Do you think climate change is a problem? Ever thought about the day-to-day, real life consequences of things like shifting weather patterns, fuel shortages, and nations struggling with what to do to lower their energy use? For a glimpse at a possible near future, take a peek at Laura's diary. Laura lives in England in the year 2015. The country has just introduced carbon rationing—everyone gets an allotment of carbon points to do things like travel, use electrical appliances, and eat non-local food. When the points are gone, you're cut off—from electricity, travel, and other luxuries. Laura's family deals with rationing in different ways—and starts to fall apart because of it. When a giant storm threatens to flood London (after months of drought!), they must pull together and figure out what's really important. And if Laura's band can tour on saved up carbon points! Things may never get back to normal for Laura, but they will always be interesting.

Jason Blake is 12, and autistic. He knows enough about NTs (that's neurotypicals) to know that he doesn't quite fit in, and to worry about it, but sometimes he just can't help himself, like when it feels like his hair is on fire, or when standing on the grass hurts. His mom and dad try hard to understand, but it seems like mom just wants him to be a little more like everyone else. When people talk, Jason listens, but you might not be able to tell, because he doesn't look you in the eye. Jason escapes from days when something always seems to go wrong at some point by writing original stories and posting them to an online story site. No one there knows what he looks or acts like, they just know his writing, which he gets many compliments on. Jason is particularly excited by the positive feedback from PhoenixBird, who is a GIRL (her real name is Rebecca). As long as Rebecca never meets Jason, everything will be fine. But then Jason's parents surprise him with a trip to a story writing conference, one where Rebecca will be, too. Get inside Jason's head as he tries to find his place in the world and learn more about relating to everyone in his life, as well as what it means to be yourself.

Mary's whole life has been lived behind the fences of the village. Everyone is kept in by the threat of the Unconsecrated, zombies who will either eat your flesh or bite you and turn you in to one of them, but they're also kept in by the Sisters and the Guardians, protectors of the village and keepers of many secrets. No one in the village knows anything of the outside world, and whether they may be the last people on the planet, but Mary's mother told her stories of something called the ocean before she joined her father in the Forest of Hands and Teeth. When the fences are breached by the Unconsecrated and the village overrun, Mary and a few others escape into the gated paths that run through the forest, paths that no one has ever been allowed to enter. Filled with exciting adventure, romance, and a girl learning what it means to be on her own and make her own decisions, you won't soon forget Mary or her descriptions of her future world.

Battle Hall (her parents named her after a building) and Nicola (Nic to her friends) meet at a summer program for gifted students. While Nic thinks she'll be spending the summer learning how to be an archeologist, she learns a lot more from her new friends and from her relationship with Battle. What's a girl to do when she thinks she's attracted to guys and finds herself falling in love with another girl?

Lynne Cox has had many firsts and many records (including the first to swim the Strait of Magellan and the Bering Strait and time records for the English Channel), but her story is about more than records. She describes what long distance swimming means to her, how she got to the level where she is, and how her body is uniquely suited to long distance cold water swimming. An inspirational story.

Introducing Alex, Karolina, Gert, Chase, Molly, and Nico. They thought their parents got together every year to do good things for the world. Turns out they're a group of super villains banding together to conquer it! These teens have choices to make -- help their parents, or fight for the other side? These runaways start finding their own powers and where their alliances lie as they set out on their own adventures. The first in a series.

Ginny's Aunt Peg may have died a few months ago, but she still has a few lessons to teach her. Aunt Peg has left Ginny a quest--13 envelopes, to be opened 1 at a time, and only after she follows the instructions on each. The instructions and revelations in the letters that Aunt Peg has left for Ginny take her from New York to London, Paris, Rome, Greece, and all over Europe, learning about her aunt's last months, and learning that it's not just being around her aunt that makes her interesting--she can be interesting, fun, and brave all on her own.

Deep wreck divers John Chatterton and Bill Nagle discover something off the coast of New Jersey that shouldn't be there--a World War II German U-Boat. Follow them as they spend years diving the wreck looking for artifacts, travel to Chicago, Washington D.C., and Germany to do research, and lose several of their diving buddies to the depths of the sea, all in a quest to identify the sub. Solving the mystery takes years, and along the way you get intriguing accounts of the divers' histories, how U-boats worked, and the lure and dangers of deep wreck diving.

Do you like candy? Steve Almond does--a lot. He turned his obsession into this book, where he travels the country looking at how small candy companies survive and how they make their candy--sampling their products the whole way. This book will make you laugh, make you think, and make you hungry for that perfect candy bar that you haven't seen in stores since you were a kid.

Toni V works on a demolition crew. Its hard work, but important, they're trying to make the polluted and bomb-torn world safe again. He's supposed to turn anything he finds--any artifacts--over to his supervisors, but one day, he finds a diary, and he just can't let it go. Toni secretly starts reading the diary of Pelly D, and he sees clues about what happened to the world, things that nobody ever talks about. At first, Pelly D seems like your average spoiled teenager, but then things begin to happen to her. Friends start disappearing. The government forces people to get DNA tests. Will Toni V find out the truth of what happened to Pelly D and what created the world he lives in today?

