Nicholas Flamel, born in 1330 was the greatest Alchemyst of his day. Nicholas Flamel discovered the secret of eternal life. A secret he keeps hidden in the ‘Book of Abraham the Mage’. It’s the most powerful book of all time. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. That’s exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. According to ancient prophecy, twins Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to stop him and the Dark Elders. And so, the race is on.
The first book in ‘The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel’ series, The Alchemyst introduces a wide-ranging group of historical figures who have achieved immortality and are engaged in a present-day struggle for the fate of the world.
Recommended age: 15+
The Alchemyst – Michael Scott
July 23, 2010 — DebraThe Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
July 23, 2010 — Debra
When “the man Jack” uses his razor-sharp knife to murder a family, a toddler slips away to a nearby graveyard. Adopted by the ghostly inhabitants, the child, Nobody Owens (Bod), grows up learning the tricks of the dead. His beloved guardian, Silas, who is neither living nor dead and has secrets of his own, gets Bod what he needs from the human world. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for Bod but the greater danger lies beyond the graveyard, as the man Jack continues to hunt for him.
Recommended age: 12+
Wings – Aprilynne Pike
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Moving to a new town to begin High School is the first of many changes in the life of fifteen-year-old Laurel. Laurel has always been different but when a wing like blossom blooms on her back she begins to understand why. Laurel is a faerie and her journey of self-discovery is filled with magic and intrigue, romance and danger. Laurel is torn between love for her new friend David, and love for Tamini, her faerie guardian, protecting her from encroaching dark forces.
Recommended age: 12+
Mortal Engines – Philip Reeve
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Imagine a futuristic world where whole cities are mobile and roam the devastated landscape looking for smaller cities to devour and recycle for scrap metal and fuel. This is the world of Tom Natsworthy, who with a cast of memorable characters becomes involved in an exciting and unpredictable adventure, leading to an explosive climax. This very original science fiction/fantasy has it all – murder, intrigue, war, betrayal, fear, courage, friendship and love.
Recommended age: 14+
Looking for Alaska – John Green
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Fascinated by the last words of famous people, 16-year-old Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter leaves his safe, boring life in search of the “Great Perhaps” at the Culver Creek boarding school. Here he makes friends whose lives are anything but safe and boring. And he meets Alaska – wild, unpredictable and beautiful – and falls instantly in love. But then tragedy strikes the close-knit group and everything changes. A moving story about friendship, love and life.
Recommended age: 15+
Yankee Girl – Mary Ann Rodman
July 23, 2010 — Debra
For Alice Ann Moxley moving from Chicago to Mississippi in 1964 is like moving to another country. Alice’s father is an FBI agent who has been sent to protect Civil Rights workers and black people enrolling to vote. Alice just wants to make friends. But at school she is the ‘Yankee Girl’ and when Valerie, one of the first black students to go to a white school, is enrolled in her class, Alice is torn between being friends with Valerie and fitting in with the rest of her classmates. This moving and disturbing novel offers an insight into a period of American history characterized by deep seated racism and violent protests.
Recommended age: 12+
100 Cupboards – N.D. Wilson
July 23, 2010 — Debra
When Henry York goes to stay with relatives on their farm in Kansas, a mystery awaits him. One night he wakes up to find bits of plaster in his hair. Two knobs have broken through the wall above his bed and one of them is slowly turning. Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room–with a man pacing back and forth! Henry soon understands that these are not just cupboards, but portals to other worlds where wonderful but also terrifying things lie. This fantasy adventure is dark, suspenseful and filled with magic.
Recommended age: 11+
Airhead – Meg Cabot
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Emerson Watts didn’t even want to go to the new Stark Megastore grand opening. How was Em to know that disaster would strike, changing her—and life as she’d known it—forever? One bizarre accident later, and Em Watts, always the tomboy, never the party princess, is no longer herself. Literally. Now getting her best friend, Christopher, to notice that she’s actually a girl is the least of Em’s problems.
Recommended age: 12+
The spook’s apprentice – Joseph Delaney
July 23, 2010 — Debra
A wonderful and terrifying series about a young boy training to be an exorcist. Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant and many apprentices have failed before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the County, the horror begins..
