Difference between revisions of "Newest Teens Reviews"
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| + | |title=How not to Disappear | ||
| + | |author=Clare Furniss | ||
| + | |rating=5 | ||
| + | |genre=Teens | ||
| + | |summary=Hattie is having rather a miserable summer. Both her best friends, Reuben and Nat, are away, living it up in the south of France and Edinburgh respectively. Hattie, meanwhile, is stuck at home babysitting her younger siblings and working at a burger joint. It's hardly glamorous and it's very dispiriting to be the one waiting at home for the odd text or email from friends who are having the times of their lives. Ho hum. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471120309</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
{{newreview | {{newreview | ||
|author=Caroline Lawrence | |author=Caroline Lawrence | ||
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|summary=17 year old Dea has been to several schools in several towns, moving with her mother as if pursued. It's always the same. She'd make a friend and then the rumours would start about how she and her mum were crazy and the friend wouldn't talk to her. Dea isn't crazy. She becomes curiously ill from time to time but she has a cure: walking through people's dreams. There are rules that keep her safe when she's doing this but when Connor moves in to the neighbourhood the rules become far less important and that's when Dea's life becomes far more dangerous. | |summary=17 year old Dea has been to several schools in several towns, moving with her mother as if pursued. It's always the same. She'd make a friend and then the rumours would start about how she and her mum were crazy and the friend wouldn't talk to her. Dea isn't crazy. She becomes curiously ill from time to time but she has a cure: walking through people's dreams. There are rules that keep her safe when she's doing this but when Connor moves in to the neighbourhood the rules become far less important and that's when Dea's life becomes far more dangerous. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473621003</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473621003</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 08:49, 21 January 2016
How not to Disappear by Clare Furniss
Hattie is having rather a miserable summer. Both her best friends, Reuben and Nat, are away, living it up in the south of France and Edinburgh respectively. Hattie, meanwhile, is stuck at home babysitting her younger siblings and working at a burger joint. It's hardly glamorous and it's very dispiriting to be the one waiting at home for the odd text or email from friends who are having the times of their lives. Ho hum. Full review...
Queen of the Silver Arrow by Caroline Lawrence
King Metabus had not been a good king and his escape from his kingdom was hurried and pursued. When he reached the river he had to make a decision and he thought first of the safety of the baby daughter he carried in his arms and tied her to his javelin, which he threw across the torrent, pledging as he did so that he would serve the Goddess Diana. Camilla should have grown up as a Princess but instead she lived in a cave with her father and ran wild in the forest. In nearby Laurentum, Acca had grown up hearing the story of how Camilla giggled as she swung on the javelin embedded in the ground and dreamed of meeting her, but this didn't happen until after the death of Camilla's father, when the girls became firm friends. Full review...
A Dark Trade by Mary Hooper
Georgina Friday, known to everyone as Gina, grew up in an orphanage and when she was sixteen went to be a servant is a big house in central London. There were seven members of the family and twelve servants - and Gina was the one at the bottom who had to run about after everyone and who was the butt of practical jokes. She could cope with that, but what she couldn't cope with was the attentions of one of the young men of the family. She'd already heard the stories of what had happened to another young maid who'd caught his eye - thrown out on the streets to fend for herself and her baby - and could see no way of escape from him other than to run away. Full review...
More of Me by Kathryn Evans
At school, sixteen year old Teva Webb seems normal. But at home Teva's life is about as far from normal as it's possible to get. Locked away in what everyone outside thinks is a haunted house are eleven other Tevas, all different ages. Why? Because every year Teva separates in two with the new Teva going out in the world while the previous Teva is kept inside, trapped as her younger self. Full review...
Changers, Book One: Drew by Allison Glock-Cooper and T Cooper
Some teenagers worry about who they'll wake up next to. Others worry about who they'll wake up as...
Ethan, who is 14, is just hoping to wake up in time to begin his high school career in a brand new town. Imagine his shock when he wakes up AS A GIRL. What the what? How can this happen? It turns out that Ethan, now Drew, is a Changer, one of an ancient race of humankind, and he will undergo not one, but THREE more such changes - one for each year of his time at high school. Drew's parents are overjoyed at their offspring's transformation but Drew is not happy at all. Full review...
