Numbers by Rachel Ward

The numbers are a date: the date of the person’s death. When Jem looks at people she see their numbers. One could describe such an ability as a gift but, understandably, Jem sees it as a burden. Like it or not, she knows when your number is up.

Jem is a white, 5ft-nothing teenager. Her dad was never in the picture and her mother, it seems, was a prostitute junkie who died of an overdose when Jem was seven. It was Jem who found her body. Passed from foster parent to foster parent, Jem feels her life is going nowhere.

Then Spider comes into her life. Skinny, black and 6ft 4in, he’s a classmate who spends little time in class. Spider’s days are certainly numbered, but he and Jem have fun together on a day out in London … until Jem sees a whole group of people with the same numbers in their eyes, queuing for a turn, ironically enough, on the London Eye. And the numbers are that day’s date. With a sense of impending doom, she and Spider flee the area…. This is the start of a story with many highs and lows for Jem and Spider.

The Pause by John Larkin

Declan seems to have it all: a family that loves him, friends he’s known for years, a beautiful girlfriend he would go to the ends of the earth for.

But there’s something in Declan’s past that just won’t go away, that pokes and scratches at his thoughts when he’s at his most vulnerable. Declan feels as if nothing will take away that pain that he has buried deep inside for so long. So he makes the only decision he thinks he has left: the decision to end it all.

Or does he? As the train approaches and Declan teeters at the edge of the platform, two versions of his life are revealed. In one, Declan watches as his body is destroyed and the lives of those who loved him unravel. In the other, Declan pauses before he jumps. And this makes all the difference.

One moment. One pause. One whole new life.

Yellow by Megan Jacobson

If fourteen-year-old Kirra is having a mid-life crisis now, then it doesn’t bode well for her life expectancy. Her so-called friends bully her, whatever semblance of a mother she had has been drowned at the bottom of a gin bottle ever since her dad left them for another woman, and now a teenage ghost is speaking to her through a broken phone booth. Kirra and the ghost make a pact. She’ll prove who murdered him almost twenty years ago if he does three things for her. He makes her popular, he gets her parents back together, and he doesn’t haunt her. Things aren’t so simple however, and Kirra realises that people can be haunted in more ways than one.

The Way We Roll by Scot Gardner

Will went to private school, and Julian went to juvie. Will is running from a family secret, and Julian is running from the goat next door. The boys meet pushing trolleys, and they find a common enemy in the Westie hoons who terrorise the carpark.

After a few close calls, Will has to nut up and confront his past. But on the way, he learns a few things about what it means to be a friend – and what it means to be family.

The Way We Roll a rattling urban bromance made of plastic and stainless steel. Brace yourself.

Risk – Fleur Ferris

Taylor and Sierra have always been best friends. But Taylor’s fed up. Why does Sierra always get what – and who – she wants? And now Sierra is stealing the guy they both met online for herself and she wants her friends to cover for her while she goes to meet him for the first time.

But Sierra doesn’t come back when she said she would.

One day. Two days. Three . . .

What if Taylor’s worrying for nothing? What if Sierra’s just being Sierra, forgetting about everyone else to spend time with her new guy? When Taylor finally tells Sierra’s mum that her daughter is missing, Taylor and her friends are thrown into a dark world they never even knew existed.

Can they find Sierra’s abductor in time? Or should they be looking for a killer?

The Protected – Claire Zorn

Hannah’s world is in pieces and she doesn’t need the school counsellor to tell her she has deep-seated psychological issues. With a seriously depressed mum, an injured dad and a dead sister, who wouldn’t have problems? In a family torn apart by grief and guilt, one girl’s struggle to come to terms with years of torment shows just how long old wounds can take to heal.

Read the ebook here!

Claire Zorn’s blog.

All The Bright Places – Jennifer Niven

(From Goodreads)

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

Jennifer Niven’s website.

All The Bright Places Tumblr.

Germ Magazine

Finch and Violet’s playlists.

Jennifer Niven’s and the All The Bright Places Pinterest pages.

All The Bright Places book trailer:

Butter – Erin Lange

(From Goodreads)

A boy everyone calls “Butter” is about to make Scottsdale High history. He’s going to eat himself to death live on the Internet – and everyone will watch.

He announces his deadly plan to an army of peers and expects pity, insults or even indifference. Instead, he finds morbid encouragement. When that encouragement tips the scales into popularity, Butter has a reason to live. But if he doesn’t go through with his plan, he’ll lose everything.

Erin Lange’s website.