Recommended age: 12+
Everything Beautiful – Simmone Howell
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Riley Rose is big, beautiful, brash and in trouble. She’s not happy about being sent to Spirit Ranch – a Christian camp located in the Little Desert. As soon as she arrives, Riley is planning her escape. She doesn’t fit in with chirpy counsellors, feel-good mantras and team-building games. But then Riley discovers there are secrets at Spirit Ranch and she meets the mysterious Dylan. Dylan, who has become a paraplegic since the last camp, is angry and determined to be bad – the perfect mate for Riley.
Recommended age: 14+
The boy in the striped pyjamas – John Boyne
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Bruno is an innocent 9 year old boy, who happens to be the son of the commandant of the Aushwitz concentration camp. Through Bruno’s eyes we experience his confusion about the place where they have come to live and the fence that separates them from the strange people in striped pyjamas on the other side. Desperate for companionship Bruno becomes friends with a young boy on the other side of the fence, a friendship which leads ultimately to horror.
Recommended age: 12+
Monster Blood tattoo. Book 1: Foundling – D. M. Cornish
July 23, 2010 — Debra
The Half-Continent is a dangerous place populated by humans, monsters and people who have been surgically altered to fight monsters. It is time for Rossamund to leave the security of the orphanage where he grew up to begin his career as a lamplighter in the wider world. A wild adventure awaits him.
This is a remarkable book where an entire new world has been created down to the finest detail, complete with the authors own illustrations, maps, diagrams and a glossary.
Recommended age: 12+
In ecstasy – Kate McCaffrey
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Mia and Sophie are best friends. They always do everything together. So when they are offered ecstasy at a party, both girls take the plunge and pop a pill. For Mia, taking ecstasy opens up a whole new world. She feels confident and beautiful. But as she starts going out with the older and popular Lewis and starts trying new drugs, her friendship with Sophie suffers. This is an honest and confronting novel about teenagers and drug addiction
Recommended age: 15+
My swordhand is singing – Marcus Sedgwick
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Set in the wintry forests of 17th-century Romania and drawing on the legends of Eastern Europe, this is a sinister tale of vampires and the undead. Peter and his father are woodcutters who have recently moved to the lonely village of Chust. Peter doesn’t understand why all his life they’ve moved from place to place, or why his father carries a long battered box everywhere they go, and why he is forbidden to know its mysterious contents. With the arrival of a band of gypsies Peter’s miserable life is transformed. For these travellers are Vampire Slayers who reveal that Chust is a dying community – where the dead come back to take revenge on the living. Amidst the terrifying events that follow in this gripping, gothic fantasy, the secrets of Peter’s father’s past are revealed.
Recommended age: 12+
Uglies – Scott Westerfeld
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Tally is about to turn sixteen and about to turn pretty. In Tally’s world at 16 everyone has an operation that changes them from an ‘ugly’ to supermodel gorgeous and life becomes one big party. But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to be pretty and is willing to risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away Tally discovers that all is not pretty in Pretty Town. The authorities give her a choice, betray her friend or never turn pretty. Tally must decide.
‘Uglies’ is the first in a fascinating trilogy and is followed by ‘Pretties’ and ‘Specials’.
Recommended age: 13+
Joyride – Amy Ehrlich
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Nina and her mother Joyce are always on the move, from one side of the country to the other. Never staying long in the one place, they can fit everything they own in the back of a van. Home is wherever they are, as long as they’re together. But as Nina begins to yearn for a settled life and lasting friendships, Joyce begins to move at a more and more frantic pace. When their lives threaten to spiral out of control, Nina starts to wonder what’s behind her mother’s compulsion. You’ll be captivated by this story of an unusual mother-daughter relationship which explodes in a final, heartbreaking climax.
Recommended age: 12+
Poison – Chris Wooding
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Poison, the violet-eyed heroine of this story, has always been willful, argumentative and stubborn. So when her sister is snatched by the mean-spirited faeries, she seeks out the Phaerie Lord to get her back. But finding him isn’t easy, and the quest leads Poison into a murderous world of intrigue, danger, and deadly storytelling. With only her wits and her friends to aid her, Poison must survive such dangers as the horrifying Bone Witch, trolls, daemons, and Lady Asinastra, queen of the spiders. A fast-paced, darkly atmospheric, and melodramatic, gothic horror fantasy!
