Our Library Assistant Beth gives her top suggestions for young adult books - to help spark that love of reading for pleasure.
Young adult fiction is a category aimed at 12 – 18-year-olds – but did you know that roughly half of its readership are adults? Want to know why? Because YA fiction is the stuff of wonders. It’s where authors aren’t afraid to stretch themselves creatively on subjects all of us encounter at some point in our lives: love, grief, identity - to name a few. This often leads to many YA novels being adapted for film or television, and growing a huge fan base. (Think The Hunger Games and Harry Potter).
Being dyslexic, I really struggled to find the joy in reading when I was a child. It was a chore. It was boring – but that’s because I hadn’t found the right books to read – books that really interested me and made me forget I was turning the pages. I got into reading as a teenager after picking up Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. Although my reading tastes have changed, I still remember the feeling of a bright new world opening up to me after that first YA book. Since then, I’ve always had something on the go!
Keep reading for my top picks and links to find them on the Library catalogue.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noughts + Crosses by Malorie Blackman
'Stop it! You're all behaving like animals! Worse than animals - like blankers!'
Sephy is a Cross: she lives a life of privilege and power. But she's lonely, and burns with injustice at the world she sees around her. Callum is a nought: he's considered to be less than nothing - a blanker, there to serve Crosses - but he dreams of a better life. They've been friends since they were children, and they both know that's as far as it can ever go. Noughts and Crosses are fated to be bitter enemies - love is out of the question. Then - in spite of a world that is fiercely against them - these star-crossed lovers choose each other. But this is love story that will lead both of them into terrible danger . . . and which will have shocking repercussions for generations to come.
Beth says: These star-crossed lovers face a lot of adventure and danger - this is a story you won’t want to put down until you finish!
Reserve Noughts + Crosses - book or tv series
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him - something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.
Beth says: This is such a creative and engaging world. I haven’t read anything like this since. It’s really artistic too – when Todd gets overwhelmed by the thoughts around him the pages clog up with words to the point that they’re indecipherable.
Reserve The Knife of Never Letting Go - book or film
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow-impossible though it seems-they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.
Beth says: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is about as whimsical a book as you can get. All the characters each with their own unique abilities are quirky and loveable. But what’s really interesting is, before writing the novel, Riggs went to lots of jumble sales and bought the strange vintage photos that inspired and are featured in the story.
Reserve Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children - book or film
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
Beth says: Throne of Glass is a high fantasy story that has a little bit of everything to please everyone. This series is really popular with teens. Caelaena Sardothien kicks some serious butt.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
Beth says: This dystopian has the same kind of feel to it as The Hunger Games. It has such an immersive world and is packed with adventure. Beware – it had me crying at some points!
Do you think your teen would benefit from a reading group? Our Teen Book Club meets every Tuesday at Guille-Allès Library, from 16.15-17.15 (term time). Email Jodie [email protected] to find out more.
