Outstanding new Fiction titles added in 2015

Years 7-10

Read and enjoy these books and

eBooks from the Library

Recommended by Mrs Roche January 2016

Alphabetical by Author Surname A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond

The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce

When Mr. Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

When I Was Joe by Keren David (ebook)

Tinder by Sally Gardner

Hate by Alan Gibbons

English Passengers by Matthew Kneale

Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

The First 15 Lives of Harry August by Claire North

The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell

Five Children on the Western Front by Kate

Saunders

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgewick

The Bone Season and The Mime Order by

Samantha Shannon

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond

This book is one of the very best that I read

and enjoyed last year. It is at heart a

modern retelling of the myth of Orpheus and

Eurydice, but it is far more than that. It tells

the story of Claire and Ella, best friends and

inseparable until Orpheus strolls in with his

beautiful songs to steal Ella’s heart. This is

a story of first love, a love which draws on

ancient, mythic forces and which leads to the

gates of Death and beyond.

The Un-forgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce

This is a wonderful story from the author who

brought us Millions and Framed, amongst

other books. This book concerns a

friendship between a group of students and

the new boys in their class, Chingis and

Nergui. The new boys are from Mongolia,

and are impossibly exotic to the other

students. This is a story about fitting in and

belonging. It is beautifully illustrated with photographs throughout,

and has a poignant twist to the ending you won’t forget.

When Mr. Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan This is a book about sixteen year old

Dylan Mint, who has Tourette’s. When he

gets stressed, angry or upset, the bad

words inside his head explode out of his

mouth. Dylan describes this feeling as a

dog biting him. Once you get over the

shock of the bad words, and realize that

Dylan is a lovely, sensitive boy who is

desperately trying to keep the words on

the inside of his head, you cease to be

shocked and start to empathize with this disabling condition. A

thoughtful read for mature readers.

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

All of the books by Sarah Crossan are

thoughtful and beautifully written. Apple

and Rain is another powerful novel by this

original writer.

When Apple’s mother returns after eleven

years away, Apple feels whole again. But

just like the stormy Christmas Eve when

she left, her mother’s homecoming is bitter

sweet. It’s only when Apple meets

someone more lost than she is that she begins to see things as

they really are. For thoughtful readers.

When I was Joe by Keren David (eBook

When Ty witnesses a stabbing, his own life is

in danger from the criminals he's named, and

he and his mum have to go into police

protection. Ty has a new name, a new look

and a cool new image - life as Joe is good..

But his mum can't cope with her new life, and

the gangsters will stop at nothing to flush

them from hiding. Joe's cracking under

extreme pressure, and then he meets a girl

with dark secrets of her own.

Tinder by Sally Gardner, illustrated by David Roberts

The book and the illustrations work

beautifully together in this mythical story.

It is a tale of great cruelty and savagery,

wolves and witchcraft and magic. It tells

of the secrets of the tinderbox and the

power of the wolves. The book was

shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie

Medal in 2015, Gardner’s previous book

Maggot Moon won the Carnegie Medal in 2016. A gripping story

from a truly original writer.

Hate by Alan Gibbons

Alan Gibbons writes fiction that is always hard-

hitting and topical. This book is based on a

true story of a hate crime perpetrated against a

young teenager murdered for being different –

she was a Goth. This is a story based around

those circumstances, and it deals with the

consequences of turning a blind eye to

prejudice and discrimination. It asks if you

would be brave enough to stand up and be

different from the crowd. A great read!

English Passengers by Matthew Kneale This is a great historical novel set in 1857.

The passengers are on the way to Tasmania

(some of them very unwillingly). The

Reverend Geoffrey Wilson thinks he will find

the site of the Garden of Eden ‘down under’.

However, the island is far from being a

paradise, and what the English settlers are

doing to the aboriginal natives is unspeakable.

The book is funny, but also searingly brutal in

its depiction of man’s inhumanity to fellow man. A book for older

readers – it is worth persevering with this one.

Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman This is a historical novel set in America in

the time of the American Civil War. It

encompasses women’s rights and slavery

in the themes, but with a light touch.

