Born to a drug-addicted mother, 15-year-old America had been lost in the child-welfare system for years before he finally wound up in a residential treatment center. There, over a period of several more years, a capable therapist coaxes him out of his anger and suicidal depression. In alternating chapters of "Now" and "Then," the teen tells about his anger at Dr. B's efforts to get him to think about his past; his warm memories of his early childhood with elderly Mrs. Harper; his terrifying memories of his stay with his mother, who abandoned him and his two older brothers; his two lost years spent perhaps in foster homes and residential institutions; and his return to Mrs. Harper and her half brother and caretaker, Browning. It was Browning who served as father figure and baseball coach, who taught him to read, and who introduced him, at nine, to vodka and to sex. It was Browning who died when America set his blanket on fire and ran away, hating himself for being so bad, for having enjoyed the sexual tenderness, for caring. The author's control of this story is impressive. It leaks out of America's memories, through the cracks he can't quite cover over with his aggressive behavior. Even at his baddest and most foulmouthed, America is still the appealing small boy Mrs. Harper raised, a boy certainly worth finding.

It is unclear in this compelling graphic novel just who the heroes--and anti-heroes--may be. This is a complicated blend of story and graphics that rewards mutliple readings and encourages reflective thought about the nature of identity and stereotype. Graphic novels that focus on nonwhite characters are exceedingly rare in American comics. Enter American Born Chinese, a well-crafted work that aptly explores issues of self-image, cultural identity, transformation, and self-acceptance. In a series of three linked tales, the central characters are introduced: Jin Wang, a teen who meets with ridicule and social isolation when his family moves from San Francisco's Chinatown to an exclusively white suburb; Danny, a popular blond, blue-eyed high school jock whose social status is jeopardized when his goofy, embarrassing Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee, enrolls at his high school; and the Monkey King who, unsatisfied with his current sovereign, desperately longs to be elevated to the status of a god. Their stories converge into a satisfying coming-of-age novel that aptly blends traditional Chinese fables and legends with bathroom humor, action figures, and playground politics. Yang's crisp line drawings, linear panel arrangement, and muted colors provide a strong visual complement to the textual narrative. Like Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Laurence Yep's Dragonwings, this novel explores the impact of the American dream on those outside the dominant culture in a finely wrought story that is an effective combination of humor and drama.-

Coraline has recently moved with her preoccupied parents into a flat in an old house. The neighbors above and below are odd but friendly: Mr. Bobo trains mice; elderly Misses Spink and Forcible serve her tea and tell her fortune. No one lives in the flat next door. But Coraline knows better, and one evening she discovers what's there: a tantalizing alternate world, filled with toys and food (unlike any of the boring stuff she has at home) and weird-- though wonderfully attentive--parents, who happen to have black button eyes sewn on with dark thread. Although her «other parents» beg her to stay, she decides to leave, but by doing so Coraline sets in motion a host of nightmarish events that she must remedy alone. Coraline is an ambivalent bundle of often-contradictory qualities and motives but she finds herself in some genuinely creepy situations.

The opening lines of this first-person narrative immediately hook readers as they enter the lonely, troubled, self-deprecating world of Troy Billings, a 296-pound 17-year-old who contemplates ending his life by jumping off a New York City subway platform. He is interrupted by Curt MacCrae, a legendary punk-rock guitarist and sometime-student at W. T. Watson High School. When Curt connects with him and "saves his life," Troy is amazed that someone, especially someone as cool as Curt, wants to befriend him. An unlikely, almost symbiotic relationship develops between these two. Curt convinces Troy to be the drummer in his band, even though he hasn't touched the drums since seventh grade. He is flattered by the suggestion and believes that being in the band could be his key to acceptance. Troy's voice is candid, irreverent, realistic, and humorous. He imagines the events of his life in facetious headlines always related to his weight. Making fun of the fat kid’s an obvious and tiresome sort of thing to do, and being made fun of can turn you into a most interesting antihero.

Rachel Cohn creates a memorable, sometimes unlikable anti-hero who demonstrates a feisty courage as well as more exotic, unlikeable traits. According to stepdad, Sid, Cyd Charisse is a "recovering hellion." Kicked out of boarding school, the teen returns home to San Francisco. True to her wild nature and obsession with boys, she does anything to get a rise from her parents. She is grounded in her "puke-princess bedroom" after being caught out overnight again with surfer-boyfriend, Shrimp. Finally, Sid and Nancy send her to bio-dad in NYC. Meeting her real father and family has long been Cyd's dream. Since he was married with children when her mom had an affair with him, he is virtually a stranger to her. When Cyd got in trouble at boarding school and needed money for an abortion though, she called him. He didn't remember Gingerbread, the rag doll he gave her when she was five, but he helped her out. Cyd Charisse sees herself when she meets him 11 years later. She finds excitement working in her gay half-brother's caf as a barista and exploring New York. Confrontations with her older half-sister and brief talks with her father bring Cyd more knowledge about her families on both coasts.

