IT'S A WONDERFUL DEATH, by Sara J. Schmitt

The story: Mean girl RJ Jones isn't supposed to be dead--the Grim Reaper got her by accident. You'd think it'd be easy to put her back into real life, but not so much. Eventually a Tribunal decides that she'll have to pass a series of tests to demonstrate that, if allowed to go back, she'd ultimately follow a better path that would improve the world. Now it's up to RJ--who's going to end up with a lot more (and a lot less) that she expected.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (bullying and mean-girl behaviors) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: RJ is a pretty self-serving narrator at the beginning (although sassy and smart) but she undergoes a heavenly transformation that makes her a lot more likeable. An interesting concluding twist ties up all the loose ends and proves that You Just Never Know. This could actually get readers to think about their own lives' trajectories, and possibly about being a little nicer.