rgz Salon: After by Amy Efaw, reviewed by René Kirkpatrick

René Kirkpatrick has been a bookseller and book buyer, specializing in children's and teen literature, for many years. She has a degree in elementary education and reads widely across all genres. She is currently a buyer at Third Place Books.

We're honored to have her here as part of the rgz SALON, a feature where four of the top kidlit experts clue us in to the best YA novels they've read recently. Here's René, reviewing After by Amy Efaw.

Devon Davenport is an exemplary student, a responsible babysitter and an award winning soccer player. How can she not know she's pregnant? When Devon wakes up ill one morning, cramping and puking, she is horrified when she finds herself actually giving birth. Unable to deal with what has happened, she puts the baby in a garbage bag and puts that in the garbage can in the alleyway. Hours later, now home sick from school, she is confronted by the police who have found the package and are sure she is the mother.

After follows Devon's life as she is arrested and put in Remann Hall, a juvenile facility in Tacoma, WA. We are with her as she begins to remember how all of this came to be and as she begins to realize how dire the repercussions will be. Based on real stories from the media, After is one of those books that has will keep you enthralled until the very end. If you liked Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, you will like After.

Ages 13 and up. Viking Books. Hardcover, $17.99.