Beaches. Late nights. No school. Such are the joys of summer. Yet for some teens, those few months give them more time to face their family’s dysfunction―or to make bad choices. This month’s selections offer food for thought. What are your fears? Can you live through humiliation? What if you can’t fix your family? Check out the supporting resources which follow the booktalks. Gurtler, Janet. #16thingsithoughtweretrue. Sourcebooks Fire. 2014. ISBN 9781402277979. JLG Level: PBH : Paperbacks High School (Grades 10 & Up). She had everything all figured out. Twitter friends (almost 5000) are enough. Moms don’t get really sick. Dancing in your underwear is no big deal. Then Morgan’s summer begins with an embarrassing viral video, heart disease, and a dad who’s been alive all this time. Determined to meet the man who rejected her, Morgan and her new friends (live teens she meets at work) decide to take a road trip to Canada. What she learns changes everything she thought was true. Canadian author, Gurtler, divulges personal secrets on her website bio. Study guides for earlier releases are available. Follow her on Twitter. Her truisms can be found on Pinterest. Lockhart, E. We Were Liars. Random/Delacorte. 2014. ISBN 9780375989940. JLG Level: YM : Mature Young Adults (Grades 11 & Up). Something happened during summer 15. The thing is that Cadence can’t remember it. Two summers later, she still doesn’t recall the details that led to her chronic migraines―and no one will tell her anything. The Liars, her cousins and first love Gat, stay away from the rest of the family. The wealthy aunts carry their own burdens. “Be normal,” her mother says. “Get ahold of yourself.” If only Cadence could put the pieces together. A visit to Lockhart’s website provides links for book clubs, FAQs, contact info, and “ridiculous” quizzes. There’s a Tumblr for the book as well as a Pinterest board. Listen to the author read the opening pages. And yes, you’ll probably need to read it more than once. Oliver, Lauren. Panic. HarperCollins. 2014. ISBN 9780062014559. JLG Level: HI : High-Interest High School (Grades 10 & Up). What fears would you face if you could win $50,000? Spiders? Heights? What would drive you to risk your life? Panic seems more like the Hunger Games than a harmless summer wager among graduating seniors. Kids have braved the challenges before―a death, a suicide, and a paraplegic among its casualties. Yet for Heather, Dodge, and Natalie the secrets that fuel their need outweigh the danger. Listen to Oliver read three chapters from her riveting novel on her website. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. She’s also on Goodreads. Listen to an excerpt on "Here & Now", Boston’s NPR. Tamaki, Mariko. This One Summer. illus. by Jillian Tamaki. First Second. 2014. ISBN 9781626720947. JLG Level: GH : Graphic Novels High (Grades 9 & Up). Rose and Windy have been friends at the cottage since they were little kids. Now that they are older, boys are more interesting to Rose. Windy is more fascinated by the changes in her body. It’s a stressful summer, when parents are fighting and one of the local girls gets pregnant. The two friends test the waters of teenhood by watching slasher films and thinking of ways to get a glimpse of this year’s crush. Life is challenging at best―no matter how old you are. The reunion of the author/illustrator cousins (Skim, Groundwood, 2008) in another well-reviewed graphic novel is a welcome return. Follow Mariko on Twitter and Facebook. Check out Jillian’s website and follow her on Twitter. As the popularity of the novel grows, the number of interviews and radio programs increase. Perfect for discussion, Bustle.com published a great article, “13 Things Graphic Novel 'This One Summer' Gets Right About Being a Preteen.” Additional Resources In an effort to organize these links, I have created a LiveBinder. All websites will be posted within the LiveBinder, along with the accompanying booktalk. As I write more columns, more books and their resources will be added. Simply go to JLG Booktalks to Go where you will see LiveBinder tabs. Each color-coded main tab is a book title. Under each main tab are gray subtabs with links to media, websites, and other related documents. Everything you need to teach or share brand new, hot-off-the-press books is now all in one place. Please visit JLG’s new LiveBinder, JLG Booktalks to Go. For additional library resources, please visit JLG’s Shelf Life Blog. Junior Library Guild (JLG) is a collection development service that helps school and public libraries acquire the best new children’s and young adult books. Season after season, year after year, Junior Library Guild book selections go on to win awards, collect starred or favorable reviews, and earn industry honors. Visit us at www.JuniorLibraryGuild.com. (NOTE: JLG is owned by Media Source, Inc., SLJ’s parent company.)