My Life Before Me by Norah McClintock

Cady was ready to run away, but when the orphanage burns down she doesn't have to do it in secret. Upon leaving, she is given a clue to her history: an old photograph of a vandalized grave in a small Indiana town. It is the only link she has to her parents. With dreams of becoming a journalist (not an easy profession for women in the 1960s), Cady leaves Canada with idea that this could be a story worth publishing. So she heads south to the rural town of Orrenstown. 

The people of the town do not like outsiders asking a lot of questions particularly about the grave of a black man who was convicted of murder so long ago. Cady meets a lot of resistance and sometimes fears for her safety. Luckily, she finds some sympathetic people to her situation. She starts to uncover things about the man and how he died that many would rather leave undiscovered. 

Cady's secret history is ours, too. The vial actions of the townspeople is a true reflection of the times in Indiana and so many other places. The horrors brought upon people reverberate to this day and make this story all too relevant for young readers. Cady plows ahead to uncover the mystery with a determination we all need to deal with the ongoing issues that plague our country still. 

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog. 
 

All That I Can Fix by Crystal Chan

Wild animals running free in a small town - sounds wacky. But it is not a humorous story. In fact, the animals play mostly a peripheral part in the story of Ronney whose life is in turmoil. 

Ronney's dad tried to commit suicide a few year's ago and only managed to injure himself. Since then in his state of depression, he barely leaves his room and says little to his family. Ronney has worked to keep the house repaired. He also has stepped up to emotionally support his younger sister. Ronney is really angry at his dad for trying to abandon them and then just barely existing while the family's lives go on. And he lets his dad know it, too. Any chance he gets, Ronney reminds his dad about how worthless he is.

Ronney and George have been best friends forever. The thing is George is a girl and Ronney has more than just friendly feelings for her. Jello, his other friend, tries to convince Ronney to help him photograph some of the animals to help propel his career as a photographer. 

And what is with the kid who keeps showing up saying Ronney stole his jeans. One, it's annoying. Two, it's creeping him out. And Ronney has never met him before. 

Ronney is angry at everything which is not an endearing quality for a character.  He isn't mean to people because he is a jerk; he really seemed to have things working against him. But I kept reading to see how Ronney dealt with his anger and his life (and do they get all those animals running amok?).  

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site. 

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Liz never cared about being prom queen. She has tried to keep herself out of the spotlight at school. But when she does not get a scholarship for her dream college, getting that crown is the only path to make it happen. Being Black and gay is not going to make it any easier. 

In her small hometown, prom is a huge deal - and the competition for king and queen is even bigger. The winners get a scholarship, so it's not just a popularity contest. Way before the students vote, contestants must earn points by attending events and doing volunteer hours all while being publicized on social media. 

Ever since her best friend Jordan unceremoniously shut her out freshman year, Liz has tried to hide: get good grades and lose herself in her music. So making herself visible to the whole school is not easy. If she doesn't get the scholarship, the grandparents who raised her will mortgage their house and who knows what else, and Liz will not let that happen. 

So what else is going on with Liz? Her mother died of sickle cell anemia, and her younger brother has it, too. Jordan has popped back into her life as one of the prom king contestants. Her friend Gabi is driving her to be someone else just to win. And who is the cute new girl Amanda who is also running for prom queen? 

I really enjoyed this book. Great story with unique (not stereotype) characters. 

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site. 

Now Entering Addamsville by Francesca Zappia

Zora sees dead people. Ghosts linger all around her small Indiana town of Addamsville. Some died in the coal mine. Some died of disease. And some died in the tragic fires that have put Addamsville on the map. The deliberately set fires have captured the attention of people, particularly those interested in the paranormal.

Zora's abilities come from her mother (who walked into the woods five years ago and never came back). Her mother was training her to be a hunter. A hunter of ghosts? No, ghosts mostly hang around and do not bother the living. Zora and her mother hunt firestarters, the demons actually responsible for the murders.

