EPiC Book Recommendations...
Suicide and Grief
'And The Stars Were Burning Brightly'
by Danielle Jawando
When fifteen-year-old Nathan discovers that his older brother Al, has taken his own life, his whole world is torn apart.
Al was special.
Al was talented.
Al had so many dreams ... so why did he do it?
Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan decides to retrace Al’s footsteps. As he does, he meets Megan, Al's former classmate, who is as determined as Nathan to keep Al's memory alive. Together they start seeking answers, but will either of them be able to handle the truth about Al’s death when they eventually discover what happened? #BurnBright
Y9+
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'All the Bright Places'
by Jennifer Niven
A compelling and beautiful story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who's drawn to death.
Theodore Finch tries to look for good things in the world, even if sometimes he doesn't always find them.
Violet Markey exists for the future, counting the days until she can escape her Indiana town and its painful memories of her sister.
When they meet on the ledge of a tower, what might have been their end turns into their beginning.
It's only with Violet that Finch can truly be himself - a funny guy who actually wants to experience the joy in life.
And when Violet's with Finch, she forgets to wish away the days and starts to live them.
But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink. He's trying to cling on to his bright places, but will it be enough this time?
Y9+
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'The Astonishing Colour of After'
by Emily X.R.Pan
Leigh Chen Sanders is sixteen when her mother dies by suicide, leaving only a scribbled note:
'I want you to remember'. Leigh doesn't know what it means, but when a red bird appears with a message, she finds herself travelling to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time.
Leigh is far away from home and far away from Axel, her best friend, who she stupidly kissed on the night her mother died - leaving her with a swell of guilt that she wasn't home, and a heavy heart, thinking she may have destroyed the one good thing left in her life.
Overwhelmed by grief, Leigh retreats into her art and into her memories, where colours collide and the rules of reality are broken. The only thing Leigh is certain about is that she must find out the truth. She must remember.
With lyrical prose and magical elements, Emily X.R. Pan's stunning debut novel alternates between past and present, romance and despair, as one girl attempts to find herself through family history, art, friendship, and love.
Y9+
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Suicide and Grief
'The Girl Who Became a Tree'
by Joseph Coelho
Daphne is unbearably sad and adrift.
She feels the painful loss of her father acutely and seeks solace both in the security of her local library and the escape her phone screen provides by blocking out the world around her. As Daphne tries to make sense of what has happened she recalls memories of shared times and stories past, and in facing the darkness she finds a way back from the tangle of fear and confusion, to feel connected once more with her friends and family. The Girl Who Became a Tree sees Joseph Coelho deploy a wide variety of poetic forms with consummate skill in its narration of events. He seamlessly but searingly weaves together the ancient legend of Daphne, who was turned into a tree to avoid the attentions of the god Apollo, and a totally modern tale, mixing real-life and fantasy, in which a latter-day Daphne seeks her own freedom. This a heart-stoppingly imaginative story told in poems, at times bleak and even tragic, which is layered, rich and ultimately a tour de force of poetic skill and energy.
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'Clap When You Land'
by Elizabeth Acevedo
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people...
In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.
Separated by distance - and Papi's secrets - the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.
And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.
In a dual narrative novel in verse that brims with both grief and love, award-winning and bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
Y9+
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'The Land of Neverendings'
by Kate Saunders
Emily watched, in a trance of astonishment, as the bear opened the picnic basket, took out a tartan rug and spread it on Holly's bed.
And then the penguin spoke.
Actually spoke.
'What's going on? This isn't Pointed End!'
The bear said, 'It looks like a human bedroom. We must've come through the wrong door.'
'But there aren't any doors to the hard world in Deep Smockeroon! And we don't have a human bedroom any more. We're in a box in the attic.'
What if there exists a world powered by imagination?
A world of silliness, where humans and their toys live on long after they've left the Hard World . . . and what if the door between that world and this one was broken?
Welcome to the Land of Neverendings.
Moving, raw and funny in all the right ways, The Land of Neverendings is a rip-roaring adventure, but it also gives an honest portrayal of grief for young readers, and shows us that whilst sadness does exist in the world, it doesn't have to cancel out happiness, or silliness, even when you lose someone you love.
