By the age of eight, Neal Shusterman was already on his way to a career as a writer. In a letter to E. B. White, he informed the author that Charlotte's Web required a sequel--and that he would be willing to collaborate in its writing. Although resolved to leave Charlotte's Web as it stood, White encouraged the young Shusterman to keep writing. This he did: in fact, by the time he reached his thirtieth birthday, Shusterman had published a handful of award-winning books for young adults. The author of imaginative mysteries and thrillers as well as biographies and realistic fiction, Shusterman considers young adult fiction to be an important genre. In an autobiographical essay on his Website, the "Neal Shusterman Home Page," he explained: "I've always felt that stories aimed at adolescents and teens are the most important stories that can be written, because it's adolescence that defines...