But learning that López (“Confetti Girl”), a former middle school teacher, wrote the book after seeing the effects of choking on three of her students is not just shocking, it’s scary. Knowing what to expect doesn’t lessen the impact of eighth-grade girls strangling one another in order to get high - even if the title of Diana López’s latest novel, “Choke,” gives away the trouble at hand. One misguided step and you could be a goner. Although their efforts - and those of the authors - succeed in varying degrees, the books’ unified message is loud and clear: Being a teenage girl is a tough business. In each of these three disturbing young adult novels, hollowed girls play at adulthood, attempting to assert control over themselves and their surroundings by waltzing into territory they don’t yet fully understand.

Becoming a little fast and loose with alcohol and drugs, or negotiating a quick slice of the knife across your inner thigh? It happens all the time. Skipping meals? Why not? Sticking two fingers down your throat after too many carbs? Easy as pie. The pressure to appear flawless and to fit in without ever breaking a sweat requires putting your best poker face forward while shoving the messiness of adolescence under the bed. When you’re a teenager, especially if you’re a girl, it’s deceptively easy to wreak havoc, if unintentionally, on your body.

Confetti Girl by Diana López