Teenage pregnancies, apprenticeships and family relationships

NZ Writer  Mary-anne Scott  Coming Home to Roost Longacre 2016 $19.99pb 251pp ISBN 978 1 7755 3859 2 Themes: Apprentice jobs/ Teenage pregnancy/ Wellington NZ

Elliot is 17 and because his parents feel the girl he is currently seeing is a bad influence on him and for other more minor reasons, is sent to live in Wellington with an old mate of his fathers who supervises his apprenticeship as an electrician.  After a ropey start, life settles into a satisfying routine all to be broken when Elliot returns briefly to Auckland, manages to get the old girl friend pregnant and on return to Wellington is held responsible for a workplace accident in which his new boss is injured. There are plenty of storylines being developed here, the action is full on and non-stop and the topics are important ones to explore. I just wasn't totally  convinced by all the characters and the dialogues they had with each other.  However, I am very aware that the writer is the mother of four sons and hears them talking all the time.  I hope the book continues to do well (it was published in June but I have only just got hold of it) and that the audience at whom it is aimed enjoy it and think about the content.

Year 9 up / Age 13 up

Mary-anne Scott’s first book Snakes and Ladders won the Children’s Choice Award in the 2013 NZ Post Book Awards.

For more about her go to: www.maryannescott.nz

A New Novel by the Writer of Solitaire

Alice Oseman

Radio Silence

HarperCollins 2016  $19.99pb 403pp

ISBN 978 0 0075 5924 4

Themes: Choices/Friendship/ Identity/ Peer pressure

For Frances the goal has always been to get to university and nothing is going to stop her  - not friends or the events happening around and certainly the small voice inside her that is crying out for the ‘real Frances’ to be acknowledged. Then France meets Aled and an emotional watershed is released.  Alice Oseman, who is in her early 20s is very active on Twitter and Tumblr and her writing is inspired by what she finds there. Read some of the reviews from her readers and you will see how much this understating is appreciated. And follow her on Tumblr: www.chronicintrovert.tumblr.com

Year 9 up/ Age 13 up

Young Adult Fiction

To be released August 1^ST 2014

THE SEQUEL TO I AM NOT ESTHER

NZ Writer

Fleur Beale

I am Rebecca

Random House 2014  $19.99pb 251pp

ISBN 978 1 7755 3549 2

Themes:  Cult Communities/ Sequels

Remember Esther who managed to ‘escape’ the emotional and physical ties of the strict religious sect in which she found herself way back in 1998 in the much read and admired story I am Not Esther? What happened to the family Esther left behind? In this sequel we hone in on the feelings and actions of the family particularly Rebecca and to a certain extent, her twin sister, Rachel as they try to negotiate the already heady trials of simply being a teenager. For them it is complicated by the closeted environment in which they live and the ever present presence of their all-powerful father. He is a meticulously drawn character whose every word they obey without question. Don’t listen to him we want to scream at the girls as yet another milestone in their lives is thwarted. This is totally addictive reading with some almost unbearable twists and turns in the plot. And, yes, Esther does appear several times!

Recommended.

Year 9 up/ Age 13 up

IT’S ALMOST TOO MUCH.

I began the week by reading Joy Cowley’s Speed of light. I have just finished

 I am Rebecca and now, beside my bed to start tonight is Anna Mackenzie’s sequel to Cattra’s Legacy – Donnel’s Promise.

What riches! I MUST have an early night.

Young Adult Fiction

NZ Writer

David Jubermann

Just Us

Epsum Media Ltd 2013   $29.95pb  $3.50 post and packing   158 pages

ISBN 978 0 4732 5426 1

Themes: Family problems/ Grandmothers/ Isolation/ Love stories/ Survival

Tyler and Natalie, both at high school, couldn’t be from more different backgrounds but they both share a deep set sense of isolation from the people around them.  When their initial attraction turns to love and after Natalie has suffered a crippling accident, the pair try to escape from all authority and set off on a marathon road (and sea) journey. Their destination is Aio, a bach deep in the bush in New Zealand’s north island.

This is a well-told story and with such a theme it should have great appeal to teenage girls around 12 to 14.

The book was self published and is a good example of how well such ventures can turn out with quality binding, well set out pages and good clear fonts.

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up    

Go to: www.DAVIDJUBERMANN.com for information about the writer, lists of his other publications and details of how to purchase the books.

Image of David  - acknowledgments to the writer

Young Adult Fiction

NZ Writer

Catherine Mayo

Murder at Mykenai

Walker Books   2013   $17.95pb    389 pages

ISBN 978 1 9220 7794 3

Themes: Agamemnon/ Ancient Greece/ Friendship/ Horses/ Mycenae / Odysseus/ Treachery

Set around 10 years before the Trojan War, this is a story of Ancient Greece. It concentrates on Menelaos who is the son of the recently assassinated Atrius, the high king of Greece and on his friend Odysseus. In a volatile atmosphere of treachery and action Odysseus, while he tries to be helpful often only succeeds in making things worse.  An attractive, ‘modern’ looking book, easy to read with plenty of humour and one that will be enjoyed by a large audience, including readers who up until now may have thought stories about Ancient Greece were just not for them! 

 Year 9 up/ Age 13 up

The book was launched this week at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland and Cath sent me this photo of herself and her family before the event. For more info about Cath, for whom this is a first book, go to:

http://www.catherinemayoauthor.com

Young Adult fiction

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NZ Writer

Sherryl Jordan

The Freedom Merchants

Scholastic    2013         $19.50pb           426 pages        

ISBN 978 1 7754 3146 6

Themes:         Algiers – 17^th century/ Barbary Coast/ Ireland – History 17^th century/ Monks/ Pirates/ Slave trade

Liam lives with his family of younger siblings and an older brother in the small fishing village of Ballykillmara. All seems serene in this routine 17^th century world.   However, pirates are raiding the coastlines of Ireland and England taking young men as white slaves to be sold in the markets at Algiers and along the Barbary Coast and Liam’s brother is captured. With the help of monks from a nearby monastery, packets of gold from a  sunken pirate ship and a great deal of courage, Liam sets off to find him and bring him home. From the very first moment the reader knows he or she is safe in the hands of a master storyteller through all the twists and turns of a tangled plot with plenty of blood, the horrors of the slave ships and unfailing faith of the small band of monks.  We are never let down and by the end of the story this reader was anxiously thinking only 10 more/ 7 more/ 2 more pages to go and never wanting it to end. Highly recommended.

    

Year 9 up/ Age 13 up