Burning Blue by Paul Griffin

Mix top-notch YA writing with tight plotting, suspense, and a mystery to be solved and you have Paul Griffin’s latest.  A gorgeous girl takes a shot of acid to the face and the narrator, a teen hacker who can flip over the wrestling team but is rendered helpless by a seizure disorder every so often, is on the case.  While there’s nothing urban about the book, Passages' students are reading it on the strength of Griffin’s sterling reputation with them.  One student who told me she has spent most of her life in institutions of one kind or another recently stated to me that this book is her current favorite.  A crossover hit with independent urban readers!--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Griffin, Paul.  Burning Blue.  New York: Penguin, 2012.