Kendra, by Booth Coe

Serious, gritty, and really good urban YA book. Very issue driven, and definitely for more mature readers, but this book had so much going for it. Kendra's decisions and motivations are well defined, and while she makes some tough choices, the voices were very real.

Project Sweet Life, by Brent Hartinger

Really fun young teen guy book, about 3 guys who, when told by their parents to get their first summer jobs, decide to somehow come up with a grand plan to make the equivalent cash, without the steady work. Through a series of increasingly improbably adventures (think Carl Hiassen or Dave Barry, with a bit of a surprisingly earnest Hardy Boys twist) they learn a lot about Tacoma local history, make some friends, and have the best summer of their lives. This was the last RITBA book I read for the season, and I'm so glad it was a fun one, after all the trauma-drama ones.