I recently read a fabulous Young Adult title called godless, by Pete Hautman. It’s about a disaffected 15-year-old who decides to start his own religion, convincing a group of local teens to start worshipping the town water tower. He launches a new religion he calls Chutengodian and anoints himself the Big Kahuna, all the while nursing a crush on the pretty Magda.

At turns comic and serious, the kids (of course) end up on top of the water tower one night, facing great danger. Eventually they face weighty decisions about what they do and don’t believe. The book won the National Book Award and sparked controversy for the way it questions traditional religion. The narrator’s voice is so fresh, and the story so authentic, that I group it with S.E. Hinton’s YA classic The Outsiders.