Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Ask the Passengers is A.S. King's finest book to date (Everybody Sees the Ants, Please Ignore Vera Dietz). This is an almost perfect work of young adult fiction, a novel rich with compassion, tolerance, and emotion that deserves a lot more readership than it is likely to get in some communities due to its subject matter. High school senior Astrid Jones thinks she might be gay. She lives in the tiny town of Union Valley, where her parents moved her and her sister Ellis after they'd grown up in New York City.  It's a typical small town where everyone knows everyone else's business, and judgment is a way of life. Astrid's mom, Claire, is a perfectionist who can't seem to stand Gerry, Astrid's dad, who spends most of his after-work time not-so-secretly getting high in the garage. Because Astrid doesn't think anyone in her family likes her, and because she doesn't think she'll ever be able to openly give her love to Dee, the girl she's enamored with at her catering job, Astrid sends her love to the passengers on airplanes sailing 30,000 feet overhead. Astrid imagines the people on the planes, and she sends all her love to them because it makes her feel free.  When questioning herself about her own sexuality, Astrid decides to ask the passengers.
A.S. King deftly weaves a healthy dose of philosophy into the book, courtesy of Astrid's high school class on the topic. As Astrid struggles with some of the philosophers, King uses Zeno and Socrates to pose larger questions about people's perceptions of others and of themselves.  The topic is still a sensitive one among high schoolers when I do book talks, but this is a work that helps to show that just because someone is gay or questioning doesn't make them any different. Ask the Passengers is an honest, wonderful book that is perfect for our times. This is one of my new favorite young adult novels.