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Shusterman was born in Brooklyn, NY, 1962. He is a prolific writer of novels, TV scripts (Animorphs and Goosebumps) and even several successful How to Host a Murder Games, with degrees in Psychology and Drama.

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Shusterman sets his teenage characters of diverse backgrounds in versions of America that we can recognize, but adds a dimension that horrifies. In the Unwound series, abortion is illegal, but "troublesome" teens can be sent to be unwound, a process by which every inch of them is donated for transplant.  In Scythe, death has been conquered, so Scythes cull a percentage of the population. In the Everlost series, children are stuck between life and death. Teens are misunderstood in many of his books, as they figure out what it means to be alive and what loyalty looks like. All his books present ethical dilemmas that set the reader thinking deeply about what is right and wrong in their view. His characters are believable, and even when he has a love interest angle in the books, it feels real, never trite or overblown, in that way that  sometimes seems like a weakness of YA. Even if the situations are fantastical, the people in them feel unbearably real.

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Who would enjoy reading these texts?
Shusterman's work can be enjoyed by a wide age range, I have devoured them as an adult due to the accomplished writing, detailed characterization and non-linear narrative. When thinking about them as young adult literature I would put them in the 13-18 range, with the SkinJacker series running maybe a year or two younger.  When Challenger Deep was fed into the Text Readability Consensus, the results varied from 5th to 9th grade; however, that in no way accounts for the complexity of the ideas. One of the engaging elements of Shusterman's writing, is he "examine[s] the reasons for school, home and societal rules" (Brighton 2007) in language that is very accessible.  His plots are high interest and pivot on how teens fit into their world, and teens will relate to that, even if the world is Limbo, or one where death no longer exists. The diversity of his characters, both in race and gender, allow all readers to identify with characters, and to see themselves in literature, which has been show to be key in teens relating and enjoying reading. Shusterman, with his background in psychology, definitely understands the importance of a teenager's spiritual development and empowers young adult readers with his very real and fallible characters, who make choices both good and bad, and then have to live with the consequences. Shusterman's books are often set in other worlds, but the teens in them are very much of our world.

Caskey, M., & Anfara, V. A. (2014) Development characteristics of young adolescents. Westerville, OH: Association for Middle Level Education
Coats, K. (2010) Young adult literature: Growing up, in theory. In S.A. Wolf, K. Coats, P. Encisco & C. A. Jenkins (eds). Handbook of Research on Children's and Young Adult Literature (pp. 315-329), New York, NY: Routledge
http://www.readabilityformulas.com/freetests/six-readability-formulas.php

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Key Texts by Shusterman
UnWind
The Unwind Series
This five book series creates a complete and thrilling world. Abortion has been made illegal, after the HeartLand wars, instead parents can issue "unwind orders" on unruly teens. This initiates a process in which every inch of the teen is harvested for organ/tissue donation. On his way to be harvested, Connor escapes and is joined by Lev and Risa. The ethics of religion, organ donation and friendships are explored. Key characters come from diverse backgrounds and races, as well as Risa being disabled. What might be the most terrifying is Shusterman provides links to real world articles about the rise of "feral teens" which led to the unwinding in his world.
Shusterman, N. (2015). Unwind. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Scthye
The Arc of a Scthye
This trilogy, of which two books have been published, is set in MidMerica. Death no longer exists, so Scythes cull a percentage of the population. Citra, the female protaganist of Afric descent, is chosen to become a Scythe and trains with her peer Rowan. Things go wrong when Scythe Goddard fights for power, as he believes Scythes should enjoy their work and indulge in any number of cullings they want. The world is overseen by the Thunderhead, the artificial intelligence that runs the world and acts as a personal god to all in it. Scythe examines themes of loyalty and morality, and what might happen when we live linger and longer. The implications of our reliance on computers and the cloud is also called into question, in a very timely way.
Shusterman, N. (2017). Scythe. New York: Simon & Schuster BFYR.

