Fresh off of the critical success of the Me and Earl and the Dying Girl movie, Jesse Andrews is back with a sophomore novel that’s got just as much heart and wit—and twice the shredding. Wes and Corey, best friends, music enthusiasts, and reluctant jazz band members, are disillusioned with jazz camp the moment they arrive. They can’t see a world in which they have any fun at all this summer. But when they meet Ash, who sucks at jazz but has this mystical quality when you let her loose with a guitar, the next few weeks seem to unfold in front of them with a million different possibilities.

As in Me and Earl, the characters here are deeply flawed and painfully aware of it. Their fumblings and fights make for a hilarious and too-true picture of trying to find something—anything—you’re good at and claiming it as your own. The dialogue-formatted conversations throughout let Wes and Corey’s unfiltered voices shine through and make for a quick, fast-paced read. The nuanced and thoughtful teen boy perspective is a welcome addition to the world of contemporary YA.

I’d been waiting for this one for a long time, and—unlike the protagonists, who struggle to keep anything they love pure and free from their own criticism—I could not find one thing to hate about it.

Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret. 

April Genevieve Tucholke is best known for her thriller and horror novels – most recently she was a contributor to Slasher Girls & Monster Boys – but Wink Poppy Midnight feels more like you’re walking inside someone else’s dream. This novel is magical realism at it’s finest. Without spoiling this deliciously creepy mystery, the novel follows three separate narrators, the book’s namesakes, and how there lives have twisted together.

Queen B Poppy has been pulling on Midnight’s heartstrings for as long as he can remember. That is until Wink comes into his life, pulling Midnight into a world full of long summer afternoons and the possibility that there may be a little magic out there. Now their three lives are intertwined, and not everyone is going to get what they want.

Perfect for fans of Bone Gap, We Were Liars and the Raven’s Cycle Series.

On top of all the typical anxieties about starting middle school, Trent Zimmerman is coping with guilt surrounding a hockey accident that resulted in a classmate’s death. Fallon Little is a mysterious outsider; a twelve-year-old girl who invents fantastic stories of how she got the prominent scar on her face. While everyone in school knows Trent’s story ー and avoids him because of it ー no one knows the true story behind Fallon. The two strike up an unlikely friendship centered on sports and film, helping one another forge an identity separate from tragedy.

Lisa Graff handles issues of loss and guilt with grace and humor, putting a fresh spin on the coming of age narrative. Fallon is one of the most dynamic heroines I’ve encountered in recent children’s lit. I loved the specificity of her character, from her talent for spotting continuity errors in movies, to her resilient way of reinventing herself through stories. This is memorable middle grade that leaves a lasting emotional impression even while it entertains. Have tissues handy.