Many people believe that Zora is responsible for the latest fire that killed the school janitor. She was present at a big fire a few years ago (when she lost two of her fingers). Zora's mother swore her to secrecy about the firestarters, so she can't tell that she was fighting one at the time.

How does an 18 year old high schooler fight the possible return of a demon, keep her older sister for locking her in their trailer (for getting in trouble) while the whole town blames her for something she didn't do? Well, Zora has a tough time of it. Her family has always been outcasts. Her mom's behavior was strange and then her dad went to prison for conning a bunch of towns people out of their money.

In addition to the latest fire, the arrival of a television crew to film an episode of a well known paranormal show lights the fuse (if you will) for a showdown between Zora and the firestarter (and the town and her family's past). It is a tense ride sometimes with good characters and some humor thrown in. Good stuff.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

Surface Tension by Mike Mullin

Jake loves being on his bike. He lives for it. He is an amateur competitive cyclist and is hoping to make the USA team and go to Belgium. Jake also has a beautiful girlfriend. So his life is pretty good. Until...

Jake is riding one morning on what are normally deserted roads when he encounters a group of tanker trucks. It is his misfortune that the trucks are part of a terrorist attack that brings down an airplane leaving the nearby airport. Without giving too much away, let's just say that Jake wakes up in the hospital with no memory of what happened.

Betsy's life is pretty good, too. Her mother disappeared along time ago, but her dad has given her goals. She wants to become the first female member of the Sons of Paine, a patriotic group who want to make the United States a better place. Her dad is an important member and gives her a task to prove herself - killing the only witness to the plane crash, a guy about her age named Jake who managed to escape.

The author has written a suspenseful tale of a young man who is in danger at almost every turn. The terrorists want him dead, and the FBI wants him for questioning. It becomes difficult for Jake to know who he can trust. And since so many people think his head injury is causing him to hallucinate or remember things that never happened, no one really trusts him.

We also get the viewpoint of Betsy, a young women who has grown up learning to hate Muslims and thinks nothing of killing innocent people for the end goal of finally eradicating them from the United States. But all is not what it seems even for a young women willing to commit terrorism.

A bonus for me is that this story is set in Indianapolis and mentions many places. I know the city well, so I enjoyed having the characters go to so many specific locations.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Eliza has created a monster - actually several of them. She is the writer/artist of a hugely popular online fantasy graphic novel called Monstrous Sea. But only a small group of people know she is the creator.

Eliza's two younger brothers know, but (annoying as they are to her) don't tell anyone. Her parents think Monstrous Sea is just a hobby, and have no idea how popular it is or that Eliza makes tons of money from it. Eliza has two online friends (who she has never actually met) who moderate her message boards, run the online store, etc. That's all the people who know.

Having no interest in physical activities like sports (much to her parents' frustration) or friends from school (her parents aren't too happy about that either), Eliza devotes most of her time to Monstrous Sea. She knows there are many fans even in her school, but she keeps to herself so she never interacts with them. That ends the day she steps in to help a new student, Wallace.

Wallace is the size of a football player and never says anything. It is only through passing notes that Eliza finds out that he writes Monstrous Sea fan fiction. His friends are huge fans, too. But Eliza can't reveal who she is to them. She wants to tell Wallace but how will he react?

The secrets, the expectations of fans, her parent's lack of understanding all put much pressure on Eliza. She truly has created a monster that could consume her if she lets it.

It is a interesting story about dealing with online fame and privacy. Who does an artist create for - herself or the public? Explore this question with Eliza as she deals with the regular stress of being a teenager - it's worth it.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Yes, I am a huge John Green fan. And yes, I liked this book very much. I was delighted that the last sentence of so many paragraphs were profound and spoke a basic truth. It's like he peppered small philosophical statements throughout the whole story.

