Christmas in Manhattan

USA Writers

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily

Allen & Unwin, 2016  $23.00pb 215pp

ISBN 978 1 7602 9382 6

Themes: Brothers and sisters/ Christmas in New York City/ Friendship/ Love stories

Lily has had a hard year and somehow all her enthusiasm for her favourite time of year, Christmas, has melted away like the snow on the sidewalk. It is up to Dash and a mixture of true friends and relations to help her find her passion for life once more. Sounds a little ephemeral? Far from it!  This is a wise and witty novel that will be particularly appreciated by readers who have already met the characters in Dash and Lily’s Book of Days and, as a non-demanding read it is just right for the end of year wind down.   

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up (and adults)

Illuminae - the sequel

Australian Writers 

Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Gemina  - The Illuminae files - 02

Allen & Unwin 2016    $25.00pb 659pp

ISBN 9 781 9252 6657 3

Themes: Series/ Space stations/ Survival (of course!)  

There have been so many stories over the years about space stations and the survival of the universe that I must confess I did pick this one up (and it is a weighty book with its 650 pages) with a bit of trepidation. I am not a space story addict. However, from about three pages in, the unusual combination of emails/ photos/transcripts/ IMs and schematics and above all the youthful energy and wit of the writers who have brought it all together had me totally in thrall. I couldn’t wait to go on reading and looking as soon as I had a spare moment (and ordering the first book Illuminae). Hanna - the once social butterfly-  and Nik the not so enthusiastic member of an active crime family, make characters we care about as they prepare to defend their home. I predict this will be a book young adult readers will either reject out of hand or will fall upon it, read it to death (library copies will get very worn after a couple of issues)  and clamour loudly for more.

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up    

The Chinese Cultural Revolution

Australian Writer

Wai Chim

Freedom Swimmer

Allen & Unwin 2016 $18.99pb 347pp

ISBN 978 1 76011 1341 4
Themsdes: Chinese Cultural Revolution/ First person narrative/ Friendship/ Swimming

Ming has always led a hard life as an orphan and as a labourer working in the fields. When a group of city boys come to his village as part of a Communist Party re-education programme Ming makes friends with one of them – a boy called Li and together, over evening swims and discussions they start to talk of something neither have ever known – freedom.  This is not a very easy book to read but for those who stick at it it will be an experience.  

Year 10 up/ Age 14 up

Forced Marriages

Australian Writer  Helen Thurloe Promising Azra Allen & Unwin 2016 $22.99pb 355pp ISBN 978 1 7601 1327 8 Themes: Cultural differences/ Family life/ Forced marriage/ High School Life (Australia)

Azra, who is sixteen and is a gifted student was born in Pakistan. She is looking to the future with time at university in Sydney and then a career in the sciences which is where her talents and interests lie. Then she finds her parents (whom she loves dearly) are planning a marriage for her to a cousin in Pakistan – in three months time.  This is a story of a dilemma based on a terrible truth  - in 2012-2013 in Australia at least 250 girls under the age of 18 were forced into marriage with a partner chosen by their family. This is quite different to an arranged marriage that relies on the consent of both parties. Forced marriages are still common in many parts of the world across many cultures.

However, this is certainly not a book of gloom and doom as Azra is a lively heroine and her story will be related to and understood by many young adult readers. 

Great jacket don't you think?!!

Year 9 up/ Age 13 up

You're strapped into a suicide vest and with one call we can blow you sky high

 

UK Writer

Sarah Mussi

Bomb

Hodder Children’s Books 2015   $19.99pb  411pp

ISBN 978 1 4449 1786 4

Themes: Mass destruction/ Terrorism

Sarah Mussi - photographer unknown

Genesis is in a predicament. She goes on a blind date and wakes the next morning to find she can remember nothing of the night before and  that she is strapped in a suicide vest with a disembodied voice coming from a earpiece in her ear giving her orders for what happens next.  Genesis has become an agent of mass destruction in a countdown to detonation. The story is chilling, fast moving and almost believable but a good editing would have made it even more so. However, in spite of this it is an addictive read.