At the end of the Civil War, Charley, a slave

is freed. But the free life is hard, and she is

in constant danger. So she steals the

clothes from a dead man’s back, disguises

herself as a man, and runs off to join the

army. Soon she is being sent to the prairies to fight American

Indians – which provides a real crisis of conscience for Charley.

Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel Station Eleven is a dystopian novel, set about

20 years in the future when about 99% of the

population have been wiped out within weeks

by a form of flu. All infrastructure has

collapsed and the survivors eke out a living as

best they can. The story follows a group of

travelling musicians who go around a small

area bringing Shakespeare and music to the

survivors. The story is bleak – yet full of hope. A good read for

older readers – the book was written for adults but is quite

accessible for good readers.

The Rest of us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness This is a very tongue in cheek, original take on

the vampires, monsters, and child hero stories.

This story is set in the background of all of

these events – Mikey and his friends just want

to graduate from school before the vampires,

or whatever next, come back and try to blow up

his school. He’s not an Indie kid, so he knows

he’s not a Chosen One, but he still has issues

that he needs to deal with. A very funny story but with some

profound and moving parts too. A must read.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

For older readers. No matter what he does,

or the decisions he makes, every time

Harry North dies he always returns to

where he began, a child with all the

knowledge of a life lived a dozen times

before. Nothing ever changes – until now,

his fifteenth life. This is the story of what

Harry does next, and what he did before,

and how he tries to save a past he cannot

change and a future he cannot allow.

The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell, illustrated by Gelrev Ongbico

A highly original and beautifully written story,

this is not one to miss. Feo and her mother

live in the snowbound woods of Russia, where

their closest neighbours are wolves. Feo’s

mother is a wolf wilder, returning tame wolves

to their natural environment,and Feo is in

training. Like the wolves, Feo has learnt to be

wary of humans – even before the soldiers

arrive. And when the soldiers do their worst, Feo goes on the run

with a fugitive boy and her wolves for company – to rescue her

mother and save her pack.

Beautifully illustrated throughout, it is a compelling story.

Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders

If you have ever read the ‘Five Children and It’

stories by E. Nesbit when you were younger,

featuring the Psammead, you will love this. Kate

Saunders continues the story about 10 years

later, when the older boys go off to fight in World

War One, and the Psammead turns up again to

do magic – and fulfill a darker purpose. A

respectful homage that also packs an anti-war punch. Five stars!

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit This book is set in Poland, just as the Nazis

invade at the start of World War II. Anna’s

father was taken away and sent to a

concentration camp. Anna is a young Jewish

girl who has to hide to survive. As she flees to

the woods in the depth of winter she meets a

mysterious man she calls the Swallow Man.

Together they journey through Poland,

keeping low and out of sight, until one day

they are forced into the open with devastating consequences. A

brilliant novel from a debut author.

The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick Marcus Sedgwick is an established author,

who is known for writing stories with a mythical

and magical edge. This story takes you

further into that journey than ever before. The

novel consists of four stories complete in

themselves but joined by a mysterious series

of spirals. Spiral drawings are very old and

can be found in early cave paintings all over

the world and they were thought to be the pathways to God. Four

different people, in four different eras, walk the spirals in this book

and start their journeys …..to where? This is a deeply

philosophical book to make you think.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon This is a truly original fantasy series from a

debut author. It is gripping, and you quickly

become totally immersed in the world she has

created. The book creates a world where

clairvoyance and other gifts are forbidden – and

those who have them are preyed on by the

State. Paige Mahoney is a young clairvoyant

working in the criminal gangs of London when

she is kidnapped by the mysterious Nepthilim. In their lair, in

Oxford, Paige discovers that nothing she believed about her world

is true, and she needs to fight for her very survival. A brilliant and

gripping fantasy. The sequel to this is The Mime Order.

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld Westerfeld is known for his brilliant scifi novels –

both the Uglies and the Leviathan series are

excellent, original reads. Afterworlds is also

highly original – and is a story within a story.

Told in alternate voices and chapters,

Afterworlds is both the story of a young author

and the book she is writing. The story concerns

a young heroine who should have died in a terrorist attack, but

instead encounters Death who only makes her stronger and

enables her to walk between the worlds. The author Darcy’s story

is also exciting – and has unexpected paralells to her story which

she is rewriting at the time. Mesmerising and fascinating – a good

read!