Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

I'd give this one to those who enjoyed Morgenstern's Night Circus.  There is actually two magical romances going on here with a nod to the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.  There is a small rural town somewhere in Illinois where the corn grows strong and seems to talk to some folks, where there is a school with bullies, where lives Petey aka Priscilla who believes she is the ugliest beast around, where lives Finn who loves her.  Finn is face blind and has come to know Petey behind the face that only a mother could love. They are high school seniors. Also here is Sean who is Finn's older brother and an emt.  On the day Roza slips through a magical gap in the corn and winds up injured in The brother's barn Sean is there to help her as is Finn.  They grow to love her truly until one day a stranger slips through the corn and kidnaps her.  Finn is witness but cannot describe the man except in terms of the way he moved.  Sean is devastated.  A night horse and then a goat appear in the barn after.  Petey tells Finn why folks see him as spacey and believes he only loves her because she is so distinctive looking and leaves him devastated as well.  Desperate to get Sean back now that he has lost Petey Finn searches his memories of the stranger kidnapper and comes to know he came through the corn that speaks.  And so it is that he journey's through a gap in the corn to the land where Roza is held captive by the man who asks her each day if she loves him yet.  I will leave you all here with Finn trying to get Roza back for  Sean, with discovering what how independent and determined Roza, with Petey learning to see Finn differently and loving him truly.  Face Blindness has not been mentioned in teen fiction before making this a good choice for diversity lists.  Face Blindness can be very severe and disabling and less so.  Finn appears to be somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.  Ok, complex likable characters, lyrical writing, magical realism what a wonderful story.  Give us more Laura Ruby. jdw 12/30 15

The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt

Early teen years is a time to begin to become the person one wants to be. Moxie decides her move to a new school where no one knows her is the perfect time to reinvent herself. She has always seen herself as a bland nobody though her name means guts and determination. With each new student she meets the first weeks of school she invents a new persona, conservationist/vegetarian or athlete etc. She maintains a journal of all the various lies she tells students to try and keep things straight. She is an accomplished concert pianist but does not view this as an acceptable persona though that is where her heart is. Throw in other girls with secrets they are trying to keep about who their notorious families and things are about to go wrong. The way things go wrong gets pretty hilarious at time. The way they sort themselves out is quite elegant, intertwined as it is with piano pieces called Bach's Goldberg Variations. I found this to be a fast enjoyable read. Its perfect for any young teen with a talent she might wish were more teen glam, less geeky like. jdw 8/16/10