Books linked to the themes of: TRUTH AND LIES
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. Olly writes his IM address on a piece of paper, shows it at her window, and suddenly, a door opens. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone? |
There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake
When Shelby gets knocked down by a car, it's not just her leg that's broken: Shelby's world is shattered. Her mom turns up to collect her and drives off into the night, like it's the beginning of a road trip, like two criminals on the run, like Thelma and Louise or Bonnie and Clyde. And somehow, everywhere she looks, there's a coyote watching her, talking to her, telling her not to believe. Who is Shelby Jane Cooper? If the person who keeps you safe also tells you lies, who can you trust? |
Bog Child by Siobhan O'Dowd
Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds the body of a child, and it looks like she's been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him - his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his parents arguing over the Troubles, and him in it up to the neck, blackmailed into acting as courier to God knows what, a little voice comes to him in his dreams, and the mystery of the bog child unfurls. "Bog Child" is an astonishing novel exploring the sacrifices made in the name of peace, and the unflinching strength of the human spirit. |
Books linked to the themes of: FREEDOM AND RESTRICTION
The Once series by Morris Glietzman
Once I escaped from an orphanage to find Mum and Dad. Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house. Once I made a Nazi with toothache laugh. My name is Felix. This is my story. 
(Un)arranged Marriage by Bali Rai Harry and Ranjit were waiting for me - waiting to take me to a wedding. My wedding. A wedding that I hadn't asked for, that I didn't want. To a girl I didn't know ... If they had bothered to open their eyes, they would have seen me: seventeen, angry, upset, but determined - determined to do my own thing, to choose my own path in life ... |
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The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
'12 June 1942: I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support' The Diary of a Young Girl is one of the most celebrated and enduring books of the last century. Tens of millions have read it since it was first published in 1947 and it remains a deeply admired testament to the indestructible nature of the human spirit. This definitive edition restores thirty per cent if the original manuscript, which was deleted from the original edition. It reveals Anne as a teenage girl who fretted about and tried to cope with her own emerging sexuality and who also veered between being a carefree child and an aware adult. Anne Frank and her family fled the horrors of Nazi occupation by hiding in the back of a warehouse in Amsterdam for two years with another family and a German dentist. Aged thirteen when she went into the secret annexe, Anne kept a diary. She movingly revealed how the eight people living under these extraordinary conditions coped with hunger, the daily threat of discovery and death and being cut off from the outside world, as well as petty misunderstandings and the unbearable strain of living like prisoners. |
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The Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley It's 1959 Virginia, the battle for civil rights is raging. It's Sarah's first day of school as one of the first black students at previously all-white Jefferson High. No one wants Sarah there. Not the Governor. Not the teachers. And certainly not the students - especially Linda, daughter of the town's most ardent segregationist. Sarah and Linda are supposed to despise each other. But the more time they spend together, the less their differences matter. And both girls start to feel something they've never felt before. Something they're determined to ignore. Because its one thing to stand up to an unjust world - but another to be terrified of what's in your own heart. |
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The Boy With Two Hearts by Hamed Amiri
A powerful tale of a family in crisis, and a moving love letter to the NHS. Herat, Afghanistan, 2000. A mother speaks out against the fundamentalist leaders of her country. Meanwhile, her family's watchful eyes never leave their beloved son and brother, whose rare heart condition means that he will never lead a normal life. When the Taliban gave an order for the execution of Hamed Amiri's mother, the family knew they had to escape, starting what would be a long and dangerous journey, across Russia and through Europe, with the UK as their ultimate destination. Travelling as refugees for a year and a half, they suffered attacks from mafia and police; terrifying journeys in strangers' cars; treks across demanding terrain; days spent hidden in lorries without food or drink; and being robbed at gunpoint of every penny they owned. The family's need to reach the UK was intensified by their eldest son's deteriorating condition, and the prospect of life-saving treatment it offered. The Boy with Two Hearts is not only a tale of a family in crisis, but a love letter to the NHS, which provided hope and reassurance as they sought asylum in the UK and fought to save their loved ones. |
Books linked to the themes of: INNOCENCE AND CORRUPTION
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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
A 16-year-old girl is drawn to activism after she witnesses the police shooting of her unarmed friend Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. This is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice. |
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Dear Martin by Nic Stone Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League - but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighbourhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out. Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up - way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty police officer beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crossfire. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack. |
The Outwalkers by Fiona Shaw
In an England isolated from Scotland and the rest of Europe and everyone is micro-chipped with a tag, a group of teenagers try to avoid the authorities to escape to Scotland with information that will save the population from total governmental control. No one can get into Scotland, just like no one can cross the channel...England is under the control of an authoritarian regime. They can track anyone, anywhere from a chip implanted in their skin. But Jake, who breaks out of the Academy dorm he's housed in, has decided to escape. To go off-grid. To join a small group of independent spirits determined to keep out of the government's prying eyes. The Outwalkers. It's only together he'll be able to reach Scotland and safety. |
After the Fire by Will Hill
Without rules, things fall apart. That's what Father John says. Moonbeam knew what her future held. Protected from the dangers of the outside world by rules and the Fence, she was destined to marry Father John, head of their little community. But that was before her mother was banished; before Nate arrived and forced her to question everything. What do you do when everything you thought you knew turns out to be a lie? |
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters. That is, without questioning it much - if you don't count her visits to the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her secret meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her sixty-year-old uncle - who already has six wives - she must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever. |
Books linked to the themes of: LOVE AND HATE
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I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan
Fifteen-year-old Muzna Saleem is passionate about writing and dreams of becoming a novelist. There's just one problem - her super-controlling parents have already planned her life out for her: Step 1) Get educated Step 2) Qualify as a doctor Step 3) Marry a cousin from Pakistan. Oh, and boyfriends are totally haram. No one is more surprised than humble Muzna when high school hottie, Arif Malik, takes an interest in her. But Arif and his brother are angry at the West for demonizing Islam and hiding a terrible secret. As Arif begins to lead Muzna down a dark path, she faces a terrible choice: keep quiet and betray her beliefs, or speak up and betray her heart? A stunning new YA voice which questions how far you'll go to stand up for what you believe. |
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Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don't stand out--under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes--for Leo and for the entire school. After 15 years of home schooling, Stargirl bursts into tenth grade in an explosion of color and a clatter of ukulele music, enchanting the Mica student body. But the delicate scales of popularity suddenly shift, and Stargirl is shunned for everything that makes her different. Somewhere in the midst of Stargirl's arrival and rise and fall, normal Leo Borlock has tumbled into love with her. |
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Stay a Little Longer by Bali Rai
Aman's dad is gone, leaving her feeling lost and alone. She struggles to talk about it, but it's a fact and he isn't coming back. When a lovely man called Gurnam moves in to her street and saves Aman from some local bullies, he and Aman quickly become friends, perhaps even like family. But Gurnam has his own sadness. One that's far bigger than Aman can understand, and it's tearing his life apart. |