Lex is burning alive. At least that's how she feels inside. Her soon to be step-father, John, is a monster, but nobody else really sees it that way. Since being with John, Lex's mother has undergone what can only be described as a lobotomy, she's placid, meek and anxiety ridden. Lex's step-sister Iris is young and innocent and caught up in the angry whirl-wind that is John's behaviour. Sometimes he's sweet, sometimes he's not. When Lex's mother and John get into it and the swearing starts and things get thrown around, that's when Lex's monster comes out. She becomes the furious thing, trashing the house, damaging property, running away. John thinks Lex needs to be medicated, and he's got a doctor friend who can do just that. Desperate, Lex turns to the only person who has ever got her, Kass, her soon to be step brother, whom she also has had an undying crush on for years. Kass is in university in Manchester, he's also desperate not to become like his father, although sometimes his behaviour says otherwise. As the wedding looms, and the situation at home starts to collapse, Lex starts to do even more outrageous things to get her mother's attention to what she's become. Furious Thing is one of the best YA I've read in a while. Lex isn't just living with a monster, John is written as a complex character with sides that allow Lex to see why her mother loves him. Lex is also a deeply complicated, flawed person, someone I wish I knew when I went to high school. Someone who goes with her gut, is desperate to feel something in this life and to show others what it's like to love and hurt. I think this is a beautiful story about life and love and abuse and deciding you aren't going to take it any more. Highly recommend it for ages 14+.
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I'm very excited to be part of the Federation of Children's Book Groups Children's Book Award blog tour. I will be highlighting the amazing On The Come Up by Angie Thomas! Use the hashtag #FCBGCBA2020 on social media to follow the tour and find out about these amazing books! Bri Jackson has a plan. That plan is to become a rapper, someone who shines a light on the situation she and her family endures on a daily basis in Garden Heights. Her mother, Jay, is a recovering addict, someone Bri doesn't fully trust. Her brother Jay works at a pizza shop, he's smart, headstrong and stays out of trouble. If only Bri could follow his lead. She sells candy, a banned item in her school, to those who are craving sugar. When she gets caught, the authorities grossly overreact by throwing her to the ground and pinning her there. It's a moment that will stick with Bri throughout the novel, a lightning bolt that sets many different events into action. Rumours start to spread, primarily that it wasn't candy in her bag, that it was drugs. Bri has a choice, does she ignore this nonsense and try to carry on, or does she act the way society expects her to act, to lash out, to be angry on both the inside and outside. Her status as a rapper gains huge credibility when she destroys a boy, the son of Supreme, her late father's manager, in a rap battle. When Bri decides to make another song, one that makes her out to be someone she isn't, her community takes notice. This puts Bri, her aunt Pooh and her friends in a dangerous position. As the pressure mounts and the lights and the gas gets cut in her home and she suspects her mother of using again, Bri has to make some really tough choices, choices no teenager should make, On the Come Up is a raw, devastating look at what it's like to claw at a dream that everyone tells you is just that, a dream. Bri is tough, quick to fly off the handle yet sensitive, someone who loves video games and comic books and hanging out with her friends. Thomas has once again developed a fully formed character that screws up just like every teen, except for Bri the consequences are much heavier compared to most. It's an honest look at stereotypes, racism, white privilege and how we project our fears and expectations on African American youth. I think On The Come Up should be required reading, loved it. Newt has only known the Bearmouth mine. Life is hard, harder than can be imagined. They serve the Master, toiling away in near darkness, death and dying is all around them, misery is their only company. People come and go, but the work never stops, Newt sees those around them fading away, working themselves to death. Then Devlin comes to the mine, and starts to whisper about revolution. Even talk of this kind of thing is dangerous, the Master has eyes and ears everywhere. At first, Newt doesn't trust Devlin, but this soon changes and Newt along with everyone else in the mine is sent hurtling towards a deadly yet exhilarating end. Bearmouth is truly a unique YA that is near impossible to put down. Newt's voice is raw and heartbreaking all at the same time. The corruption, the misery, the damp dark coffin like atmosphere of Bearmouth drips off of