9) IT

King, Stephen. IT. New York: Signet, 1987.

Annotation: In a small town in Maine, seven young outcasts band together to form 'The Losers Club." When children start being found mutilated and murdered, each of the group's greatest fears come to life and start terrorizing them, appearing most often as Pennywise the clown. It will take all of their courage and conviction for discover the truth about "IT."

Reason for Rejection: As perhaps the most commercially successful author of the past half century, Stephen King is no stranger to stories involving teens and groaning up. But It is one of his few stories (or anyone else's for that matter) that so skillfully combines King's trademark horror, adult perspective, and a genuine coming of age story that feels at right home in the young adult genre. It's ashame that a novel so entertaining falls on it's face in the last quarter of the book, resorting to a random assortment of supernatural deus ex machina to wrap up the plot.

A great strength of the storytelling is that there is no single protagonist, though King's quasi-autobiographical character Bill comes close. The story is told from the group's perspective, giving each of the seven teen's hope, fears and motivations a chance to develop. Teen readers will feel included in their quest, and most likely find comfort in their company as the book (and their lives) get darker.

The dueling time periods of the narrative structure is not only innovative, but it also has the added benefit of creating a link between the teen mind and their adult counterparts. For adult readers this may represent a nice reminder of how the experiences of our childhood impact our lives, but for the teen reader its a promise they all fears can be overcome and they too will one day get to be adults. Many of the developmental skills that teens need to grow up are on full display in both time periods, and King reminds readers that few people handle childhood trauma more honestly than he.

When the mystery of IT is still foggy in the first half of the book, it is impossible to stop turning the pages - frankly, Pennywise the clown is a truly terrifying villain. However, the story takes a turn toward the middle and starts to become this confusing mix of Native American shamanistic mysticism, ancient astrology, and pulp supernatural tomfoolery. Sadly, the story and the character's credibility unravel as the explanation of events turns to the unintelligible. The simple truth is that 3/4 of King book are perfectly paced, heartbreaking and enthralling - and the last quarter is pure middling.

Genre: Printz, Horror, Coming of Age, Supernatural

8) What My Mother Doesn't Know

Sones, Sonya. What My Mother Doesn't Know. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001

Annotation: Sophie is in love. Or at least she thought she was. Even though she is dating the best looking guy in school, Dylan, she keep dreaming of the strange outcast Murphy. With the help of her best friends, a little trial and error, Sophie starts to figure out just who she wants - and who she is becomming.

Reason for Rejection: It's easy to understand the appeal of What My Mother Doesn't Know, especially to teenage girls. It's a remarkably easy to read story, written almost entirely in verse, that deals with such stalwart teenage issues as love, new love, sex, and authenticity. While it speaks frankly and often humorously in an authentic voice, the book fails to rise above casual teenage "high school" drama and does not offer more than the genre has come to expect.

The characters, specifically Sophie the protagonist, is one of the books strongest points. She is bright and extroverted, voiced to near verisimilitude by Sones is manner that captures the tenor and cadence of the average teen girl. The reader can share her optimism and nervousness about teenage 'boy decisions' while glimpsing the woman that is beginning to think a little more globally. The supporting characters, while not nearly as well-developed, are all likable and serve the story well. Many teens will find themselves or their friends in pieces of these characters.

The plot, however, is contrastingly lacking in this novel. It focuses around Sophie moving from her first real boyfriend to her second, and then her third. The biggest problem here is that conflict is almost nonexistent within the story. The most significant challenge that Sophie faces is the fleeting guilt she feels for breaking up with her perfect boyfriend. Just when the story seems to be heading is a direction that will actually challenge Sophie, the moment is neatly resolved before she or the reader has a change to stew in the conflict.

In many ways, Sones has created a textbook wish-fulfillment for teen girls, full of the permissible lust and passive drama that fills many a journal. Unfortunately, there is simply not enough meat on the bone to make this a memorable read - likely to leave many readers forgetting about the characters and events in the book as soon as they put it down. Ultimately, the coming of age story here lacks the genuine struggle that other books in the genre transcend greatness.

Genre: Printz, Coming of Age, Poetry/Verse, Censored, Challenged and Banned Books

7) Where She Went

Forman, Gayle. Where She Went. New York: Penguin, 2011

Annotation: Mia and Adam where inseparable in high school. After a horrible accident, Mia walked out of Portland, and Adam's life forever. Three years later Adam has become a famous rockstar, but the memory of Mia is eating away at him. Their reunion will change everything.

Reason for Nomination: Gayle's Where She Went speaks with total confidence to all those who have love and lost and learned to love again, full of characters that are both believable and memorable, and built on a time-skipping structure that makes makes the story jump off the page.

The core genre is a romantic love story, but it's also a story of arrested (emotional) development. While it is certainly classifiable as a teen novel, the main characters are are both 21 in the main thread of the story. However their sudden break up has left both of them with unrequited needs - and has put their natural progression on hold. So much of the personal growth that would be naturally contained in a teen love story instead plays itself out a little later, with the added complication of making sense of the end of idealize teen romance.

The characters in the novel are thoroughly endearing, so much so that it's impossible not to root for the leading couple. The speak honestly at times, and in misleading self-lies at times - accurately mimicking the reality of the teen mind in love. These two also contain a great deal of teen wish-fulfillment - one a A-list rockstar, the other a Juilliard Cello prodigy. The book also reminds us that the event famous and powerful are still people who have the same problems as everyone else.

Structurally, the novel jumps back and forth between the last few months of their high school romance, and the first days of their post teen reconnection - with a little of Adam's interim years. Told from Adam's first person persecutive, each chapter also begins with lyrics from his pop-rock album, which adds a poetic preface to the each beat of the story, and breaks up the prose nicely. Each chapter is paced briskly, and the developments are full of very motivated but honest moments.

Most importantly, this is a rare romance novel that can work equally well for both boys and girls. The joy and pain of being a teen who loses the one believed to be 'the one' is perfectly etched here, but so is the promise that there is always a tomorrow. What tomorrow holds the novel doesn't have to say, but the readers will have no doubt that there will be one.

Genre: Printz, Romance, Edgy Fiction