What the World Eats, written by Faith D'Aluisio, photos by Peter Menzel.

Even Monsters Need Haircuts

The Agency: A Spy in the House, by Y.S. Lee, Bk 1

The Poison Eaters, by Holly Black

Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong, Otherworld series

A recurring character in several novels of the Otherworld, Savannah Levine is finally getting her own book.  At 21 she's been through a lot: the death of her parents, kidnapping, vampire attacks, being burned out of house and home, raising the dead and a host of other things most teenagers only read about in books.  She's working as a PI at Paige and Lucas' firm, although she's not had a case of her own yet.  But that changes when Paige and Lucas finally take a vacation and Adam, the head of research and security for the firm, attends a seminar out of state.  What seems like a simple case involving 3 dead women turns into a real mystery with

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

Around the World in 100 Days, by Gary Blackwood

Five Flavors of Dumb, by Antony John

Piper is a senior in high school - quiet, keeps to herself, captain of the chess team, gets good grades, the usual stuff expected from a "good girl" character in teen novels, but Piper's behavior is due in large part to her feeling isolated from her fellow students because she is deaf.  With hearing aids she can hear some things, but her hearing is not perfect, especially in crowds or when she can't also lip-read.  Her best friend, also deaf, has moved away, Piper's younger brother, a freshman, seems embarrassed by her desire for him to sign with her, and her parents have raided the college fund her deaf grandparents set up especially for Piper to attend a college for hearing impaired students - to pay for cochlear implants so her baby sister can hear and not be disabled like Piper.  She's frustrated with being different and that her parents, her dad in particular, seem to see her as broken.  In a moment of very frustrated, very un-Piper-like behavior, she challenges the lead singer of her school's Teen Battle of the Bands winner - she'll become their manager and get the band, named Dumb, a paying gig within 30 days. 

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

From the Publisher's Weekly review:  "With no training on how to use the powers inherited from her absentee warlock father, Sophie Mercer keeps making rookie mistakes that force her mother to move them around the country to avoid attention. But when, at age 16, Sophie makes a very public error with a love spell at the prom, she is sent to Hecate Hall, 'the premier reformatory institution for Prodigium adolescents"' (aka shape-shifters, faeries, and witches).

Close to Famous, by Joan Bauer

13-year old Foster McFee and her mother leave Memphis in a hurry when her mom's Elvis-impersonator boyfriend gives mom a black eye.  Leaving with only the items they can fit in their car, which is pretty much everything they own, they end up randomly stopping in Culpepper, West Virginia.  With no other destination in mind, they decide to stay in Culpepper, at least for the rest of the summer, and meet and befriend some of the town's inhabitants.  Because it is a small town, of course many of the inhabitants are eccentric and quirky, but at least their quirks are a different than the usual fare:  Miss Charleena is a former movie star who is hiding out after losing her confidence when her husband left her for a younger woman, Angry Wayne, owner of Angry Wayne's Bar and Grill is...if not angry, at least crotchety and a bit cranky, and Macon is a budding documentarist, just a tweenage one without a camera. 

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Nalia spends the first 16 years of her life thinking she is the princess and heir to the throne of Thorvald, only to be told that she was only a decoy, switched at birth with the real princess to try to avoid a prophecy made during the queen's pregnancy that the princess would be murdered horribly before her 16th birthday.  The king and queen, having averted their real daughter's death, send the false princess, named Sinda at birth, unceremoniously away from the castle to live in a small village with her only living relative, an aunt who is less than delighted to have a fully grown niece with no domestic skills sprung on her with no means of support.

Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A. S. King.

This book evoked mixed feelings in several friends, but overall, I liked it.  Vera seemed pretty realistic in terms of not wanting to/not being able to talk about her feelings about her mom leaving, her dad withdrawing and especially her best friend's abandonment and then death.  She also seemed realistic in her self-destructive behavior, needing an outlet for the things she couldn't figure out how to express otherwise.  My main quibble is that Vera seemed to get over her dabbling with alcohol pretty easily - maybe she wasn't a full-fledged alcoholic, but she was definitely using it as a crutch, and that need seemed to evaporate after getting blotto and beaten up at the work Christmas party.  That struck me as a pat way of dealing with her developing problem.

Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Dealing with the days leading up to and immediately after Hurricane Katrina, through the eyes of a 12 year old girl living in NOLA's Ninth Ward with her 82-year old caretaker, Mama Ya-Ya.  Allows the reader to see the neighborhood and the life through the eyes of a bright, creative child who sees ghosts, believes in signs, loves math and words and learning and longs to build bridges when she grows up.

Matched, by Allie Condie

The Rise of Renegade X, by Chelsea M. Campbell

Damien Locke is all set for his 16th birthday - it's the day his life of crime officially begins.  It's basically a technicality - Damien's mom is the mad scientist Mistress of Mayhem, he is a shoe-in for Vilmore Academy, the ultimate school for teenage supervillains and he's already got his supervillain name picked out: Midnight Marauder.  But in Golden City, all supers have a letter appear on their hand on their 16th birthday to make it official - H for heroes and V for villains.  So imagine Damien's surprise when his V doesn't show up, but neither does an H; an X appears instead.

Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White

One in a spate of paranormal-themed YA books, this one held my interest more than many of the others I've read lately.  Evie is a teen who has been fostered with the International Paranormal Containment Agency since she was 8 years old, working for them during that time as the only person able to see through any glamour from any paranormal.  It's not breaking new ground in terms of content or teen angst, but it does have some nice "surprises".