I have said it before and I will say it again, teen reads remarkably fast paced and gripping, the authors are competing with an an audience that has been raised on screens. Teen/Young adult reads have to be extra enticing, bright, vibrant, clever, funny… and packed with emotional angst.
If you need a weekend read, that will keep you thinking on into the week… grab one of these!!!
The Atlas of Us
Any book, where the main character’s name is Atlas, is a must read. This a great adventure, filled with teenage troubles and of course some unrequited love. Atlas’ father has lost his battle with cancer, and Atlas has lost the will to stand up to anything and everything that is thrown her way. She is in trouble at school, she is in trouble out of school… she is in trouble at home. She is wracked with grief and nothing in her life is working for her. Her mother drops her on the trail, an immersive community service summer programme, where troubled teens rehabilitate the trails… it is a journey of bravery and resiliance. Not to mention a whole lot of history, because her father was one of the rangers that designed the trail.
A Rainbow of Teen Reads from Jonathan Ball
If you are looking for an atheistically pleasing rainbow bookshelf, then look no further than this collection of books from Jonathan Ball Kids.
RED
Needy Little Things
Sariyah has a hidden talent, very hidden. She can see what her friends need, before they actually know what they need themselves. When her friend disappears at a music concert, we are thrown into the heart of the story and how unfair life can be, when “missing person case” gets no attention from the police. This is a teen crime, but what makes it extra special and interesting is the characters, there is more to most of them, than meets the eye. Topics opened up are her mother’s depression, her brother’s chronic illness, her absent father, a stepfather, police racism… loads of issues, but our protaganist shines threough it all, depsite the constant and overwhelming noise in her head as she tries to navigate through the needs of other folk around her.
ORANGE
Almost Nothing Happened
A true case of the “He had the best intentions, but…” 17 year old Calllum has gone on a student-language exchange to Paris for the summer, . All his expectations failed, he had a dreadful time and as he is getting onto the Eurostar to return home he has a panic attack and misses it. The summer to end all summers really and heads over to his cousin, who has avoided all summer, to bunk down until he can get home. Only his cousin, who is an oboist has a music concert and off they go, while they are relaxing after the concert the priceless oboe is stolen… and it turns out to be a night of adventure like Callum has never known before. Dashing through the streets of Paris after curfew, during a heatwave… this one night will change his whole perspective on the hottest summer in history. This is a quick read, and a very quick pace… perfect for teens who don’t want to waste time “getting into a book” and who are looking for a fast and furious adventure.
YELLOW
Not Like Other Girls
Okay… gripping. Honestly a most excellent read… when a teens life is destroyed with viral photographs posted on the school chat group… how do you come back from that. What I liked about this book is that from a place of utter despair and hopelessness our protaganist never ever gives up… she could, she has every right too, and yet she doesn’t. This is a survival story in an online world, lived out in real life… If you have no idea about the virtual world your kids are surviving in, then this book is an excellent place to start.
GREEN
Didn’t See That Coming
I recently listened to Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Q. Sutanto, on audible, and when I saw that she had written a young adult novel, I very quickly asked to review it. (Firstly if you are looking for a good detective story, with a very spunky lady detective… my husband and I enjoyed Vera Wong thoroughly, and hope there will be more books with her in them!!!)
Meanwhile, I Didn’t See that Coming is a most excellent read… I think it may have started out as a bit of a boy meets girl romantic comedy, Liam and Kiki are classmates and appear to be meant for each other, both of them are extremely likeable characters. But the messy online life of teens, and bullying became the real theme. This is an excellent read for teens and their parents, a bit of a wake up call as to what our teens are going through.
Kiki Siregar is a bright 17 year old gal, conquering all that school and teen friendships have to offer her, until her parents decide to transfer her to a large and elite high school. Kiki is a gamer, playing under a pseudonym for several years. She very quickly learned that in the cyber world, to play as a girl was literally an invitation to be bullied and harassed, so she changed her persona to a guy. And she never worried that anyone would try to find out her true identity, until her gaming persona and real identity collide in the classroom.
Kiki is at a school where the teachers, and the headmaster think that, girls are inferior students and it is okay to promote one student over another, never mind that that student is the frightfully wealthy school bully, where… no one dares to stand up to him, lest they get expelled and everyone has been threatened into submission… and then Kiki arrives and she is having none of this, but she is shamed into submission considering what her family will endure if she is expelled. Kiki, is not one to endure, she takes on the bully in the gaming world and she then takes on the teachers in a class presentation… but as I said, the real world and the gaming world collide, and Kiki has to be just as brave and feisty in real life as she is online.
This book is a funny romantic comedy, with serious themes of bullying, cyberbullying, harassment experienced by girls in the real and cyber world. All I can say is, what a sweet read, and what a great way to tackle ALL the issues without being confrontational.
BLUE
A Language of Dragons
Alright, this has been a year of Bletchley Park books, and here is a dystopian teen read in a Bletchley Park setting. The book is set in 1923, there is a very precarious class system and dragons rule the world. Viv Featherswallow is an expert in Dragonese and is determined to save her younger sister from the fate of “Third Class” at any cost, even if it means starting a war. She finds herself at Bletchley Park, tasked as a “codebreaker” as long as she performs her family will be safe, or will they? Historical Fiction and Fantasy, loads of twists and turns… a book bloated with betrayals on every level. This book is a slow burn, but there is a point when you can no longer put it down and you will literally fly to the end to see things resolve, or unravel, depending on which side of the truth you stand.
INDIGO
How to Die Famous
Huge confession, another new to me author and another great read. This book is for older teens it is about a blockbuster TV series, called Sunset High. It is written for teens and about teens. The four main players in the TV series have all been made into stars by the promotional company, Omni Productions… Abel Miller is a rising star, that arrives on the scene ready to embrace his new role, what the production team and fellow stars don’t know is he is also the brother of Adam, who had a minor role in the business and recently “fell” to his death. The public is led to believe that the production is cursed…
The glossy appearance that the world is presented with, is not quite the reality of behind the scenes. There are a lot of questionable ethics behind the scenes, not to underplay actual coercion, manipulation and outright abuse to get the actors to sign contracts they don’t want to sign, to hide their real lives behind the mask of the company front… and the ever present threat of the curse.
There is glitz and glamour, there is large corporation bullying but over and above that, there is murder and mystery. Will the main protagonists overcome their differences long enough to firstly solve the mystery and secondly overcome the power and wealth that seems to favour the folk responsible for the curse. There are lots of twits and turns, and if you enjoy a good teen themed mystery then this is a fantastic read.
VIOLET
By the Book
It took me a while to get into this book, it looks like a teen read, it feels like a teen read… but it takes a while to warm up and you may be a little distracted by the main character’s immersion into classic books, and loads of big words (!!!)… but get through the slow start, this is a teen read… it is a fun, sweet love story about a girl who warns everyone about the school heart throb, only to miss the “her own” memo and fall head over heels. But, that being said, this book is all about friendship and family relationships, the characters are extremely likeable. I loved The Scoundrel Survival Guide, Appendix I: Works Cited. This is a heartwarming week and great for a weekend escape.
These books were given to us for review purposes by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This is not a sponsored post and opinions expressed are entirely our own.