Recommended age: 12-16
The Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead
July 23, 2010 — Debra
St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . . Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.
Recommended age: 15+
Looking for JJ – Anne Cassidy
July 23, 2010 — Debra
At ten years of age Jennifer Jones killed her best friend. Six years later Jennifer is released from prison and hopes to start a new life as Alice Tully. But the media won’t let her forget the past as they continue to pursue Jennifer Jones. This is a gripping and convincing story that offers an insight into what might lead to a child killing another child.
Recommended age: 14+
Mao’s last dancer – Li Cunxin
July 23, 2010 — Debra
This is the amazing true story of Li Cunxin. The sixth son of a peasant family Li was born in China in 1961 into extreme poverty. At the age of 11 Li gets a chance to escape a life of hardship when he is chosen to study ballet at the Beijing Dance Academy. Be inspired by how Li overcomes loneliness and a grueling training program to become a famous dancer on the world stage.
Recommended age: 12+
The speed of the dark – Alex Shearer
July 23, 2010 — Debra
When Chris Mallan, an obsessive scientist with a mysterious past, suddenly disappears, he leaves behind a manuscript telling the extraordinary story of his life: a story about a brilliant artist who can reduce matter to a miniature size. A story of an imprisonment that can never end and a boy’s search to find the people he loves. This is a fascinating and disturbing story of a terrible crime.
Recommended age: 13+
Measuring Up – G.J. Stroud
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Jonah’s easy life of school, partying and surfing with his mates, suddenly becomes complicated in year 12. There’s the pressure of exams, friends out of control, complex relationships and there’s the whole sex thing. And just when he thinks that things couldn’t get any more complicated his brother drops a bombshell on his unsuspecting family. This is a fresh and funny story of friendship, surf and raging hormones.
Recommended age: 15+
Little soldier – Bernard Ashley
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Kaninda sees his family murdered in a brutal attack on his village in Africa. Seeking revenge against the enemy tribe he joins the rebel army. But then he is captured by aid workers and sent to London to start a new life with another family. Here he is caught up in the gang warfare of the streets, while desperately trying to find a way to return to his own war in Africa. Danger lies waiting around every corner in this gripping and moving story.
Recommended age: 13+
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time – Mark Haddon
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Fifteen-year-old Christopher is different. He has a photographic memory, he is brilliant at maths and science but he doesn’t understand people and strangers scare him. Experience Christopher’s world as his quest to find out who murdered the neighbour’s dog takes him on an unexpected adventure.
Recommended age: 13+
How I live now – Meg Rosoff
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Daisy is sent to England from New York to stay with her cousins in the country. While her aunt is away war breaks out and the five cousins are left to fend for themselves. At first the war hardly affects them and Daisy falls passionately in love with Edmond. But then the cousins are separated and life becomes much more dangerous. Can they survive and can Daisy find Edmond again?
Recommended age: 14+
Midnighters 1: the secret hour – Scott Westerfeld
July 23, 2010 — Debra
Strange things happen at midnight in Bixby, Oklahoma. For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of people can experience the secret hour – the Midnighters, people born at the stroke of midnight, who each possess a special power. When fifteen-year-old Jessica Day moves to Bixby the dark creatures suddenly become more violent and aggressive as they sense a hidden power in Jessica . . . and they’re determined to stop her before she can use it. Part science fiction, part horror story, this novel is the first in the mesmerizing Midnighters trilogy
Recommended age: 13+
The new policeman – Kate Thompson
July 23, 2010 — Debra
This Irish story is full of music, myth and mystery. JJ’s village is in trouble, it is running out of time. Modern life is so busy, they are always rushing, trying to make up for lost time. JJ decides to give his mother what she wants most for her birthday, Time. To do this he must go through to the fairy world to find the time leak. He must discover the truth about his great-grandfather, another JJ, who some would claim is a murderer. And then there is the village’s new policeman, who also has a musical gift. Where does he fit into the scheme of things?