Google Sarah’s name for details of her other two novels.

Year 10 up/ Age 14 up

Young Adult Fiction (13 years and up)

AVAILABLE EARLY FEBRUARY

USA Writer

Emily Lockhart

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Allen & Unwin 2015  (first published Hyperion Books, New York 2008)   $17.99pb 345pp

ISBN 978 1 7601 1330 8

Themes: Attitude/ Boarding school life/ Gangs

At 14 when she starts at the boarding school that was also attended by her father and sister, Frankie is a rather geeky, under-developed, unnoteworthy teenager. At 16 she has developed into a possible criminal mastermind and the story of what happens in those two years makes for a highly addictive read - I couldn’t put it down!  The book was first published in the USA 7 years ago so there are plenty of reviews and information about it on the net – nearly all positive.

Barbara Else who has just read it says:

Funny! Clever! Wise! Great fun! Feminism in action!  And that just about sums it up.

My only quibble is the jacket that is pallid and uninspired, in direct contrast to the contents within.

Year 9 up/ Age 13 up

Young Adult Fiction

NZ Writer

Sarah Costelloe

Forecast

Publishers Distribution Ltd NZ 2014 $24.99pb 351pp

ISBN 978 0 4732 5553 4

Themes: Action stories/ Fantasy/ Love stories/ Murder/ Piha NZ /Surfing

Say the name Piha and for most people a vision of surfing/ dramatic rescues/ summer days full of endless sun appears in their mind. However for 16-year-old Holly Armstrong, fresh from London where we begin to understand something very distressing happened to her, Piha turns into a place of murder and unexplained mystery. She tries hard to be ‘normal’ but that is something that is completely out of her control as more and more frightening events unfold and New Zealand teeters on the brink of war.

The writer, for whom this is a first book in the Young Adult genre, lives in Auckland and has recently completed the sequel to Forecast

Year 10 up/ Age 14 up

Young Adult Fiction

TO BE RELEASED ON 5^TH September 2014

NZ Writer

Mandy Hager  Singing Home the Whale  Random House 2014  $19.99pb 292pp    ISBN 978 1 7755 3657 4

Themes: Fishing communities/ Friendship/ Music/ Orcas/ Small Town New Zealand

A YouTube clip gone viral and a terrifying physical attack is part of the baggage Will brings with him when he comes to shelter with his uncle in a small fishing village somewhere in New Zealand. The discovery of a baby orca with whom Will instantly sets up a bond and wants to protect, does not bring the peace he deserves as the local fisherman look on the mammal as a threat. Amazingly lyrical language, environmental issues and a dramatic and poignant story make this yet another book to admire from a writer who knows just what will catch the imagination of readers of all ages. The book is charmingly illustrated with chapter heading decorations by Rose Lawson.        

 

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up (Mature younger readers will also love this).

Young Adult Fiction

Irish Writer

Eoin Colfer

The Hangman’s Revolution

Book Two W.A.R.P. series 

Puffin Books 2014  $26.00pb  359pp

ISBN 978 0 1413 4180 4

Themes: Fantasy/ Science Fiction/ Series/ Time Travel

A boy magician, a Victorian gangster and young FBI Agent, Chevie Savano are trying to return to nineteenth century London where the military technology of the future has been brought back in time. This follows on the first book in the series The Reluctant Assassin which although it doesn’t have to be read first, it might help. Fans of the Artemis Fowl series will find much that is familiar in plot and action. There are some rather gruesome descriptions but somehow you feel Eoin Colfer was smiling at the reader (see below) as he wrote them!

Eoin Colfer in his Artimis Fowl days and as he looked when he came to New Zealand some years ago. Source of image unknown.