River of Ink 1: Genesis by Helen Dennis
Some people believe that when you drown, your whole life flashes before you. The boy in the river saw only bottles, driftwood and the dented licence plate of a foreign car. Not his life. But he knew for certain that he was drowning.
But River Boy doesn't drown. He holds on. And when he washes up on the banks of the Thames, something propels him to St Paul's Cathedral, where Reverend Solomon finds him, drenched, bedraggled, wild-eyed and wordless. After several days in hospital, River Boy remains unable to find his voice. Or his memory. Who is this boy? Why was he in the Thames? Will anyone claim him? What are the strange signs he obsessively draws? Full review...
Maresi (The Red Abbey Chronicles) by Maria Turtschaninoff and Annie Prime (translator)
Despite the name, there is nothing masculine about the island of Menos at all. Apart from a few male farm animals and birds, everything is feminine – the island is a rugged mountain land, home to only one abbey where everyone is female, and worshipping a female holy trinity – one Mother Goddess in three ages of life. The novices there are on the cusp, in several ways – of girls turning to women, of students turning to Sisters, of people learning what the religion means for them starting to practise it with a duty to others. And, of course, they are on the border between the past that took them to the abbey and what could come if they ever leave. Maresi comes from a family that lost one daughter through famine, and the inability to support themselves. New girl Jai, who has latched on to Maresi like her shadow to learn the ropes, has come from a place even darker – but whose future might be more blackened by darkness is for you to discover, in this trilogy-opening fantasy. Full review...
The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil
Alba and her friends have just finished high school. Now they must decide what to do with the rest of their lives. Move to the city? Enrol at university? Get a job and make a life in their rural Australian backwater? Pair off? Stay single? Alba herself must decide whether or not a career in art and comic books is possible. And if it is, is it worth leaving a happy life and a friendship group for? It's a frightening choice. Is she good enough? And in any case, the friendship group might disappear whatever she decides. Because each member of it has the same choice before them. Full review...
Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick
Whisked into the witness protection programme, 17 year old Estella's life is turned upside down. She's torn away from her long-term boyfriend and forced to abandon both her friends and her identity. Leaving city life behind her, she's convinced there is no way she will be able to adapt to Thunder Basin, Nebraska. But, then, she hadn't expected to fall for the boy next door. Full review...
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D Schmidt
Twelve year-old Jack is informed that his parents will be fostering another boy – fourteen year-old Joseph. But Joseph isn't like most fourteen year-olds. He's troubled: the rumour is that he spent time in juvenile incarceration for trying to kill his teacher. And there's something else about Joseph, too: he has a daughter. Full review...
Winnie-the-Pooh's Little Book Of Wisdom by A A Milne and E H Shepard
For a Bear of Very Little Brain Winnie-the-Pooh talks an awful lot of sense and we should be honoured that he's chosen to share with us a few of his wise words. You see, occasionally (well, an awful lot of the time, if we're honest) we look for wisdom in the wrong places and forget about those who have a very simple approach to life and who may well have discovered the secret of happiness. Pooh's take on life is very simple and none the worse for that. Full review...
Never Evers by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison
Two English schools, six 14 year-old friends and a ski / snowboarding trip to France. Add a 15 year-old French popstar shooting his latest video and you have the perfect recipe for a light-hearted and funny teen romance. Full review...
Keep The Faith by Candy Harper
The basics of the plot here are that Faith is going on a French exchange, which best friend Megs is strangely reluctant to join her on. Meanwhile there's more boy trouble, while she's also trying to juggle revising for exams and applying to become a prefect (despite perhaps being a less than obvious choice in the minds of certain teachers!) The plot is never really the main point of a Faith book though - instead it's a welcome way to catch up with one of the best friendship groups in recent YA fiction. Full review...
Lucerin: Identity by Dan Corns
Aiden Chase seems, on the face of it, to be a normal teenage schoolboy facing real-world issues like bullies, homework and girls. He has no idea that he has Lucerin blood; the key to unlocking uncanny abilities like stopping time and even materialising solid items from thin air. This legacy has made Aiden very desirable to one person in particular: Lukas Voorman. Voorman is head of a group of powerful Lucerin who 'pull the strings' behind the world scenes. Initially a force for peace, the Lucerin mission has been slowly corrupted in the last few years. Could a boy like Aiden have the power to change all of that and bring harmony to the Lucerin once more? Full review...