Recommended age: 12+
The looking glass wars – Frank Beddor
July 22, 2010 — Debra
In this re-imagining of the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland, the characters and setting are the same, but that’s where the similarities end. The action begins when Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, is forced to flee through the Pool of Tears after a bloody palace coup staged by the murderous Redd. Twelve years later, a grown-up Alyss returns to Wonderland to reclaim her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts. In a battle of good versus evil, heroic, passionate, monstrous, vengeful denizens of this parallel world fight it out.
Recommended age: 13+
The dark horse – Marcus Sedgwick
July 22, 2010 — Debra
As the new chief of his people, the Storn, Sig must lead them against the bloodthirsty invaders known as the Dark Horse. Along the way he makes a shocking discovery about his foster sister Mouse, who as a child was found running with the wolves. This is a story of trust and betrayal, loyalty and jealousy, friendship and belonging.
Recommended age: 12+
Inkheart – Cornelia Funke
July 22, 2010 — Debra
Meggie’s father, Mo, has a bizarre talent. When he reads aloud from books, they can quite literally come alive. Characters jump out from between the pages and people in the real world are charmed inside. Their adventures in the Inkworld begin when an evil character, released from the book Inkspell, seeks to capture Mo in order to twist Mo’s powerful talent to his own dark means. This story, first in the Inkworld series, weaves a magical path through love, loss and courage, and is for readers who like an exciting plot with larger-than-life characters.
Recommended age: 11+
Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson
July 22, 2010 — Debra
Melinda Sordino becomes a social outcast when she calls the police to a party. What she refuses to tell anyone is why she made the phone call. Melinda was raped at the party by a popular senior student. What follows is an intense and insightful account of Melinda’s painful progress towards telling the truth.
Recommended age: 15+
Junk – Melvin Burgess
July 22, 2010 — Debra
A realistic and powerful story about a group of teenagers who become addicted to heroin.
Recommended age: 15+
Stone Cold – Robert Swindells
July 22, 2010 — Debra
Link hits rock bottom when he becomes one of the homeless living in London. The streets are far from safe as kids keep disappearing. Someone is on a gruesome mission to wipe the homeless from the streets and he has Link marked as his next victim. A gripping story.
Recommended age: 13+
Soldier’s heart – Gary Paulsen
July 22, 2010 — Debra
Set in the time of the American Civil War, this is the story of Charley, who at the age of 15 joins the Regiment. Little did he know what horrors he was going to experience – an emotionally intense and revealing story.
Recommended age: 13+
Soldier boy – Anthony Hill
July 22, 2010 — Debra
This is the true story of Jim Martin. He became the youngest Anzac, when aged 14 he lied about his age and joined the army. Jim was sent to Gallipoli and died 4 months later.
Recommended age: 12+
Just in case – Meg Rosoff
July 22, 2010 — Debra
When David Case narrowly saves his baby brother’s life by stopping him from jumping out of a window, he realizes that disaster can happen in a second when you are least expecting it. David becomes hounded by the idea of ‘Fate’. He changes his name to Justin, changes his clothes, thanks to some help from new friend, the quirky and beautiful Agnes, and attempts to become some-one different in order to escape Fate. This absorbing novel makes you think about fears and life’s possibilities.
Recommended age: 15+
My sister Jodie – Jacqueline Wilson
July 22, 2010 — Debra
Pearl and Jodie are sisters. Pearl adores Jodie who is older and more confident than her. But when their parents get new jobs at a boarding school things start to change. Pearl is the one making new friends and is blossoming while Jodie just seems to be getting into more and more trouble. Pearl begins to wonder if she doesn’t need Jodie as much as she used to, until a tragic event occurs at firework night and she realizes just how much she does need her big sister.
Recommended age: 11+
Nine letters long – J. C. Burke
July 22, 2010 — Debra
When Evie’s friends conduct a seance, Evie knows she’s been contacted again. The letters on the board start spelling out one name: C-A-Z over and over. A cryptic message with nine letters leads Evie to a family where two sisters, one living, one dead, share a dark secret that must be revealed. But is Evie strong enough to solve the mystery and reveal the truth in time to release both girls?
