The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza

A Junior Library Guild Selection Surreal, brainy, and totally captivating. Booklist (starred review) Provocative and moving. Publishers Weekly (starred review) Hutchinson artfully blends the realistic and the surreal. School Library Journal (starred review) From the critically acclaimed author of We Are the Ants and At the Edge of the Universe comes a mind-bending, riveting novel about a teen who was born to a virgin mother and realizes she has the power to healbut that power comes at a huge cost. Sixteen-year-old Elena Mendoza is the product of a virgin birth. This can be scientifically explained (its called parthenogenesis), but what cant be explained is how Elena is able to heal Freddie, the girl shes had a crush on for years, from a gunshot wound in a Starbucks parking lot. Or why the boy who shot Freddie, David Combs, disappeared from the same parking lot minutes later after getting sucked up into the clouds. Other things that cant be explained are the talking girl on the front of a tampon box, or the reasons that David Combs shot Freddie in the first place. As more unbelievable things occur, and Elena continues to perform miracles, the only remaining explanation is the least logical of allthat the world is actually coming to an end, and Elena is possibly the only one who can do something about it.