Unforgettable characters, surprising plot twists and vivid settings make these the best reviewed books of 2005.

Best Realistic Fiction - Black and White by Paul Volponi

Eddie and Marcus are longtime basketball buddies who are tearing up the court during their senior year at a Long Island high school. Such close interracial friendships aren't the norm, so they're called Black and White by their friends. Both come from poor families and the need for new basketball shoes at the same time they must pay $150 for their senior activities leaves them scraping for money. White knows where his grandpa's old gun is hidden, and the boys use it to do three armed robberies to raise the money they need. During the third robbery the gun goes off, the victim is wounded, and he is able to clearly identify Black, but not White. Although the victim knows two boys were involved and the police are sure White was one of them, there's no proof. Both boys were on track for college basketball scholarships, but White gets off while Black cops a plea and serves time. Should get kids talking about what it means not to rat out a friend, the consequences of institutional racism, and the long-term effects of bad choices.

Best Fantasy - Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

Life on the north coast of Britain in A.D. 793 isn't tranquil or easy for Jack. His dad has never gotten over his disappointment at not becoming a monk; a crippled leg prevented it, and Jack bears the brunt of dad's inability to do some of the heavier work around the farm. Spoiled and cosseted little sister Lucy is sure she is a princess misplaced in the home of peasants. There's nothing in Jack's future but more of the same drudgery until the mysterious Bard blows ashore and sets himself up in a disused Roman house in the village. The Bard sees possibilities in Jack and takes him on as an apprentice, and soon Jack has learned some useful skills. But before Jack has mastered much magic, the Berserkers arrive from across the sea, led by Olaf One-Brow, set on pillaging and mayhem. The Berserkers make off with Jack and Lucy, dragging them toward an epic adventure.

Best Science Fiction - Rule #1, Don't Touch Anything by James Valentine

A buddy has dared Jules to ask Gen out and there's an opportunity; Jules and his dad are over for dinner and Gen has invited Jules up to see her new bedroom. Jules is just working up his courage to speak when Theo appears - a teen from 3000 years in the future. Theo won a contest to use the newest version of a TimeJump machine, all the rage with future teens because it provides a safe, exciting way to time travel. TimeJumpers are supposed to be invisible and when Theo realizes that Jules and Gen can see him, he knows the jump has gone badly wrong. At first Theo sticks to the rules of TimeJumping and won't tell Jules and Gen anything, but pretty soon his own slip ups and the disclosures of his hilarious talking coat give a pretty good idea of life in the future. Gen can't leave Theo at her house during the day, so she and Jules smuggle him off to school and introduce him as Jules's cousin. Even if Theo could control his hair, which is constantly changing color, his know-it-all-'cause-I'm-from-the-future responses to the history teacher attract too much attention. Set in Australia, laugh-out-loud funny, and pitched right at middle school guys.

Best Horror - Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

An entertaining horror/romance set in Forks. Mom wants to travel with guy-in-her-life Rick, who's chasing a minor league baseball career, so sun-loving high school aged Bella makes it possible by choosing to leave Arizona to go to live with Dad on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula. High school's just a matter of survival for Bella, but then she meets dazzling, fascinating fellow student Edward. It's a lengthy book, so it takes Bella quite a while to realize that Edward's intensely negative response to her hides a potentially fatal attraction. Edward is part of a local family of vampires with higher than typical ethical standards - they jokingly call themselves vegetarians who hunt animals instead of people. There's a lot of dialogue as Edward and Bella try to figure out how to have a cross-species relationship, as well as plenty of thrills and action. Just as Bella convinces Edward she really cares for him, a band of hunting vampires passing through the area target Bella as their next meal. Strong sense of place, since Forks is such an ideal spot for concealing ones vampirism.

Best Historical Fiction - Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt.

Turner's family has moved to Phillipsburg, Maine leaving comfortable, familiar 1911 Boston. He's the focus of the whole town's attention when his minister father takes the pulpit of Phillipsburg First Congregational church, and the local kids don't put out an especially warm welcome for a city kid who can't play their kind of baseball and is afraid to take a jump off the rocks into the ebbing and surging waves. Turner's father has high expectations for his son's behavior and so does the rest of the community, who always seem to be watching to catch him when he misbehaves. Turner's only friend is Lizzie, who lives on Malaga Island just off shore and is part of a group of former slaves who have created a sort of sanctuary there. Unlike the town kids, Lizzie shows Turner the joy of living in Maine, boating, beachcombing, and getting to know the people on Malaga. Turner's friendship with Lizzie breaks all the town's taboos, and he's told to "stick with his own kind." When Turner refuses, his choice threatens his father's job and the survival of the people on the island. Although the story that Schmidt has spun around it is fiction, the destruction of the Malaga settlement by townspeople who wanted to control the land really happened.

Chris Gustafson is the library teacher at Whitman Middle School. She can be reached at CGustafson@seattleschools.org