We have Aza who is struggling with a mental disorder that causes a voice in her head to tell her she will contract some horrible illness from microbes. She knows that microbes are in all of us. Maybe she is just the host. Maybe the microbes actually control her. Maybe she doesn't even control her own thoughts. Even with therapy and medicine (which she doesn't always take), the nagging thoughts are still there. It is excruciating at times to feel Aza go through it.

Aza's best friend Daisy is much more extroverted. They have been friends since grade school and often hang out at Applebee's using a bunch of coupons (much to the disdain of their usual waitress). Neither have a lot of money and both go to public school.

Daisy is particularly interested when one of the city's wealthiest businessmen disappears on the eve of his arrest. Aza went to a camp with the man's son (named Davis), so Daisy is sure they can use that connection to help solve the mystery (and get the reward). Aza is not so sure. Will Davis even remember her? And even if he does, he lives in a mansion and goes to private school.

This story is not about the solving the mystery; it is about Aza coming to grips with her life. John Green does an extraordinary job of putting us right in her head. Dealing with anxiety myself, I know what it is like to have those irrational thoughts that seem beyond my control. I like to say my brain is working against me as if it is completely separate from me. It is a rare and amazing thing to hear your own voice in a story. This book is one of those times. I felt Aza's pain all the more because I have personally felt some of her struggle.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

What Goes Up by Katie Kennedy

Eddie has a chance to escape his life. He is one of several candidates chosen to be tested for one of two positions in NASA's secretive Interworlds Agency. The testing is anything but normal, but then so is the job.

Eddie feels pressure to separate himself from his criminal father. Eddie's  beloved grandmother raised him and taught him to all that she knew about science and the world. He still mourns her recent passing.Rosa is one of the other candidates. Her parents are highly successful scientists. She feels the pressure to do well.

During the testing, Eddie provides interesting, unconventional responses. His troubled past bothers the higher ups who do not quite trust him. Eddie struggles to not end up proving them right.

Then a life changing event happens. Visitors from beyond our planet arrive. From another world, another dimension? It is a historical event and Eddie and Rosa are right there when it happens. With their instructor Reg as a guide, the teens may be the only ones who can deal with the visiting beings to our planet.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards

How did a popular girl like Stella end up getting killed by a train? Piper has good idea how. She has seen the video that was posted on a school website. She was there in the hallway when Stella was being ridiculed by the same jocks who made the video and posted it. Piper just stood there and did nothing to stop it. Even if Stella was alone at the railroad crossing, others had a hand in her death.

Piper avoids the jocks and cheerleaders. She is not a part of the popular crowd (like Stella was), so she did not know Stella well. Still, Piper should have said something that day in the hallway. Someone needs to do something to stop the bullies and jerks who practically run the school and get away with everything. Maybe its not too late to do something.

An anonymous text offers Piper the chance to do just that. She just has to give the texter a name and he/she will do the rest. Piper will be told when it is going to happen so she can capture it all with her camera. For her first target she chooses the person most responsible for Stella's humiliation.

Revenge sounds like a good idea, but it can get out of hand. And does it really make you any better than your targets? Piper is drawn further into the scheme by this mysterious texter. How can she find out who it is without her secrets being exposed, too.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame by Julie Young

MonAmi is a world famous superstar singer. She has had numerous hit songs, sold millions of albums, and toured the planet multiple times. She wears custom made clothes with dazzling makeup. Megan is a Midwestern girl who enjoys singing and writing songs. She grew up in a nice house with hard working parents and a younger sister. MonAmi and Megan are the same person, but few people know it.

Megan lives a double life as her career is carefully managed and promoted. All goes as planned because from the time she begins her career at 15 Megan becomes one of the most successful singers ever. But through it all, Megan misses her family and feels the stress of keeping her success alive with an ever fickle public and of meeting the demands of the record company who has invested to much in her success to let her fail.

