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. 

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Told from alternating POV's, this story focuses on a few months in the lives of two teens with the same name who meet through change and whose lives intersect at the large point of Tiny Cooper, the best friend of one Will and the new boyfriend of the other Will. Themes include looking at what makes people friends, dealing with romantic interest, how people can be very different but still love each other, a bit about telling friends and family that you are gay and a bit about depression and mental illness in teens. Funny, witty, relationships told from a guy's point of view, matter of fact about homosexuality. Lots of IM and texts quoted.

SLJ grades 9 and up