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Fourteen-year-old Tessa has never had a normal life. Her mother, a frustrated hippie with awful taste in men, has seen to that. But when her mom pulls her out of school to live at an ashram in the Catskills, Tessa goes from being a freak among normal people to being an outcast among freaks. Freaks who worship an orange robe-wearing guru. And while her mom is buzzing with spiritual energy, and finding a little too much favor with the guru, all Tessa feels are weird vibes.  

A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell (Grades 7-10)

Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother’s secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl’s journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.

The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray (Grade 8 and up)

In this ambitious novel, Cameron, a 16-year-old slacker whose somewhat dysfunctional family has just about given up on him, as perhaps he himself has, when his diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jacob, “mad cow” disease, reunites them, if too late. The heart of the story, though, is a hallucinatory—or is it?—quest with many parallels to the hopeless but inspirational efforts of Don Quixote, about whom Cameron had been reading before his illness.

The Necromancer by Michael Scott (Age 12 and up)

Nicholas Flamel is dying, and the spell from the Codex that renews his immortality is in the possession of the evil John Dee. Reunited with his wife, Perenelle, Flamel hopes to use his remaining power to prevent the monsters now on the island of Alcatraz from escaping.

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s—and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere.

Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee (Grades 7-10)

Meet Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut, named for two Miss Americas and her mother Chessy’s favorite brand of mascara. Chessy teaches the students in her charm school her Seven Select Rules for Young Ladies, but she won’t tell Maybe who her real father is — or protect her from her latest scuzzball boyfriend. So Maybe grabs a ride to California with her friends Hollywood and Thammasat Tantipinichwong Schneider (aka Ted) — and what she finds there is funny, sad, true, and inspiring . . . vintage Lisa Yee.

All-in by Peter Hautman

Denn Doyle is not a gambler. Gamblers come to Vegas to throw their money at people like Denn, a prodigious investor in his own ability to read “tells” and calculate odds. Armed with a fake ID, the 17-year-old is up nearly a quarter million and almost unbeatable at the table. That is, until he falls for Cattie Hart….

Six Rules of Maybe by Deb Caletti (Grade 9 and up)

Caletti invites readers into Scarlet Hughes’s life and all its “maybes.” The introspective teen copes when her charismatic older sister, Juliet, shows up suddenly married (and pregnant) after time away at a Portland hotel singing gig. Both Scarlet and her mother quickly come to adore her husband—Scarlet perhaps a little too much.

Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin (Grades 4-7)

Baskin tells this luminous story entirely from the point of view of Jason, an autistic boy who is a creative-writing whiz and deft explainer of literary devices, but markedly at a loss in social interactions with “neurotypicals” both at school and at home. He is most comfortable in an online writing forum called Storyboard, where his stories kindle an e-mail-based friendship with a girl….

Marcelo in the Real World by Frnacisco X. Stork (Grade 8 and up)

Like Christopher Boone, the protagonist in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Doubleday, 2003), Marcelo Sandoval is a high-functioning, extremely self-aware teenager with Asperger’s syndrome. He has an empathetic mother and a father, Arturo, who appears to be less empathetic as he pushes Marcelo to live in the “real world.” The form the real world takes is a summer job in the mailroom at Arturo’s law office.

By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters (Grade 9 and up)

Daelyn Rice has been bullied her entire life, whether it was for her past weight problem or because she currently does not talk and wears a neck brace. She has attempted suicide several times in several different ways and is now more determined than ever to end her life. Daelyn discovers a Web site called Through-the-Light, which is for suicide “completers.” There she communicates with others who share the same goal.

The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart (Grades 6-9)

Readers who missed The Boyfriend List (2005) and The Boy Book (2006, both Delacorte) will have no trouble keeping up, but they might still feel compelled to go back and read them. Sixteen-year-old Ruby brings readers up to speed on her dramatic history, in which a love triangle, a misplaced boyfriend list, and a dented reputation have left her almost friendless (aka a “roly poly,” to use her coined term for a social pariah) and in therapy.

Lips Touch: Three Tmes by Laini Taylor

Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers’ souls.

Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger (Grade 7 and up)

After the death of her grandmother, 15-year-old Liz Scattergood is having a hard time getting back to normal. Her mother, who had an extremely close relationship with Bunny, has become deeply depressed, and only visits to a Spiritualist church whose members believe they can communicate with the deceased provide any comfort.

Life in the Fat Lane by Cherie Bennett (Grade 8 and up)

Lara, 16, is just what most girls want to be: thin, beautiful, and smart. She’s dating one of the cutest boys in school, and she’s popular. Then she notices that she’s gained a few pounds. Unconcerned, she starts to work out harder and watches what she eats. However, her weight keeps going up, and soon Lara weighs over 200 pounds. She spends a week in a hospital on a controlled liquid diet, and the doctors and nutritionists can’t understand why she becomes even heavier. Suddenly, she is no longer popular and is faced with ridicule from everyone around her.

Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne (Ages 9-12)

When Celeste’s meddling aunt enters her in the Miss Husky Peach Pageant for “larger sized girls,” the eighth-grader quails at the thought of the teasing that’s sure to follow, though the idea of modeling has its appeal. Reasoning that if she loses enough weight, she’ll be ineligible for the contest, Celeste finds the motivation to skip snacks and even to exercise. Along the way, she begins to express her individuality through the unlikely vehicle of a beauty contest.

Fire in the Heart, A Spiritual Guide for Teens by Deepak Chopra (Grade 6 and up)

Chopra presents inspirational life lessons spoken in parables by a mysterious teacher who leads an unnamed narrator through a four-day retreat of self-discovery. With the guidance of Baba, the 15-year-old comes to know his true self by generating answers to four major questions: “Do I have a soul? How do wishes come true? What is the supreme force in the universe? How can I change the world?”