It is rare to find a YA novel with high functioning Autistic characters, and The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily has such a character as the narrator. And, it is female character.
Lily also has ADHD, and struggles every day to make it through school. Then one day, after being sent to the principal’s office for breaking a wall in her classroom, she meets Abelard. Turns out he, too, is on the spectrum. He’s handsome, and he has the name of Abelard, the philosopher who was Heloise’s true love. And, he enjoys medieval literature. They share an impulsive kiss in the principal’s office and then begin texting each other with lines from The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise, a book Lily loves, with a character that she relates to. It is her favorite, most tragic love story.

Lily is beside herself with excitement and she and Abelard text, get together, play chess, and fall in love. The problem for Lily is that when things get rough, she begins doing what she is best at: destroying things.

Will her story have a happier ending than Heloise’s?

Cutter Boy explores many issues with sensitivity including self-harm, bullying, dysfunctional families, mental illness, rape, trauma, and post traumatic stress disorder. It also focuses on a topic that typically is thought of a concern for teenage girls, but in fact also occurs in boys. The main character, Travis, is bullied at school and feels that he ignored at home. He has a secret: he cuts with a razor blade, and finds that this makes him feel in control of the pain in his life. He becomes friends with a new girl at school, Chyvonne, but worries how he can get close to her without her learning his secret. As he spends time with her, he to tries to discover why his mother can’t acts like he doesn’t even exist.

In an interesting plot twist, Travis finds a way to cope.

This is a high interest, large font, fast read. It will appeal to readers who enjoy “teens in trouble” stories.

This is a DISNEY PRINCESS Story based off of a character in the movie The Princess and the Frog. Most readers will probably be familiar with the Disney movie. If so, this will build in added enjoyment due to familiarity with the characters and the setting.

Tiana is a restaurant owner in New Orleans, who married a Prince. Tiana is indebted to Mama Oldie from when she was a frog, now turned back into human form. Mama Oldie has sent a messenger to Tiana saying she needs help. Tiana quickly readies her restaurant for a day without her, then leaves in the morning to help Mama Oldie.

Mama Oldie had a set of twin magical pearls. One is now missing. The pearls need to be together for the magic to happen. Mama Oldie asks Tiana to take her remaining pearl back to New Orleans with her to find its matching twin. “When they are close to each other, they’ll glow”. (42) Tiana agrees to help.

Back in New Orleans a plan is developed to throw a fantastic party at Tiana’s restaurant with a pearl theme.  The entire town will come. Tiana’s dear friends Charlotte and Louis the Alligator help with the party preparations. Little does anyone know, Charlotte’s little known cousin Lucinda, who just came to visit, turns out to have a long history with Mama Oldie. As Tiana begins to make the rounds to all the tables, as hostess of the party, the pearls begin to glow. Cousin Lucinda tries to escape, but does not make it with an alligator sitting on her. Lucinda turns the stolen pearl over to Tiana. Lucinda had only taken it to annoy Mama Oldie.

There is a BIG bayou party when Tiana returns the pearl to Mama Oldie.

The giant comic book style ant illustrations on the front cover will grab the prospective  reader’s attention immediately. Then as the reader leisurely studies each ant will he or she discover that three of the ants on the front cover are actually enlarged photographs of ants. This continues throughout the book. It is a wonderful mix of silly verses factual, side by side.

The text describes the the ants life cycle, including jobs and duties from construction, to babysitting, to cleaning, to feeding, to farming fungus, to milking aphids, to building bridges between trees, and to building rafts in flood situations.

Humorously fun while being factually accurate.

Set in an elementary school, with characters who are the animals their names sounds like.

Quillan Lu Hedgeson aka: Q (a hedgehog) and her best friend Ray Ratzberg (a rat) are school age wanta be detectives. As the scene opens, Q is in disguise and fooling the school as a new student from France. Q’s classic French beret, clothes, and raccoon eye mask  are very convincing, but her mannerisms quickly cue Ray into her deception. Later, the school has an assembly featuring a magic show starring the Great Dan Revealo. Ray has some magic background. Ray explains to Q at lunch how the tricks are done through distraction and misdirection.

