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.

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney

Janie Johnson is just a regular girl who dreams of an exotic life filled with adventure -- and, boy, does she get it. One day, as Janie and her friends are eating lunch in the school cafeteria, the kids all joke about the missing children ads on their milk carton. Janie picks up her friend's carton, drinks the milk, then realizes in a flash of memory that the girl on the carton is her.

Stunned, Janie begins to question everything around her. Who are these people who have said they were her parents? Are they crazy? Could these caring, nurturing people be dangerous? Haven't they already broken the law?

When she finds a cache of old papers with the name "Hannah" on them and the dress from the milk-carton photograph, she finally confronts her parents.

Their answers pacify her...until new, unsettling questions arise to poke holes in their story.

A twisting mystery that brings up some of the most unsettling feelings; What if the life that seemed so normal was merely a sham?

Intrigued by the title, I delved in and couldn't put this book down. Disturbing and gripping.

Bibliotherapeutic value: This is a novel about a child "owning" her story, about finding out the truth, even when the truth may be uncomfortable. In order to get what she wants. Janie has to confront people with buried memories that some would prefer stayed buried.

Cooney, Caroline. The Face on the Milk Carton. New York: Laurel Leaf Books, 1991.

ISBN: 0440220653. $6.99.