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For more information or support dealing with grief or suicide, please go to,
https://www.samaritans.org/about-samaritans/research-policy/young-people-suicide/
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/my-feelings/suicidal-feelings/
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/my-feelings/grief-and-loss/
https://www.griefencounter.org.uk/get-support/children-and-young-people/secondary/
Racism and Radicalisation
'The Boxer'
by Nikesh Shukla
Told over the course of the ten rounds of his first fight, this is the story of amateur boxer Sunny. A seventeen year old feeling isolated and disconnected in the city he's just moved to, Sunny joins a boxing club to learn to protect himself after a racist attack. He finds the community he's been desperately seeking at the club, and a mentor in trainer Shobu, who helps him find his place in the world. But racial tensions are rising in the city, and when a Far Right march through Bristol turns violent, Sunny is faced with losing his new best friend Keir to radicalisation.
A gripping, life-affirming YA novel about friendship, radicalisation and finding where you belong.
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'Punching the Air'
by Ibi Zoboi
From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of the Noughts & Crosses series and The Hate U Give.
One fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood escalates into tragedy. ‘Boys just being boys’ turns out to be true only when those boys are white.
Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal Shahid’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?
With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.
Y9+
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'The Hate U Give'
by Angie Stone
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.
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice.
Y9+
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Racism and Radicalisation
'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 crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack.
Y9+
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'Ghost Boys'
by Jewell Parker-Rhodes
ALIVE
Twelve-year-old Jerome doesn't get into trouble. He goes to school. He does his homework. He takes care of his little sister.
Then Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat.
DEAD
As a ghost, watching his family trying to cope with his death, Jerome begins to notice other ghost boys.
Each boy has a story and they all have something in common...
Bit by bit, Jerome begins to understand what really happened - not just to him, but to all of the ghost boys.
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'A Very Large Expanse of Sea'
by Tahereh Mafi
It’s 2002, a year after 9/11, and Shirin has just started at yet another new high school. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments - even the physical violence she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day.
Shirin drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know her. It terrifies her -they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds - and Shirin has had her guard up against the world for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.
Y9+
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Racism and Radicalisation
'Wing Jones'
by Katherine Webber
A sweeping story about love and family from an exceptional new voice in YA. With a grandmother from China and another from Ghana, fifteen-year-old Wing Jones is often caught between worlds. But when tragedy strikes, Wing discovers a talent for running she never knew she had. Wing's speed could bring her family everything it needs. It could also stop Wing getting the one thing she wants.
Y9+
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'I Am Thunder'
by Muhammad Khan
Fifteen-year-old Muzna Saleem is used to being invisible. So no one is more surprised than her when Arif Malik, the hottest boy in school, takes a sudden interest.
But Arif is hiding a terrible secret and, as they begin to follow a dark path, Muzna faces an impossible choice: keep quiet and betray her beliefs, or speak out and betray her heart.
Muhammad Khan's stunning, multi-award winning YA writing gets right to the centre of what it means to be an urban teenager today.
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'Small Great Things'
by Jodi Picoult
The best books make you see differently. This is one of them. The eye-opening new novel from Jodi Picoult, with the biggest of themes: birth, death, and responsibility.
When a newborn baby dies after a routine hospital procedure, there is no doubt about who will be held responsible: the nurse who had been banned from looking after him by his father.
What the nurse, her lawyer and the father of the child cannot know is how this death will irrevocably change all of their lives, in ways both expected and not.
Y11+ Senior Fiction
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Racism and Radicalisation
'The Help'
by Kathryn Stockett
Enter a vanished and unjust world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver . . .
There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared.
Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they'd be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is in a search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story to tell...
Y11+ Senior Fiction
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'Such a Fun Age'
by Kiley Reid
When Emira is apprehended at a supermarket for 'kidnapping' the white child she's actually babysitting, it sets off an explosive chain of events. Her employer Alix, a feminist blogger with the best of intentions, resolves to make things right.
But Emira herself is aimless, broke and wary of Alix's desire to help. When a surprising connection emerges between the two women, it sends them on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know - about themselves, each other, and the messy dynamics of privilege.
