Everything Beautiful in the World — Lisa Levchuk

Lately I feel like an astronaut out on a space walk -- constantly praying the tube attaching me to the ship doesn't snap and send me flying into outer darkness.

The only good thing about having a mother with cancer is that people are willing to let you get away with pretty much anything. Like failing a Latin test. Or being late to class. Or skipping tennis practice. But there's one thing Edna's fairly certain even she can't get away with -- her burgeoning romance with Mr. Howland, her fourth-period Ceramics teacher. That day when Mr. Howland kissed her in his office, she felt like she was floating, like she could levitate right out of her skin. It's Mr. Howland, with his tousled blond hair and his beautiful guitar and his spot-on impression of Dracula, who makes Edna feel happy for the first time in a long time. But what does Mr. Howland want? And how does Edna really feel -- about her mother, about Mr. Howland, about moving forward?

Set in New Jersey in the 1980s, this is a piercing story about decisions both heart-wrenching and wonderful, and how life and love so often lead us down unexpected paths.