The Beautiful Between

Sheinmel makes an impressive debut with an absorbing tale of unlikely friendship, loss, and family secrets. Connelly, a quiet junior at a prestigious New York City high school, is shocked when the school's "crown prince"—rich, popular Jeremy Cole—offers to tutor her in physics if she'll help him with SAT vocab. She finds out his motives aren't entirely altruistic, though neither are they malicious. His sister has been diagnosed with leukemia, and he believes Connelly can provide insight into how to survive the loss of a loved one, since Connelly's father died when she was two years old. Studying together and taking late-night smoking breaks in front of Connelly's apartment building, the teens build a trust strong enough to withstand idle gossip, family tensions, petty arguments, and tragedy. Told from Connelly's perspective, the novel hints at romance and is shrouded with the mystery of Connelly's father's death, an event she can't remember or bring herself to ask her mother about. Her revelation and the book's sad conclusion are somewhat predictable, but the intriguing and well-defined characterizations will keep readers riveted. Ages 12–up. (May)