Y11+ Senior Fiction
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For more information or support dealing with racism, please go to,
https://www.ukyouth.org/what-we-do/youngandblack/
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/coping-with-life/racism-and-mental-health/
For information relating to radicalisation
Sexism
'Moxie'
by Jennifer Mathieu
When an unlikely teenager stands up to sexism in her high school she unwittingly starts a feminist revolution that shakes her whole town. It's time to fight like a girl! Perfect for fans of Holly Bourne.
Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her high school teachers who think the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes, hallway harassment and gross comments from guys during class. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.
Viv's mum was a tough-as-nails, punk rock Riot Grrrl in the '90s, and now Viv takes a page from her mother's past and creates Moxie, a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She's just blowing off steam, but other girls respond and spread the Moxie message. As Viv forges friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, she realises that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.
TIME TO FIGHT LIKE A GIRL
A age-turning read with a feminist message, for anyone who has ever had to deal with #everydaysexism
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'Run Rebel'
by Manjeet Mann
I am restless, my feet need to fly.
Amber is trapped - by her father's rules, by his expectations, by her own fears.
Now she's ready to fight - for her mother, for her sister, for herself.
Freedom always comes at a price.
Run, Rebel is a trailblazing verse novel that thunders with rhythm, heart and soul - perfect for fans of Sarah Crossan, Elizabeth Acevedo and Rupi Kaur.
Y9+
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'Off the Record'
Camryn Garrett
When seventeen-year-old Josie Wright wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she's equal parts excited and scared. Soon she is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet.
Josie's world is expanding so rapidly, she doesn't know whether she's flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, and then the secrets keep coming, she realizes she's in over her head. She wants to do the right thing, but is this her story to tell? What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead . . . but if Josie doesn't step up, who will?
This is a moving testament to the #MeToo movement, and all the ways women stand up for each other.
Y9+
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'The Power'
by Naomi Alderman
All over the world women are discovering they have the power.
With a flick of the fingers they can inflict terrible pain - even death.
Suddenly, every man on the planet finds they've lost control.
The Day of the Girls has arrived - but where will it end?
Y11+ Senior Fiction
For more information, go to...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-WINNER-BAILEYS-WOMENS-FICTION/dp/0670919969/ref=monarch_sidesheet
For more information or support dealing with sexism, please go to,
https://everydaysexism.com/help-support
https://www.coe.int/en/web/human-rights-channel/stop-sexism
https://plan-uk.org/act-for-girls/girls-rights-in-the-uk
LGBTQ+
'Loveless'
by Alice Oseman
It was all sinking in. I’d never had a crush on anyone. No boys, no girls, not a single person I had ever met. What did that mean?
Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.
As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight.
But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.
Is she destined to remain loveless? Or has she been looking for the wrong thing all along?
This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn’t limited to romance.
Y9+
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'Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe'
by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison.
Dante is a know-it-all who has a unique perspective on life.
When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they develop a special friendship – the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about the universe, themselves and the kind of people they want to be.
This incredibly moving and powerful Printz Honor Book follows two teen boys learning to open themselves up to love, despite the world being against them.
Y9+
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'Birthday'
by Meredith Russo
Meet Eric and Morgan. Born on the same day, at the same time, in the same place.
They've always shared this one day together, but as they grow up they begin to grow apart. Everyone expects Eric to get a football scholarship, but no one knows he's having second thoughts. Former quarterback Morgan feels utterly alone, as she wrestles with the difficult choice to live as her true self. Both of them are struggling to be the person they know they are. Who better to help than your best friend?
Told on one day every year, over six years, this is a story about how change pulls people apart… and how love brings them back together.
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LGBTQ+
'Felix Ever After'
by Kacen Callender
From award-winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.
Felix Love has never been in love - and, yes, he's painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it's like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What's worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he's one marginalisation too many - Black, queer and transgender - to ever get his own happily-ever-after.
When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages - after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned - Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn't count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle . . .
But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.
Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognising the love you deserve.
Y9+
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'The Black Flamingo'
by Dean Atta
This is not about being ready, it's not even about being fierce, or fearless, IT'S ABOUT BEING FREE.
Michael waits in the stage wings, wearing a pink wig, pink fluffy coat and black heels.
One more step will see him illuminated by spotlight.
He has been on a journey of bravery to get here, and he is almost ready to show himself to the world in bold colours ...
Can he emerge as The Black Flamingo?
Y11+
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'Alex in Wonderland'
by Simon James Green
Simon James Green is one of the most hilarious, heart-flippingly romantic, charmingly observant writers in the game right now." Becky Albertalli, author of Love, Simon
In the town of Newsands, painfully shy Alex is abandoned by his two best friends for the summer.
But he unexpectedly lands a part-time job at Wonderland, a run-down amusement arcade on the seafront, where he gets to know the other teen misfits who work there.
Alex starts to come out of his shell, and even starts to develop feelings for co-worker Ben... who, as Alex's bad luck would have it, has a girlfriend.
Then as debtors close in on Wonderland and mysterious, threatening notes start to appear, Alex and his new friends take it on themselves to save their declining employer.
But, like everything in Wonderland, nothing is quite what it seems...
Y9+
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For more information or support please go to,
https://www.theproudtrust.org/young-people/
https://www.barnardos.org.uk/what-we-do/supporting-young-people/lgbtq
https://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth-resources.htm
Refugees
'The Boy at the Back of the Class'
by Onjali Q. Rauf
Told with heart and humour, The Boy at the Back of the Class is a child's perspective on the refugee crisis, highlighting the importance of friendship and kindness in a world that doesn't always make sense.
There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it.
He's nine years old (just like me), but he's very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn't like sweets - not even lemon sherbets, which are my favourite!
But then I learned the truth: Ahmet really isn't very strange at all. He's a refugee who's run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to help.
That's where my best friends Josie, Michael and Tom come in. Because you see, together we've come up with a plan. . .
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'No Ballet Shoes in Syria'
by Catherine Bruton
Aya is eleven years old and has just arrived in Britain with her mum and baby brother, seeking asylum from war in Syria. When Aya stumbles across a local ballet class, the formidable dance teacher spots her exceptional talent and believes that Aya has the potential to earn a prestigious ballet scholarship. But at the same time, Aya and her family must fight to be allowed to remain in the country, to make a home for themselves and to find Aya's father - separated from the rest of the family during the journey from Syria. With beautiful, captivating writing, wonderfully authentic ballet detail, and an important message championing the rights of refugees, this is classic storytelling - filled with warmth, hope and humanity.
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'When Stars are Scattered'
by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed
A heart-wrenching true story about life in a Kenyan refugee camp that will restore your faith in real-life happy endings.
Omar and his brother Hassan, two Somali boys, have spent a long time in the Dadaab refugee camp. Separated from their mother, they are looked after by a friendly stranger. Life in the camp isn't always easy. The hunger is constant . . . but there's football to look forward to, and now there's a chance Omar will get to go to school . . .
With a heart-wrenching fairytale ending, this incredible true story is brought to life by Victoria's stunning illustrations.
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Refugees
'Boy Everywhere'
by A. M. Dassu
This debut middle-grade novel chronicles the harrowing journey taken by Sami and his family from privilege to poverty, across countries and continents, from a comfortable life in Damascus, via a smuggler's den in Turkey, to a prison in Manchester. A story of survival, of family, of bravery ... In a world where we are told to see refugees as the 'other', this story will remind readers that 'they' are also 'us'.
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'The Bone Sparrow'
by Zana Fraillon
Born in a refugee camp, all Subhi knows of the world is that he's at least 19 fence diamonds high, the nice Jackets never stay long, and at night he dreams that the sea finds its way to his tent, bringing with it unusual treasures. And one day it brings him Jimmie.
Carrying a notebook that she's unable to read and wearing a sparrow made out of bone around her neck - both talismans of her family's past and the mother she's lost - Jimmie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Subhi beyond the fence.
As he reads aloud the tale of how Jimmie's family came to be, both children discover the importance of their own stories in writing their futures.
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'Boy 87'
by Ele Fountain
Shif is just an ordinary boy who likes chess, maths and racing his best friend home from school. But one day, soldiers with guns come to his door - and he knows that he is no longer safe.
Shif is forced to leave his mother and little sister, and embark on a dangerous journey; a journey through imprisonment and escape, new lands and strange voices, and a perilous crossing by land and sea. He will encounter cruelty and kindness; he will become separated from the people he loves.
Boy 87 is a gripping, uplifting tale of one boy's struggle for survival; it echoes the story of young people all over the world today.
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For more information or support please go to,
Mental Health
'Finding Audrey'
by Sophie Kinsella
Audrey can't leave the house. she can't even take off her dark glasses inside the house.
Then her brother's friend Linus stumbles into her life. With his friendly, orange-slice smile and his funny notes, he starts to entice Audrey out again - well, Starbucks is a start. And with Linus at her side, Audrey feels like she can do the things she'd thought were too scary. Suddenly, finding her way back to the real world seems achievable.
Be prepared to laugh, dream and hope with Audrey as she learns that even when you feel like you have lost yourself, love can still find you . . .
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'Turtles All The Way'
by John Green
Aza's life is filled with complications.
Living with anxiety and OCD is enough but when Daisy, her Best and Most Fearless Friend, brings her on a mission to find a fugitive billionaire things are about to get even more complicated.
To find Russell Pickett, Aza must enter the world of his geeky, but maybe kind-of-cute son, Davis.
But the chances of a first kiss, and maybe even a first love, could send Aza into a spiral of anxiety...
Y9+
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'Paper Avalanche'
by Lisa Williamson
When it comes to flying under the radar, Ro Snow is the expert. No friends. No boys. No parties. And strictly NO VISITORS. It may be lonely but at least this way the truth remains where it should - hidden. Then Tanvi Shah, the girl who almost died, comes tumbling back into her life and Ro finds herself losing control of her carefully constructed lies. Because if Ro's walls come crumbling down, who's going to take care of Bonnie... Bonnie. Never Mum or Mummy or Mother. Just Bonnie.
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Mental Health
'The Goldfish Boy'
by Lisa Thompson
12-year-old Matthew Corbin hasn’t been to school for weeks. He passes much of his time observing the goings-on of the local neighbourhood from his bedroom window. He even makes little notes about neighbours’ movements. Their everyday activity is nothing out of the ordinary - chatting, gardening, jogging, and going off to work or the shops.
Until, that is, a toddler goes missing, and Matthew realises he may be one of the few people who can help shed some light on the disappearance. However, Matthew has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and everyday life has become increasingly challenging. Can he possibly play a major role in an investigation into the abduction of a child, perhaps without even leaving his house? This is an utterly captivating read, combining a compelling whodunit with additional questions about what it was that triggered Matthew’s OCD. We see how, with the help of his family and therapist, he can find a way forward and identify strategies to manage the condition.
The reality of struggling with mental health is depicted in a convincing yet accessible manner, and the reader cannot fail to be drawn in by this absorbing mystery and its thoroughly engaging protagonist.
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'Optimists Die First'
by Susin Nielsen
Sixteen year-old Petula's life is ruled by extreme anxiety, fear and pessimism after her little sister died two years before, a death she feels responsible for. Her lovely parents are obviously deeply unhappy and coping in their own dysfunctional ways (her dad throws himself into his work and her mum into cats).
Then Petula meets Jacob at her art therapy group. Jacob (who has a prosthetic arm following a car accident) is seemingly a ray of sun-shiney optimism, and an unconventional and tender love story unfolds. However, like Petula, Jacob is in fact battling feelings of intense guilt about the past, which cannot be buried. This story is about families, friendship, coping with grief and OCD - and generally dealing with the problems life may throw at us at any age but particularly when growing up.
Y9+
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'Am I Normal Yet?'
by Holly Bourne
All Evie wants is to be normal. And now that she's almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the-girl-who-went-nuts, there's only one thing left to tick off her list...
But relationships can mess with anyone's head - something Evie's new friends Amber and Lottie know only too well. The trouble is, if Evie won't tell them her secrets, how can they stop her making a huge mistake?
Y9+
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'Clean'
by Juno Dawson
Fall into the lives of the city's filthy rich with Juno Dawson's deliciously dark and intoxicating London Collection.
