Let's talk about family, Shmoopers. Did you know there's more than one kind?

On one hand, we're talking about stepparents and single parents and kids raised by grandparents—all those different ways that the families we're born into can look. But on the other hand, we're also talking about the families we choose, the people we find along the way in life who provide us with love, safety, support, and more.

Because here's the thing about the families we're born into: They aren't always good fits for us. Sometimes it's because they have terrible people in them (as is most definitely the case for Nailer in Ship Breaker), and sometimes it's because we just don't have a whole lot in common with them. But no matter the reason, when this is the case, finding people beyond our bloodlines who we can call our own becomes just that much more important. It's a hard life without some true blue company, but the good news is that we aren't limited to who we live with in high school.

So if you've ever wondered whether your parents are secretly aliens, or longed for the day when you never have to see your sister again, if you feel like spending every Friday night with your mom, or you wish you could just move into your best friend's house, then Ship Breaker is the book for you. It digs deep into the darker corners of bloodlines and exposes the warmth that can be found outside them, in the process making the compelling argument that family matters—but where the members come from couldn't matter less.