A few days later the school goes on a field trip to the Elm Tree Art Museum. There they will have a chance to see the famous Mola Lisa by the famous artist Leonardo da Squinty. Suddenly the lights go out. When the lights come back on the painting is gone! Ray  and Q find two clues inadvertently left behind- a piece of confetti (like that used in the magic show) and a store receipt from a magic shop.  Ray & Q follow the clues. They lead to fingerprints left at the scene by Ms. Boar, who was in charge of the field trip. They quickly rule her out as a suspect. Then the clues lead to Ms. Easel the art teacher. Ray and Q think Ms. Easel was in disguise as the Great Dan Revealo for the assembly, but they do not have any strong evidence connecting her to the art theft. As Ray and Q fit the clue pieces together, Ms. Easel finally admits, ” ‘ The Mola Lisa should be mine. I’ve written papers on it. I’ve written poems about it.’ ” (42)

In one last disguise, Q finally fools Ray with her newspaper reporter disguise thanks to a trench coat hiding the stilts Q is using to double her height.

Readers will enjoy matching the characters in and out of their disguises, especially the curves of their noses, in this first book in the graphic novel series.

Page 48 contains FUN FACTS about the real Leonardo da Vinci.

Love is Love is a YA LGBTQ story involving Emma, who gets sexually involved with a popular classmate in an effort to boost her weak self esteem. Overweight with a low self-image, she thought this relationship would help her social standing. She soon realizes that the guy is merely using her, and she escapes this humiliation, and her unhappy home life, she leaves home in Winnipeg, MB to stay with her uncle and family in Vancouver, BC. Once she is staying with her cousin, a girl she perceives as perfect, and spending time with Paige’s cool friends, Emma is surprised to learn that the friend that she thinks is the coolest of them all is transgender. Emmy is attracted to Jude (formerly Judy), and spends time at shop where Jude works. She puts herself out there, beyond her normal comfort level, to impress him, and even performs at the poetry slam Jude hosts at the coffee shop.

Emmy worries about how Jude feels about her, and has doubts that such a cool and popular guy would actually be interested in her. She receives warnings from her mother back home, as well as from her cousin. Both try to warn her, telling her that Jude likely is just using her.

Will she succumb to his sexual advances, or will she find the confidence to wait until she finds someone who really does love her?

A short, quick read, this book will appeal to readers who are interested in LGBTQ issues, and those who appreciate “teens in trouble” stories.

Things I Should Have Known is a coming of age story featuring two sister. Chloe is a popular teen whose older sister, Ivy, is on the autism spectrum. Ivy is lonely and Chloe decides what Ivy needs is a boyfriend. Ethan, a very nice kid in Ivy’s special needs class, is the perfect match.
Problems arise with Ethan’s brother, David, who Chloe thinks is a real jerk.
Things are complicated by Ivy and Ethan not being comfortable going out on their own, resulting in both Chloe and David having to tag along on to movies and frozen-yogurt shops.

This is an enjoyable YA romance that authentically portrays autistic teens and their families.

Trigger Warning: This book deals heavily with suicide and suicidal thoughts.
The Rapids is the story of a fourteen year old girl, Tamika, who has been living in foster care. While standing on the banks of the Missouri river in a deep depressive state, she encounters Jesse and Mala, a young couple on a kayaking trip. They are voyaging from the source of the river down to the sea. She joins the couple, although this makes her a runaway. As they kayak down the river, the group encounters a series of dangerous situations on the river, and Tamika is faced with whether she will carry out her plan of drowning herself, or if she will decide to live.

This is a fast-paced, easy to read, large font book that will interest readers who like adventure and “teens in trouble” plots.

Just a Normal Tuesday is the heartbreaking story of the aftermath of the suicide of sixteen year old Kai’s older sister. Reeling with grief, Kai is now the only child in her family. She cannot make sense of her sister’s decision to end her life, and Kai loses control. She skips class, lashes out at those closest to her. She even takes the same pills that caused her sister’s death. As she bottoms out, her parents search for help, and find a grief camp for teens. Kai doesn’t want to attend this summer camp, but once she gets there, she finds comfort in meeting other teens who have suffered similar losses.

This “slice of life” story was written by Kim Turrisi, who reveals in the acknowledgements that she lost her own sister to suicide. Turris is known for writing the ABC Family’s webisode series Pretty Dirty Secrets, the online companion piece to the Pretty Little Liars.

Niko with his dog, Tag, and copilot, Radar, are on their way out to his spaceship buried in the snow when Niko spies a Snow Monster (who looks like his sister). Suddenly Radar is missing and they have to get into the spaceship to look for him. Could the Snow Monster have taken Radar? Then his dog is captured by the Snow Monster. Niko must defeat the Snow Monster and the Killer Bunny to find his friends. Written in a comic book style with comic book style illustration this would appeal to those who like a mixture of picture book and graphic novels.