Butter book trailer:

Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson

“Dead girl walking”, the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret”, the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.

Laurie Halse Anderson’s website.

Laurie Halse Anderson’s Tumblr.

Book trailer:

To This Day – Shane Koyczan

In February of 2013 Shane Koyczan’s passionate anti-bullying poem To This Day electrified the world. An animated video of the poem went viral, racking up over 12 million hits and inspiring an international movement against bullying in schools. Now this extraordinary poem has been illustrated by thirty artists from around the world. Each page is a vibrant collage of images, colours and words. Born of Shane’s own experiences of being bullied as a child, To This Day expresses the profound and lasting effect of bullying on an individual, while affirming the inner strength that allows people to move beyond the names they’re called.

Shane Koyczan’s website

Video version of the To This Day Project:

Video of the poem Troll:

 

The best day of my life – Deborah Ellis

Valli spends her days picking up coal to support her family. She is not allowed to go to school and there is never enough food in her house. When Valli discovers that the ‘aunt’ she has lived with for as long as she can remember is not really her aunt Valli runs away to Kolkata, a nearby city in eastern India. While living on the streets in Kolkata Valli is very resourceful and so she manages to survive. Near the river one day Valli meets a doctor who notices Valli’s feet. Valli has thought that she had magic feet because she never feels pain in them, but the doctor recognises the signs of leprosy.

Hate List – Jennifer Brown

Five months ago, Valerie’s boyfriend, Nick, opened fire in their school cafeteria, leaving six students and a teacher dead and many others wounded. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

Book trailer for the Hate List

Turn the page

Cryer’s cross – Lisa McMann

A mystery story and a story about a young woman, Kendall, who struggles with an Obsessive Compulsive disorder.  Who killed Tiffany?  And then Kendall’s boyfriend Nico disappears, police find his car but no trace of the young man.  Jacian is the new student at school who obviously has a chip on his shoulder.  Why is he so horrible to everyone?  The story is set in a small town in America.

Reading Nook

On Two Feet and Wings – Abbas Kazerooni

This is the amazing true story of Abbas Kazerooni who grew up in Tehran at the time of the Iran Iraq war. When he was nine years old the age of recruitment into the army was reduced to ten. In an attempt to keep him safe his family sent him away. But events didn’t go to plan and Abbas found himself alone in the strange and frightening city of Istanbul. Unable to speak the language, Abbas had to learn to survive, to judge who was friend or enemy, while hoping for his dream visa to England.

Angus & Robertson

No and Me – Delphine de Vigan

Lou is a shy, thirteen year old girl with an IQ of 160 who is two years ahead of her age-group at school. For a class presentation Lou picks homeless teenagers as her topic. When Lou meets No, an older girl living on the streets of Paris, a friendship develops between the two girls. Driven by a strong sense of justice, Lou decides to try to help No and convinces her parents to allow No to move in with them. No’s presence has a powerful impact on her family, which has been quietly falling apart after the death of her baby sister. But can there be a happily ever after ending to this story?

An insightful novel tackling the true meaning of home and homelessness

Wordchasing

Thirteen reasons why – Jay Asher

Clay Jensen is surprised to receive a mysterious package in the post. He is even more confused when he plays the tape enclosed in it and hears the voice of his class mate who commited suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah, his class mate, has sent her story to the thirteen people who led her to this action, asserting “everything affects everything”; somehow, Clay is implicated in her death. Most of the story focuses on Clay listening to the tape, and Hannah’s story is both heart-wrenching and compelling – with an important message about how people are affected by even the smallest of our actions.

Portrait of a woman

Guantanamo Boy – Anna Perera

Khalid is a fifteen-year-old British boy who loves video games and hanging out with his mates, and is starting to take an interest in girls. From a Muslim family, he is abducted while on a holiday to Pakistan. Held at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay without charge, this is a coming of age story (bildungsroman) with a difference. The reader cannot help be moved by the humiliation, desolation and confusion experienced by Khalid, as he tries to prove his innocence when justice seems frighteningly absent. An engaging and compelling look at the ‘war on terror’ and its impacts on the individual.

The Book Book

You against me – Jenny Downham

If someone hurts your sister and you’re any kind of man, you seek revenge.
If your brother’s accused of a terrible crime but says he didn’t do it, you defend him.

When Mikey’s sister claims a boy raped her at a party, his world begins to fall apart. When Ellie’s brother is charged with the crime, her world begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.

This is a story about families under pressure. It is about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all, it’s a book about love.

