THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON, by Kelly Barnhill

The story: Stolen from her mother as a baby, Luna is found and raised by a kindly witch, who sees how destructive Luna's moon magic is becoming and figures out a way to bind it until her 13th birthday. Little does Xan know that this will leave the girl unprotected. Little does she know that there are others who wish to do her harm. With the help of a swamp monster, an extremely tiny dragon, and the mother she doesn't even know, will Luna be able to tame her own magic and use it to keep everyone safe?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult PG; GLBT content G; adult themes (ritual sacrifice) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: Well, who am I to argue with the august Newbery committee? I really liked this one--my only question is how many readers grade 4-6 will stick with a literary fantasy with beautiful words but not as much action as the regular variety of fantasy. I fell that this is one of those stories better liked by adults on committees than by the kids they target. Still, totally worthy to be on anyone's ES or MS library shelves. Just ask the Newbery folks.

CROSSING THE LINE (Raven Files #1) by Meghan Rogers

The story: Jocelyn was kidnapped as a kid and trained as an assassin by the North Korean KATO group. Now she's engineered an escape and wants to bring down the bad guys--but no one in the International Defense Agency's group of teen agents believes her. She'll have to prove herself to the team before she can get her revenge--but time is running out before a missile is launched and a war is started...and maybe before she falls in love with Scorpion, who totally hates her guts.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language R; Sexual content PG-13; Nudity PG; Substance abuse R; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (kidnapping, torture, abuse, murder, political intrigue) PG-13; overall rating R.

Liz's comments: There's something hair-raising happening in every chapter of this book, which is a plus with teen readers. However, MS librarians should think carefully about it: Jocelyn goes through a graphic addiction recovery process; she was used to provide sexual favors for targets of her KATO assignments, and the language is graphic throughout. It also kind of bugged this adult reader how easily the teams got into all kind of supposedly super-high security locations because of a random kid's "mad skills"--but if your suspension-of-disbelief-o-meter can handle all that, it's an entertaining read. Total cliff-hanger, though--so prepare to buy at least one more.

100 DAYS, by Nicole McInnes

The story: None of them knows it, but Agnes has only 100 days to live. Moira, her Goth best friend, spends most of her time trying to protect Agnes. Boone, with his dead father and semi-crazy mother, has lots of other things to worry about beside two less-than-perfect girls. But when they forgive him for something bad that happened a long time ago, Boone finds friendship and even love. And Moira finds a way to move on when something expected, but terrible, happens.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG-13; Violence PG; Sexual content PG; Nudity PG; Substance abuse PG; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (body image shaming, parental death and depression, terminal illness) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: I liked this one a lot. The language renders it better for 8th-up, but it shines a light on a number of different issues, without turning the teens having those issues into something to pity. Each one has his/her own weaknesses and failures, but is able to work through them by way of strong, supportive friends. Even when the dynamic changes due to death, friends help make it bearable.

FROST, by M.P. Kozlowsky

The story: Frost has never stepped a foot outside her building. Why should she? New York lies in ruins, overrun by robots and the zombie cannibals known as Eaters. It's only when her last living companion, her pet broot Romes, becomes dangerously ill that she decides to risk it. She will find evil robots, answers to questions, help in unexpected places, solutions to old mysteries, and maybe even love--but will she be able to save Romes?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG-13; Violence PG-13; Sexual content PG; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (being orphaned, slavery, warfare, scenes of sci-fi warfare, cannibalism) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: I probably would have liked this a lot better ten years ago. As it is, I'm pretty done with dystopia, even one that juxtaposes robots and zombies. The fact that (spoiler alert) Frost herself is a very human looking, acting, and feeling robot is a last-minute reveal, which leads one to believe that a sequel is de rigeur. Of course.

DRAGONS VS. DRONES, by Wesley King

The story: Marcus has spent the last eight years trying to find his father, and now he's got it figured out. Tapping the energy of a gigantic lightning storm, Marcus travels to a parallel dimension where he meets Dree--companion to a dragon--and learns about his own connection to the dragons of the realm...and about the man who's working to destroy all dragons by using drones, imported from earth via the same temporal anomaly. Can Marcus and Dree get their own hybrid drone/dragon up and running before Francis succeeds with his evil plan?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG-13; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult PG; GLBT content G; adult themes (abandonment by a parent) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: the reviews about this one were surprisingly mixed, but I liked it--anything that juxtaposes dragons and spaceships gets my vote! The cliff hanger promises at least one more volume to come.

HEARTLESS, by Marissa Meyer

The story: Cath wants to be a baker, but her parents have other plans: they want her to be the queen. Cath already knows that the King of Hearts makes her squirm, but when she meets Jest, the court Joker, she realizes it will now be impossible to marry the child-like sovereign. To make her dreams come true, all she and Jest need to do is seize the moment and make a run for it--but if they're not successful..."off with their heads."

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG-13; Sexual content PG; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG; Magic & the occult PG-13; GLBT content G; adult themes (forced marriage; murder; evil monsters) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: My rating may be lower than most because I am NOT a fan of unhappy endings. And even though there was only one way this could go to be true to the original tale (Cath does end up as the Queen of Hearts out of "Alice in Wonderland", after all) it's still an unhappy ending. I'm a big fan of the Lunar Chronicles; this one, slightly less so. However, those familiar with the Lewis Carroll originals (and with Poe's "The Raven") will find lots of ingenious tie-ins h

ME & MIRANDA MULALLY, by Jake Gerhardt

The story: Sam (the class clown), Duke (the self-appointed intellectual) and Chollie (the jock) all fall in love with the same girl (Miranda Mullaly) on the same day. Now the competition is on--who will be the one to win her heart? Everyone's plans go every which way but right, and it'll take more than just a bit of serendipity for any of them to come out on top. May the best man win!

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence G; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (disrespect to adults; plans for revenge; lying) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: It's not very often that the story of a middle-school crush is written from the guys' point of view. This frothy, fun novel is pretty short on character development...but no boy in his right mind cares about that, anyway. I made me laugh out loud in parts, and I'm always a fan of that. Hand it to the same crowd that enjoys Tommy Greenwald's Charlie Joe Jackson books.