every page. You might squirm a little reading this, in a good way, because it's simply that engrossing. I loved this book and am excited to see the students' reactions when they read it. I'd suggest it for ages 13+ Agatha is a Hawk, someone who protects her clan in the mythical land of Scotia. She loves her job, she patrols the wall looking for the enemy. However, Agatha is made fun of by others in her clan and some see her as an annoyance, since she has a learning disability that makes her stand out from the others. Jamie is training to be an angler even though he is scared to death of the water. He's also been chosen to marry a girl he's never met, someone from another clan. This is a big deal because their clan hasn't allowed marriage in a long, long time. On the big day, treachery descends upon the clan and Agatha and Jamie find themselves hunting a deadly group of bandits in order to find their loved ones. Along the way they discover deadly wild wolves, mysterious Highland bull riders, a mad Queen, shadow monsters and many more intriguing characters. It will take all of their nerve and bravery to find their loved ones, the odds are high, but their determination is higher. I loved the Good Hawk, I can hear Agatha's voice in many of the students I interact with. She is kind, loyal yet naive of the world and its often brutal ways. Jamie is patient, caring and courageous even though he wouldn't consider himself any of those things. The Good Hawk is a novel that you'll want to live in for a long time. Heartbreaking and engaging, I know it'll be a hit with our students. It's an absolute thrill ride from beginning to end. Expertly written, you'll be clambering for the sequel. Noah is about to embark on a bleak summer holiday. His adopted mother is a best selling novelist and needs inspiration. To find it, she decides to travel to a remote Scottish island and live off the grid for a couple of weeks in a ramshackle cabin while she furiously pounds away on her typewriter. The catch is, she wants Noah to accompany her. It just so happens that Noah is deathly afraid of water as a result of a cruel PE teacher and an incident in a pool. Nevertheless, he makes the short boat journey to the rocky island whose only inhabitant is a mysterious bird watcher who lives in an even more dilapidated cabin on the far side of the island. On the short journey across the water, Noah discovers that the island used to house a leper hospital, and that not many people have the courage to stay on the island for very long. The captain taking him across won't divulge any more information, unfortunately. It doesn't take long for Noah to get entwined in a mystery of his own, and there's the mysterious figure that seems to be watching him from afar. What follows is a thrilling horror-adventure set in a stunning atmospheric island. Set in the early 1950s, Inchtinn is a perfect scary read for a dark December evening. Noah's growth throughout the novel is admirable, I was really rooting for him and enjoyed seeing his confidence grow. The eeriness of the island crawled off the page, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! America is in a post-apocalyptic nightmare where the dead have risen. Peter, his father and a small community have forged a life on tiny islands in a national park. The problem? When winter descends and the ice freezes, there's nothing from stopping the dead from the walking to their homes on stilts and running riot. I love this idea. Also, a national park is the first place I'd try to forge a new life when things go sour. It makes sense and Charlton puts you into that world brilliantly, the cold seeps through the pages and into your bones. The protagonist, Peter, has always known he wasn't as tough as his father, or Bud, the father of Cooper, the boy he likes who lives on the other side of the lake. One day, Peter allows a stranger to approach the shore in his canoe, this breaks all the rules and Peter nearly pays for his life because of it. As punishment, he's forced to go onto the mainland to learn how to wrangle the dead and help the rest of the crew survive. What follows is a series of misadventures where Peter discovers dark secrets about the place he calls home. These are secrets that will test Peter's willpower, grit and love for those around him. Wranglestone is a great read, it's full throttle action with a lot of clever twists and scenes that will make your skin crawl. Peter and Cooper's dynamic is great, as is Peter's relationship with his father, proof that love can exist in the face of terror and showing how it's even more important when things go as bad as they do in Wranglestone. This is sharp writing with great characters and a great twist on the zombie genre, I really recommend it when it arrives in the UK in Feb! Beth Teller has a problem. She's dead. Not only that, but her dad can still see and talk to her. Grieving, her dad tries to pour himself into his work as a detective, allowing for Beth to talk