Recently I've read two Young Adult books on death and dying. One is much more fanciful, and deals with a possible afterlife for kids who get lost on their way to eternity. The other book is trippier still, but has a more serious undertone and deals with a teen's "imaginary" journey to save himself from his disease.
The latter book is "Going Bovine" by Libba Bray, and is the 2010 winner of the Printz award. The main character is Cameron, a teen who smokes a lot of pot, listens to weird music and is a perfect foil for his preppy, cheerleader twin sister. Cameron is trying to survive high school when suddenly he starts having hallucinations of angels, feathers, and fire giants. While at first his parents think he is crazy, the doctors eventually diagnose him with "mad cow disease." In the hospital, he hangs out with fellow high-schooler and dwarf Gonzo, and gets to know his new guardian angel, a punk rocker named Dulcie. Dulcie charges him with a crazy mission that, if successful, will not only cure him of mad cow disease but save the earth as well. The rest of the book concerns the roadtrip that Cameron and Gonzo take and the various hijinks they get into, including meeting a talking yard gnome/Norse god, staying in a cult that worships happiness and vanilla smoothies, and possibly losing their virginity. This book is part hilarious, part inevitably sad, and all truthful. Moral: reality is what you make of it.
The second book I read was "Everlost" by Neal Shusterman. If "Going Bovine" was a surreal adventure, "Everlost" is more of a fantasy. Two teens, Nick and Allie, are total strangers until their respective cars crash into each other and they both die. Both are whizzing through a tunnel and see a light at the end, but somehow veer off course and land in Everlost. Everlost is a world where there are more kids like them, kids who didn't quite make it to "wherever they're going." In Everlost, you can sink into the center of the earth unless you find a "dead spot," a place where someone died or something was well-loved. In Everlost, certain memorable buildings or objects live eternally, such as the Twin Towers and the Hindenburg. And even in Everlost, there are monsters, such as The McGill and The Sky Witch. Nick and Allie make their way to Manhattan, where they meet Mary Hightower, a motherly girl who cares for lost children. Nick is ready to stay with Mary forever, but Allie suspects there must be something more to this world, and leaves to learn the forbidden art of haunting. As Allie learns to "skinjack," that is, possessing a living person, she gets involved in a chain of events that lead to the high seas, the McGill, and learning that everyone is not as they seem. This book was simply amazing, had incredible depth of character, and enough cliffhangers to keep you up reading all night. I just started the second in the trilogy, "Everwild," and will be eagerly awaiting the publishing of the third book.