Book Recommendations

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Book Recommendations
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Excellent Readers
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Newes from the DeadBy Mary Hooper
Interest Level Aged 11

• This intriguing novel is based on the case of
  maidservant, Anne Green, 'hanged for infanticide
  at Oxford Assizes in 1650. Restored to the world
  and died again in 1665'.Through a cleverly
  structured dual narrative Anne's story unfolds
  from unconsciousness - a woeful tale of seduction
  by her Master's grandson, pregnancy then
  still-birth, followed by imprisonment, trial and
  hanging.Her revival is recounted by Robert
  Matthews, a young scholar attending the
  dissection of Anne's body, who notices the first
  flickers of life.This is strong stuff, with
  gruesome details aplenty, but Anne and Robert's
  voices ring true and it's a fascinating insight
  into a time when the upper classes wielded
  life-or-death power, and ideas about medicine,
  science and religion were in constant flux.
• Publisher Definitions
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Red SpikesBy Margo Lanagan
Interest Level Aged 14

• A small boy helps deliver a baby to a fantasy
  warrior queen another finds courage from a
  mythical hero to confront a school bully a
  terrified, sleepless girl is carried off by Wee
  Willie Winkie.
• Filled with echoes from other tales, these
  stories probe that uncharted, potentially
  dangerous gap where nightmares, dreams and
  legends intersect with everyday life.
• When they intrude - often suddenly and shockingly
  - the results are sometimes terrifying, sometimes
  life-affirming.
• The writing is lean and concentrated, with
  heart-stopping descriptions and beautifully
  judged juxtapositions, setting intense fear
  alongside the smallest details of safe, mundane
  normality. Not an easy book - but one that repays
  perseverance.
• Publisher Definitions
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Heart-Shaped BruiseBy Tanya Byrne
Interest Level Aged 14

• Lying forgotten on top of a wardrobe at the
  Archway Young Offenders institution is a
  notebook. Inside its pages, the notorious Emily
  Koll reveals the story she has refused to tell
  anyone, even her psychiatrist - the truth about
  the crime she committed, and why she did what she
  did to her best friend, Juliet.
• This taut, tense psychological thriller keeps the
  reader guessing as Emily's story is gradually
  unravelled through the pages of her notebook,
  blending her experiences of day-to-day life at
  the institution with her memories of the events
  that have brought her here. Dark, distinctive and
  different, Heart Shaped Bruise is a memorable
  debut, offering an intriguing exploration of
  revenge, identity and perhaps most of all the
  intensity of teenage relationships. Readers are
  guaranteed to be gripped by Emily's powerful
  story right up to the shocking final twist.
• Publisher Headline Publishing
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After the SnowBy S.D. Crockett
Interest Level Aged 14

• Fifteen-year-old Willo has been left alone in the
  freezing and snow covered hills that have been
  his home for years. Willo doesnt know where his
  father and the rest of his family have gone, but
  donning the skull of a dog, whose spirit guides
  him, he resolves to try and find them. Willos
  journey takes him into the dangerous world of the
  city, where people live in fear and poverty. Soon
  Willo discovers some unnerving information about
  his father and as his fight for survival grows
  increasingly urgent, the boy must draw on
  reserves of strength he never knew he had.
• Tapping into the current trend for dystopian
  fiction, this bleak novel is set in a futuristic
  ice-age and contains haunting scenes and some
  strong language it is a memorable story with an
  ultimately hopeful resolution.
• Publisher Macmillan Children's Books
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Code Name VerityBy Elizabeth Wein
Interest Level Aged 14

• 'It's like being in love, discovering your best
  friend' remarks a character in this tale of
  friendship, war and espionage. Two British girls
  from totally different backgrounds, form an
  unlikely and life-changing friendship when they
  are stationed together during World War II.
  Down-to-earth, Maddie is a skilled pilot, while
  bold best friend Julie is from an aristocratic
  Scottish family - together, as Julie writes, they
  are 'a sensational team.'
• However, when Julie is captured by the Gestapo
  after a mission goes wrong in France, the girls'
  friendship is tested beyond anything they had
  every imagined.
• This book makes compelling reading scenes of
  Gestapo torture are interspersed with stories
  from the girls' experiences before the war,
  culminating in a tense and shocking ending. In
  turns touching and heart-breaking, this book will
  stay with readers long after they have closed the
  book.
• Publisher Electric Monkey
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This is not forgivenessBy Celia Rees
Interest Level Aged 14

