Fly On The Wall by E. Lockhart

Gretchen Yee is an ordinary girl attending Manhattan High school for the arts. Even with her bright red hair, she still doesn't seem to stand out much. With her best friend and her love of cartoon style drawing, she decides she wants to break out of her shell, leave her comfort zone, and learn more about boys. What she doesn't know is that her wishes will soon become reality as she transforms into something that was once thought impossible, a fly. She's stuck in the boys locker room as a fly on the wall. Although being a fly wasn't what she had in mind, she still comes to learn a lot about boys and herself throughout the novel. After wishing back her normal life, and going though so much chaos, Gretchen finally transforms back to her normal self and gets a date with the crush of her dreams. Fly on the wall was a very interesting book and I would definitely recommend it to others. I loved the way Gretchen related to common everyday girl problems, of course until she turned into a fly. It was interesting to see Gretchen grow throughout the novel as she experiences new things. The best part of all, the story had a comical twist to wrap and tie everything together which, to me, made it a very successful read.

Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas

Steve York has to write a 100-page essay about his life in order to pass his English course and graduate from high school. What seems like a straightforward writing assignment, however, becomes an opportunity for Steve to reflect on his downward spiral from gifted, straight-A student to apathetic drug user. He attempts to figure out where it all went so wrong. He focuses mainly on his sophomore and junior year of high school, when he became involved with a group of non-conformists and formed the Grace Order of Dadaists (GOD) club. Also during that time, Steve met his first love and experienced the worst kind of heartbreak--"his heart had been run through frappe, puree, and liquefy in the love blender" by his ex-girlfriend, Wanda "Dub" Varner. He also discovered that he really couldn't relate to his father, the Famous Astronaut. Readers of all ages will enjoy Steve's wild ride of self-enlightenment as author, Rob Thomas, tells a wonderful, engrossing story with a mix of clever humor about a teenage outsider.

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

Two years earlier, Deanna's father catches her having intimate relations with a boy in a car when she is only 13. Her life is drastically changed in that instant, and to this day her father still cannot look her in the eye. Although Tommy is the only boy she has ever been with, she is relentlessly tormented at school. Her entire family regards her with disgust, and Tommy still smirks at her when she sees him. Her two best friends have recently begun dating, and Deanna feels like an intruder. She tries to find salvation by focusing on helping her older brother, Darren, his girlfriend, and their newborn while they struggle as teenage parents. Deanna learns to protect herself by becoming outwardly tough, but inside she feels very isolated. Her only outlet is her journal in which she writes the story of an anonymous girl that has the same feelings and experiences that she does. This is a heartbreaking look at how a teenager's life can be defined by one mistake, and how it shapes her sense of self-worth and her hopes for the future. It is an intense, emotionally charged novel. Deanna's reactions to the things said to her are painful to read, but very realistic.