Lowenstein, Sallie Claire

Jake, abandoned by his mother and left to care for his plague-stricken brother, is inspired by a school assignment to venture into a deserted part of the city called the Dead Zone in search of a mysterious storyteller who offers a ray of hope in a bleak world.

Sixteen-year-old Andrew has never taken his father's advice to focus seriously, and as he prepares to enter the real world, he finds himself wishing he has had more direction in his life.

Mark receives catalogs. Not just any catalogs, but the most obscure toy catalogs he has ever seen. And then on a whim he decides to order from one of them. Action figures. Maybe he should have thrown the catalogs away, because now he has his hands full- and there are no refunds and no returns.