Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

A heart-racing ending, Denika Mead

Children of the Furnace: Crosstrees
Brin Murray
Copy Press Books
pub. 2018

 

03 March, 2021

“Hear the rhythm, Wil, and feel the heartsblood warm…”

Crosstrees is a YA dystopian novel by Nelson author Brin Murray. It was published in 2018 and is the second in the Children of the Furnace series, the first of which was a finalist in two categories of the New Zealand Book Awards 2019.

Crosstrees is set in a dystopian world after a climate change catastrophe and the land is now controlled by a group called the Revelayshun. Under their harsh rule, the two main characters, Wil and Leah, must uncover the mysterious truth that is destined to change everything.  Read more

March, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

A classic love story with mythical elements, Zoe Solomon


Telesa: When Water Burns
Lani Wendt Young
OneTree House
pub. 2012

 

03 March, 2020

“In the beginning, there was darkness, a great expanse, and Tangaloa-Langi moved upon the face of the darkness.”

Telesa: When Water Burns is the sequel to Lani Wendt Young’s Telesa: The Covenant Keeper, and is followed by the final book in the trilogy Telesa: The Bone Bearer. Published in 2012, this novel initially appears to be the classic story of two teenagers who meet in high school and fall in love. As in the classic love story, after some obstacles, Leila and Daniel can finally be together.  Read more

March, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

Parallel worlds of magic, Sasha Maclean


The Tunnel of Dreams
Bernard Beckett
Text Publishing
pub. 2020

 

02 March, 2021

The Tunnel of Dreams begins in the dusty shadows of an abandoned house. Identical twins Arlo and Stefan discover a girl called Alice. She is not happy to have her hideout found but needs the boys’ help.  Her own twin sister is locked in a cage suspended over a mysterious mine in a parallel world.

I think any kids from the age of 8-11 would like this book, because of the ‘kids save the day’ plot, interesting characters and an original magic system. Fans of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia would probably enjoy this jewel of a novel.  Read more

March, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

Hoping for a sequel, Allie Ward

Wedlock
Denis Wright
OneTree House
pub. 2018

 

02 March, 2021

Wedlock, written by Denis Wright, is a terrific book. In the beginning, Lucy Sorrenson is looking after her Poppa, who has Parkinson’s disease. She also has to supervise her Dad, who has a rock band, and acts like a ‘teenage muso’. She is in the school production of Macbeth as Lady Macbeth, but when she gets called to the stage door on opening night she can’t believe what happens next.

She has been chosen to save the world. She must marry the Master, a reincarnation of the Prophet Isaiah, within three months, and have his child, who will ‘lead the pure to the promised land’, in eighteen months.  Read more

March, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

Enchanting world-building, Natalya Newman

The King’s Nightingale
Sherryl Jordan
Scholastic
pub. 2021

 

March 01, 2021

Published in January 2021, Sherryl Jordan’s latest historical fiction novel is an emotionally jarring read of cultural diversity, pain, self-discovery and development. The King’s Nightingale tells the tale of Elowen of the Penhallow Isles as she is forced to adapt to a land and culture entirely different from her own. Readers follow Elowen as she is sold to a foreign ruler for her beautiful voice and we watch as she struggles to hold onto her identity. Jordan uses a captivating writing style to tie readers so closely to the fates of the characters that we can feel every triumph and every failure alongside them.  Read more

March, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

Normal things turned upside down, Jessica Steele

Twice Upon a Time: A Very Good Very Bad Story
James Norcliffe
Puffin
pub. 2017

 

March 01, 2021

What happens when you find yourself trapped inside a story?

Well, in Twice Upon a Time by James Norcliffe, young Ginny is about to find out. When Ginny’s pop goes missing, she and a random fellow called Digger Dagger set out in search of him. But they find themselves inside a story, and the only way to get out is by answering the riddles given to them by The Very Bad Very Good Storyteller. They must find their way through a world of upside down, wrong way round things.  Read more

March, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

Understanding patterns of thought, Takoda Cross

The Book of Overthinking
Written by Gwendoline Smith and
illustrated by Georgia Arnold, Gabrielle Maffey and Megan Van Staden
Allen & Unwin
pub. 2020

 

February 23, 2021

When I was looking through the list of books to review, I came across The Book Of Overthinking by Gwendoline Smith because it was the book that caught my eye the most. I sometimes have a problem with overthinking, so that is why I chose this book. It has taught me a lot about how the brain works and what happens when you overthink. It has also taught me how to retrain my brain to stop overthinking as much as I used to.  Read more

February, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: , , ,

Entertaining supporting characters, Lily Dawson

Fantastic Mr Bean
Mary-anne Scott
OneTree House
pub. 2020

 

February 23, 2021

Fantastic Mr Bean by Mary-anne Scott is about a young boy named Lachie who wants to play the part of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox in his school’s upcoming play.

When he tells his family about how confident he is that he will get the part, his brother Frank is sceptical. However, his mother believes in him and makes Frank help him find something special that could give Lachie an edge over others trying out for the role. Frank comes up with the idea of making a fox tail from the branches of their bee tree.  Read more

February, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

A book with no boundaries, Eleanor Bassett

Aukati
Michalia Arathimos
Marko Press
pub. 2017

 

 

 

February 22, 2021

For 362 pages, Aukati by Michalia Arathimos and its complexities consumed my headspace. This is a book that my Year 12 English teacher could have been analysing with the class. ‘Aukati’ means boundary, and this book challenges the reader’s; just like Alexia, Isaiah, and the iwi challenge the fracking operation occurring next to the community.

Alexia enters the marae as a Greek New Zealand law student, who is unintentionally following an eco-warrior activism group to the marae. Isaiah comes, or returns, to the marae as a metaphorical ‘prodigal son’; he is a part of the whānau there.  Read more

February, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

Finding a home in friendship, Aiden Maslen

Trainsurfer
Kate S Richards
Green Room House
pub. 2018

 

 

 

February 10, 2021

Trainsurfer by Kate Richards is the story of Jabu, a young black boy in the 1980s, who flees the hospital in Johannesburg when he’s orphaned following the death of his mother.

He’s shown how to trainsurf by a group of schoolboys as a way to get to his home in Soweto. It was cool when Jabu just stood straight up on top of the train to trainsurf, when usually people go onto their hands and knees first. After witnessing a horrible accident that happened to another trainsurfer, Jabu is so scared that he decides to use a different mode of transport to make his way to his aunt in Durban.  Read more

February, 2021 Melissa Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:
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