(3) YA Kaylee has largely abandoned thoughts of her birth mother, Crystal, who's in prison for a murder she claims she didn't commit. Then a podcast producer shows up asking questions about Crystal's claims of telekinesis, throwing Kaylee's personal history--and her own potential powers--into question. This engaging psychological mystery with traces of the paranormal includes dynamic formatting, with podcast transcripts, text messages, and more.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) YA Eleven years after six kindergartners disappeared, five of them return, all with amnesia. Returnees Scarlett and Lucas try to make sense of their fractured memories, while Avery, the sister of the missing sixth teen, receives mysterious warning notes, supposedly from him. Though Scarlett and Lucas's romance doesn't hold up as a plot engine, the vivid prose and twisty mystery will pull readers through.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by T. L. Bonaddio. When Kate finds out that her parents are selling Big Red, the only house she has ever lived in, her heart is broken and her world is shattered. She starts making shoebox dioramas of favorite memories and begins to heal. Accompanied by occasional black-and-white illustrations, this is a nuanced portrait of the challenges of family, change, and middle school.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Julia expects to spend summer vacation with her best friend Taylor, but a new neighbor changes everything and Julia faces some tough decisions. Altebrando explores several touchstones of adolescence, from first crushes and friendships growing apart to the parent-child struggle and finding one's place in the world. Readers will easily relate to this coming-of-age story and its emotionally charged characters.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(3) YA Jersey girl Elizabeth (EB) and San Franciscan Lauren, soon to be college roommates, correspond throughout the summer; chapters with alternating perspectives unwrap each girl's backstory, personality, and coming-to-terms with changes looming on the horizon. The premise will have mass appeal with teens who fantasize about their post-high-school futures, and the authors succeed in presenting two distinct and relatable narrative voices.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(2) YA On the eve of graduation, Mary convinces her friends to compete in the Oyster Point High Unofficial Senior Week Scavenger Hunt, a.k.a. "The Best Night of Your Pathetic Life." The hunt is Mary's opportunity to best an obnoxious classmate and, more importantly, to do "something worth remembering." In this highly enjoyable caper, the writing is crisp and the dialogue spot on.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2012

(3) YA Jane, her brother, and their father move back to the Coney Island home in which her mother, who died when Jane was young, grew up. She's befriended by a group of sideshow carny teens, including "goth dwarf" Babette and handsome, mysterious, heavily tattooed Leo, both fighting against encroaching gentrification. Altebrando's wistful narrative reads like a warts-and-all love letter to Coney Island.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz