Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Forgive me, Leonard Peacock is a gripping tale of a troubled teen's last day of life before he shoots his former best friend and then himself with his grandfather's P-38 pistol, a relic from WW II.  Leonard's recitation of the things he has to do before his final acts is fleshed out with footnotes that reveal the suffering that drives him to plan this murder/suicide.  ""34. You should read about all of those [other]  killers.  They all have a lot in common.  I bet they felt lonely in many ways, helpless, FORGOTTEN, ignored, alienated, irrelevant, cynical, and sad . . ."  This is Leonard in a nutshell.  No one remembers his eighteenth birthday; no one except maybe his Holocaust Studies teacher,  Herr Silverman, and his elderly neighbor Walt seems to care one way or another what happens to him.  Betrayed by his best friend, Asher, snubbed by the beautiful and uber-Christian Lauren, and basically abandoned by his mother, Linda,  Leonard moves through his day hoping against hope that someone will connect with him enough to deter him from his violent intentions.

At first the story just seems like  a creepy way to introduce us to the mind of deranged potential killer who takes a weapon to school to revenge himself against everyone who has bullied him.  But as  Leonard keeps writing,  his dark humor and anguish combine to make him much more sympathetic. He is a teen with serious issues struggling to find good in the world.  As much as Leonard wants to kill Asher, he has also prepared special gifts for the few people who have made his life bearable.  

There are some rather strange passages in the beginning that appear to be letters Leonard and his daughter have written to him from the future, but eventually these make sense as a strategy suggested by Herr Silverman to show Leonard that if he can imagine a world where things get better, this will help him to deal with his depression.

Leonard seems to me to be a character well worth knowing and trying to understand.  His internal dialogs ring true as do the efforts of other characters to reach him.  Recommended.

Scan by Walter Jury and Sarah Fine

Scan is all fast-paced action that pits a super smart and talented teen (think MacGyver with jui-jitsu skills) against a variety of ruthless agents that want what he has-- a super-secret piece of technology, developed by his father, that can tell the difference between humans and aliens.

Tate Archer finds the scanner while snooping in his father's lab and decides to take it to school, where it gets way too much attention.   He doesn't realize the import of what he's done until he, his father, and his girlfriend Christina are chased from the building by police who shoot to kill.  Someone in the school--probably an agent of the aliens, has turned them in.

Tate's father dies from a gunshot wound, and Tate and his immensely spirited and resourceful girlfriend run from the bad guys and struggle to stay ahead of pursuit while they figure out whom they can trust.   Tate's dad cautioned him about trusting any aliens (known as H2) or even the core group of pure humans--The Fifty--who stand against them.  Both sides want the scanner and are willing to destroy Tate and Christina to get it.

Suspense builds as inevitably the hunters close in.  Some of the strategies to escape imminent capture seem a bit far fetched to me, but I'm no chemist.  The non-stop action is tempered by talk of Tate's relationship with his girlfriend--yes, there is romance.  Overall, this is a fun summer read with, I suspect, a sequel in the works.

Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

For her senior year, Amy decides to dump the adult peer partners she has required for her first eleven years of schooling in favor of hiring fellow students to accompany her during the school day and introduce her to other students so she can learn about how to make friends. Matthew signs up.  It is his observation in class one day that Amy only pretends to happy, well-adjusted and thankful for her many blessings that helps her better understand her isolation.  When she confronts him, Matthew is honest,  "It's not your fault that you don't have any friends.  You always have an aide with you.  No one is going to be themselves when there's a teacher standing right there."  Amy is surprised to learn that Matthew has watched her for years, that and his honesty makes her want him as one of her four helpers.

Amy isn't the only one in this relationship with problems, however.  Matthew has OCD, his way of managing a life beset with fears and anxiety.  He hopes that no one notices his habits of tapping lockers or compulsive hand washing.  Amy does, though, and isn't shy about asking him about his behavior, "WHAT'S THE WEIRDEST THING YOU DO?"  (Amy's dialog, which she writes on her computer,  is always presented in capital letters.)  She sees that he has a pretty serious case of compulsive disorder but that he seems so much more comfortable and relaxed with her.  The story revolves around the growing friendship between them, told through the conversations which reveal much about their secret hopes, fears, and problems.  Amy wants to help Matthew as much as he takes true pleasure in working with her.

McGovern does a great job writing from a "people-first" perspective, presenting her characters as individuals who have a disability but are not defined or stereotyped by that disability.  Amy and Matthew frequently use wit and sarcasm to hide their underlying feelings.  I found it easy to care about them and hope that they could finally be totally honest with each other.  If you liked The Fault in Our Stars, you should enjoy Say What You Will.