Paper Towns (by )

I'm really on a John Green kick right now (fingers are practically burning as they flip through An Abundance of Katherines, which I will review when I'm done) so I may be a little bit biased, but as someone who in general loves to read, this was an awesome book in the true sense of the word. Awesome, in this day and age, may be a bit overused, but in the definition of "inspiring awe," this succeeds as I find Green's writing style truly awe-inspiring, for me to continue to work as a young adult writer. He creates characters that are believable and three-dimensional (especially Margo, who is never fully understood, which makes her all the more interesting), but with better one-liners and a lot more interesting lives. For parents of teens, there isn't really too much to concern them if you let them watch PG-13 movies, except for maybe language, which, as per usual Green novel, pops up frequently, but it makes it more realistic as these are teen characters, who, believe you me, really talk like that. Brand names are mentioned in terms of things like candy, and there is one scene where a few of the characters get extremely drunk, but it's not really celebrated. Not condemned exactly, either, but these characters come off looking less intelligent for doing so, at least in my opinion. If you're looking for a good teen mystery, you've come to the right book (it won an Edgar award!).