I meant to do a full review of all of these, and they do deserve it, but right now I am completely swamped and want to get these back to the library shelves so others can enjoy them.  So I’ll do a brief (even briefer than normal) snapshot of each title.  I consider them all must-reads.

One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke.

I had heard wonderful things about this book for months and months, but no local library purchased it until it was a Printz Honor Book.  It is the intimate but inherently funny story of a family with all of their ups and downs, strained relationships, new-found friends and lovers, and the meeting of strangers who then become part of your life.  Written with grace and beauty by Clarke, the book dips and dives through lives, allowing us to laugh at our own and see beauty where we may not have seen it before.  It also demonstrates without preaching or bullying that we are all interconnected beyond our small lives.  Simply wonderful and definitely a book that is purely teen but is not bleak or dark.  Lovely.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd.

Salim boards the London Eye and goes up but never comes down.  Now his cousins Ted and Kat must figure out how and why Salim never came back down to earth.  A great mystery for middle-graders, this book has what seems to be an impossible situation, a moment where all of the evidence clicks into place neatly, and two great detectives in the young siblings who each have their own strengths.  Great characterization is the real center of the book here, despite the wonderful mystery.  Ted is a unique boy who has features of autism but is highly functioning.  His quirks make him the detective he is and allow his brain to see things from a different perspective.  What is best about the book is that Ted is never pitied or looked down upon, rather he is seen as special and interesting.  What a treat of a character!  Highly recommended for pre-teens, this would make a stellar book talk.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin.

From the author of Elsewhere, comes another winning teen novel.  Naomi falls down a set of stairs and hits her head at the bottom, losing her memory.  As she wakes up into a life she no longer remembers, she has to piece together why she is dating a tennis jock, why she has the friends she does, and what she wants to do with her life now.  It is a wonderful journey of self-discovery encapsulated by her lost memory.  Beautifully written and effortlessly plotted, the book is fresh and fast.  Zevin manages with both of her novels to create complex situations that envelope a truth.  This book is one that teens will flock to read, enjoy entirely, and pass on to their friends.