OK, obtuse reference to a WHO song. Sorry about the confusion that might cause with younger readers of the blog. However, "My Generation" seems apt in a few ways here. YA literature has been and continues to be reflective of its generation. Look at the books from the 60s compared to the ones from the 90s and today. Subject matter, form, format: some real differences. What remains the same? The focus on the teen character trying to deal. OK, enough about this stuff. On to the book.

FADE TO BLUE by Sean Beaudoin (Little Brown, August 2009) is the story of Sophie Blue, she of the black lipstick and Goth clothes and Kenny Fade (that's pronounced Fa-day) a basketball hero who can do no wrong even when he is doing wrong. Kenny and Sophie and a cast of characters find themselves in some rather surreal situations. And there is good reason for that. Sophie and her classmates at Uphear High (love the names of places and characters in this novel, especially Coach Dhushback and a cop named Goethe) are all guinea pigs in a bizarre experiment. To tell you more would deprive you of the hilarious confusion that is FADE TO BLUE. Part mystery, part social commentary, part typical teen angst novel and much more, this is a novel that will defy categorization. The shifting formats from letters, essays, multiple narrators and a comic book all mean that this is a puzzle that slowly shifts into focus before spinning out fuzzily when a heretofore new piece is discovered on the floor and needs to find its place. Intrigued?

No cover to show until I scan it. Love the cover and so will teens, I suspect. ETA: here it is.