Georgia McCoy doesn't know how she'll fill up the empty journal she was given by her guidance counselor because she's at risk--her mom died a few years ago, her dad doesn't communicate much, and she feels like she has to hide her artistic tendencies from him because they remind him of her mom. Then one day she gets a membership to the Brandywine River Museum in the mail from "anonymous." She goes to the museum and learns about the painting styles of the 3 generations of Wyeths who have pictures there, things begin to change for Georgia. She learns not just about art, but about life, and starts putting the broken pieces of her life back together through her art.

Fourteen-year-old Nick has a lot to deal with in his life, but right now the worst thing that is happening is that his moms, Erin and Jo, are splitting up. Nick looks back on growing up in his different family -- getting teased, being protected, fun times and hard times, and doesn't understand how it all went wrong. Mom and Jo promised to be there for him (together) forever, and now they're breaking that promise. Erin doesn't even want him to see Jo. Nick learns to speak up for what he wants and needs amidst the pain of a parental breakup, and anyone who has ever dealt with divorce, whether it be by two moms, two dads, or a dad and a mom, will relate to Nick

Ed Kennedy's life isn't going anywhere. He drives his cab, he plays cards and drinks with his friends, he hangs out with his smelly dog, the Doorman. One day, everything changes. After helping to catch a bank robber, Ed starts receiving playing card with cryptic instructions written on them in the mail. As he figures out what his missions are–some of kindness, some of violence, Ed sees changes in the way he looks at the world, his friends, and himself. But will the missions ever end? Who is sending them? Will Ed ever get the true message?

Mia has a secret--she sees colors associated with different letters, numbers, and sounds. When she was in third grade, she got made fun of for this, and now, in eighth grade, she is used to not talking about it. But her life is changing--once she finds out there are other people like her, she has a hard time relating to her friends and family, and can't quite figure out her place in the world. Mia tries to find her way back to her self by reconnecting with the important things in her life, but you don't know how important some things are until you lose them.

What's a spy-in-training to do? Cammie is a student at The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. This isn't your normal rich girls' prep school – each student learns 14 languages, surveillance techniques, and self-defense moves like how to kill someone with a piece of uncooked spaghetti. No one in the town where Gallagher is located knows its true purpose, but when Cammie meets a boy (during covert ops training), she has to decide between the life she thought she was destined for and the boy she's growing to love.

Carrie is a typical teen – boyfriend, divorced parents, big future plans. Shes also very superstitious. This started when her dad sent her a lucky t-shirt. It seems like everything in her life just fell into place once she got that shirt – the school hottie asked her out, she got the lead in the play, and she aces every test. Then her mother donates her lucky t to Help India. When this happens, Carries luck vanishes-Jason breaks up with her, she fights with her best friend, her dad doesn't visit. Carrie sees one solution--go to India to track down her t. There, she learns that there may be more to life than boys and tests (maybe) and there may be more to luck than a t-shirt could ever bring.

Mike has dealt with a lot in her short life–the death of her father, her mother's increasing isolation, few future prospects in her small Kansas town. She finds hope in being strong on the softball field and at the gym. But then, another source of hope comes to town-Xanadu, the new girl. Mike is in love. But Xanadu is straight. Or is she? Will Xanadu be Mike's future, or is it time for Mike to learn some hard lessons, and plan her future for herself, not someone else?

It's the late 21st century, and things are different. Bo's father and brother are in prison, like 1/3 of the men in the new USSA. Offenses like road rage and verbal assault carry heavy sentences, and the prisoners do most of the work of running the country. Bo realizes that the old saying "like father, like son" is true when he finds himself in a prison camp/pizza factory on the Canadian tundra for not controlling his temper. Prison life is dangerous, but not as dangerous as the illegal football team he's recruited to play on. Should he face the violence of the team, or trust his school AI project, Bork, to get him out? Will he be able to control the violence within him in the real world?

Miranda, 16, is not ready for her life to be over. An asteroid has crashed into the moon, changing its orbit and wreaking havoc on Earth – tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and a long, cold winter. Though her mom has stockpiled food and water, and her brothers have been chopping wood nonstop, no one is sure if they'll survive the next few months. Her world keeps getting smaller and smaller, and as they become more isolated in their rural PA town, her family can only wonder what's happening in the rest of the world. Miranda's journal entries chronicle the world's downward spiral, what becomes important when you're losing everything you know, and the importance of hope for survival.

In the not-too-distant future, a gay Jewish man is elected president of the U.S. The governor of Kansas opposes his election, and demands a recount in his state. As these events unfold through the eyes of 16-year-old Duncan and his friends, they also start questioning their own beliefs, commitments, and relationships. Will things last between Duncan and his boyfriend? How far is he willing to go to take a stand for his beliefs? The people he meets and the ideas Duncan finds on his journey bring more questions than answers, but leave him with a glimmer of hope for the future.

