"Lost and Found" by Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan's newest book, due out in April of 2011, is another winner. It has three powerful stories within it's covers and the illustrations enhance them in a magnificent way. All three stories have to do with what we lose, but more importantly, with what we find.

Although the brevity of it will draw younger readers, once again Tan proves that he can appeal to an older, wiser audience even with seemingly simplistic words.

"Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

This year's Newbery winner is a charmer. Abilene Tucker is sent by her father to his hometown of Manifest, Kansas to wait out the summer while he works. Her feelings are overwrought as she attempts to discover why he left her here and what it all means.

When Abilene meets Miss Sadie on the Path to Perdition, Abilene's story and her father's story become intertwined. As Miss Sadie tells the story of two young boys interspersed between the actual happenings of the town, we see the richness of the history and the fullness of the circle between past and present.

A wonderful tale of redemption, love, and the power of healing.

"Delirium" by Lauren Oliver

When Lena turns 18 she will be given the "cure." She is counting down the days until this happens. Her mother committed suicide due to delirium and Lena does not want the same thing to happen to her. This is the world she knows and this is what she expects to happen.

Everything moves towards this day in an orderly fashion until she meets Alex at a party her best friend has talked her into attending.

As things happen, Lena and Alex fall in love. This is what the "cure" will prevent. The society they live in wants them to experience the world in a practical manner, not in a loving one.

This dystopian novel will appeal to both middle schoolers and high schoolers who are looking for a romance novel with a twist of adventure and excitement. Due out in February 2011.

"Beautiful Darkness" by Kami Garci and Margaret Stohl

Book 2 in the Caster Chronicles is another fast-paced exciting read. This time Lena must choose between light and dark and her boyfriend Ethan, a mortal, cannot help her make the choice.
In this story, Lena is pushing Ethan away as she continues to struggle with the death of her uncle. She feels as if it were her fault and she can't seem to overcome the choices. She starts hanging around her dark cousin Ridley and a new boy named John.

Once again we travel between Caster world and mortal world and see how closely the two are intersected. Ethan and Linc still work and play together as they work to figure out how Ethan's visions are playing a part in all that is going on.

Can use in middle school but readers must have read "Beautiful Creatures" first or this second book will make little sense.

"Paranormalcy" by Kiersten White

Evie works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Her job is to capture vampires, werewolves and the like and contain them. One of her gifts is that she can see through the paranormals' glamours. This is what helps her make her captures. She is 16 years-old and Evie thinks her life is perfectly normal. Her best friend is a mermaid and her ex-boyfriend (if you can call him that) is a faerie. Just another day....

Things change quickly for Evie when a shapeshifter named Lend is brought to the facility. While he is there paranormals are being killed. Searching for the killer brings to light a whole new set of problems and challenges. While the IPCA wants to contain, they don't kill.

This incredibly fast-paced read is filled with both romance and on-the-edge-of-your-seat thrills. Perfect for middle and high school. In fact, instead of any swear words there is only "bleep." Perfect.

"Accomplice" by Eireann Corrigan

Imagine if you and your best friend concoct a plan to stage the kidnapping of one of you. You both work out all of the details, go over everything step by step so there will be no mistake. Yet, one of you doesn't know all the details like she thinks she does.

This is the premise for this story. Finn and Chloe are going to fake Chloe's disappearance. They truly believe it will give them name recognition for their quest for the perfect college. Everything goes off without a hitch, until Dean (Chloe's supposed boyfriend) is arrested for her murder.

That's when things start to unravel. There is more to Chloe's plan than even Finn knows about.

A fast-paced, stay on the edge of your seat story.

"Sprout" by Dale Peck

When a gay teenage with green hair moves from New York City to Kansas you expect the gay part or even the green hair part to be the big deal. Neither of them are. The big deal is that Sprout is a talented writer, leaving with a drunk father, who has lost his mother to cancer, has a working friendship with an older English teacher, and attempts to find himself in the midst of all that surrounds him.

His secrets are in plain sight but the decisions he makes along the way are what shapes and molds him into who and what he is.

Imagine trying to find a boyfriend, having a secret fling with a jock who is now your best girlfriend's boyfriend and you have a recipe for success.

Add to that the voice of a young man who is an excellent writer and manages to use words and sentences in a way that entices the reader to continue.

A wonderfully told story of a young man's search for true identity.

Definitely belongs on high school shelves.