The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The cover image says a lot -- dark, gothic, sexy, ambiguous. In this spooky, addictive read, Mara Dyer is the pseudonym of the narrator, a girl who has been in a horrible accident in which three of her friends die. What actually happened that night is a mystery, and she ends up moving in order to forget. Of course, we know how quickly such plans tend to go awry. For Mara, things go horribly awry; as if creepy hallucinations aren't enough, she's become the target of the cutest, most evil girl in school. But Mara herself might be hurting people in a much more lethal way. Could she have caused that accident? Could she have actually killed her best friend?
Soon, Mara is swept up in some suspenseful action and caught in the web of a gorgeous British guy. As with the girl in water on the cover, it's unclear whether he's out to hurt her or save her.

Though there are clear Twilight-esque set ups, this is a great read that will shock and confuse you. Aside from the other big questions that pop up at the end, the main one is whether you can actually stand waiting for book two.

Value: teen readers will most likely connect to Mara's confusion about her family and the charming but possibly dangerous boy in her life. Captures the desire to uncover the truth and the sense that nothing is exactly the way it seems. Very cathartic.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Richard Mayhew is a regular Londoner with an average job and a supremely annoying fiancee. Then, on his way to a very important dinner to discuss his future with a VIP, he is swept into the world of a strange girl, who seems to fall out of a wall and into the street, battered and bleeding.

It's not long before Richard, who (being the nice guy he is) takes Door home to care for her, is tangling with something even more ferocious than his bitchy girlfriend -- such as the dark forces of London Below, a parallel and perilous world lurking underneath, beside, and (at times) inside the city itself. Richard and Door team up with the flamboyantly sinister Marquis de Carabas to fight the evil villains who are hell bent on destroying them.

My husband had this book lying around and I picked it up. Brilliant stuff.

Bibliotherapeutic value: A story about self-realization and overcoming paralysis to do the right thing. Cathartic and deep.

Gaiman, Neil. Neverwhere. New York: Harper Perennial, 2003)

ISBN: 0060557818. $13.99.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The story begins with a horrible murder, but one person in the house survives, a toddler who manages to stumble outside and wander to the graveyard down the street. There, the ghosts discover, adopt and name him; "Nobody" or Bod is the only truly alive person in this haunted place.

But the killer is still out there, and he's still on the prowl.

A fanciful, fantastic book filled with a little bit of fear and lot of humor; the ghosts are far more friendly and kind than the humans.

While most YA books disassociate themselves from the past, this one treats past and present as one. Gaiman is a master at weaving in layers of history, creating a rich world in which fun and dread inhabit the same playground.


Bibliotherapeutic value: Although Bod's story begins with mass murder and his life is run through with danger, he also finds friendship and nurturing at the hands of others (though those others are often supernatural!). Bod, often too trusting, has to discover who will protect him and who won't. About navigating danger in the world.

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.

ISBN: 0060530928. $17.99.