's smug, arrogant, rude, and filthy rich. When his dad is jailed for insider trading, his family loses everything and Brett has to face life without the mansion, the Mercedes, and his beloved $5,000 stereo. But his attitude begins to change when he's forced to take a summer job assisting Alfie Moore, the seventy-year old guy who used to clean his swimming pool.

Chanda's Secrets
By Allen Stratton

Chanda, 16, remembers the good times, when she lived with both parents on a cattle post in sub-Saharan Africa and even later on when her family moved to Bonang. Her family's troubles began after her father was killed in the diamond mines. Her first stepfather abused her; the second died of a stroke; the third is a drunken philanderer. Although Chanda lives in a world in which illness and death have become commonplace, it is not one in which AIDS can be mentioned. The horror and desperation of families facing this disease is brought home when her latest stepfather's sister dumps the dying man in front of their shantytown house. Before Chanda can get help from the hospital caseworker, he disappears and the wagon that brought him is burned. Her mother leaves to visit her family on the cattle post and Chanda is forced to give up her dream of further education to care for her younger sister and brother. Slowly she comes to realize that her mother has AIDS, and that she might be infected herself. But Chanda's education serves her well as she faces the disease head-on. In a sad but satisfying ending, she rescues her mother so that she can die at home and she and her siblings get themselves tested. Smart and determined, Chanda is a character whom readers come to care for and believe in, in spite of her almost impossible situation.

Heart on My Sleeve
By Ellen Wittlinger

The story begins when 18-year-old, Boston-born, singer-songwriter Chloe visits a college in Connecticut as a prospective student and meets the dreamy singer-actor Julian from Florida. Both primed to say good-bye to high school and hello to the rest of their lives, the two share an intense, somewhat smooch-filled weekend that blossoms into on an online romance. Inconveniently, Chloe already has a boyfriend. And both of them have prom, graduation, and summer jobs to contend with. A bouquet of ill-times roses exposes Chloe's secret tryst and wrecks prom, but the revelations don't stop here. Chloe's sister Genevieve come out as a lesbian via e-mail and Julian's sister e-announce her Las Vegas wedding to a man no one has met. The reaction of Chloe's parents to Gen's coming out is both comical and wince-inducing.

Emako Blue
By Brenda Woods

With her confident attitude, endearing nature, incredible singing voice, and exceptional beauty both inside and out, Emako makes a lasting impression on everyone. Monterey is thrilled to have her as a best friend. Jamal is in love with her. Eddie is glad to have a confidante who understands his family troubles. Emako is even nice to wealthy but unhappy Savannah, who is jealous of her. When Emako's brother is released from jail, she becomes the victim of a drive-by shooting meant for him. The teens' world is torn apart as they mourn their senseless loss. This short, succinct, and poignant story of friendship, family, and overwhelming sadness will leave some readers in tears. Each chapter is told form the point of view of one of Emako's friends; additionally, some chapters are told from Savannah's perspective. Steered by perceptive dialogue, the story takes readers from Emako's funeral, through flashbacks, to the moment she is killed, to the shock and sorrow that follow her death, bringing it full circle.