 Year 8 up/ Age 12 up

Young Adult Fiction

NZ Writer

Rachael Craw

Spark

Walker Books 2014  $19.99pb    461pp

ISBN 978 1 9221 7962 3

Themes:  DNA/ Fantasy/ Grief/ Love stories/ Magical realism

An unknown killer is stalking her best friend – the aftermath of a now decades old experiment that went horribly wrong. All seventeen-year-old Evie wants is to be able to grieve for her dead mother and to perhaps catch the eye of the wonderful Jamie. But Evie is a Sheild and she doesn’t have a choice. Tense and accessible writing and a popular story line has made this a book that girls from 12 up have been queuing for (I haven’t heard if it has had the same effect on boys) since it came out last month. Two more titles will complete the trilogy – Book Two Stray and Book Three Shield.

 Year 8 up/ Age 12 up

Image of Rachael from NZ Booklovers website

Rachael Craw studied classics and drama at the University of Canterbury and now lives with her husband and three daughters in Nelson. More information from her website: www.rachaelcraw.com    

Young Adult Fiction

Published 25.7.14

NZ Writer

David Hill

The Deadly Sky

Penguin Books 2014  $19.99pb   260pp

ISBN 978 0 1433 0815 7

Themes: Anti-nuclear protests/ Mururoa Atoll/ Nuclear Bombs/ Tahiti 1974

It is Tahiti 1974 and anti-nuclear testing protests are running hot but in spite of this 14-year-old Darryl’s mother decides to let him accompany her when as part of her New Zealand teaching job, she has to visit the outlying island of Mangareva. 

With so much tension and unease in the world at present it takes a writer of David Hill’s calibre to take us back 40 years and really involve us in what it must have been like to have been around at the time of the Pacific Nuclear testing programme.     

Year 7 up/ Age 11 up

Young Adult Fiction

NZ Writer

Anna Mackenzie

Donnel’s Promise

Longacre 2014  $19.99pb 364pp

ISBN 978 14 7755 3546 1

Themes:  Fantasy/ Medieval times/ Sequels/ Strong female heroines

It is not necessary to have read the prequel Cattra’s Legacy in which the brave and beautiful heroine Risha discovers she is the rightful heir to the kingdom of Havre but I found having a background was helpful. Now that she has returned to Havre to take up her mother’s throne Risha becomes bored with the court gossip and politics and sets off on a tour with her handsome guard captain, Nolan, and her mother’s cousin, Ciaran but an ambush on the way sets in motion a life-changing series of events. Clear succinct writing make the book a pleasure to read although for some teenagers the fast moving adventure and action alone will carry them along  - and EVERYONE will be hoping for a third title. Some memorable word pictures have stayed in my mind.  This is from the prologue: A gust of wind carried the harbour’s briny tang up the slope and wove it through the hot scent of sun-crackled herbs and mountain pines. (and does this seem particularly poignant as it is only 3 degrees outside as I write this?)

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up

Young Adult Fiction

To be published August 1^ST 2014

NZ Writer

Joy Cowley Speed of Light  Gecko Press 2014  $19.99pb 202pp  ISBN 978 1 8775 7993 6

Themes:  Dysfunctional families/ Fraud/ Good v. evil/ Mathematics/ Physics/ Wealth/ Weather/ Wellington New Zealand

Jeff is the centre of a truly dysfunctional family. His father is more interested in money than anything else; his older brother is serving time in prison; his mother is unapproachable; his sister is keeping a secret. Jeff takes the only safe way he knows and goes deep into the world of mathematics – a good place where rules are kept, which has no hidden agendas and which speaks the same language all over the world. Then, in the middle of one of Wellington’s worst storms, Jeff meets a strange old woman who seems to have some answers for him. But. The question is. Is she real?

A new title from Joy Cowley is always an event and particularly so for this one that makes the reader stop and question their own beliefs about good and evil.

Sometimes when you finish a book you close it and walk away. Others you hold in your lap, reluctant to let the feelings and emotions it created in you die down. So it was for me with Speed of Light

Recommended.