Lost riders – Elizabeth Laird

This harrowing story tells of the experiences of children taken as riders into the lucrative world of Dubai’s camel racing. Exploited, almost starved and essentially treated as a slave, a young Pakistani boy, Rashid is actually one of the lucky ones. He has a skill for camel riding and soon becomes the top jockey in his stable. Soon, he begins to even forget his brother Shari – also taken into this ruthless world to ride the dangerous animals. This story is based on real recent events, with the treatment of camel riders a cause for international condemnation of Dubai – a fascinating read.

QBD

The happiest refugee – Anh Do

The comedian, Anh Do, came to Australia as a young Vietnamese refugee. His family just survived the treacherous journey when they escaped war-torn Vietnam in an overcrowded boat. But neither murderous pirates, nor hunger and dehydration as they drifted for days, could quench their desire to make a better life in another country. Anh’s incredible story is one of hard work and sacrifice, family and friends, love and heartache, triumphs and tragedies. Discover how Anh after completing a law degree ended up becoming one of Australia’s favourite comedians. His inspiring and honest story will move and amuse you.

Melbourne near and far

Marrying Ameera – Rosanne Hawke

Seventeen-year-old Ameera is caught between two cultures. Living in Australia with her Australian Christain mother and her Pakistani Muslim father, she has been brought up as a Muslim. When her father hears of her growing friendship with Tariq, her best friend′s older brother, he sends her to stay with his family in Kashmir and to attend her cousin Jamila′s wedding. Only when she gets there does Ameera discover the devastating truth – the intended marriage is not Jamila′s but her own!

Will Ameera be trapped forever or will she gain her freedom?

My Girl Friday

Diego, Run! – Deborah Ellis

For twelve-year-old Diego, home is a prison in Cochabamba. His parents are locked up, but he is free to come and go: to school, to the market and to work as a ‘taxi’ running errands for other prisoners. But when his little sister runs away and his mother receives a heavy fine, Diego has to make money, fast.
Recommended age: 12+

Allen & Unwin

Slam – Nick Hornby

Just when everything is coming together for Sam, his recently ex-girlfriend Alicia drops a bombshell. She’s pregnant. Sam does not want to be a teenage dad. He doesn’t want to be like his mum who regretted having him at  sixteen. There’s only one person Sam can turn to – his hero, skating legend Tony Hawk. Searching for answers in Hawk’s autobiography, Sam finds himself whizzed into the future, for a quick glimpse of what will be . . . or what could be. This is a funny and heartbreaking story about mistakes and choices.

Trashionista

Mahtab’s story – Libby Gleeson

The vivid and compelling story of Mahtab, a young girl fleeing Afghanistan with her family, and their journey to Australia. Inspired by a true story.
Recommended age: 12+

Nayu’s Reading Corner

The story of Tom Brennan – J. C. Burke

For Tom Brennan, life is about rubgy, mates and family – until a night of celebration changes his life forever. In a drunken rage, Tom’s older brother, Daniel, causes a car accident in which their cousin is seriously injured and two friends are killed. Tom’s world explodes as Daniel is sent to jail and the Brennans’ are forced to leave the small town where Tom’s lived his whole life. Will he ever be able to rebuild his life? A heartbreaking story that shows how one mistake can impact on the lives of so many.

Random House

In ecstasy – Kate McCaffrey

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+

Kate McCaffrey

Looking for JJ – Anne Cassidy

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+

Groupthing

Little soldier – Bernard Ashley

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+

Tesco Books

Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson

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+

GPL teens

Junk – Melvin Burgess

A realistic and powerful story about a group of teenagers who become addicted to heroin.
Recommended age: 15+

Infibeam

Stone Cold – Robert Swindells

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+

Fantastic fiction

A swift pure cry – Siobhan Dowd

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+

Random House

Secrets in the fire – Henning Mankell

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+

Henning Mankell

Out of the dust – Karen Hesse

A moving story, written in verse, of how a young girl survives extreme hardship and family tragedy while growing up in the devastated landscape of Oklahoma in the 1930’s.
Recommended age: 12+

Grosse Pointe School

The best thing – Margo Lanagan

When everything else in her life is falling apart, Mel’s relationship with Pug is the one good thing. But even it is put to the test. A passionate love story.
Recommended age: 15+

Fantastic fiction

When Jeff comes home – Catherine Atkins

Jeff was 13 when he was kidnapped at knife-point. After two and a half years his kidnapper returns him home. How can Jeff cope with his old life, his family and friends and the police questioning, after what he has been through? How can he possibly explain how he feels? A thoroughly convincing account of the psychological damage such an experience would have on a teenage boy.
Recommended age: 15+

