RANDOMS, by David Liss

The story: Zeke Reynolds, sci-fi dork extraordinaire, is chosen as one of four teens in a delegation that will compete with kids from three other planets to see which homeworlds will be admitted into the Confederation of United Planets. The other three have amazing skills, but not Zeke--he's a Random. It's only when he teams up with the other Randoms to outwit the system that they discover there's a much bigger plan at work here...one that could end up destroying the earth, and even worse--let the bad guys win. Not if the Randoms have anything to say about it!

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG-13; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (betrayal, intergalactic warfare, fighting) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: I have to confess that I'm a dork--obvious, when I admit I got all the Star Trek, Stars Wars, and Firefly references in this book. But even if MS readers (especially boys) don't get all the in jokes, they'll still enjoy Zeke's funny, snarky voice and the non-stop action. This book gets a "live long and prosper" nod from me! (If you like this one, you should also take a look at "The Improbable Theory of Zak & Ana" by Brian Katchner. Equally fun, just more bad words.)