Ashbury/Brookfield

Author Jaclyn Moriarty's first novel is a #1 bestseller in its native Australia and a Book Sense 76 Pick, and has been nominated Best Book of the Year by the ALA. Told entirely through sticky notes from her mother, messages to "a Complete and Utter Stranger," and letters from fictitious companies, listeners get a peek into the complex life of teenager Elizabeth Clarry.

This Booklist Editor's Choice interweaves the writings of six Australian highschoolers. When an English assignment forces "snobby" Ashbury students Lydia, Emily, and Cassie to exchange letters with "low-life" Brookfield guys, Lydia and Emily are surprised to find their Brookfield pen pals so kind and civilized. But after Cassie's cross-town correspondent threatens her, the friends plan a series of madcap missions designed to teach this malevolent male a lesson he won't forget.

Told imaginatively through school assignments and diary entries, The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie is sure to appeal to young listeners who love a good mystery. Some people find Bindy Mackenzie's perfectionist personality a bit irritating, but would anyone really want her dead?

Best-selling novelist Jaclyn Moriarty has garnered critical acclaim for brilliantly interweaving letters, journal entries, blog postings, and homework assignments into contemporary tales brimming with mystery. Amelia and Riley have transferred to Ashbury for their senior year. In love since they were 14, they dance their nights away and sleepwalk their way through school. Their fellow students long to be drawn into their cool, self-contained world. But when Riley fears he's losing Amelia to the past and asks his peers for help, things take an ominous turn.