Recommended age: 13+
Once – Morris Gleitzman
July 22, 2010 — Debra
Felix is hidden in a Catholic orphanage in Poland by his Jewish parents to escape the Nazis. When soldiers come to the orphanage and burn all the books in the library, Felix who is convinced his parents are still alive, runs away to find them. On his journey he witnesses many horrific events and rescues a young girl called Zelda from a fire. Together they flee but are caught up with other Jews being taken to the death camps. Who can save them? Told through the innocent eyes of a young boy this is a very moving story of a terrible time. The story continues in ‘Then’ and ‘Now’.
Recommended age: 11+
Artemis Fowl: The arctic incident – Eoin Colfer
July 22, 2010 — Debra
Someone has been supplying Class A illegal human power sources to the goblins. Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit is sure that the person responsible is her arch-enemy, 13 year old Artemis Fowl. But Artemis has his own problems: his father is being held ransom and only a miracle will save him. Maybe this time a brilliant plan just wont be enough. Maybe this time Artemis needs help….
Recommended age: 11+
Interview with the vampire (The Vampire Chronicles: 1) – Anne Rice
July 21, 2010 — Debra
Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force–a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses.
Recommended age: 15+
A swift pure cry – Siobhan Dowd
July 21, 2010 — Debra
This Irish story about hardship, guilt, a catholic priest, teenage pregnancy and murder is based on a true story. The village people are shocked when first one baby is found dead in a cave, then there is the death of another baby. Whose babies are they, how did they die and who is responsible?
Recommended age: 15+
Scarecrow Army: The ANZACS at Gallipoli – Leon Davidson
July 21, 2010 — Debra
On 25 April 1915, thousands of Australians and New Zealanders landed at an unnamed cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula. They had come to fight the Turks. They thought the battle would be over in three days. Months later they were still in the trenches they’d dug at the landing. Anzac Cove became a graveyard where bodies lay above the ground and the living slept under it. They had gone looking for the adventure of a lifetime. Scarecrow Army combines fact with fictionalised stories in this moving account of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli during World War 1.
Recommended age: 14+
First they killed my father – Loung Ung
July 21, 2010 — Debra
Loung Ung is a survivor of Cambodia’s Pol Pot regime. One of seven children Loung lived a privileged life in Phnom Penh. Then, in 1975 when she was five, the Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Loung’s family to flee. Loung’s autobiography is a harrowing account of unspeakable cruelty. Her siblings were sent to labor camps while Loung was trained as a child soldier. Despite all the horrors they endured Loung’s family never stopped fighting to escape and to find each other again.
Recommended age: 14+
Secrets in the fire – Henning Mankell
July 21, 2010 — Debra
A deeply moving and unforgettable novel based on the true story of a young girl in war-torn Mozambique. Sofia loses half her family and has both her legs amputated after a landmine accident.
Recommended age: 13+
Born to run: My story – Cathy Freeman
July 21, 2010 — Debra
In Born to Run, Cathy tells the story of her life, from her childhood in Mackay to lighting the cauldron at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games before going on to win gold in the four hundred metres. Cathy talks about the racism she experienced, the pain of constant training and the need for self motivation to achieve her childhood dream.
Recommended age: 12+
Parvana’s journey – Deborah Ellis
July 21, 2010 — Debra
Parvana is a 13 year-old girl searching for her family during the Afghanistan war. Along her journey she encounters sadness, danger, loss and bravery.
Recommended age: 11+
Jinx – Margaret Wild
July 21, 2010 — Debra
“Do not love me……….Be warned!……….I am Jinx.” Find out how Jen becomes Jinx in this verse novel of love, heartache and joy.
Recommended age: 14+
The Song of an Innocent Bystander – Ian Bone
July 21, 2010 — Debra
When Freda was nine years old she spent 36 hours trapped in a restaurant, one of a group of thirteen people taken hostage by a fanatic with a gun. Now Freda is nineteen years old, haunted by her past and still struggling to repress the terrifying memories and the knowledge that she alone has, of how two men died.
Recommended age: 15+
Chinese Cinderella – Adeline Yen Mah
July 21, 2010 — Debra
When Adeline Yen Mah’s mother died giving birth to her, the family considered Adeline bad luck and she was made to feel unwanted all her life. This is the true story of her struggle for acceptance and her triumph against almost overwhelming odds.
Recommended age: 13+
Balwyn Best Books 
