MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN, by Jason Reynolds

The story: Miles Morales is the black Spider-Man. Given super powers by a spider stolen from Osborne Industries when he was 12, Miles, now 16, attends an elite academy as a scholarship student and is Spidey in his spare time. Little does he know that even within his school, the Chamberlains--a zombie-like group of minority-haters--are working under the influence of The Warden to make sure kids like Miles never get ahead in life. They've been disturbingly successful...but then, they've never been up against a kid like Miles Morales. Haters, beware!

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG-13; Violence PG; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult PG; GLBT content G; adult themes PG (racism and prejudice, poverty); overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: Not being a comic book reader, I'd never even heard of the Miles Morales alternate universe character until picking up this book, which is quite a departure from other things I've read by author Jason Reynolds (the golden boy of YA lit at the moment, and rightfully so--this just proves his versatility as a writer). I liked this one, particularly because it showed that even having super powers can't save you from having to deal with family difficulties, or with the fallout of other peoples' choices. We're all trying to get kids to make the move from graphic novels to books with text--here's a great bridging story for that group.