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
She's a phenomenon is my OH's response to any mention of Malala. I can't disagree on some level, but what this book proves is that on another she is just a girl. One voice among many. It's just that she decided to speak louder than most. We know about Malala because she got lucky. She got lucky because when she got shot by the Taliban there were people nearby, doctors who got her to a hospital, and then luckier still because when her condition worsened, nearby there were western doctors with access to western facilities and she was flown to the UK for treatment. Full review...
Anything That Isn't This by Chris Priestley
Frank Palp lives in a dull, dystopian world, where The Grey pervades every aspect of life, from the food to the architecture. So insidious are these changes, that no-one seems to have noticed them, apart from Frank. His family, schoolmates and society in general seem to be completely oblivious to the sinister nature of the world around them and seem strangely content with the status quo. The all-powerful Ministry has a stranglehold on everything and everyone, with each household having its own assigned student, who records everything and reports suspicious activity to the mysterious Mr Vertex. Frank thinks he is the only person who hates this oppressive world, but one day he finds a message in a bottle with a wish for anything that isn't this, and goes on a desperate search for the person who wrote it; his potential soul-mate. Full review...
The Book of Learning by E R Murray
An orphan with only her beloved grandpa for company, Ebony Smart's world is turned upside down when he dies. Sent to Dublin to live with an Aunt she didn't know existed, Ebony soon discovers that her new home, 23 Mercury Lane, is full of secrets. Discovering that she is part of an ancient order of people who have the power to reincarnate, Ebony is soon under threat from a terrible evil that threatens to destroy their existence. With just her pet rat Winston, and a mysterious book to help her, she must figure out why her people are disappearing and how to save their souls, and her own, before time runs out… Full review...
Boy 23 by Jim Carrington
Boy 23 isn't in My Place any more. He can't see The Screen, he can't hear The Voice. Boy 23 is alone.
Before being dumped alone in the forest by The Voice, Boy 23 - or Jesper, as we shall call him - has lived in a room entirely by himself. He has never met another human being or been outside. His only experience of the world has been through a few short video clips, shown to him on his Screen by The Voice in My Place. Now, he finds himself alone with only a bag full of survival equipment and some brief words from The Voice: his life is in danger, people have been sent to kill him, he must head north west to the Low Countries, The Voice will meet him there and explain everything. Full review...
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
It's 1956. And a very different world from the one you'd expect. Germany won World War II and the Nazi project is in full flow. Lebensraum is expanding. The extermination project has spread to Slavs. Defeated Britain is irrelevant and the United States is pursuing an isolationist policy, hoping Nazism never makes it to the Americas. The main Axis powers of Germany and Japan have pretty much divided territory between them. To commemorate a victorious war, the two powers host the annual Axis Tour, a continental motorcycle race. The previous year, it was won for the first time by a girl: Adele Wolfe disguised as her brother Felix. Full review...
Missing Dad: Wanted by J Ryan
Joe is in big trouble. He's been driving the car his grandfather bought him before he's even old enough to take the driving test. And been caught. Still worse, he's suspected of a hit-and-run and the police don't look as though they believe him when he insists he - and his car - were nowhere near the scene. Mum is unimpressed but also worried and Joe feels horribly guilty. As if things couldn't be worse, Joe is also suspended from school. Full review...
The Light That Gets Lost by Natasha Carthew
At just seven years of age, Trey witnesses the murder of his parents and the grievous injuring of his older brother. He escapes the attack by hiding in a wardrobe. After that, he is taken into care.
We meet Trey again years later, as an adolescent. He's on his way to Camp Kernow, a work camp for recalcitrant teens. For Trey, this is the realisation of a longstanding plan - he believes that the man who murdered his parents works at the camp and he intends to find him and kill him. In Trey's mind, things are simple: find the man, kill him, escape, rescue his brother from the care home, live happily ever after. Full review...
