Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Taylor Markham should be used to being abandoned. When she was just a kid, her drug-addled mother left her at a 7-11. Now she's a senior at a boarding school and the woman, Hannah, who has taken care of her has disappeared.

Just elected the leader of the Underground Community, Taylor has to take the helm in the annual summer war game between the Cadets, who camp nearby, and the Townies.

Unsure she can lead, worried about Hannah's whereabouts, still haunted by the memory of her mother, Taylor is a whirlwind of anger and confusion. And then there's that manuscript Hannah left behind, with the story about a decades-old car crash which practically wiped out two families.

Somehow, to handle all of the pressure and solve these mysteries, Hannah knows she has to find her mother. But how?

This book was chosen by two of my book clubs, one at my school and one adult YA group. It's baffling at first, but it is mysterious, gripping, and emotional...and it's one of my very favorite YA books ever. (Adults seem to have more patience with the confusing beginning than teens do -- if they can hang in there, it's well worth it.)

Bibliotherapeutic value: I can't talk about it without spoiling the ending, but this book discusses some seriously traumatic episodes. Taylor is a tough, confused victim, but she's not curling up -- she's all action. As wounded as she is, Taylor is the model of a self-directed, take-charge girl. If she could only connect with someone else. In order to do that, she needs to expose some secrets and dredge up some ugly old ghosts. A powerful story about moving forward by stepping back into the past.

Marchetta, Melina. Jellicoe Road. New York: HarperTeen, 2008.

ISBN: 0061431834. $17.99.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Mia seems to have it all -- cool parents, musical talent, a rock star boyfriend. But then there's the accident, which leaves her at the side of the road looking at her parents' mangled dead bodies. When the emergency technicians arrive, pull a body out of the car, and begin to work on it, she realizes that it's her own.

Caught in a dreamlike limbo suspended between life and death, Mia observes as she and her brother are taken to the hospital. While doctors and nurses try to resuscitate them both, Mia looks over her own life and what she has left of it. She has to decide whether she's going to go with her parents or opt to live.

A hypnotic, slim tale about trauma, friendship, and what makes life worth living.

Bibliotherapeutic value: Though Mia has to deal with serious trauma, and she sees things that no one should ever see, this book -- which threatens to become a dread-logged tale about death -- becomes a pensive meditation on friendship and life.

Forman, Gayle. If I Stay. New York: Speak, 2010.

ISBN: 014241543X. $8.99.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Collector's Edition) by Sherman Alexie

Arnold Spirit, Jr., was born with water on the brain, bad eyesight, and suffocating poverty. On his Native American reservation in Washington, he sees people trapped in their lives -- hungry, drunk, and stuck, and, when a teacher on the reservation tell him that his only hope is to go to a white school over twenty miles away from the reservation, he decides that doing this, the unthinkable, is his only hope.

Facing racism at school and perpetual tragedies at home, Junior’s path is an uphill battle – one that he often has to walk alone, 22 miles to his school.

Full of the kinds of risky and controversial behaviors that teens see every day, Arnold has to deal with the trouble all around him, from alcoholism to life-crushing recklessness, child abuse to gambling addictions. Hilarious all the way through, Junior faces life’s dangers with a searing sarcasm and true grit.

Bibliotherapeutic value: All around him, the narrator sees his friends and family trapped in a cycle of poverty and alcoholism. This is a book about facing life’s most difficult challenges head on.

Note: Details below are for the collector’s edition because this one’s a keeper!

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Collector’s Edition). New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009.

ISBN: 0316068209. $19.99.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Bonded by a pact that could destroy them, Lia and Cassie were best friends. Both suffering from eating disorders, they encouraged and helped each other in their self-destructive behavior. Then, one night, Cassie calls Lia repeatedly – and then dies in a hotel room. Her death leaves Cassie with tremendous guilt. She tries to piece together what happened to Cassie, which can only lead her to examine their long, tangled friendship. Will Lia be able to salvage her own life – or will she travel Cassie’s horrible path?

Anderson plumbs the mind of someone suffering from eating disorders so well that, as queasy Lia’s behavior makes you, it’s easy to understand. Residing in Lia’s mind is no fun, but it’s difficult to detach from this hypnotic, chilling read.

The Vroman’s YA book expert brought this book to school and, because of the depressing subject matter, none of the students wanted to read it. Neither did I. But it’s a book that fully fleshes out the experience of living with a severe eating disorder. Though it’s hard not to feel the complete disgust that Lia feels when being around food, it’s also a fair warning to see the innocent roots of this illness – the comparing, competing, and girlish dieting that can lead to real tragedy.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. New York: Viking Juvenile, 2009.

ISBN: 067001110X. $17.99.