Surely Scarlett O'Hara must be one of the most interesting--and enduring--anti-heroines of classic literature. While it is true that she is manipulative and constantly connives at adding to her pantheon of men by flaunting her seductive looks, it is all in the interest of making her great love--the milquetoast Ashley Wilkes--take notice of her. She is also unexpectedly hard-working and shrewd in adverse conditions and has an unswerving loyalty to preserving her family--even to unappealing characters like her sister Suellen. Rhett Butler, the male anti-hero of this foray into the Civil War of the South, is equal to Scarlett's most nefarious schemes.  -- Sue-Ellen Jones, Teen Services Librarian, Poudre River Public Library District

Sophie Hatter reads a great deal and soon realizes that as the eldest of three daughters she is doomed to an uninteresting future. She resigns herself to making a living as a hatter and helping her younger sisters prepare to make their fortunes. But adventure seeks her out in the shop where she sits alone, dreaming over her hats. The wicked Witch of the Waste, angered by ``competition'' in the area, turns her into a old woman, so she seeks refuge inside the strange moving castle of the wizard Howl. Howl, advertised by his apprentice as an eater of souls, lives a mad, frantic life trying to escape the curse the witch has placed on him, find the perfect girl of his dreams and end the contract he and his fire demon have entered. Sophie, against her best instincts and at first unaware of her own powers, falls in love. Howl makes a superb superhero. Never has a man worried more about his hair and his clothes in the midst of imminent disaster and an incredibly messy home.

Ed is a 19-year-old loser only marginally connected to the world; he's the son that not even his mother loves. But his life begins to change after he acts heroically during a robbery. Perhaps it's the notoriety he receives that leads to his receiving playing cards in the mail. Ed instinctively understands that the scrawled words on the aces are clues to be followed, which lead him to people he will help (including some he'll have to hurt first). But as much as he changes those who come into his life, he changes himself more.

Myers combines an innovative format, complex moral issues, and an intriguingly sympathetic but flawed protagonist in this cautionary tale of a 16-year-old on trial for felony murder. Steve Harmon is accused of acting as lookout for a robbery that left a victim dead; if convicted, Steve could serve 25 years to life. Although it is clear that Steve did participate in the robbery, his level of involvement is questionable, leaving protagonist and reader to grapple with the question of his guilt. An amateur filmmaker, Steve tells his story in a combination of film script and journal. The "handwritten" font of the journal entries effectively uses boldface and different sizes of type to emphasize particular passages. The film script contains minimal jargon, explaining camera angles (CU, POV, etc.) when each term first appears. Myers' son Christopher provides the black-and-white photos, often cropped and digitally altered, that complement the text. Script and journal together create a fascinating portrait of a terrified young man wrestling with his conscience. The tense drama of the courtroom scenes will enthrall readers, but it is the thorny moral questions raised in Steve's journal that will endure in readers' memories.

Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world. After finishing this book, you may be left to ponder just who the anti-hero is in this book--and why.

Things are not what they seem in this story of wit, adventure, and philosophy. Gen, an accomplished thief incarcerated for stealing the king's seal, is dragged from his cell by the king's magus, who is on a quest. The prize is Hamiathes's Gift, said to be a creation of the gods that confers the right of rule on the wearer. During the quest, the magus and Gen take turns telling the youngest member of their party myths about the Eddisian god of thieves. Turner does a phenomenal job of creating real people to range through her well-plotted, evenly paced story. No one is entirely evil or completely perfect. Gen is totally human in his lack of discipline, seeming lack of heroism, and need for sleep and food. The magus makes the transition from smug, superior scholar to decent guy in a believable fashion. Gen makes an interesting anti-hero and his adventures continue in the series' subsequent titles - The King of Attolia and The Queen of Attolia. Even the queen gets into the anti-hero act in a big way...

Whenever I introduce the character of Artemis Fowl to readers, I like to say that he is Harry Potter's evil twin. From the very first book in the series, Eoin Colfer has created a deliciously sly humor in even the series' minor characters but Artemis Fowl is a masterpiece in the lexicon of anti-heroes. Sometimes he succeeds in looking like the good guy and at other times he seems capable of a shocking callousness and villainy but he always watches out for his own self-interest. In the Time Paradox, Artemis's mother has contracted a deadly disease -- and the only cure lies in the brain fluid of African lemurs. Artemis himself was responsible for making the lemurs extinct five years ago. Now he must enlist the aid of his fairy friends to travel back in time and save them. Not only that, but he must face his deadliest foe yet...his younger self.

Author Chris Crutcher explores the anti-hero possibilities inherent in a well-adjusted, intelligent character who is also athletically gifted but doesn't choose to share his athletic abilities to enrich the reputation of his high school. Adopted, biracial high-school senior The Tao Jones (his birth mother seems to "have been a little too `spiritual'") is well-adjusted on the surface. A smart, likable kid with a great sense of humor and athletic ability, he glides through academia with everything an adolescent boy needs--decent grades and female companionship. What T. J. doesn't need is competitive sports, which Cutter High School jocks and coaches see as a personal snub. T. J.'s resolve weakens, however, when English teacher-coach Mr. Simet makes an unconventional offer: Be the anchor of the swim team and pick your fellow fish. Perfect, especially since racist football bully Mike Barbour has taken up letter jackets as a cause. It seems developmentally disabled Chris Coughlin has been wearing his dead brother's jacket, and Mike is annoyed. If Chris, naturally comfortable in the water, is on the swim team, T. J. reasons, Chris will earn a jacket of his own, and Mike will be put in his place.