In Jeremy Fink and Meaning of Life, a locked box is delivered to Jeremy just a few weeks before his 13th birthday.

It is a gift from his deceased father, who loved puzzles and mysteries.  Jeremy and his best friend Lizzie start to search

for the keys to open the 4 locks on the box, and meet a number of people along the way who share their thoughts on

the meaning of life.

Common themes are friendship and finding your heart's desire.

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall is a story told in verse of a girl who feels like a nobody.  She is hit in the head during a dodge ball game in Phys Ed and finds herself in the hospital .  She keeps reliving moments from her past, the worst ones, the moments she is least proud of.  Is she is in Heaven?  Or some other way station in the afterlife?

Common themes are forgiveness, family and self-acceptance.

In A Mango-Shaped Space, Mia is 13 years old and seems like the most normal kid in her eccentric family, until she shares someone about herself at school.  Suddenly she feels like a freak.  Mia is a synesthate, someone who perceives color along with letters, or flavors with certain words.  Tjhe title comes from the mango colored "aura" her cat leaves.  She feels so different until she meets other people who are synesthates too.

Common themes are self-acceptance, family and grief.

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