Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.
Audience: Grades 7 and up

My Rating: 5* of 5

Summary: Witnessing the horrific death of his adored Grandfather sets sixteen-year-old Jacob to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and the reality of his Grandfather's once unbelievable tales.
Comments: An interesting, exciting, often chilling story of unlikely superheroes known here as "peculiars." A compelling protagonist takes us through fun twists, peppered with many effective holocaust metaphors, and the supernatural elements are easy to swallow. Found vintage photographs throughout the book are often creepier than the writing.
Read-alikes: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness; Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Hero by Mike Lupica

Hero by Mike Lupica.
Audience: Grades 6 and up

My Rating: 5* of 5

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Zach learns he has the same special abilities as his father, who was the president's globe-trotting troubleshooter until "the Bads" killed him, and now Zach must decide whether to use his powers in the same way at the risk of his own life.

Comments: Excellent origin story that leaves you eager for the next adventure! Even out of his sports element, Lupica still writes with a perfect blend of plot and character that propells you through the story [faster than a speeding bullet...sorry, can't resist].
Awards: Texas Bluebonnet list 2012-2013
Read-alikes: Hero by Perry Moore (Moore's is for a reader who can handle LGBT lit)

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman, 2010.

Audience: Grades 7-12

My Rating: 5* of 5

Summary: Bronte: There's a reason why Brewster can't have friends—why he can't care about too many people. Because when he cares about you, things start to happen. Impossible things that can't be explained. I know, because they're happening to me.
Comments: While Unwind may have some of Shusterman's best writing, Bruiser is his best novel to date. Multiple voices are written masterfully, the suspense sets in quickly and does not relent, characters are interesting and worth following...in short, everything works and works very well. All told, Shusterman uses a super-human character to show the best, worst, and always flawed faces of humanity.

Awards: 2011 Lone Star list

Read-alikes: If I Stay by Foreman, Unwind by Shusterman, Hero by Moore

Delcroix Academy: The Candidates (book 1)

Delcroix Academy: The Candidates by Inara Scott (ARC). Hyperion 08/2010.

Audience: Ages 13+, Grades 7-10

My Rating: 3*s of 5

Summary: Dancia Lewis' otherwise mediocrity is a welcome cover for her secret: whenever she sees a person threatening someone she cares about, things just...happen. Cars skid. Structures collapse. Usually someone gets hurt. When recruiters from the prestigious and mysterious Delcroix Academy show up in her living room to offer her a full scholarship, Dancia's days of living under the radar may be over.

Comments: A debut novel with a strong premise and love triangle (do I smell a "Team Cam" and "Team Jack" campaign!?) that keeps the sometimes sluggish pace afloat. My biggest stumbling block...the names. "Delcroix" and "Dancia" sound so awkward to me that they tripped up my eyeballs every time. There are some interesting developments at the end of book 1, but not a major cliffhanger as I anticipated.

Awards:

Read-alikes: Twilight, etc., Vampire Academy

Hero by Perry Moore

Hero by Perry Moore. 2009.
Audience: Grades 8th and up; 13 and up (who can handle GLBT lit)
My Rating: 4*s of 5
Summary: The last thing in the world Thom Creed wants is to add to his father's pain, so he keeps secrets. Like that he has special powers. And that he's been asked to join the League - the very organization of superheroes that spurned his dad. But the most painful secret of all is one Thom can barely face himself: he's gay.

Comments: Overall a funny, entertaining, and engaging story that is highly original. Kind of a look at what the Incredibles family could become many years later. The concept is great--a budding superhero teen struggling with his missing mom, fallen superhero dad, his own new powers and the biggie--his homosexuality. Characters are appealing (Typhiod Larry, ha!) and there are many funny moments (huge laughs over The Lorax scene). There are a few bumps in the road execution-wise, especially with early action scenes. But any transgressions are easily forgiven as we root Thom on in the battlefields of hero-dom and looooove!

Awards:
Read-alikes: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies / Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies by Hartinger; How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater by Acito