Fiction. Arnold Spirit, Jr., known as Junior to everyone on the Spokane Indian Reservation, is an awkward-looking, extremely smart 14-year-old cartoonist who stutters, so he gets beat up a lot when his kind-of-scary but loyal friend Rowdy isn't around. When Junior transfers from the Wellpinit tribal school to a nearby white school so he can have a chance at escaping the rez, Rowdy ditches him and Junior learns what it's like to be the only Indian (besides the mascot) at Rearden High. Then he makes Rearden's varsity basketball team and has to face his old teammates--including Rowdy--on the court. This funny, tragic, painfully honest, and ultimately hopeful book is based on author Sherman Alexie's real-life experiences.

Fiction. It's hard to go against the crowd, especially if your crowd believes they have God on their side. Mena Reece knows she did the right thing, but now her former friends all hate her and she's been banished from her conservative church; her own parents are barely speaking to her. Mena still holds on to her Christian faith, though she's beginning to question some brands of it. Luckily, she's found a friend and ally in truth-seeking: her nerdy, funny (and cute!) lab partner, Casey. When her teacher resists pressure from the church to present intelligent design theories along with those of evolution, Mena struggles to reconcile scripture with science, voicing her opinions online as Bible Grrrl.

Fiction. Kiriel, a disgruntled demon who is sick of his menial job in Hell (tormenting condemned souls is thankless work that "practically does itself," he says) wants to experience the physical world. So, unbeknownst to his superiors, he has stolen the body of slacker teen Shaun Simpson, who was just about to step in front of a cement mixer and get squished. Now Kiriel wants to try out all the joys of human existence--he's especially curious about sex--before his Boss figures out he's missing. Kiriel is touchingly (and hilariously) awed by the glory of everyday things such as Froot Loops, ketchup, and bathing, but he really wasn't prepared to experience emotions...or love.

Fiction. Seventeen-year-old Annabel Brown's father owns a construction company in the Hamptons, and Esteban Santiago, the gorgeous guy on the soccer field who has caught her eye, is one of her dad's immigrant employees. It's love at first sight for blonde-and-blue-eyed Annabel, and then she hears Esteban sing at a nightclub...and falls even farther. The attraction is mutual for Esteban, and soon he has something else in common with Annabel: both his family and hers strongly oppose their romance. Can Annabel and Esteban find a way to make things work? For more love that crosses borderlines, try Sharon Draper's Romiette and Julio or Finding My Voice by Marie G. Lee.

Horror Short Stories. Dead people are supposed to stay put, right? In this collection that includes stories by such popular authors as Holly Black, M. T. Anderson, and Annette Curtis Klause, the dead are "all awake when they shouldn't be." Some of these tales are darkly funny (like Kelly Link's "The Wrong Grave"), some of them outright terrifying; none are for the timid. Readers who enjoy these stories of prankster devil worshippers, a stalker from beyond the grave, vampires, and other restless-dead types should check out its companion volume, Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales, also edited by Deborah Noyes.

Fiction. As Grady knows intimately, "not all of us fit so neatly into the category we get saddled with" at birth. Grady has always known he's a boy, but was born into a female body and, up until now, has lived life as Angela Katz-McNair. Now he has cut his hair, bought boy's clothes, and is asking everyone--at home and at school--to start seeing him as a boy and to call him by his new name. Grady's family members struggle with his identity, and his best friend Eve dumps him for fear of what her snotty, popular friends will think. But with help from his new friend, geeky Sebastian Shipley, and his unbelievably cool gym teacher, Grady manages to truly be himself for the first time.

Jack's life in London is pretty dull until his best mate, Charlie, accepts an invitation to join a league of demon-fighters and begins to develop super powers. But Charlie's been tricked: the Scourge, an evil entity, has possessed him, incarnated as a writhing black tattoo that has a life of its own. The Scourge wants to destroy the world, and when it drags Charlie to hell to put its plans in motion, Jack has no choice but to follow. Luckily, Jack has met young warrior Esme, who has been training all her life to battle the Scourge and may be Jack and Charlie's--and the world's--only hope. This action-packed book will especially appeal to martial arts enthusiasts and is a great choice for Darren Shan fans.

Short Stories. Author Neil Gaiman is a master at blending fantasy, horror, science fiction, and humor, and the 31 tales in this collection are great examples of his unpredictable storytelling style. Here you'll find zombies, vampires, and cannibals cavorting alongside personified months of the year and a new vision of Sherlock Holmes that pays homage to both Arthur Conan Doyle and H. P. Lovecraft. Readers who love Gaiman and wonder where his ideas come from should be sure to read this volume's introduction...after savoring every shivery, creepy tale.

After 17-year-old Evan's parents divorce, he moves with his mother and sister into a broken-down Victorian house his mom is renovating. Evan doesn't expect much to change in his life; the move hasn't required him to attend a new school or be separated from his girlfriend, Carrie. But then Evan starts having disturbing and erotic dreams about a mysterious girl he doesn't know. Turns out, the house he and his family moved into wasn't empty--it still imprisons the ghost of Cora, a teenager who died there over 100 years before. Cora has mistaken Evan for her long-departed lover...and she wants him back.

Nick and Allie were passengers in two cars that collided in a fatal crash, but neither of them made it all the way to "the light." Instead, they've both landed in Everlost, an in-between land where kids, buildings, and beloved objects go after they've ceased to exist in the living world. There are a lot of rules for surviving in Everlost (keep moving or you'll sink through the ground; avoid the beastly, talon-fingered McGill at all costs) and eventually, Allie and Nick encounter the fellow Afterlight, or lost soul, who seems to be making them. Entranced by her, Nick thinks he might want to stay in Everlost, but Allie is determined to get home--even if it means breaking the rules and taking over the bodies of the living.

Nick wants a cell phone so he can talk to his girlfriend, Jen, in the evenings. Unfortunately, the only one he can afford is a used model with no caller ID--but it looks okay, and he takes it. It isn't long before Nick starts receiving calls from a menacing-sounding stranger who demands his help, and pleading calls from others who sound like they're phoning from Hell itself. The games on the phone are weird, too--they have names like "Joyful Sins to Get You In" and "Torture Master." Calls keep coming, with the menacing stranger making more and greater demands and threatening both Nick and Jen. What kind of phone IS this, and can Nick outsmart it before it's too late?

In this exciting sequel to Peeps, an ancient evil is stirring beneath the streets of New York City; black water bubbles out of pipes, rats gather in sinister packs, and vampires are rapidly multiplying, but something even worse threatens to destroy the city--and possibly the world. In the midst of all this, pals Moz and Zahler are obsessed with putting together a band. Odd circumstances bring Moz and Zahler together with fellow musicians Pearl, Minerva, and synesthetic percussionist Alana Ray. The band they form makes music like no one's ever heard before...and it seems to be luring the subterranean evil above-ground.