We begin our story with Megan running away at the end of MonAmi's farewell tour. She just disappears not even telling her long time (and mostly trusted) manager, Mike. Her rise to fame has been stressful - working hours writing and recording, doing tours that always have to top the last one, making appearances at award shows on the arm of some famous actor she doesn't even know. And through it all, she cannot tell the world who she really is.

Megan was just the person the record company was looking for when they 'discovered' through a scholarship application. After her reluctant parents were convinced that this was an opportunity to good to pass up, Megan was whisked away to Europe for months to make her transformation into MonAmi. She was given the new name, a new look (to hide her true face) and a vague history (along with a somewhat European accent).

As the runaway, Megan recounts her story for us while she decides what her next move will be. Megan is a great character that is living the dream, but finds that even dreams can have a darkness to them. It is an intriguing look into the music business and the 'manufactured' star as well as our culture of instant celebrity.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

Bloodthirsty by Flynn Meaney

Is this a vampire book? Kind of. Well, not really. I generally don't read vampire books. I have nothing against them - they just don't appeal to me. There has been a flood of them since the huge success of the Twilight Saga. But this one is not a typical vampire book. Mostly because there are not vampires in this book. There is one pretend vampire named Finbar Frame.

Finbar is a skinny, pale book lover who spends a great deal of time with his mother watching romantic movies and discussing books. He has a fraternal twin brother name Luke who is just the opposite - star athlete with girls flocking all over him. Even when people notice Finbar they think he is Luke's little brother. 

The family has just moved from Indiana to New York. It is a chance to get away from the bully who has tormented Fin for years and start all over, but it makes little difference because he can't change who he is...or can he? 

Fin overhears three girls talking about the latest vampire romance, Bloodthirsty, and how much they love the male vampire in the story. The more Fin thinks about it the more he realizes that he is a lot like a vampire - skinny, pale, brooding. And if this is what girls think is hot then he may have a chance to actually get a girlfriend. Fin decides he will become a vampire (not by getting bit or anything because the sight of blood makes him squeamish). You can't just go around announcing you are vampire, so Fin adopts the vampire attitude and drops subtle hints.   

While he is working on his scheme, he meets a girl who actually seems to like him. Does she know he's a 'vampire'? Will she like him more if she does? The life of a pretend vampire can get complicated. When people start to believe it the rumor spreads and he is no longer just Luke's little brother. 

For more information, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site. 

  

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin

Lucas and Tessa have been best friends for as long as they can remember. Now as seniors, Lucas is ready to profess his feelings for Tessa and ask her to the prom with a grand gesture that the whole town will see. Imagine his shock when Tessa confesses that she actually likes girls. It's bad enough that she embarrassed him but how could she keep this secret from him when they always shared everything.

It doesn't take long for everyone in town to know Tessa turned Lucas down AND that she recently bought a man's tux for the prom (she is hoping to go with her co-worker, Josie). People protest in front of her family's small store that is struggling to survive against the massive new store that came to town. Her locker is vandalized at school. She is taunted and pelted with food. Tessa can't even talk to her best friend Lucas because he is not speaking to her anymore.

The school tells Tessa she cannot go to the dance with another girl or dressed in boy's clothes. What will the school board decide when Tessa's family files an official protest? What can they do since Tessa states that she will go to prom?

Ultimately, this is not just about whether Tessa can attend prom; it is about being accepted by friends, family and society as a whole. Having grown up in a small Indiana town similar to the one in this story (although mine was urban and not rural), I can only wonder what the reaction would have been if two teens of the same sex had wanted to go to prom. It was a different time for sure. No one was openly gay in my school, but I have no doubt there was someone who dreamed of going to the prom with a member of the same sex.

Although this book has a lighter tone that it could have, this is a serious real issue for many. With all the talk of bullying among young people, there are too many adults bullying young people and encouraging others to do the same. I hope this book continues to raise awareness that people are more the same than they are different and that acceptance of others is a great gift.

For more info about this book visit the Indianapolis Public Library catalog or visit Emily Franklin's and Brendan Halpin's website.