Hannah Kemp is dealing with a traumatic accident for which she was responsible. Struggling to come to terms with her guilt, she is ostracized in a community that condemns her. She deals with this by rebelling and pushing away anyone that offers kindness or seeks to understand her. Crippled by her own guilt and anger, she comes across a mobile library bus where every book is the true story of someone’s life, and realizes that judgement of others is almost always shallow and uninformed. When she finds her own book … she also finds that her past can reshape her present.
Genre - Dystopian
If YOU LIKED HUNGER GAMES YOU WILL LIKE THIS!!!
We are in an epidemic. An epidemic of unhappiness.
…
Friends, here is the good news: HappyHead has the answer.
When Seb is offered a place on a radical retreat designed to solve the national crisis of teenage unhappiness, he is determined to change how people see him and make his parents proud. But as he finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Finn, Seb starts to question the true nature of the challenges they must undergo. The deeper into the programme the boys get, the more disturbing the assessments become, until it’s clear there may be no escape...
Dene Walker picked me to be her best friend. She had the whole of Tonsley High’s year eight to choose from—and she chose me. Me!
Tully can’t believe her luck. Dene is famous. Everyone loves her. She has thousands of followers online and hundreds of sponsorship deals. Being best friends with Dene Walker is a dream come true.
Tully is soon hardly aware that her long-time bestie, Kira, exists, as she shapes her own interests and cares to be the person worthy of Dene’s attention. And she’s not prepared for the heartache and confusion when Dene’s friendship is not all she imagined it to be.
Genre - Dystopian
Planet Earth Sucks. Humans have gone and cities are empty, looked after by bots.
But not all robots are machines. Echo is part-human, his heart ruled by an unreliable E-Mote chip which means he's pretty much a normal boy surviving on canned beans. Living his best life.
Then a space-pod crash-lands in his neighbourhood with a girl on board. Pandora. She's his last hope, and apparently he's hers - if they really are all that's left alive ...
A highly original and uplifting YA love story/science fiction mash-up with a slow-burn romance Set in an abandoned but fully maintained New York City where the characters live out all our empty mall dreams A thrilling adventure with plenty of unexpected twists and turns - and a dash of darkness YA readers will love Echo's vintage 90s-00s culture obsession!
This is wonderful, funny, quirky dystopian YA read that is honestly a joy. It is fast paced and laced with humour but with a warning of the dangers of our reliance on technology when misused and corrupted and our ignorance of what damage we are doing to the planet. There is peril, adventure, romance and friendship.
Glimpse
Genre - Dystopian
Glimpse by Jane Higgins is a dystopian adventure set in a earthquake ravaged land with people being left to fend for themselves and survive the best they can. Centred around a group of teenagers, the story leads us through many conflicts and power struggles, but also focuses on the importance of loyalty and friendship.
Well developed story line that moved rapidly with interesting characters that keep the reader involved and hoping for positive outcomes.
The boy who didn't want to die.
By Peter Lantos
A heartbreaking true account of a young Jewish boy and his family as they are forced to journey across Europe in the last 2 years of WW2 at the hands of the Nazi Regime. What strikes you is the appalling loss of family, childhood and innocence, written in plain child view. The tragedy Peter endures is more stark and vivid for how he portrays his experiences.
Sam Khoo has a dream- she wants to become a successful indie video game designer. And she needs to get a super rare ticket to a game design workshop.
BUT
Jay Chau, aka Jerky Mcjerkface, sneakily grabs the last ticket.
This means war!
A funny and unique take on the rivals-to-lovers story about indie games, defining your own success and dealing with a meddlesome gossip network of aunties and uncles.
This is a funny and authentic look at growing up, first love, the pressure to succeed, learning to fail and working out what success even means any way.
Are you there God?
Read the book before the movie ...
It's me, Margaret.
...
Leo wants to be somewhere else, far away. So when he uncovers an old music box and turns the key, he is astonished to find himself in Prague, surrounded by whispers and fears of a second world war. A war that ended decades ago.
What Makes a
Matilda
Go back to where it all began and follow the journey of our national team from their first international competition, to when they officially became the Matildas, to their preparations for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 - and everything inbetween!
The Davenports
The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in a changing United States, their fortune made through the entrepreneurship of William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who founded the Davenport Carriage Company years ago. Now it’s 1910, and the Davenports live surrounded by servants, crystal chandeliers, and endless parties, finding their way and finding love—even where they’re not supposed to.
There is Olivia, the beautiful elder Davenport daughter, ready to do her duty by getting married . . . until she meets the charismatic civil rights leader Washington DeWight and sparks fly. The younger daughter, Helen, is more interested in fixing cars than falling in love—unless it’s with her sister’s suitor. Amy-Rose, the childhood friend turned maid to the Davenport sisters, dreams of opening her own business—and marrying the one man she could never be with, Olivia and Helen’s brother, John. But Olivia’s best friend, Ruby, also has her sights set on John Davenport, though she can’t seem to keep his interest . . . until family pressure has her scheming to win his heart, just as someone else wins hers.
Inspired by the real-life story of the Patterson family, The Davenports is the tale of four determined and passionate young Black women discovering the courage to steer their own path in life—and love.
Historical Fiction
A beautiful story of young love, family and following dreams, set in locked down Melbourne! This book captures so much of our shared experience from 2020 with references woven gently throughout the pages.
An easy read with a lovely rhythm, highly recommended for teens … and anyone who lived in Melbourne during those “unprecedented” times!
I know I'm not the only one who avoids the pandemic setting. But as I read, I realised that we do actually need books that capture the true nature of that surreal experience. And this book does do it very well.
Contemporary
You
Don't
Know
What
War
Is
The diary of a
young girl from Ukraine
Everyone knows the word 'war'. But very few people understand what it truly means. You might say that it's horrible and frightening, but you don't know the true scale of fear it brings. And so, when you find you suddenly have to face it, you feel totally lost, walled in by fright and despair. All of your plans are interrupted without warning by destruction. Until you've been there, you don't know what war is.
On Thursday 24th February 2022, twelve year old Yeva Skalietska is woken by the sound of explosions. Though there have been rumblings and rumours, few truly believe that war will braek out between russia and Ukraine. And yet - it has.
What follows are twelve days that will change Yeva's life forever. This is Yeva's diary of those 12 days as they decide to stay or go.
Historical Fiction
by Yeva Skalietska
Waiting for the storks
by Katrina Nannestad
This story is fiction but was inspired by real events.
It deals with themes that I’ve never read about before in any book.
Himmler (an SS commander) has a plan for the Lebensborn Program – a program that sought to increase the Aryan population of Nazi-occupied territories, and one of the things they did to encourage the population growth was to kidnap blonde-haired, blue-eyed children from the occupied nations such as Poland, and assess them, before Germanising them and sending them out to be adopted or trained to be mothers and soldiers for the Reich. To do this, they stripped the children of their identities and gave them new ones – which is where Zofia – the protagonist of Waiting for the Storks – comes in.
Zofia is kidnapped from her loving family in Poland and adopted into a wealthy and loving German family. For Zofia it is easier and and it is safer to bury her past, deep down, so everything is forgotten. Until the Polish boy arrives. And the past comes back to haunt her.
Historical Fiction