to him without assuming he's gone completely mad. Then it happens, a local children's home burns to the ground, and there's a body inside. It's not a victim of the accidental fire, the person inside was murdered before it started. Now there's a case to solve, and Beth's determined to help her dad solve it and keep his mind off of, well her. As the mystery deepens, they come into contact with Isobel Catching, a girl who was found wandering around near the children's home. Her story is terrifying, strange and in Beth's father's opinion, delusional. But as the bodies begin to pile up, Beth and her father aren't sure what to believe. It will take all of their combined strength to survive this case. I tore through this novel, Beth is a brilliant character, her relationship with her father is sharp, sad, funny and cutting. Isobel Catching could have a side series on her own she's that strong of a character. I loved Catching Teller Crow, it is a razor sharp mystery that serves to educate the reader on Australia's shameful treatment of its Indigenous peoples. These are characters you'll want to hang around with, especially the ghosts. Don't miss this fantastic YA novel. When she turned ten, Aniyah made a wish on a star for her mum. The wish was for her mother, but during that same day, she and her brother Noah are taken from her home and driven far away and made to live in a foster home. The only silver lining is that the foster home is run by Mrs. Iwuchukwu who is one of the best motherly fiction character from the past few years in my opinion. She is firm yet fair, loving and open. This is a character that helps restore the image of foster carers as caring, responsible people when the primary image we receive from the media are ones who prey on children's weaknesses. Throughout the novel, Mrs. Iwuchukwu becomes a character I wanted to spend more time with and I wanted to learn as much as I could about her. Aniyah is obsessed with star hunting, so when she finds out that the Royal Observatory at Greenwich is holding a contest to name a new star, she knows that the star is connected to her mother and that it must be named after her. This is when she recruits the help of some of the foster children to embark on an adventure to travel to the Observatory to tell the judges her mother's story and why the star belongs to her. A truly devastating story that will wreck you as a reader. As Aniyah's story slowly unravels, we see the true desperation behind her attempt to get to the Observatory. We see how children being sent to foster homes cope on a daily basis, how children are so, so resilient when it comes to traumatic events and how powerful kindness and empathy can be. Another blockbuster from Onjali, this will be another book I'll need several copies of to keep the students happy, don't miss this amazing story. Owen feels like there's nobody he can talk to, life at home is hard. His mum isn't doing too well and Owen isn't himself at school. When he discovers a stone soldier on a bench in the park, Owen finally finds someone he can talk to, someone who really listens. Then the town council announces that they're removing the soldier. It's old, it's cracking, it's an eyesore they say. Owen knows the soldier is important, he just needs to find the right words to make everyone else see it the way he does. This is a really touching story about loss and friendship. Anyone who has ever found it hard to do the right thing, stand up for yourself and what you believe in will connect with this little gem immediately. I can't wait to get this into the hands of our students at Glenthorne, there's a lot here to discuss, highly recommend it. Maggie is 11 and lives with her family in Fennis Wick. They are cut off from the rest of society. This protects them, they're told, from the dangerous Wanderers, people who roam the countryside, burning down villages and taking what they want. In Fennis Wick there is a rule, the eldest child of every family must be sent to fight in the Quiet War when they turn 14. They're sent to Camp, then they're never seen again. This is the rule, and Maggie's brother Jed is the eldest child. Maggie often feels invisible being the middle child, Trig, her younger brother, is full of charm and energy and Jed is the strong backbone, the fighter, the one everyone adores. When a chance encounter puts Maggie face to face with Una, a Wanderer, she is torn as to what to do. Does she report her to the mayor? Does she help her? Una is asking Maggie for antibiotics for her father. Una says he has a bad wound on his leg and needs help, but everyone knows that Wanderers are liars. What Maggie does will change Fennis Wick forever. I loved this novel, Maggie is a smart, razor sharp protagonist who quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) fights for what she believes in. It's a dreamy and smart dystopian adventure. I recommend it for ages 11 up, great writing! |
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