The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Native American 14 year old Junior is a classic underdog - poor, weak health, humiliated daily by even his best (and only) friend. But sometimes there is a spark of courage that just IS, even in the most unlikely people. That spark leads Junior to leave the poverty, alcoholism, and hopelessness of life on the Spokane reservation and seek an education 22 miles away in an all white school. Junior faces the challenges with stoicism and with humor - balancing his home life on the rez with his school days where he is the only Indian except for the school mascot. It's about the redemptive power of sports and of friendship. It's irreverent, tragic, funny, and a deeply moving story that had me laughing through tears.

The missing girl, by Norma Fox Mazer

Told from alternating points of view, this is the story of a family of five sisters and the stalker who is choosing which one of the five to abduct. It would have helped if the chapter titles indicated which of the five girls narrates each chapter. The stalker on the other hand is easy to distinguish and creepy.

The adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson

Jenna wakes after a car accident has left her in a coma for a year to a world she barely understands. Gradually her memory returns, and gradually she learns the extent of her injuries. The body she is now in is not her own, and in fact very little of her brain is original. The issues of organ transplantation are explored well here, but I was reminded of Peter Dickinson's Eva, which I think does a better job with a similar premise.

Burned, by Ellen Hopkins

A powerful story about a girl from a religious yet abusive family who in one magical summer discovers life free from the narrow confines of her ultra conservative life. Pattyn blossoms under the loving guidance of her Aunt J and the budding romance with neighbor Ethan. But even as Pattyn's eyes are opened to new possibilities in life, the seeds of her destruction are being sown, and the reader is swept along for the roller coaster ride with growing fear. After all, we know the title of the book.

The free verse poetry means lots of white space on each page, and 532 pages fly past very quickly. I was intruiged with the placement of the words on many of the pages that if read vertically revealed alternate messages.

The ending of the book disturbed me - I would like to have seem a postscript letting us know that tragic loves are survivable in the end, as some of us know that they are.

Cherry Heaven, by L.J. Adlington

Cherry Heaven is the name of the property where Kat and her sister Tanka have moved with their parents. They are settlers in a new, frontier community far from the big cities where a race war based on one's DNA is raging. Based on DNA tests, everyone has one of three colors of tattoo on the back of their hand. Here on the frontier there is peace, but the girls soon discover that peace hasn't come without a price, and DNA discrimination has not really been eliminated in the frontier as they have been told. In fact, the "lowest" caste has been turned into slave laborers, and a revolution is about to be ignited right in their own backyard when a slave escapes and tries to return to her former home of Cherry Heaven. The story reads like a mystery as the girls discover the truth about Cherry Heaven and just how powerful and ruthless the politicians in charge truly are beneath their charming ways.