Together at Midnight

October 23, 2017
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. Agent: Jamie Weiss Chilton, Andrea Brown Literary.

November 15, 2017
Two teens take on a challenge to perform meaningful acts of kindness after witnessing an accident on the streets of New York City.Kendall and Max, white teens from the suburbs with a bit of history together, cross paths again in the city at a crossroads in their lives. Kendall has returned from a semester in Europe and is not sure she's ready to return to her old high school, especially since her experience at the alternative school abroad was more compatible with her ADHD and learning disability. Max is in the midst of an aimless gap year before college, a decision he made for the sake of an ex-girlfriend. After witnessing a tragic accident and feeling responsible for not intervening, the two agree to a challenge to perform seven acts of kindness in an effort to make amends and assuage their guilt. They spend the week leading up to New Year's Eve in each other's company, touching the lives of strangers and growing closer in the process. Castle's easy prose alternates between their perspectives and is interspersed with brief, poignant insights from the strangers they help along the way. Max's curmudgeonly Jewish grandfather and Kendall's gay brother provide some texture to their escapades, while their competing love interests from back home add mild drama to their budding relationship.Feel-good holiday fare. (Fiction. 14-18)

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January 1, 2018

POPGr 8 Up-Set between Christmas and New Year's in New York City, this novel centers on friends Kendall, Max, and Jamie who witness a quarrel that turns into an accident in which a woman is severely injured. Kendall and Max continue to stay in New York-Kendall with her brother and his boyfriend, who may be on the brink of a breakup, and Max with Big E, his curmudgeonly grandfather, who has scared away yet another caregiver. Feeling guilty over witnessing the quarrel and doing nothing, Kendall and Max accept a kindness challenge in which they will perform seven random acts of kindness by New Year's Day. Separately and together, the pair start looking at situations in terms of how they can positively intervene. The work is told in alternating chapters and readers are privy to not only the main characters' actions, thoughts, and emotions, but also to those of the people they are helping. This adds a powerful nuance to the novel. Participating in this challenge helps not only the people they meet but also the protagonists as they deal with personal challenges in their own lives. Although relationships and romance play a part, the scenes are appropriate for younger teens. VERDICT Recommended for collections where realistic fiction such as Eleanor & Park or Jennifer Castle's other novels are popular.-Erica Thorsen Payne, Albemarle High School, VA

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