Amazon

When she hollers – Cynthia Voigt

Tish is being sexually abused by her stepfather. She decides to protect herself with a knife. The action takes place over one long, terrifying day. A very powerful novel.
Recommended age: 15+

Fantastic fiction

Beach baby – Nicole Pluss

A realistic book about a rape and its consequences.
Recommended age: 15+

Nicole Pluss

Get a life – Jean Ure

Joel’s brother, Noah, is a real heart-throb, always dating different girls. But when Lars Kennedy arrives things seem to change. Tall, blonde and gorgeous, everyone falls for Lars – even Joel’s mum. Then comes a startling revelation, one that shocks the narrow-minded community they live in. This powerful and moving story will grip you from its beginning to its tragic ending.
Recommended age: 15+

Fantastic Fiction

The Edge – Alan Gibbons

Danny and his mother, Cathy, are on the run. On the run from the violent Chris Kane who has terrorized their lives. They return to where Cathy grew up, hoping to start a new life, but there they find prejudice and danger of another kind. And can they be sure that Chris will never find them?
Recommended age: 14+

Bristol Grammar School

Leaving Jetty Road – Rebecca Burton

For three friends, Nat, Lise and Sofia, year 12 is a year of change. It’s a year of falling in love, heartache and for one of them it’s a year when it all falls apart. An obsession with dieting and a fear of losing control leads to a serious illness.
Recommended age: 13+

Harper Collins

Care factor zero – Margaret Clark

A fast-moving, easy to read story of a homeless girl and what happens to her.
Recommended age: 13+

Margaret Clark

The illustrated Mum – Jacqueline Wilson

Star and Dolphin’s mum is like no other mum. She is beautiful and covered in tattoos. But how much longer can they keep coping with her sometimes wild and erratic behaviour, the times when she goes a bit weird. A very moving story. 
Recommended age: 11+

Telegraph

Boy overboard – Morris Gleitzman

Jamal and his family are forced to flee their home in Afghanistan when their lives are threatened. They begin a perilous journey to Australia. The dream of a better life in Australia where the government is kind helps them to survive pirates, storms at sea and starvation. But what will they find when they reach Australia?
Recommended age: 11-15

Reading Upside Down

Feral kid – Libby Hathorn

Robbie arrives in Sydney in search of a better life. But life on the streets is dangerous and full of traps. He can’t seem to shake off Pale, a tough and violent street kid. Even Amanda, the one person Robbie thinks is his friend, isn’t all she seems to be. Then Robbie meets Iris, an old woman in the park. Is it possible that his life can change for the better?
Recommended age: 11-15

Gold Creek

Tough stuff – Kirsty Murray

These are true stories about kids who have shown great courage, saved lives, survived hardship or become famous. They are inspirational stories.
Recommended age: 11+

Allen & Unwin

Little Wing – Joanne Horniman

A companion novel to Mahalia, Little Wing follows what happened to Emily, the teenage mother of the new born Mahalia, when she left the father, Matt, to take care of the baby. Suffering from post-natal depression we witness the depths to which Emily sinks, her great sadness. A friendship with Martin, a stay-at-home Dad and his young son, Pete, is the catalyst for her slow recovery.
Recommended age: 14+

Fantastic fiction

Sold – Patricia McCormick

Lakshmi is a young, innocent girl living in the mountains of Nepal. When her stepfather tells her she must leave the village to work in the city to help her desperately poor family survive, she goes willingly. But Lakshmi has been deceived – she has been sold into prostitution – a nightmare from which there is no escape. This harrowing story, told simply in the words of Lakshmi, is one you won’t forget.
Recommended age: 15+

Fantastic fiction

The Heaven shop – Deborah Ellis

Set in the African nation of Malawi, this is the story of 13 year old Binti Phiri. Binti, as one of the stars on a radio program, thinks life is pretty good. But then her father dies from AIDS and Binti and her brother and sister join the growing mass of AIDS orphans. This is a moving story of the hardships the siblings face and Binti’s desire to reunite her family and find hope among the despair.
Recommended age: 12+

Allen & Unwin

The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian – Sherman Alexie

Arnold is a Native American boy growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation where he gets beaten up for being a skinny kid in glasses. In search of a better life Arnold leaves the rez to attend the rich white school miles away, where the only other Indian is the school mascot, and where he is also a target. This is an honest and funny story about a boy with great spirit and courage determined to escape the life he was destined to live.

Inside a dog