Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, and drugs with excruciating side effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of “normal” life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, are all painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out.  (S)

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she fi nds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck. If I Stay is sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make— and the ultimate choice Mia commands.   (S)

Dear anyone who cared about Cameron,
I was the driver of the "other" car. The police and my mother and my father and plenty of people are saying that I didn't kill her. But I know I did. That's what everyone must believe.  I want to say a lot of things -- like how sorry I am. Like how Cameron was smart and beautiful and kind. Like how much my brother Jack loved her and how sometimes I can hear him crying through the wall at night. I want to say how bad everything can get. In one split second. Upside down and shattered. Just like that. Wrecked.   (J,S)

Sam and Jules - best friends for more than half their lives, the two are practically inseparable. But nothing could have prepared them for Jules's sudden illness - cancer. Sam tries to be a true friend, supporting Jules during the weeks of testing and doctors and treatments, but the horrifying pain and indignities that Jules suffers, and the feeling that she has lost control over her own life, force Jules to a place where even Sam cannot follow. Now both Jules and Sam must learn to accept the unacceptable - that Jules's cancer may not go away.   (J,S)

The classic story of a mentally disabled man whose experimental quest for intelligence mirrors that of Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse. In poignant diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his life. As the experimental procedure takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment seems to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance--until Algernon begins his sudden, unexpected deterioration. Will the same happen to Charlie?   (A/YA)

Jess Aarons' greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in his grade. But on the first day of school, the new girl outruns everyone. That's not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie Burke become inseparable. Together they create Terabithia, a magical kingdom in the woods where the two of them reign as king and queen, and their imaginations set the only limits. Then one morning a terrible tragedy occurs. Only when Jess is able to come to grips with this tragedy does he finally understand the strength and courage Leslie has given him.   (M)