“Girl, Nearly 16: Absolute Torture,” by Sue Limb (Delacorte Press, 216 pages, $15.95)
Jess Jordan, the histrionic adolescent heroine of “Girl, 15, Charming But Insane,” returns to prove her claim to the crown of Drama Queen. Still stunned at her luck in snagging a boyfriend, Jess nonetheless sees herself at the center of a modern tragedy. Torn from young Fred’s arms, forced to endure a two-week road trip with her mother to meet Jess’ long-lost father.
Her disenchantment with this trip, apart from the humility of traveling with her hopelessly antediluvian mother and grandmother, is rooted in teen angst.
What if, during her absence, Fred falls for Flora, Jess’ comely best friend? What if Fred and Flora have run away together to Riverdene, the ne plus ultra music fest?
The tension ratchets up a few notches when the travelers reach their destination. Jess impulsively decides to hop a bus and visit her long-lost father’s home in a neighboring village. Her fears that Dad secretly wed and sustains a new family dissolve when, almost simultaneously, two boyfriends arrive – hers. And his. Ages 10 and up.
“M or F?,” by Lisa Papademetriou and Chris Tebbetts (Razorbill, 304 pages, $16.99)
Marcus and Frannie, close friends who think of themselves as twins, take turns narrating this tale of repeatedly mistaken identities. Anyone who remembers being a teenager knows what it’s like to be a one-person comedy of errors. Chat rooms and text-messaging only compound the problem.
Papademetriou and Tebbetts keep the tone lighthearted and smart, with a story line that invokes Shakespeare as well as Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Marcus, who is openly gay, feels unsettlingly conflicted about helping Frannie woo Jeffrey, her object d’amour, especially when he wouldn’t mind a little action too.
The confusion only gets muddier as things go on, but rest assured: The most important relationship remains intact. Ages 12 and up.
“Wrecked,” by E.R. Frank (Atheneum, 256 pages, $15.95)
This compelling psychological drama opens with a death. Anna, a high school student, drove one of two cars involved in a fatal crash. The other driver, who dies in the accident, is her brother’s teenage girlfriend. Worse, Anna’s teenage passenger was drunk, and there’s some question about Anna’s sobriety, since she was drinking too.
The miasma of adolescent drinking and driving shrouds Frank’s story, told through Anna’s perspective. Anna’s guilt over the other girl’s death swells. She thinks of herself as the girl who “killed her brother’s girlfriend.” Finally, a relative persuades Anna’s mother to get Anna into counseling, prompting an examination that illustrates – but not in a preachy way – why therapy can be so crucial. Ages 13 and up.
“Necklace of Kisses,” by Francesca Lia Block (HarperCollins, 227 pages, $21.95)
Paging longtime fans of Weetzie Bat, the insouciant literary pop star of Block’s delicious series chronicling the outré L.A. scene: Prepare to feel old.
In her latest adventure, Weetzie is 40, a mom contemplating divorce from Secret Agent Lover Man Max, who seems terminally mopey. Weetzie remains a formidable force, driving a mint-green 1965 Thunderbird, monitoring time with a Hello Kitty watch, and watching her steps in orange suede sneakers or orange leather slides with silver studs.
And she has enough money to live on, for a while, at the fabulous Pink Hotel, an auberge frequented by fauns, mermaids, drag queens, starlets and a woman who is literally blue. Block tells the story of Weetzie’s introspection in anecdotes alternately narcissistic and touching. Ages 13 and up.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
