I Was Feeling Blue, So I Read The Blue Girl.

In the back of this book there's a little paragraph about the author, Charles De Lint, and how he's unofficially the king of urban fairy tales. After reading this book, I totally agree. By the way, the title is TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY.





Imogene, the main character, has just moved with her ex-hippie (but still bringing the man down!) mother and he psychadelic musician of a brother (Jared) to Newford. She is known as being a tough cookie, a complete loser, but one you wouldn't want to mess with. At her old school she ran with the tough crowd and was basically close to dropout status until they moved and Imogene meets Maxine. Imogene's first words to Maxine are "You remind me of the imaginary friend I had as a kid." This pretty much sets the tone of their friendship, and they remain together, the two social outcasts of the Newford high school, as best friends.
That's not even the main plot of the story. Now here comes Adrian, the high school's resident ghost who either fell, jumped, or FLEW off the building six years before Imogene moved to Newford. Now he haunts the school, making himself visible only to nerds in need. (Yes, I know, this book sounds cheesy, but it's actually really good.) Adrian falls in love with Imogene (no, not your classic ghost/human love paradox with a secret twist that lets them be together) and shows himself to her. Imogene takes it rather well, and pretty soon she's tattoo-deep in all sorts of magical crud: faeries, angels, ghosts, imaginary friends, and spirits that maybe Imogene shouldn't have seen...
This book kind of has an all-over-the-place storyline, but it all comes together for a fantastic fantasy tale. (That last sentence may be redundant.) I am now going to search amazon.com for all other books by Charles De Lint.