• A year after his brother, Robs, death, Jamie
  contemplates Robs ashes, hoping that retelling
  last summers events might be cathartic. Wounded
  by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, Rob was
  desperate to get back there, a rage inside him
  untouchable by therapy, cannabis or booze.
• Meanwhile, Jamie was falling for Caro
  notoriously bad, expelled from school, shunned by
  other girls, desperate to do something
  politically meaningful. Unaware, innocent, Jamie
  had no idea the two people he loved were so
  deeply damaged, or that he was entangled between
  them. Hes still struggling to forgive
  them...Painful and sad as Rob and Caros
  stories are, its Jamies unflinching honesty
  about his own naivety, about the depth of his
  deception that stands out in this hard-hitting,
  compelling novel.
• Publisher Bloomsbury
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Ketchup CloudsBy Annabel Pitcher
Interest Level Aged 14

• In this unusual young adult novel, Pitcher once
  again creates a vivid and engaging first person
  narrative - this time, the story is told through
  a series of letters written in the frank and
  often funny voice of a 15-year-old girl
  struggling to come to terms with her crippling
  guilt because she is, by her own admission a
  murderer. Seeking redemption for her crime, Zoe
  begins writing to convicted murderer Stuart
  Harris, awaiting execution on Death Row,
  confessing the secret of what happened, and
  spilling out her feelings about a love triangle
  that went tragically wrong, as well as the family
  turmoil she has been experiencing.
• Dealing with some complex and difficult themes
  and issues, Ketchup Clouds is perhaps best suited
  to older teenage readers. Blending powerful
  emotion and darkness with ironic humour, it is a
  gripping and moving story about secrets, lies and
  growing up. Sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes
  wistful, often funny and always compassionate,
  this is a beautifully-crafted and unexpected
  coming-of-age story that will win readers
  hearts.
• Publisher Indigo
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Between Shades of GrayBy Ruta Sepetys
Interest Level Aged 14

• One night 15-year-old Lina, her mother and young
  brother are hauled from their home by Soviet
  guards, thrown into cattle cars and sent away.
  They are being deported to Siberia. An
  unimaginable and harrowing journey has begun.
  Lina doesn't know if she'll ever see her father
  or her friends again. But she refuses to give up
  hope. Lina hopes for her family. For her country.
  For her future. For love - first love, with the
  boy she barely knows but knows she does not want
  to lose ... Will hope keep Lina alive?
• Set in 1941, Between Shades of Grey is an
  extraordinary and haunting story based on
  first-hand family accounts and memories from
  survivors.
• Publisher Puffin
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The HuntBy Andrew Fukuda
Interest Level Aged 14

• Imagine living in a world where smiling, coughing
  or shivering would get you killed. That is the
  reality for 17-year-old Gene, a human living
  amongst vampires. Every day he is forced to keep
  every natural emotion and physical reaction in
  check as he attempts to blend in and stay alive.
  Then, one fateful day, he is chosen to
  participate in The Hunt a government sponsored
  game that sets a few of the last remaining humans
  free so that they can be chased and killed by the
  hunters. How will Gene be able to compete when
  the game threatens to expose his true nature?
• This interesting twist on the vampire genre is a
  breath of fresh air for horror fans. It is
  exciting and well-written, with even the most
  minute of details carefully thought through. This
  captivating novel is a page-turner right to the
  end however readers of a sensitive disposition
  should note that it contains graphic scenes of
  violence and death.
• Publisher Simon Schuster
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Witch CragBy Kate Cann
Interest Level Aged 14

• Growing up in the hill fort amongst a community
  of sheepmen, Kita grows up accustomed to hard
  work, hardship and rigid routine. Life since the
  Great Havoc has been tough, and the sheepmen are
  struggling to survive, but Kita chafes in a
  brutish culture in which women are treated as
  chattels, friendship and kindness are frowned
  upon, and every day is dominated by endless,
  monotonous hard work.
• Lurking always in the background is the threat of
  the sinister and dangerous community of witches
  that live on the mountain-top, flickering strange
  green and purple lights by night - witches that
  are said to use their evil powers to abduct girls
  and brutally murder sheepmen. But Kita is no
  longer convinced by the whispers about Witch
  Crag, and becomes intrigued by the rumours about
  other young women who have previously escaped the
  hill fort for good. Finally she makes up her mind
  to leave in secret, taking her two best friends
  Raff and Quainy with her. But can they escape the
  hill fort undetected - and what will they really
  find waiting for them at Witch Crag?
• Publisher Scholastic
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Forget me neverBy Gina Blaxhill
Interest Level Aged 14

