Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

From screen to page, Nova Moala-Knox

They Let Me Write a Book!
Jamie Curry
HarperCollins
2015

Sometime, a few years ago, publishers started noticing that YouTube was cool with the kids, and they must have realised they could make a bit of money by getting the YouTubers that had big followings to write books. Because, if you have a million followers on YouTube, there’s a good chance that all those million followers will buy your book.

Well known YouTubers like Miranda Sings, Grace Helbig, Alfie Days, Zoella, Marcus Butler and others have written books. They’re from England and America. But now a New Zealand YouTuber has written a book – Jamie Curry. Read more

April, 2016 Info Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: 2015, Curry, Jamie's World, Nonfiction

Mysteries and cliff-hangers, Jessica Skudder

From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle

Kate De Goldi

Longacre

2015

From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle is a fiction novel written by New Zealand author, Kate De Goldi. The book is written in third person view and is the retelling of two Kiwi children, Barney and Ren Kettle’s lives, told by the mysterious D.

Barney and Ren are brother and sister who live with their parents on The Street and despite Ren and Barney’s opposite personalities they get along like best friends. Ren is the quiet, organised person who enjoys it when everything is perfect and in order.

April, 2016 Info Review archive, Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: 2015, Fiction, From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle

Bringing the front line home, Sarah Dickson

Evie’s War

Anna MacKenzie

Longacre

2015

Anna MacKenzie’s book gives the reader an insight into the First World War through the perspective of Evie, an eighteen-year-old New Zealander living in England. Shortly after her family arrives in England for their tour of Europe, war breaks out and Evie is introduced to a whole new world. Evie experiences first-hand the horrors inflicted on the men, along with the heartbreak and stress of serving in hospitals – both on the front line and in England. Through Evie’s experiences during the four years, Mackenzie is able to highlight the expectations of Evie and her associates during the war. Read more

April, 2016 Info Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: 2015, Evie's War, Fiction, Mackenzie

“Stay home and sit still”, Bayley Baxter-Kirby

Evie’s War

Anna MacKenzie

Longacre

2015

It’s 1914 and war enters a young woman’s life. Evie, 18 and newly arrived from New Zealand, is forced to abandon a tour of Europe as the war consumes half the world.

Evie finds herself aiding the wounded of the war as a VAD nurse in a local hospital. A personal tragedy prompted Evie to change the course of her life. This led her to travel to Belgium where she would experience first-hand the horrors in a casualty clearing station, 10km behind the front lines.

Anna MacKenzie constantly drip feeds her readers information throughout Evie’s War.

February, 2016 jane Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: Evie's War

Distance and familiarity, Lucy Prestidge

To the Is-Land

Janet Frame

Random House

1982

The first volume of Janet Frame’s autobiography was initially a bit daunting to me. Not only because it’s the work of one of New Zealand’s most celebrated writers, but because I had no idea how I was supposed to pronounce the title, To the Is-land, and feared the book would be full of intellectual wordplay that would go right over my head. But, upon reading further and having young Janet’s tendency for mispronunciation explained – “That year I discovered the word Island, which in spite of all teaching I insisted on calling Is-land” – my nerves were soothed and I jumped right in.

February, 2016 jane Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: To the Is-land

Ethics and identity, Samantha Jory-Smart

Lullaby

Bernard Beckett

Text

2015

Bernard Beckett tells us the story of teenage twin Rene, in his book Lullaby. It is a fictional, philosophical novel aimed at young adults. Theo, Rene’s brother, is on the brink of death after an accident leaves him with serious brain damage.

There is, however, a way to save his brother. Essentially, this is a brain transplant, not of the physical brain, but of a copy of Rene’s connectome: the map of all the connections between neurons in the brain. When Rene is explaining this he says, “The connectome is us, we are our connectome.”

February, 2016 jane Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: Lullaby

Verbal dancing, Kitt Comer

Lullaby

Bernard Beckett

Text

2015

The novel Lullaby by Bernard Beckett is a unique philosophical story about a boy whose identical twin brother has been knocked into a coma, and he has the option to effectively copy his brain into his brother’s defunct brain, making him “live” again. This book is one of the more outlandishly philosophical books to be written by a New Zealand author, and it will make readers think a great deal.

Beckett writes the book in the first person, from the view of Rene, an identical twin. Most of the story is conveyed through a long conversation between Rene and a psychologist named Maggie, who has been ordered to evaluate Rene’s mental state and decide whether he is eligible to make the decision to have his brain copied.

February, 2016 jane Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: Lullaby

The music of everyday life, Briony Hill

The Chimes

Anna Smaill

Hachette NZ

2015

The Chimes by Anna Smaill is an intoxicating novel that can definitely be considered challenging to put down. Often it can be difficult to be immersed into an author’s fictional created era of time, however, Smaill displays her capability of producing transfixing imagery, allowing the reader to view the world she has created in the novel.

Smaill sets her story throughout places in England, in a time when reading and writing is no longer done in words, but in music. Smaill has stuck true to the theme of music throughout the whole novel by including the use of musical language and terms, for example, using the word “subito” instead of suddenly, and using the word “presto” instead of fast or quickly, creating a different yet unique and admirable use of language for the readers to indulge in.

February, 2016 jane Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: The Chimes

The language of music, Holly Morton

The Chimes

Anna Smaill

Hachette NZ

2015

The Chimes – Anna Smaill’s debut novel — is a music lover’s dream: a dystopian world where the written word is all but abolished and music is the sole form of communication. Memories can only be remembered through objects, and memories of the past, before Allbreaking, are buried deep. The people are controlled by the Carillon, the ultimate instrument made of palladium – the Pale Lady.

Chimes is always different, and even after the thousands of times, I couldn’t venture to say what it’s like … It’s not painful exactly, but nor is it without pain.

February, 2016 jane Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: The Chimes

Finding the greater good, Jack Goldingham Newsom

The Chimes

Anna Small

Hachette NZ

2015

Richly descriptive in all aspects of story-telling, Anna Smaill’s The Chimes is a stellar novel centring on our interaction with memory and the past through a post-apocalyptic musical world.

The two main characters, Lucien and Simon, meet in London and develop their talents throughout the novel – Lucien is blind and thus uses his hearing to guide him, and Simon has the ability to remember other people’s memories. Their adventure begins when they mentally overthrow The Order – the ruling group; meaning Simon can begin to remember his own memories without needing objects to aid him.

February, 2016 jane Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: The Chimes

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