Love Is Both Wave and Particle

After a suicide attempt, Sam Vash enrolls in an alternative high school in Ithaca, N.Y., where she’s given a long-term assignment with another senior. The two are to gather stories about themselves from friends, family, and others, and create autobiographies. “It was English and writing, with maybe some psychology and personal history thrown in,” Sam explains. What follows is a series of first-person narratives from the teens’ parents, classmates, and counselor, which provide material for the memoirs and offer varied perspectives on Sam and quiet, handsome Levon Grady, who is “maybe somewhere on the broad spectrum of Asperger’s,” as he puts it. Through these shifting points of view, which can at times be difficult to keep straight, readers get hints about why Sam slit her wrists at boarding school and how Levon’s upbringing with his scientist mother has affected him. Part romance, part psychological study, adult author Cody’s first book for teens thoughtfully conveys Sam and Levon’s complex mental states, the evolution of their relationship, and their journeys of self-discovery. Ages 14–up. Agent: Faye Bender, the Book Group. (Aug.)