Year 9 up/ Age 13 up

A Note from Joy Cowley

Speed of Light is a story about tension between light and dark, and how the darkness serves the light. It's a story that confronts our notions that comfort is good and discomfort is evil, whereas the seed of new growth actually lies in the shadows.  

Source: Publisher's blurb 

Young Adult Fiction

USA Writer

Jillian Cantor  Searching for Sky  Bloomsbury  2014  $19.99pb 278pp  ISBN 978 1 4088 4664 3

Themes:  California, USA/ Grandmothers/ Islands/ Love stories/ Survival

Sky who is sixteen, has lived alone on the island with River ever since her mother and stepfather died and she cannot imagine any other life. They forage for food together, curl up at night to sleep together and spend every waking hour in each other’s company. Then, one day a boat arrives and they are taken back to California where they were born and are separated. Broken hearted, Sky doesn’t even try to fit into her grandmother’s life style and spends her time searching for River. This is an absorbing and succinctly written book that keeps the reader guessing until the final (and really sad) chapter.

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up

Young Adult Fiction

Australian Writer

Jackie French  I Am Juliet  Angus & Robertson 2014  $19.99pb 207pp  ISBN 978 0 7322 9798 5

Themes:  Elizabethan theatre/ Love stories/ Romeo and Juliet  

Based on the famous and tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet, the book examines Juliet’s frustration as she comes to understand her whole life is going to be determined by other people who will force her into an arranged marriage from which there will be no escape. It also looks at a young actor, 13- year- old Rob, who was the first boy to play the part of Juliet on the Globe Theatre stage and his wonder at the power and beauty of Shakespeare’s words. Like most of Jackie French’s work this is a thoughtful book that many readers will enjoy simply for the compelling love story. Those who read through the notes at the back of the book may find themselves revisiting the play and being surprised at just how bawdy some of it is, written in an age when talking about and making jokes about sex was the norm. ‘Shakespeare’ says Jackie French ‘had far more freedom to write about his lovers than I do.’

In the same vein watch for Ophelia, Queen of Denmark (coming 2015) and Third Witch (2016)

Year 8 up/ Age 12 up

Young Adult Fiction

UK & USA dual citizenship Writer 

Patrick Ness  More Than This  Walker Books   2014  $29.99pb 478pp  ISBN 978 1 4063 5048 7

Themes: Afterlife/ Death/ Hope/ Isolation/ Reality

Seth is dead at seventeen, drowned at sea and his head smashed into a thousand pieces by being pounded on a rock but how can this be because suddenly he knows he is alive and breathing. He finds himself in an abandoned village that he realises is the place he lived in as a small child. This is a book that poses many questions, doesn’t try to answer too many of them and left me feeling somewhat disturbed but that I absolutely needed a sequel. While I understand the reasoning behind the rather blah book jacket it wouldn’t do much to lure in anyone with no knowledge of the writer. However to be fair, I wonder what else could have been shown that wouldn’t act as a spoiler?

Born USA October 17, 1971 Image: Guardian Newspaper

 It is written with such confidence (like all Patrick Ness’s works) that you are cushioned along for nearly 500 pages without wanting to stop.

Year 10 up/ Age 14 up (and adults)

Young Adut Fiction

Australian Writer 

Clare Strahan

Cracked

Allen & Unwin   2014  $19.99pb  308pp

ISBN 978 1 7433 1603 0

Themes: Dealing with emotions/ Family life/ First love/ Friendship/ High school life/   

Clare Strahan -Image Allen & Unwin

Being fifteen, attending a school you hate, seeing your much loved dog getting old, having a weirdo mother and a missing father and finally being arrested for vandalism doesn’t add up to a cool year for Clover. It’s no wonder she feels she is about to crack into small shards and be trampled into the ground.  A first novel, this is a poignant, often funny and essentially truthful story of a teenager’s bid to make sense of the seemingly crazy world she inhabits. It is a story in which so many readers will recognise themselves.     

