Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones

Blink got his name because he blinks uncontrollably. He's on the run from a weak mother and a stepfather who is too strong for his own good. Over the past six months of living on the streets, he thinks he's gotten pretty good at finding clothes and food, but one day that gets him into trouble.

Caution named herself. Caution: Contents May Be Hot. Cation: Poison. She's running away from a tragedy for which she just can't forgive herself. She thinks she deserves nothing and has gotten mixed up with a dangerous drug dealer, hoping that he will be her salvation -- her death.

Blink and Caution cross paths before she steals his money, but they never notices each other before meeting at the train station, headed for Kingston. This meeting propels them on a journey that neither could have even invented from their dreams, and ultimately leads to precious forgiveness and friendship. Hopefully they can survive long enough to enjoy the life they never imagined.

This is some seriously good teen noir crime suspense. Reviewed by kate the librarian.

the summer i learned to fly by Dana Reinhardt

Thirteen-year-old Drew Robin Solo spends most of her time helping her mom, Lizzie, in the Cheese Shop; she doesn't have many friends - not including her pet rat, Hum, of course - so there really isn't anything else to do. Her dad died when she was a baby and she only has a few things of his that helps her get to know him. She has an impossible crush on 18-year-old Nick who helps out in the shop when he isn't surfing. And she has three girlfriends who are all away for the summer (and who she doesn't much like anyway). But everything in her world changes when she finds homeless Emmett Crane eating the too-old-to-keep-on-the-shelf cheese late at night behind the shop. Emmett with the curly dark hair, who leaves notes folded up as paper cranes, who disappears for days without any word, and who hangs out on the beach with older kids with tattoos, cigarettes, and guitars. In one short summer, Drew learns a lot about her self and even more about the people in her life and the growing world around her.

I read this book in day, and thought I was going to be really sad and depressed by the ending, but was pleasantly surprised by a positive, inspiring, and completely more realistic conclusion. Recommended to most teen readers, especially girls with romantic hearts.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

(Two books with pet rats in a week's time? Weird.)

The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot

We first meet Helen in an Underground Station near Trafalgar Square. We follow her through the streets of London, where she meets a collection of individuals, including Ben, who sets her up with a roof and a few meals. When her beloved pet rat is killed by one of the cats in the makeshift shelter, she decides it's time for her to keep on moving. She hitchhikes north to England's Lake District - famous for its calm and its beauty - and by accident winds up being quite literally rescued by a couple who own a pub. (It turns out that Beatrix Potter once stayed at the same pub.) It is in this place that Helen is finally able to begin to come to terms with her past, a story that the reader uncovers through flashbacks along her hard journey. 

This is a story of sexual abuse, the battle toward self-acceptance and relinquishment of undeserved guilt. This is the story of "one bad rat," who overcomes unrelenting struggle and uncovers her self-worth through the support of strong, loving adults. Recommended to all readers -- and lovers of Beatrix Potter will find something a little extra-special here as well.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.