• Sophie has always felt alone. Losing her mother
  so early in life and growing up in several foster
  homes has made her distance herself from almost
  everyone. Her cousin Dani is the only one who
  understands her - Dani may be flaky and
  emotionally unstable but she is always there when
  Sophie needs her.
• When it seems that Dani has killed herself by
  jumping off her balcony, Sophie refuses to
  believe it could be suicide. Sophie and her
  on-off best friend Reece start to investigate
  Danis life and the circumstances surrounding her
  death, but they soon find themselves embroiled in
  something far more serious than they ever could
  have imagined.
• The protagonist of this story is endearing and
  misunderstood a character that gets under your
  skin and stays there long after you have finished
  reading. She is terrified to get close to anyone
  in case they hurt her yet she tries so hard to
  prove that she is worthy of their love. A moving
  read blending excitement with a sweet love story.
• Publisher Macmillan Children's Books
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SlatedBy Teri Terry
Interest Level Aged 14

• Kyla has been slated. Her memory has been
  completely wiped, she has been given a new
  identity and placed with a new family. She should
  feel lucky as slating is a new start for
  criminals who would otherwise be executed, but
  Kyla doesnt feel lucky. Violent memories that
  shouldnt be there haunt her dreams and threaten
  her idyllic new existence. These memories drive
  her to find out who she used to be and what she
  did to get slated, but the more she learns about
  herself the more she realises she may not want to
  know the truth.
• Set in the not too distant future this book
  investigates the restrictions on freedom and
  individuality that are placed on society by an
  all-controlling government. Readers are
  encouraged to decide for themselves whether the
  safety of society can be placed above the rights
  of the individual. Kyla is an intriguing
  protagonist and the true nature of her character
  is withheld until the very end.
• Publisher Orchard Books
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The Raven BoysBy Maggie Stiefvater
Interest Level Aged 14

• Growing up in an oddball family of clairvoyants,
  16-year-old Blue is used to taking the
  supernatural in her stride - including the
  long-standing prediction that she will one day
  cause her true love to die. But Blue is shaken on
  St Mark's Eve, when, following tradition, she
  goes to the freezing graveyard where the
  soon-to-be-dead will pass by. Usually it's just
  her clairvoyant mother who can see them, but this
  year, a boy emerges from the dark and falls at
  Blue's feet.
• It doesn't take Blue long to discover that his
  name is Gansey, and that he's a rich student from
  exclusive local private school Aligonby. Blue has
  always gone out of her way to avoid the spoilt,
  privileged Aligonby boys, known as the Raven
  Boys, but in spite of what she has seen, she
  finds herself drawn to the handsome, charismatic
  Gansey and his obsessive quest to discover the
  sleeping Owen Glendower, a Welsh King who
  disappeared in the early 15th century.
• Also drawn into Gansey's quest are three other
  Raven Boys Adam, a gentle scholarship student
  who quietly resents the privilege of those around
  him, yearning for a different life Ronan,
  plunging from fierce anger to despair following
  the death of his father and the enigmatic,
  watchful Noah, a troubled soul. Together, the
  boys and Blue find themselves tangled in a
  strange adventure that takes in ley lines,
  ghosts, psychics and forests that whisper Latin
  words - but what will be the ultimate
  consequences of Gansey's obsession with
  Glendower?
• Publisher Scholastic
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Secrets in the FireBy Henning Mankell
Interest Level Aged 13

• Sofia and her family flee their Mozambique
  village after her father is killed by bandits.
  They attempt to start afresh, but the dangers of
  war are ever-present, and Sofia is forced to
  rebuild her life again when she and her sister
  are involved in a landmine explosion.
• This beautiful story of tragedy and hope succeeds
  in being an eminently positive read, delivered
  with sensitivity but without sentimentality.
• Publisher Allen Unwin Children's Books
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ShelterBy Harlan Coben
Interest Level Aged 13