 Year 9 up/ Age 13 up

Note: Publishers quite often send me great material asking me not to blog anything about it until the publication date. What I usually do is to read the book (as I did with this one), make some notes and then tag the file to alert me just before the right date. Unfortunately in the way of computers sometimes the file just vanishes with the tag attached. That is why this book, which was published earlier in the year, is only appearing here now.    Let’s hope it hasn’t sold out because I know so many readers (especially girls) who would love it and learn from it.

HELP!!

While I have your attention – does anyone out there know much about the set up of blogs? I am being driven mad by the line spacing on mine. In the draft it looks perfect – single-spaced as I want – but 8 times out of 10, I ‘publish’ and there it goes again – double spaced in the bib details and spoiling the whole look of it.  The more I fiddle with it – the worse it gets. It is just a very simple blog  - maybe that is the trouble.
Computer gurus I find, though willing enough to try, are not experts in the set up of blogs and their consequent troubles.
What will it do when I push 'publish' for this entry I woder? 

Young Adult fiction (mature readers)

USA Writer

Hugh Howey

Sand

Century   2014  $36.99pb 368pp

ISBN 978 1 7808 9319 8

Themes: Brothers and sisters/ Families/ Post apocalyptic world/ Sand diving/ Science fiction 

The old world has vanished – buried beneath drifts of sand and on top of what used to be Colorado, Palmer’s family is falling part. To earn respect and to make money in this very unusual world you have to be prepared to sand-dive, to go down into the closed and chocking areas of where life used to be, to find any remnants that could bring back a semblance of normality. This is not an easy read, there are so many characters it is sometimes hard to keep track of them all and there is probably too much swearing.  However, for sci-fi fans and for people who loved the Wool trilogy, it will be a treat.

 Year 10 up/ Age 14 up

Young Adult Fiction (and Adults)

Here is the whole jacket which is quite spectacular

NZ Writers

Tim Jones and others (see below)

Lost In the Museum

Phoenix Writers  2014  $24.99pb 220pp

ISBN 978 0 4732 8320 9

Themes: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa/ Short stories/ Scary stories

What happens when the museum closes for the night? Many writers and illustrators have imagined the scenario but here is a new and original take on the idea. 21 pieces go to make up this collection of short (some scary) stories in a whirlwind sort of book, full of energy and enthusiasm.  Many artefacts will be familiar to any visitor to Te Papa – Big Baby (what a sad story) and John Britton’s V-1000 but there is also the resident ghost buster (Miss Evangeline Marple), a cross-dressing bridegroom, a misplaced ice-cream vendor, and a lost pterodactyl. Miss Marple and Tui Merriweather (the (fictional) Museum Director) are the thread that hold the stories together.

The Phoenix Writers (Tim Jones, Lyn McConchie, Glynne MacLean, Phillip Mann, Tracie McBride, Rob Campbell, Lillian Hetet, Jenny Hammond, John Homes, Eileen Mueller, Jeena Murphy, A J Ponder, Vic Scott, Jean Stevens and Lorraine Williams) are part of the Phoenix Science Fiction Society which is based in Wellington. 

Google the title to see where to buy, as this book is available in several forms. 

Year 9 up/ Age 13 up (and adults)

Young Adult Fiction

Australian Writer

Suzy Zail

Alexander Altmann A10567

Black Dog Books 2014  $21.99pb 282pp

ISBN 978 1 9221 7999 9

Themes: Auschwitz/ Horses/ Survival/ World War 1939-1945

When fourteen-year-old Alexander’s father said to him ‘never let them see you are scared’ he was talking about horses on their farm out in the country. But now Alexander is imprisoned in Auschwitz, he has a number tattooed on his arm and being scared has taken on a much more sinister meaning.  Based on the true experiences of a man the writer met while visiting the Holocaust Centre in Melbourne, and not just about the horrors of the concentration camps – it is a story about horses and their training.

There are many things in the book that are upsetting to read but ultimately it is a story of hope.

Year 9 up/ Age 13 up

Also by Suzy Zail, also about Auschwitz but also about music (and falling in love)