(4) YA Alexi, youngest daughter of the perfect Littrell family, is hiding a secret behind a good-girl façade. With the support of an exceptionally sensitive boy with pain of his own, Alexi finds the strength to admit her trauma, even if it might damage her reputation. Alexi's interior turmoil exposes the gray spaces between sexual assault and consent in this uneven but affirming debut novel.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(4) YA Laura's inexplicable unhappiness drives her to cut herself, but once she acquires a talisman and travels to alternate Renaissance Italy, her interests turn toward romance with the dashing Ludo. The complex politics slow the pace of the adventure, as does Hoffman's struggle to tie in myriad characters from earlier volumes in the series, but as usual, the historical setting is vivid and well evoked.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) YA Dead but still charismatic, Tink makes her presence known to the friends suffering most from her suicide, Merissa and Nadia. As they go through rough patches separately--dealing with divorce, cutting, inappropriate crushes, eating disorders, and so on--Tink's eerie presence comforts them and ushers them to resolution and growth. Oates writes lyrically, but her characters are sometimes too obviously mapped out.

Reviewer: Ariel Baker-Gibbs

(3) YA Teen Issues series. Combining stories of people who intentionally hurt themselves with information on why some feel compelled to self-harm, who is most vulnerable, and how they self-punish, Senker focuses on how to help oneself and others with this affliction. Color photos and short sidebars supplement the readable narrative. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(4) YA When Dee discovers she can use mirrors to cross into a parallel universe, she switches places with her counterpart, Samara, for a day. The switch causes more problems than it solves, and the girls find their friendship tested as they try to repair the damage. While the story's emotional authenticity will resonate with teens, the story line drags.

Reviewer: Barratt Miller

(4) YA Traumatized by her past, her parents' deaths, and an abusive brother, a sixteen-year-old girl who calls herself Leia runs away to the zoo. There she finds refuge, the beginning of a friendship, and a break from her destructive cutting. The relief is short-lived, and there is little resolution in this harrowing (if occasionally confusing) psychological drama.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(3) YA After her estranged father brutally kills his new family, sixteen-year-old Willa, her mom, and her happy stepfamily are thrown into turmoil. The once-normal family dynamic is further tested when Willa returns to her Texas hometown for memorial services with long-forgotten family. Pfeffer's tense prose is well paced, and Willa's brave confronting of secrets in her history--and present life--is stirring.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(4) YA Attending a new high school inspires James to reinvent himself. Yet the absurd lies he tells distance him from his friends and feed a recurring nightmare. Only instant messages from the anonymous, but thinly veiled, ghost44 anchor him to reality. Mitchell's tale of isolation and self-destruction teeters between convincing and didactic as James's behavior grows more disturbing and adults rally to support him.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) YA In this graphic novel, "Stacy Black" (thinly veiled alter-ego of author Tracy White) checks into a psychiatric hospital after an act of self-mutilation. There she works through her drug use, depression, bulimia, mother issues, and sexual abuse. The story is told mainly from Stacy's perspective, with her friends and therapists occasionally chiming in. Stark black-and-white cartoon-panel illustrations reflect Stacy's state of mind.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(2) YA Lia, an anorexic and cutter, hears that her estranged friend Cassie was found dead in a motel room--after leaving Lia thirty-three messages. Cassie's death tips the already fragile Lia into a vortex of self-destruction. Anderson conveys Lia's illness vividly through her dark, fantastic thoughts. This stream-of-consciousness, first-person, present-tense work is tangled and illuminating.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2009

(2) YA Leigh moves to Maryland to help his grieving stepsister. There he meets Maia, a recovering anorexic and cutter with a highly developed sense of self. They fall in love, but the story's four-years-later framing device lets readers know up front that their romance is doomed. Leigh's retrospective narration reveals an engaging male-coming-of-age tale that explores notions of violence, devotion, and trust.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2009

(4) YA After her parents die in a car accident while she's driving, Willow dulls her pain, grief, and guilt by secretly cutting herself. A handsome classmate persists in looking beneath Willow's carefully constructed surface, providing an opportunity for her to experience eventual healing. Hoban's solid writing doesn't elevate the story far enough above its standard problem-novel territory.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) YA Psychological Disorders series. These volumes provide detailed scientific and medical information about psychological disorders including kleptomania, compulsive gambling, and self-mutilation, including their biological and behavioral origins, signs and symptoms of the disorders, and treatment options. Although the overall tone is clinical, some of the examples and cases are quite graphic (particularly in Cutting). Photographs of varying relevance appear throughout. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Psychological Disorders titles: Impulse Control Disorders and Cutting and Self-Harm.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford

(4) YA After years of sexual abuse by her stepfather, Dana runs away from home. She falls in with other runaways in the city who teach her the gritty details of street survival. They eventually get hooked into an arts center for at-risk kids run by a nurturing soul. Dana's saga is heart-rending throughout, making the too-neat ending feel disingenuous.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(4) YA Teen Issues series. This look at self-injury discusses the reasons why people cut, burn, or otherwise physically hurt themselves; the behavior's link with mental illness; and the groups who disproportionately self-injure (women and girls, abuse victims). Scattered throughout are insights by mental-health professionals and self-injurers, as well as drab, posed black-and-white photos of ostensibly distressed adolescents. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram