A Good Word
The Age
Monday February 18, 2008
Feeling overwhelmed by all the books on the list? Start here with Lili Wilkinson's tips on great books for teenagers.
MULTICULTURE Visit feudal Japan, medieval France and plague-ridden England. Expand your horizons with these stories from different cultures and times.Across the Nightingale Floor, Lian Hearn Boy Overboard, Morris Gleitzman Bridie's Fire, Kirsty Murray Digger J Jones, Richard J. Frankland In the Monkey Forest, Kierin Meehan Pagan's Crusade, Catherine Jinks Playing Beatie Bow, Ruth Park The Hidden Monastery, Gabrielle Wang Does My Head Look Big In This?, Randa Abdel Fattah A Parcel of Patterns, Jill Paton Walsh DARK MATERIALS Like your books dark and twisty?Magic sicknesses, fairy drugs, scary angels and evil mothers abound in this list. Not for the faint-hearted, but all of these books will be winners if you like the big ideas.Magic or Madness, Justine Larbalestier Red Spikes, Margo Lanagan The Birthmark, Beth Montgomery Coraline, Neil Gaiman Mortal Engines, Philip Reeve Skellig, David Almond The Amulet of Samarkand, Jonathan Stroud Northern Lights, Philip Pullman Peeps, Scott Westerfeld Valiant, Holly Black LIFE AFTER HARRY Are you pining for bespectacled wizards? Broomsticks? Magic wands?These books will help satisfy.Evil Genius, Catherine Jinks Mister Monday, Garth Nix Blaze of Glory, Michael Pryor A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle Alanna, the First Adventure, Tamora Pierce Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne- Jones Memory, Margaret Mahy Redwall, Brian Jacques The Book of Three, Lloyd Alexander ROTFLOL This end-of-the-world, angsty stuff is all very well, but where are the LOLs?These books are for people who love to laugh.48 Shades of Brown, Nick Earls Finding Cassie Crazy, Jaclyn Moriarty The Ballad of Cauldron Bay, Elizabeth Honey Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, Nick Earls & Rebecca Sparrow The Whole Business of Kiffo and the Pitbull, Barry Jonsberg My Big Birkett, Lisa Shanahan The King of Whatever, Kirsten Murphy I'm Being Stalked by a Moonshadow, Doug Macleod Alice, I Think, Susan Juby The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams MATTERS OF THE HEART Have you had a best friend who moved schools? Have you ever fallen in love? Had a fight with your parents?Try these stories about love, friendship and relationships.Rose by Any Other Name, Maureen McCarthy The Slightly Bruised Glory of Cedar B Hartley, Martine Murray Bird and Sugar Boy, Sofie Laguna How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery Girls in Love, Jacqueline Wilson Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Ann Brasheres Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Secret Scribbled Notebooks, Joanne Horniman SEE IT Do you prefer pictures over words?Don't like to read the book until you've seen the film? Well these books are image-heavy. The first five have movies that go with them, the rest are graphic novels.Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine The Dark Is Rising, Susan Cooper Bend It Like Beckham, Narinder Dhami The Princess Bride, William Goldman Beowulf, Gareth Hinds The Adventures of Tintin, Herge American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang The Complete Maus, Art Spiegelman The Arrival, Shaun Tan The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard, Gregory Rogers THE REAL STUFF Bushrangers, ballet dancers and bike riders. It's amazing what people get up to in a lifetime. These true stories will make your socks roll up and down.Black Snake: The Daring of Ned Kelly, Carole Wilkinson Mao's Last Dancer, Li Cunxin Unpolished Gem, Alice Pung We are the Weathermakers, Tim Flannery The Adventures of John Nicol, Julian Bruere The Black Dress: Mary Mckillop's Early Years, Pamela Freeman Angels of Kokoda, David Mulligan Off the Rails: From Moscow to Beijing by Bike, Chris Hatherly and Tim Cope Australia Locked Up, John Nicholson TEEN SPIRIT Music, movies, work, sport and politics - just another day in the life of your average teenager. The cream of the young adult crop - these books will make you laugh, cry, scream and dance.Marty's Shadow, John Heffernan Notes from the Teenage Underground, Simmone Howell One Whole and Perfect Day, Judith Clarke King Dork, Frank Portman Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan No Worries, Bill Condon The Gospel According to Larry, Janet Tashjian Dairy Queen, Catherine Gilbert Murdock Looking for Alaska, John Green The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Barry Lyga LILI WILKINSON MANAGES THETEEN READINGWEBSITE WWW.INSIDEADOG.COM.AU
© 2008 The Age
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