Everlost
The SkinJacker series
Another trilogy, this time set in a world where children are trapped in limbo until their time comes to truly die. Mary Hightower is living in the Everlost Twin Towers, as some buildings make it into limbo too, and decides to try and bring every living child into Everlost. She is locked in a battle over all the souls of world with Mikey McGill, her brother, Ally and Nick. Ally is a skinjacker, in that is she is not dead, but in a coma, so she can straddle the world of the living and the dead. As well as looking at how we know what is best for us and who are real friends, Shusterman really taps the feeling of teen readers that they are caught in limbo, stuck between the word of child and adult and not quite ready for either. This series reads a little younger than the previous two.
Shusterman, N. (2009). Everlost: Skinjacker trilogy bk. 1. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Challenger Deep
One of Suhusterman's stand alone pieces, this was written in collaboration with his son, who suffered from a psychotic break as a teenager. The book swings between Caden's account of being in a mental institution, spliced with Caden's account of being aboard pirate ship heading to the Marianna Trench and the Challenger Deep. As more is revealed, we see the fellow inmates are also the crew on the ship and we are immersed in Caden's mental turmoil. The book also includes drawings that Brendan Shusterman drew when he was hospitalized.
Shusterman, N., & Shusterman, B. (2016). Challenger deep. New York, NY: Harpercollins Childrens Books.

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Shusterman has extensive list of awards for his work.

He was recognized by the American Library Association for Scythe, receiving the Michael L Prinz award.  This award is given to books that exemplify "literary excellence" speaking to the high quality of Shusterman's writing and his ability to create believable characters in unbelievable worlds.
http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/scythe
That is not the only award he has received from the ALA. In 2008, he was awarded the Best Books for Young Adults for Unwind. Taken from an extensive list of the years's publications, librarians across the nation honour the best in young adult literature.
http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/content/unwind
It is not just adults that have decided Shusterman is a good writer, young adults have weighed in too and given him accolades.  He won the 2018 Soaring Eagle award, voted on by teens across Wyoming. They named Scythe their favourite book of the year.
https://library.wyo.gov/2018-soaring-eagle-book-award-winners/
Here he is accepting the 2015 National Book Award for Challenger Deep, a book rooted in the mental illness of his son. Given by the National Book Foundation, it seeks to recognize the best in literature across a variety of genres, and is a high honour indeed.

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2015 NBA Young People's Literature Award Winner: Neal Shusterman (Full Speech)

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In school or out?
It pains me to say it that the odds split on the different Shusterman Series is probably 90% home to 10% school. It would be hard to do them justice without reading the whole set, as they build on each other so well.  Having said that, the last unit of my Senior's Dystopian Fiction course, is individual choice and I have several students reading Scythe and selections from the Unwind series. The school I teach prides itself on "rigorous" courses, so YA is a hard sell, even though these texts really zoom in on identity versus role confusion and so suited to high school readers.  I can see how the texts could be used in Literature Circles. Caskey and Anfara state the importance of "student centered instruction"  and "socially constructing meaning" and these texts would lend themselves excellently to this, and the accessibility of the text would allow readers of differing read abilities to access the high interest moral problems and dilemmas presented.  The Lit Circle roles would really highlight elements of who has the power, who is represented, where are thet set and there could be in depth research on cloning, organ donation, abortion and some very real world issues our teens face.
The odds on Challenger Deep could look quite different, there is much that could be made of the literary devices and techniques used, a necessary element in the choices made at my school, and it is a stand alone. The split on this could raise to 50/50 with it being read as class set. Erikson declares "there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity" and we see Caden really feel the weight of that in this novel. Students would feel a real sense of accomplishment on plumbing the depths of this challenging novel, and could be guided through the journey in a creative and thoughtful way.

Caskey, M., & Anfara, V. A. (2014) Development characteristics of young adolescents. Westerville, OH: Association for Middle Level Education
Cherner, T., Santaniello, L., & Savage-Davis, E. (2015). Culturally responsive literature circle roles. South Carolina English Teacher, 7, p. 5-11.