Godless

A disaffected teen creates a new religion in this darkly humorous National Book Award–winning young adult novel about the power of religion for those who believe and those who don’t by Pete Hautman, author of Sweetblood and Mr. Was.

Why mess around with Catholicism when you can have your own customized religion?

Fed up with his parents’ boring old religion, agnostic-going-on-atheist Jason Bock invents a new god: the town’s water tower. He recruits an unlikely group of worshippers: his snail-farming best friend, Shin; cute-as-a-button (whatever that means) Magda Price; and the violent and unpredictable Henry Stagg. As their religion grows, it takes on a life of its own. While Jason struggles to keep the faith pure, Shin obsesses over writing their bible, and the explosive Henry schemes to make the new faith even more exciting…and dangerous.

When the Chutengodians hold their first ceremony high atop the dome of the water tower, things quickly go from merely risky to terrifying and deadly. Jason soon realizes that inventing a religion is a lot easier than controlling it, but control it he must, before his creation destroys both his friends and himself.