• Mickey Bolitar is having a difficult time. His
  father is dead, his mother is in rehab, and he's
  been forced to move in with his estranged uncle
  Myron, and to start at a new high school. The
  only good thing about his new school is fellow
  new pupil Ashley, but after just a couple of
  weeks of getting to know each other, Mickey's
  perfect new girlfriend has stopped turning up to
  classes, just as if she's simply vanished into
  thin air.Unwilling to let another person
  disappear from his life, Mickey starts to
  investigate what has happened. Unexpected help
  comes from two fellow school outsiders, Spoon and
  Ema, who rapidly become friends - but as the
  three follow Ashley's trail, they soon discover
  that she wasn't all that she appeared to be.
  What's more, the mystery of Ashley's
  disappearance leads to some extraordinary
  discoveries about Mickey's own family, and
  especially his beloved father. Publisher
  Indigo
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BedBy David Whitehouse
Interest Level Aged 15

• Winning the 2010 To Hell With Prizes First Novel
  Award and being picked up by Canongate isnt bad
  for a novel that lay in David Whitehouses
  agents drawer of destined for the big time
  manuscripts.And now its out, what do we make
  of Bed. Its a grotesquely funny, arch and morbid
  tale of two brothers, one second-best and the
  other spoilt and lazy. The spoilt lazy one hasnt
  left his bed in over twenty years. Were treated
  to some pretty disgusting descriptions of what
  happens to an immobile body as it rots in its own
  filth, doted on by its mother, and how this
  becomes Mal (the lazy one)s unique ticket to
  fame doing nothing.Whitehouse has an eye for
  the one-liner, for the particularly gruesome turn
  of phrase and for comedy that is both unspoken,
  physical and witty.Publisher Canongate
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ElsewhereBy Gabrielle Zevin
Interest Level Aged 13

• Life ends catastrophically suddenly for Elizabeth
  Hall, in a road accident. Not for her a future
  filled with love, marriage and children instead,
  she awakes aboard a quiet, white cruise ship,
  steaming to Elsewhere. Elsewhere is calm, ordered
  and inhabitants get younger, living backwards
  until reborn as babies. While the pain of leaving
  her family never stops, in Elsewhere Liz meets
  her grandmother, makes new friends and falls in
  love, as time steadily ticks down to her rebirth.
  How Elsewhere works is elegantly described and
  Liz's progress from misunderstanding and rage to
  acceptance of what has happened to her, creates a
  thought-provoking and absorbing meditation about
  how we enter and leave life. A book you will want
  to return to.
• Publisher Bloomsbury Children's Books
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The Book ThiefBy Markus Zusak
Interest Level Aged 13

• HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.
  1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its
  breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a
  nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster
  family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been
  taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals
  books. This is her story and the story of the
  inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to
  fall. SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS
  NARRATED BY DEATH. It's a small story, about a
  girl, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a
  Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.
  ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW - DEATH WILL VISIT
  THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES.
• Publisher Black Swan
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ShiverBy Maggie Stiefvater
Interest Level Aged 12

• Book one of the Mercy Falls trilogy by Maggie
  Stiefvater
• Set in small-town Minnesota, Stiefvaters moving
  and poetic novel of human/wolf interaction and
  relationships is a werewolf story like no other,
  explaining the condition as the result of a wolf
  bite and temperature variation.The story is
  told from the viewpoints of Grace, a teenager
  bitten as a child but unaffected by temperature,
  and seventeen-year-old Sam, the werewolf who
  saved her and has secretly guarded her
  since.Grace is drawn to the wolves - and to
  Sam, whose transition from human to wolf is
  increasingly susceptible to cold, and who will
  ultimately remain a wolf.Publisher Scholastic
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Where the Streets had a nameBy Randa Abdel-Fattah
Interest Level Aged 12

• Hayaat lives in the West Bank after her family
  were driven from their land by Israeli settlers.
• Grandmother Zeynab dreams longingly of home and
  fills Hayaats head with her memories when
  Zeynab falls dangerously ill, Hayaat is convinced
  that some soil from home might restore her will
  to live.
• Hayaat undertakes a dangerous and highly
  illegal journey to Jerusalem to fill a hummus
  jar with the precious earth.
• This understated novel about one ordinary family
  struggling to survive in a world of random
  curfews and checkpoints, while dealing with the
  physical and mental scars of exile, is a moving
  and absorbing (although admittedly partial) novel
  about the Middle East situation.
• Publisher Marion Lloyd Books
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