Powerful and haunting

Wow.  I don't usually get drawn into stories that are sad, but A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness was absolutely riveting.  Conor is 13, and as long as his mom has been battling cancer, he's been having the same awful nightmare.  One night he's visited by an enormous monster formed by a nearby yew tree.  Over time, and as Conor's mom tries more and more treatments that don't work, the monster tells Conor three confusing stories and then demands that Conor tell him a fourth one - the truth, the story of his nightmare.  Conor's feelings of helplessness, grief, and anger are laid bare; the monster - frightening, caring, maddeningly logical - is one of the most creatively written characters I've come across in a long time.  Black and white artwork adds an extraordinary, eerie quality.  I couldn't put this book down....

"They'd never suspect the secret I was hiding"

If you're looking for a good book for the beach, try Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker. After her mom leaves her (again), Stella is sent to live with her Great Aunt Louise, who tends to a cottage colony on a beach in Cape Cod.  Foster child Angela is living there, too, and even though she and Stella are about the same age, they do NOT get along.  When Louise suddenly dies, the girls are afraid they'll be thrown back into the foster care world; they secretly bury Louise and decide to team up and manage the cottages, surviving on the vacationers' left-over food and tips.  The story is told in Stella's voice, and her descriptions - from families tumbling out of their cars to begin vacation to her on-again, off-again friendship with Angela  - are spot on.  But how long can the girls keep their secret?