FIRST LOVE AND THE COMING OF AGE
heroine addicts and eventually become addicts themselves. A compelling and disturbing read.
How I Live Now 224 pages by Meg Rosoff Meg Rosoff’s novel for young adults is the winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2004. Heralded by some as the next best adult crossover novel since Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The book has a raw, unfinished feel about it which adds to the experience of reading it.
Survival Game by Tom Wynne Jones Burl can’t take any more bruises from his bullying father, so one day he runs away with just a penknife and a fishing lure in his pocket. Despite his survival skills, Burl knows he won’t last long in the frozen Canadian wilderness, so he is filled with hope when he stumbles across Ghost Lake, and a secret that could save him. But his father is after him and Burl is dragged back into his dangerous games...
Paralysed by Sherry Ashworth It was just like any other Saturday morning for Simon – a rugby match at school, with his girlfriend Emma in the crowd. But then an accident changes everything; leaving Simon paralysed, Emma devastated and Simon’s best mate Danny stricken with guilt. An honest look at the effects of disability on three teenagers – none of who will ever be the same again.
Hanging on to Max 151 pages by Margaret Bechard This is the story of a 17-year-old who wants to raise his baby son when the mother says she will give the baby up for adoption. The Serious Kiss 250 pages by Mary Hogan The Serious Kiss is more than a story about a girl’s quest for true love and the ultimate kiss; it is the story of a girl who finally comes to terms with who she really is. This, the author’s first novel, is a great read.
The White Darkness 264 pages by Geraldine McCaughrean Geraldine McCaughrean has won numerous awards , including the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children’s Book Award and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award. The White Darkness is a dazzling, pitiless story about Antarctica. McCaughrean’s imagination is fierce, tireless, unpredictable.
BEREAVEMENT AND FRIENDSHIP
Wenny has Wings 232 pages by Janet Lee Carty After the accident, something extraordinary happened to Will North. When the truck hit him and his sister Wenny, they found themselves flying through the most beautiful place they’d ever seen. And the only person he can talk to about it is Wenny. But she isn’t here – she didn’t come back. The doctor says that Will died for 10 minutes after the accident and that he’s lucky to have survived. Written as a collection of letters to his sister, this is a beautifully crafted, deeply moving and ultimately uplifting novel.
I’m Not Scared 225 pages by Niccolo Ammaniti The hottest summer of the twentieth century. A tiny community of five houses in the middle of wheat fields. While the adults shelter indoors, six children venture out on their bikes across the scorched, deserted countryside. In the midst of that sea of golden wheat, nine year-old Michele Amitrano discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, that he daren’t tell anyone about it. The reader witnesses a dual story: the one that is seen through Michele’s eyes, and the tragedy involving the adults of this isolated hamlet.
Something Invisible 182 pages by Siobhan Parkinson Jake likes thinking, talking, football and encyclopaedias. And fish. But he’s not so sure about everything else – especially girls, or little sisters, or stepdads. And most of all, he’s not sure if he really likes himself. Then Jake meets a girl called Stella and old Mrs Kennedy next door, and he begins to find that he likes a lot more things than he thought.
Junk 389 pages by Melvin Burgess A teenage girl, Gemma, living in England in the ‘80s is bored with her life and hates her parents so she decides to run away with her boyfriend to the city of Bristol. They befriend two
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