Holiday Reading - more

After dipping into some fairly blokey books, with the boys in my family, I took some time to seek out some interesting female characters in teenage fiction. Here are some of them:

"Denial" by David Belbin is not a new book, but I found it interesting because the cover and title don't give away the real story inside. The book explores the relationships between students and teachers, but with a twist - a popular teacher is accused by a student of inappropriate behaviour. This teacher has a daughter in the school, which adds drama to the story. The daughter takes it upon herself to check out the allegations, which she apparently denies. (Well, everyone is in denial, I think) The ending is surprising and startling, so I won't give it away.

I am interested in the Belbin book because lately I read Jacqueline Wilsons "Love lessons" which deals with the same issue from an entirely different perspective. The love connection between a student and teacher is the theme once again, but treated in an entirely different way. There are lots of readers views on this book at this link .

Then, for some escape from reality, I found "The Nine lives of Chloe King" Bk 1 - The Fallen. Chloe King is a reasonably achieving teenage student who decides to take an unauthorisized day off from school just before her sixteenth birthday. With her friends she visits "the tower' and accidentally falls off - but survives. Following this miracle Chloe continues to live among her family and friends, but ... in what form. Reminiscent of Buffy, the story takes Chloe into a parallel world of (?) people with superhuman powers. This is the first in a series that might take off. See what you think of the reviews from Teen Central.

Holiday Reading

After such a long break from blogging - much too busy with work - it's great to get away and just read, read, read. Aren't the holidays terrific? Here's a selection that I noticed over the holidays:

"Lost property" by James Moloney - a renowned Queenland writer of books for young adults. The book has lots of symbolism around the "lost property" theme. Josh has a holiday job at Sydney railway station's lost property office. His family is also suffering the loss of their eldest sibling who left home in bitter circumstances. Josh is also losing some of his childhood beliefs. There's some romantic interest and stuff about garage bands and travelling north. Many Australian novels have succeeded with less. For James Moloney's own explanation follow this link.

"The legend of Kevin the plumber" by Scot Gardner - award winning young adult author. Scot Gardner is the master of the gross terrible accident. In his first novel, One dead seagull, the main character Wayne loses his hand in a brick saw accident. In this book, lots of plumbing accidents add colour to the story of a seventeen year-old who is fed up with school and takes an apprenticeship with a plumbing firm known to his step-father. See what the kids at Gold Creek said about it.

"Silverfin" by Charlie Higson - best known for writing comedy shows in the UK. This is the first novel in a series that has James Bond as a teenager as the main character. His parents had died when he was young then he was educated by his aunt Charmian, then sent to Eton boarding school in London. The first adventure takes James to a remote Scottish castle where the wealthy father of a classmate has been engaged in some very alarming experiments. It's full of action, and very creepy in parts. I never really liked eels, but now...
Fans of the original Ian Fleming 007 might be intrigued at this creation of a fictional boyhood of their fictional hero.
Book 2 in the Young Bond series: "Blood Fever" is due out in January 2006.