"I am a genius of unspeakable evil...", by Josh Lieb (YA fiction)

"I am a genius of unspeakable evil and I want to be your class president" is not appropriate for school libraries, in my opinion.  Granted, I didn't get further than 20-25 pages into the book, so things might have turned around.  However, during those 20-25 pages, all the 7th grade protagonist did was complain about his life and mock people.  Not seeing any redeeming qualities in the character, I promptly put the book down and moved on to one more interesting.

"Fallen", by Lauren Kate (YA urban fantasy)

"Fallen", by Lauren Kate would be an excellent book for middle or high school libraries.  The storyline is about star-crossed loves who reunite every 17 years only to be tragically ripped apart...repeat.  There's also a bit of mystery and some religious overtones tossed in as you learn the origins of the characters.  This particular reincarnation finds the characters at a reform school for various misdeeds.  Parts of the story dragged on a bit, but the characters were interesting and make the reader want to get to the bottom of the mystery.  The second book in the series is due to be released this fall.

For those who would like specific details regarding appropriateness, there isn't any sex or explicit scenes, although there is some kissing.  There are a few fights and an epic battle, but most details are left out.

"Infinity" by Sherrilyn Kenyon (YA and Adult, Fantasy)

Nick Gautier is a 14 year old student who is often picked on by the more privileged students at his school.  He is from a broken home with a father in jail for murder and a mother who became a stripper to make ends meet.   While she loves him, Nick's mom keeps buying him loud Hawaiian shirts from Goodwill to wear to school, which doesn't help his image any.  Weird things start to happen in New Orleans and living teenage zombies (as opposed to undead ones) are eating his classmates.  Who's controlling them?  How do they stop the zombies?  Why do they keep coming after Nick?  And who is this guy who says he's related to Nick and trying to help him?  Is he really helping or is he the cause of the weird events?

"Infinity" poses an interesting dilemma for me.  It's a great read, and is written with a 14 year old protagonist so you'd think it was young adult lit, however, the lead character is also in her adult fantasy novels, although he's 10 years older.  I enjoyed the story overall, and it was great to see Nick as a young lad and how he met the other characters and became a Squire, but her adult novels are certainly not appropriate for middle school students, given the sexual content in them.  This book, however, is appropriate for both middle school and high school students and contains nothing more than a single kiss for romantic involvement.