The Watcher

From Publisher's Weekly...

In this intense psychological drama, Howe (Bunnicula) delves into the minds of three troubled teens whose lives converge at a seaside resort. Twelve-year-old Evan and lifeguard Chris arrive at the beach loaded down with worries. Evan fears that his parents are on the brink of divorce, and Chris cannot shake the feeling he is living in the shadow of his older brother, who died before Chris was born. Then there is Margaret. Nicknamed Harriet the Spy by Evan's younger sister and described as a ""broken shell"" by his mother, the strange, silent girl sits at the edge of the sand inventing stories about the people she observes. Attracted to both Evan and Chris, the ""watcher"" incorporates them into a disturbing fantasy. Segments of her fairy tale about a captive princess are interleaved with scenes depicting the boys' individual struggles. The characters remain separated from one another until the book's riveting final chapter. In a startling turn of events, Evan and Chris become the ""watchers"" of Margaret, witnessing her torment and saving her from her abusive father. A blend of allegory and stark realism, this grim story offers a host of ironies for readers to explore. If the plot comes off as manufactured or melodramatic, the emotions of characters remain genuine and haunting. Ages 12-up. (May)

Odd and intense...some swearing

Far From The Tree

From Publisher's Weekly
National Book Award Finalist

In an equally heartwarming and heart-wrenching story, three siblings separated in infancy find each other as teens. Grace, who has always known she was adopted, first learns of her brother, Joaquin, and sister, Maya, while unsuccessfully searching for her birth mother during a tumultuous junior year. Her open-minded adoptive parents support a reunion, and the siblings’ initial meeting is a success. During subsequent visits, they discover the things they have in common, as well as some painful secrets. Joaquin’s childhood has not been as happy as Grace’s has been, and his deep-rooted fears are affecting his current relationships. Maya’s home life has become chaotic due to fights and alcohol abuse, and Grace knows firsthand how difficult it is to put a baby up for adoption. Writing in a shifting third-person narrative that is both nonjudgmental and deeply empathetic, Benway (Emmy & Oliver) delves into the souls of these characters as they wrestle to overcome feelings of inadequacy, abandonment, and betrayal, gradually coming to understand themselves and each other. Ages 13–up. 

Excellent story!  

What Girls Are Made Of

From Publisher's Weekly...
National Book Award Finalist

According to nursery rhymes, girls are supposed to be made of sugar, spice, and everything nice, but Arnold (Infandous) knows that reality isn’t so pretty or simplistic. Her heroine, 16-year-old Nina, is made of body insecurities, few close friends, a willingness to do whatever it takes to keep her boyfriend, and an unsatisfying sex life in which birth control is her left for her to worry about. It’s not that this depiction rings false (would that it did) but that Arnold lays it out so baldly, and at times so oddly. Obsessed with female saints and their violated bodies, Nina writes short stories, interspersed throughout, that are a kind of Catholic magical realism—a saint is martyred for refusing to marry her father, a girl grows vaginas all over her body. Nina also stews over her mother’s claim that no love is unconditional, letting it drive her actions. In the end, Nina takes responsibility for herself, even things she’s not proud of, but while there’s much that’s laudable in Arnold’s novel, particularly her visceral portrait of girls as bodily creatures, too often the messaging feels forced. Ages 13–up. 

I didn't like it to start, but I liked the ending.  Not for middle school!