Tally Youngblood just wants to turn 16 so she can be pretty. That's the magic age when everyone in society gets an operation that fits them all to the same standard of beauty. Uglies like Tally just wait, want, and fill their time making creative mischief. As her 16th birthday nears, Tally meets Shay, who doesn't WANT the operation--she wants to run away to live with the rebels in the Smoke. Tally soon has choices to make: follow & betray her friend, as the scientists demand, or never become pretty. Once she reaches the Smoke, the people and information she learn about put becoming pretty in a whole new light. Lots of action, too! The first in a trilogy. Audio version excellent.

The stories of Jin Wang, new to his school but NOT new to the U.S., the Monkey King of Chinese Fable, and Danny and his cousin Chin-Kee all intertwine in this graphic novel. Jin wants to fit in at his new school not be made fun of for being Chinese-American. The Monkey King masters kung fu in hopes of being hailed as a god. Danny wants Chin-Kee, the ultimate Chinese stereotype, to leave him alone so that he can go about the business of making friends at his new school without the burden and shame of explaining his cousin. These stories come together in very unexpected ways, with story and pictures that will entertain and make you think about whether you're truly happy being who you are.

The 2nd in a trilogy (Uglies), Pretties continues Tally's story as she tries to test the cure for pretty-headedness. When the cure arrives in the form of 2 pills, Tally's memories of her escape to the Smoke and her betrayal of Shay come flooding back. Now it's her mission to see if the cure really works. Tally and her boyfriend Zane each take one of the pills, and get more clearheaded as time goes on. As Tally struggles with what she's done, Zane has a bad reaction. They must escape the city and make it to doctors who will really help–not add back the prettymind-making brain lesions. Full of adventure and chases, the ending will make you want to find the 3rd book, Specials, right away.

Battle's brother Nick left home when she was in high school. She'd always looked up to him, and now she's spending the summer with him in Portland before she starts college there in the fall. Nick is living in a house with an eclectic group of folks, most who are involved in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's a summer of discovery for Battle–maybe she isn't who she thought she was, and maybe her brother Isn't either. Add that to her complicated interactions with the other house residents, and Battle's life turns into quite the roller coaster of hopes, betrayals, disappointments, and possibilities. Sequel to Empress of the World.

The kids from the Geography Club are back, and they're being attacked by zombies! Well, they're acting as extras in a zombie movie shooting at a local high school. This 2 books in one romance has Russel trying to choose between his long distance boyfriend and his old love who wants him back, and Min meeting the perfect girl. But can she be perfect if she hangs out with cheerleaders? Their friend Gunnar is caught in the middle, and is sometimes the only one with all the information, but you'll have to read both sides of the story to get all the details!

Zanna and Deeba have just followed a walking umbrella and discovered the world of UnLondon, a fantastic place full of amazing creatures--carnivorous (and hungry!) giraffes, pet milk cartons, fighting trashcans called the Binja, and the Smog, which is trying to take control of the city. Zanna is hailed by the UnLondoners as their Chosen One, but is quickly defeated and sent home, losing all her memories of UnLondon. Can a sidekick save the day? Find out by joining Deeba on her journey back into UnLondon!

Finney Bleak has the usual set of high school problems--family who doesn't understand him, not fitting in at school, and losing the girl of his dreams. Well, they're not quite USUAL. His family is a group of ghosts who have died unusual and gruesome deaths. Finney knows he is next, and is NOT looking forward to it. His tormentors at Mephisto Prep school include the Deadbeats (led by a vampire), Aberzombies, and witches who push potions. And the girl he wants back? She's dead. But that may be the least of Finney's problems. Check out this manga by Eric Wight, also known as the ghost artist from the O.C.

Angie never felt like a girl. From not liking dresses to not feeling right when told to lineup by gender for gym class, her whole life leads up to one little change that makes a big difference. Angie becomes Grady, she is now he, and he becomes comfortable with himself for the first time. Not all goes smoothly with Grady's friends & family, who have a hard time even saying his new name, but he finds allies, including one of the school geeks, who explains to him that parrotfish change gender all the time, according to what's needed. Grady's like a parrotfish – doing what he needs to do to survive. His story will make you wonder whether "boy" and "girl" really should be the only choices.

Lottie Brook got caught, and now she's being punished. A whole summer spent at her grandparents' stuffy country club in the English countryside. Nobody there dresses like she does, or talks like she does, or even has the same idea of fun as she does, it seems! Lottie's talked into entering a cake decorating contest and working in the pro shop, tries to make friends with the locals, and wonders if there's ANY possibility for romance in this place. Then a dead body turns up on the golf course. Things are finally starting to look interesting.

Meet Jen Dik Seong, Dixie to her friends. Part of her practices the ancient Korean martial art of hapiko, which connects her to her culture and makes her parents proud, part of her is a typical L.A. chick lusting after surfer boy Adam. As she trains for the hapkido championship, she notices that noticing Adam is throwing her off her game in a big way. But should she be looking elsewhere? Is all fair in love, war, and gift-giving? This graphic novel will make you wonder.