(3) YA Gavin has always let life happen to him: play tennis, hang out, couple up, break up. But when mysterious outsider Antoinette arrives, popular bystander Gavin starts to really look around. Picking up photography, he makes new connections and starts to see things anew through a camera lens. The compelling coming-of-age story explores different ways of existing in high school--and what might lie beyond.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old Robert "Cali" Callahan has a knack for finding missing people. He's recruited to find missing girl Reese, but he falls for her instead, and ultimately doesn't know whether he should trust her version of the truth or her father's. Nelson vividly captures the energy of the Venice Beach community, both the physical setting and the eclectic characters that populate it.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2014

(1) YA Narrator Maddie, full of anger and loathing, is sixteen and in rehab when she meets Stewart, with whom she feels an immediate connection. After rehab, Maddie rebuilds her life while Stewart returns to drugs. Readers will root for the characters in their respective battles; Stewart's backsliding is a punch to the stomach but it makes for a realistic ending.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2011

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old James would "destroy all cars" to save Earth from global warming. Through journal entries and AP English assignments/rants, he also chronicles unrequited pining for his "do-gooder" ex-girlfriend, parental demands, and his hilarious relationship with his English teacher. Consumer culture has been covered before, but James's thoroughly amusing combination of angst, idealism, narcissism, and nihilism makes this new treatment very welcome indeed.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2009

(4) YA While train-hopping near a dangerous park, a preppy skateboarder gets into a skirmish that leaves a security guard dead. Terrified of confessing, the unnamed sixteen-year-old narrator cycles through shock and paranoia while dealing with divorcing parents and a bitchy girlfriend. Though the characters are shallow, the setup is compelling and its aftermath complex and intriguingly unresolved.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(4) YA A bass player, Pete experiences a measure of musical success when he joins a rock group that begins getting attention from industry professionals. Although elements of the novel--such as Pete's relationship with his girlfriend--are convincingly portrayed, the low-key, first-person narrative voice has a detachment that leeches much of the drama and emotion from the novel.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) YA Max Caldwell, rising senior and editor of the school paper, seems to have it together, but on the inside he's lost. He breaks up with his girlfriend for reasons he can't explain, then comes of age through his first sexual experience (with a stranger) and a drunk driving accident. Max can't articulate his angst (and neither can the author), but the blasé, uninflected voice may find fans among the disaffected.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam