Together at Midnight

After New York City teenagers Kendall and Max witness a near-fatal bus accident (and worry they didn’t do enough to avert it), they agree to complete seven random acts of kindness between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The only rule: the actions can’t be as simple as just throwing money at someone. Fueled by the guilt of “bystander syndrome,” Kendall and Max attempt to put some positive energy into the world. As they work together—stopping to talk with a homeless veteran, comforting a child whose father has disappeared, etc.—they realize that they have a great deal in common, and maybe the kiss they shared months before wasn’t such a mistake after all. Castle (What Happens Now) alternates between the teens’ first-person perspectives as New Year’s Eve approaches, interspersing brief dispatches from the recipients of their beneficence that highlight the secret struggles ordinary people carry with them every day. In giving voice to these men and women, Castle expands the story from a feel-good romance into a reflection on what makes us human. Ages 14–up. [em]Agent: Jamie Weiss Chilton, Andrea Brown Literary. (Jan.) [/em]