Critter and Jesse have been close to Seattle since her dad moved in with their mother. Closer still since he took off six years ago and Layla decided to raise Sea as one of her own. It’s a decision none of them regrets, especially not Critter. He’s more than a brother–he’s Seattle’s best friend.
Now it’s vacation, and Seattle and Critter are stoop sitters, at least until summer school starts in July. It beats working like Jesse, or worse, studying like Layla wants them to. It’s too hot for Seattle to be on her skateboard–too hot, even, for Critter to be scamming on girls. But Sea comes up with a plan for them to bluff their way into the ritzy swimming pool the next town over. Big mistake.
Soon Critter’s got his heart set on a Penn Acres princess, while Seattle’s trying hard not to fall for a skater boy on the rebound. For the first time in a long while, they can talk to anyone but each other. Then Seattle’s dad shows up unexpectedly, and the way of life Critter and Seattle have always known begins to change even more. . . .

From the Hardcover edition.

"Benji never really wanted to be my boyfriend, just my best friend, but I loved him from the first time I saw him and I didn't know how to stop." And now that Benji is dead, the victim of a senseless car accident, 18-year-old Bridget still can't stop loving him. She defers her first year of college, takes a dull waitressing job at an all-night diner, and sinks into her own special brand of misery, nicknamed The Hole (where "time does not exist" and "bathing is usually optional"). Her therapist, friends, and family all try to console her, but Bridget's depression is unrelenting. Then Jasper comes into her life. Jasper, who brings her sunflowers and notices important things like cool shoes, just might be Bridget's ticket out of The Hole. Yet, something still doesn't feel right. Slowly, Bridget realizes that the one person she never really tried to understand was Bridget: "I've molded myself ... into the kind of person Benji might be persuaded to love because I was too scared to figure out who I really was." It's time for Bridget to become friends with herself, by herself—without Jasper, and maybe, finally, without Benji.

[Lara M. Zeises' Bringing Up the Bones was an honor book for] the Delacorte Press Prize for a First Young Adult Novel for this lovingly crafted ode to the restorative power of the grieving process. Teen devotees of other literary four-hankie reads like A Time for Dancing by Davida Wills Hurwin, and Girlhearts by Norma Fox Mazer will also enjoy crying over Bridget's loss in Bringing Up the Bones. (Ages 14 and older) —Jennifer Hubert

lder teens and adult readers can't get enough of Gossip Girl, the anonymous narrator who made her catty debut in the bestselling Gossip Girl and titillated readers in the juicy sequel, You Know You Love Me. Now in All I Want Is Everything, readers will love her even more as Gossip Girl dishes up dose after hefty dose of dirt on all her friends-New York's wealthiest private school teens. Sharp wit, intriguing characters, and high-stakes melodrama drive the action of this wildly popular new series.