“Disturbia”: Sara Farizan, Lamar Giles & Ryan La Sala

Dr. Precious Symonette is a bestselling author, the co-author of Dear Freedom Writer, a secondary educator, public speaker, educational consultant, and founder and CEO of the Florida Freedom Writers Foundation. The organization helps students learn about themselves, become more involved in their respective communities, and develop writing, performing, public speaking, and networking skills that will help them succeed academically, professionally, and socially.

Lamar Giles is the author of Spin, Overturned, Not So Pure and Simple, Fake ID, and Endangered. He is also the editor of the anthology Fresh Ink, and a founding member of We Need Diverse Books. In The Getaway (Scholastic Press), Jay lives the good life at Karloff Country, one of the world’s most famous resorts. He has his family, crew, and an incredible after-school job at the property’s main theme park. Life isn’t so great for the rest of the world, but when people come here to vacation, it’s to get away from all that. As things outside get worse, trouble starts seeping into Karloff. Then the country’s wealthiest and most powerful families start arriving – and they’re not leaving. Unknown to the employees, the resort has sold shares and become an end-of-the-world oasis. The best of the best at the end of days. The employees will be at their beck and call – whether they like it or not. Yet Karloff Country didn’t count on how far Jay and his crew would go to discover the truth and save themselves. But what’s more dangerous: the monster you know in your home or the nightmare you don’t know outside the walls?

Ryan La Sala writes about surreal things happening to queer people. He is the author of Reverie and Be Dazzled and lives in New York City. He has been featured in Entertainment Weekly and on NPR and Tor.com. The Honeys (PUSH) is a twisted and tantalizing horror novel set amidst the pastoral splendor of a secluded summer retreat. Mars has always been the lesser twin, the shadow of his sister Caroline’s radiance. But when Caroline dies under horrific circumstances, Mars is compelled to learn all he can about his once-inseparable sister, who’d grown so distant. Mars’ gender fluidity has marginalized him in his politically connected family, which often has excluded him from their traditions and expectations. But he insists on attending the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy, a place Caroline loved. After all, this is where she spent so much of her time. But the rural fairy tale is not for him. Folksy charm and sun-drenched festivities camouflage old-fashioned gender roles and a toxic preparatory rigor. Mars seeks out his sister’s friends: a group of girls dubbed the Honeys, named for the beehives they maintain behind their cabin. They are beautiful and terrifying – and Mars is certain they’re connected to Caroline’s death.

Sara Farizan is an Iranian American author of the YA novels Here to Stay, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, and the Lambda Literary Award-winning If You Could Be Mine, which was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time. In Dead Flip (Algonquin Young Readers), Cori, Maz, and Sam were inseparable best friends growing up, sharing their love for Halloween, arcade games, and one another. Now it’s 1992, Sam has been missing for five years, and Cori and Maz aren’t speaking anymore. How could they be, when Cori is sure Sam is dead and Maz thinks he may have been kidnapped by a supernatural pinball machine? These days, all Maz wants to do is party, buy CDs, and run away from his past. Meanwhile, Cori is a homecoming queen, hiding her abiding love of horror movies and her queer self under the bubblegum veneer of a high school queen bee. But when Sam returns – still a 12-year-old while his best friends are now 17 – Maz and Cori are thrown back together to solve the mystery of what really happened. Beneath the surface, mysteries lurk, and Sam’s is the darkest of all.