THE BLUE MIRROR
by Kathe Koja
Sixteen-year-old Maggy escapes daily to the Blue Mirror, a downtown coffee shop, and her journal of artwork that shares the name. Recording all that she sees in her fictional paper world, she is surprised when she is unable to capture the face of the one person whom she most wants to draw: Cole. The handsome and dangerous Cole, the angry Marianne, and the innocent Jouly intrigue Maggy, and she follows them into their world of runaways, shoplifting, and panhandling. Soon Maggy is tempted to drop out of her life completely, leaving school, her alcoholic mother, and her warm home for a life on the streets. Bound to him by love, excitement, and fear, Maggy must confront the fact that Cole might be more dangerous than she ever imagined. A richly embroidered tale of abuse and control highlighted with shiny threads of magic and redemption. (Fiction. YA)