Akbar, Said Hyder. Come Back to Afghanistan. Bloomsbury, 2006. $14.95 ISBN 978-1596910683 (pap.); Bloomsbury, 2005. $24.95. ISBN 978-1582345208.

The author describes his experience as an American teenager when he traveled to Afghanistan to see his father, who was the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai and then became the governor of Kunar.

Almond follows his delicious obsession across America, chewing on such weighty matters as product placement, mega-corporations, and the dilemma posed by chocolate-covered coconut as he dips into the stories behind a handful of regional specialties, including Vermont's own Lake Champlain Chocolates. A hip and sometimes flip voice enrobes a sometimes dark and rocky road story.

Dessen, Sarah. The Truth About Forever. Puffin, 2006. $7.99. ISBN 978-0142406250 (pap.); Viking, 2004. $16.99. ISBN 978-0670036394.

The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work as the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.  

Oskar Schell, the nine-year-old son of a man killed in the World Trade Center attacks, searches the five boroughs of New York City for a lock that fits a black key his father left behind.

Gaiman, Neil. Anansi Boys. Harper Torch, 2006. $7.99. ISBN 978-0060515195 (pap.); Morrow, 2005. $26.95. ISBN 978-0060515188.

A semi-realistic fantasy that blends African myth and contemporary Afro-American/Afro-British culture in a story about an accountant who loses the father who caused him terminal embarrassment, gains a brother he never knew he had, and finds true love.

Green, John. Looking for Alaska. Puffin, 2006. $7.99 ISBN 978-0142402511(pap.); Dutton, 2005. $15.99. ISBN 978-0525475064.

Sixteen-year-old Miles′ first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks.

Oppel, Kenneth. Airborn. HarperCollins/Eos, 2005. $7.99 ISBN 978-0060531829 (pap.); Eos, 2004. $16.99. ISBN. 978-0060531805.

Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface.

Otsuka, Julie. When the Emperor Was Divine. Anchor, 2003. $10.95. ISBN 978-0385721813 (pap.).

A story told from five different points of view chronicles the experiences of Japanese Americans caught up in the nightmare of World War II internment camps.

Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. Random/Wendy Lamb, 2006. $7.99. ISBN 978-0553376050 (pap.); Random/Wendy Lamb, 2004. $16.95. ISBN 978-0385746779.

To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.

When his father is framed for murder and bioterrorism, high-school junior Evan, using clues from a stolen laptop, travels from Seattle to Paris with two friends to find the real culprit.

When six young friends discover that their parents are all secretly super-powered villains, they run away together and find strength in one another to overcome their evil legacy.

The child of an alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family’s nomadic upbringing, during which she and her siblings fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities.

After benignly haunting a series of people for 130 years, Helen meets a teenage boy who can see her, and together they unlock the mysteries of their pasts.

This graphic novel alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in the popular culture.

After capturing a bank robber, nineteen-year-old cabdriver Ed Kennedy begins receiving mysterious messages that direct him to addresses where people need help, and he begins getting over his lifelong feeling of worthlessness.