Once Upon a Place by Eoin Colfer (editor)
You know the bit of the blurb on every Artemis Fowl book, where Eoin Colfer had it said about how you pronounce his name? That wasn't the intention of an up-and-coming author to be recognisable; rather, it was pride. Pride in the difference of it, of the Irishness of it. Ireland, it seems to me, is more full than usual of people, things and ideas, and places that are different by dint of their singular nationality – and so many deserve to have pride attached to them. The places might not be the famous ones, but they can be the source of pride, and of stories, which is where this compilation of short works for the young comes in, with the authors invited to select their chosen place and write about it. Full review...
The November Criminals by Sam Munson
Addison Schacht is a high school senior (that's sixth form if you're British) in Washington DC and a bit of a classics nerd. His favourite book is Virgil's Aeineid - he owns three copies and reads from one of them every single day. He has applied to the University of Chicago, where he wants to study classics. So far, so model pupil, right? The thing is, Addison is also a consistent truant and runs his own business - selling drugs to his peers. Hmm! Full review...
Liquidator by Andy Mulligan
Ladies and gentlemen, please turn off your phones and suspend your disbelief as you enter the crazy, exciting and thoroughly silly world of the new book by the fantabulous Andy Mulligan. You will encounter ruthless villains, non-stop danger, at least one near-death experience and a rather jolly lorry driver. Where does all this happen, you ask? In the mountain-top fastness of some evil spy? In the secret laboratory of a crazed wizard? Nope – somewhere way, way more dangerous. Work experience. Full review...
The Winter Place by Alexander Yates
Axel and Tess live in rural New York state with a father obsessed with mediaeval reconstructions. They have a knight for a father! This eccentricity is both entertaining and a good thing - because Sam is the only parental figure in their lives. Axel and Tess's mother died when Axel was born. Tess is just moving into oppositional adolescence. She and Sam enjoy sparring over the care of Axel, who has inherited a rare form of muscular dystrophy from his late mother. Axel is, well, an individual child, currently haunted by a mischievous wheelchair only he can see. The pesky thing follows him everywhere. Full review...
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead
The book opens with a prologue about an eight year old Bridget Barsamian, who woke up in hospital following a horrific and life threatening traffic accident involving roller skates and New York traffic. Bridget is told by a nurse that she is lucky to be alive and that she must have survived the accident for a reason. Bridget, who has no real memory of the accident, has to miss a year of school and on her return, tells everyone she now wants to be known as Bridge, as, I don't feel like Bridget anymore. Full review...
Here Be Dragons by Sarah Mussi
Few people would be happy living in a remote farmhouse on Mount Snowdon, especially when that means spending Christmas without any electricity – no heating, no way to charge your phone, no telly and no Christmas dinner. But when you’re sixteen, like Ellie Morgan, it can become almost unbearable. All Ellie wants is a regular ‘four-by-four life’ with four walls around her and four wheels under her, all designed to keep her safe. But safe is one thing that Ellie’s not destined to be … not from the moment she glimpses the strange boy through the mist and snow and sets her heart on discovering who (and what) he is. Full review...
The Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John Boyne
Meet Pierrot. As a very young child in 1930s Paris he is going to have a very awkward journey through his young life. His father is a violent drunk, reacting badly to what he saw in WWI, and although married to a French woman, is still staunchly German. That woman, Emilie, is going to die, and leave Pierrot an orphan, which will leave him in a home where he is bullied. But from the reaches of Europe and from the black corners of his family comes an aunt, Beatrix, who will give him a home, of a kind, at a most unusual mountaintop building. It's not her home – she just works there and had to ask special permission from someone special. The place? The Berghof. Full review...
Dreamland by Robert L Anderson
17 year old Dea has been to several schools in several towns, moving with her mother as if pursued. It's always the same. She'd make a friend and then the rumours would start about how she and her mum were crazy and the friend wouldn't talk to her. Dea isn't crazy. She becomes curiously ill from time to time but she has a cure: walking through people's dreams. There are rules that keep her safe when she's doing this but when Connor moves in to the neighbourhood the rules become far less important and that's when Dea's life becomes far more dangerous. Full review...