When socialite Lexi Volkov almost overdoses, she thinks she's hit rock bottom. She's wrong.
Because rock bottom is when she's forced into an exclusive rehab facility.
From there, the only way is up for Lexi and her fellow inmates, including the mysterious Brady.
As she faces her demons, Lexi realises love is the most powerful drug of all ...
It's a dirty business getting clean.
Y11+
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For more information or support about mental health please go to,
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/
https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/help-for-young-people/who-else/housing-health-wellbeing/wellbeing/mental-health
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/c/children-and-young-people
https://mentalhealth-uk.org/support-and-services/supporting-young-people/
Body Image
'Dumplin'
by Julie Murphy
Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body.
With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.
Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any girl does.
Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.
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'Eleanor & Park'
by Rainbow Powell
Eleanor is the new girl in town, and she's never felt more alone. All mismatched clothes, mad red hair and chaotic home life, she couldn't stick out more if she tried.
Then she takes the seat on the bus next to Park. Quiet, careful and - in Eleanor's eyes - impossibly cool, Park's worked out that flying under the radar is the best way to get by.
Slowly, steadily, through late-night conversations and an ever-growing stack of mix tapes, Eleanor and Park fall in love. They fall in love the way you do the first time, when you're 16, and you have nothing and everything to lose.
Y9+
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'Only Ever Yours'
by Louise O'Neill
The bestselling novel about beauty, body image and betrayal
eves are designed, not made.
The School trains them to be pretty
The School trains them to be good.
The School trains them to Always be Willing.
All their lives, the eves have been waiting. Now, they are ready for the outside world.
companion . . . concubine . . . or chastity
Only the best will be chosen.
And only the Men decide.
Y9+
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'Gloves Off'
by Louisa Reid
After a particularly terrible bullying incident, Lily's dad determines to give his daughter the tools to fight back.
Introducing her to boxing, he encourages Lily to find her own worth. It is both difficult and challenging but in confronting her own fears she finds a way through that illuminates her life and friendships.
Meeting Rose, and seeing that there is another world out there, enables her to live her own life fully and gives her the knowledge that she is both beautiful and worth it.
Y9+
For more information, go to...
For more information or support about body image please go to,
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/coping-with-life/body-image/
https://www.berealcampaign.co.uk/resources/support-advice
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/information/young-people/well-being/resources/body-image
https://eating-disorders.org.uk/information/body-image/
Dysfunctional Families
'The Boy Who Steals Houses'
by C.G. Drews
Can two broken boys find their perfect home? By turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, this is a gorgeously told, powerful story.
Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he's ever known. Now Sam's trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he's caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing - each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie.
But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.
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'Toffee'
by Sarah Crossan
When Allison runs away from home she doesn't expect to be taken in by Marla, an elderly woman with dementia, who mistakes her for an old friend called Toffee. Allison is used to hiding who she really is, and trying to be what other people want her to be. And so, Toffee is who she becomes. But as her bond with Marla grows, Allison begins to ask herself -where is home? What is a family? And most importantly, who am I, really?
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'Where the Crawdads Sing'
by Delia Owens
For years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.
SENIOR FICTION Y11+
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Dysfunctional Families
'Beverly Right Here'
by Kate DiCamillo
Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it’s not running away ... it’s leaving. Determined to make it on her own, Beverly finds a job and a place to live and tries to forget about her dog, Buddy, now buried underneath the orange trees back home; her friend Raymie, whom she left without a word; and her mum, Rhonda, who has never cared about anyone but herself. Beverly doesn’t want to depend on anyone, and she definitely doesn’t want anyone to depend on her. But despite her best efforts, she can’t help forming connections with the people around her – and, gradually, she learns to see herself through their eyes.
For more information, go to...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beverly-Right-Here-Kate-DiCamillo/dp/1406391239/ref=monarch_sidesheet
'The Truth of Things'
by Anthony McGowan
Life is pretty tough for Nicky and Kenny. Their mum is gone and their dad has had his troubles. Money is tight and people can be cruel about Kenny's learning difficulties. But through it all, the brothers stick together, sharing adventures and their love of the natural world, while finding humour in the most difficult of circumstances
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For more information or support about dysfunctional families please go to,
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/