(3) YA Seventeen-year-old hopeless romantic River Dean is a wreck. After his girlfriend dumps him, he seeks solace in a teen support group by pretending he's addicted to marijuana. The lies and obfuscation pile up as he continues for the sake of a possible rebound romance with a girl in the group. It's a compelling, humorous, and occasionally frustrating portrait of a teen boy's cluelessness.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(2) YA Reinhardt plunges into the dilemmas of sibling affection and loyalty. High schooler Nell's equilibrium shatters when she realizes her sister Layla is having an affair with a teacher. Nell's narrative (directly addressed to Layla as "you") explains how she arrived at the difficult decision to tell their parents. Nell's voice is engaging, clever, and colloquial, making this a speedy, engrossing read.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2014

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Susan Reagan. When Odessa, nine, and her brother have yet another fight, their mother sends her to her room, where she stamps her feet in anger--and finds herself sent back in time, exactly twenty-four hours earlier. Despite the (sometimes uneven) fantasy element, the story is more a domestic tale of divorce, friendship, and family; kids will ponder what they'd re-do in their own lives.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2013

(2) YA Thirteen-year-old Drew's pet rat, Hum, leads her to Emmett, a runaway on a quest to help his little brother. Drew's first meaningful friendship gives her a deeper understanding of the other relationships in her life. The 1986 small-town California setting is well delineated and fitting, in its remoteness and size, for Drew and her soft-spoken, low-key loneliness.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2011

(2) YA Narrator Levi's older brother Boaz returns from war, a shell of his former self. Levi uncovers Boaz's plan to travel from Boston to Washington, D.C., on foot, and joins him on his quest. The family dynamic is drawn with a deft and subtle hand in this timely book that hints at damage done to soldiers in the long term.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2010

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old Harper volunteers to help build a house for a family that lost theirs in a tornado. Sections alternate between "Here" and "Home" as likable narrator Harper catches readers up on her own broken family. The many parallels between house-building and home-wrecking (then rebuilding) are subtle and believable. The story, full of difficulty and pain, is ultimately deeply satisfying.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2008

(4) YA Fourteen-year-olds Emma, Anna, and Mariah are about to be caught in a lie about partying with older boys. They concoct a story of overcoming a sexual predator, and this lie takes on a life of its own. Despite a slow start and an improbable conclusion, the book effectively guides readers through the girls' perceptions of truth and deception.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby