Monthly Reading Lists

A graphic novel series, following the stories of Nick and Charlie and their friendship groups. Heartstopper is about love, friendship, loyalty and struggles. All the small stories of Nick and Charlie’s lives together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us. Series One is also now on Netflix.

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?
Fiercely told, this is a powerful coming-of-age story told in verse, from one of the UK’s leading poets, Dean Atta.

Sophia knows the story off by heart. Because every girl must recite it daily, from when she’s tiny until the night she’s sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball are forfeit.
But Sophia doesn’t want to be chosen – she’s in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia’s night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s tomb. And there she meets someone who will show her that she has the power to remake her world.

Sam Waver has always been a loner: bullied, struggling at school, with parents who have very little time for him. The one person he has always been able to rely on is his beloved older sibling – but when they announce that they are transitioning, Sam’s life is thrown upside down. He’s convinced nothing will ever be the same again – but as Sam is about to discover, nothing is more constant than love.
A moving and heartfelt portrait of one family’s journey to acceptance, from a master storyteller.

A provocative story about the return home of teenage war hero and war victim, Francis Joseph Cassavant. He is forced to confront his past – the youth leader he idolised and who betrayed him, and the girl he still loves. The book gets to the heart of human nature and the moral issues and choices we have to make.

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?

Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix-tapes, family dramas and new friends. But Charlie can’t stay on the side-line forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that highlights the wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up

When they first arrived, they came quietly and stealthily as if they tip-toed into the world when we were all looking the other way.

Ade loves living at the top of a tower block. From his window, he feels like he can see the whole world stretching out beneath him. His mum doesn’t really like looking outside – but it’s going outside that she hates. She prefers to sleep all day inside their tower, where it’s safe.
Except it isn’t any more. Strange plants have started to take over and tower blocks are falling down around them.
Now Ade and his mum are trapped and there’s no way out . . .

Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don’t quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there’s a visitor at his window. It’s ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Patrick Ness takes the final idea of the late, award-winning writer Siobhan Dowd and weaves an extraordinary and heart-breaking tale of mischief, healing and above all, the courage it takes to survive.

September 11, 2001, New York City: Brandon is visiting his dad at work, on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. Out of nowhere, an airplane slams into the tower, creating a fiery nightmare of terror and confusion. And Brandon is in the middle of it all. Can he survive – and escape?
September 11, 2020, Afghanistan: Reshmina has grown up in the shadow of war, but she dreams of peace and progress. When a battle erupts in her village, Reshmina stumbles upon a wounded American soldier named Taz. Should she help Taz – and put herself and her family in mortal danger?
Master storyteller Alan Gratz delivers a pulse pounding and unforgettable take on history and hope, revenge and fear- and the stunning links between past and present.

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.

Perfect for fans of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS. This is a beautiful, vivid and deeply moving story about a refugee boy who has spent his entire life living in a detention centre.

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.

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.
This book perfectly depicts life in a refugee camp and is accessible to all.

Samuel’s parents and young sister, innocent bystanders during an uprising, are killed by South African police. Samuel is sent to live with his uncle, a tribal chief in the Bantu homeland, while his brother vows to join the African National Congress armed struggle and avenge his family’s deaths. In the homeland, Samuel discovers he can run faster than anyone and before long begins to train under his English-educated uncle. Years later, after the end of Apartheid, Samuel is selected as the token black South African athlete to run in the Olympics. President Nelson Mandela is there when he wins his gold medal, and Samuel dedicates it to ‘a very special man… I was running for the President. I was running for my country.’
This powerful and moving story portrays what it was like for blacks growing up in South Africa under Apartheid and the different ways in which they struggled to gain their freedom. For some, like Samuel’s brother, it was an armed struggle, but for Samuel it was the opportunity to prove he could run better than any white man.

Jana Novak’s history sounds like a classic model cliché: tall and gangly, she’s uncomfortable with her androgynous looks until she’s unexpectedly scouted and catapulted to superstardom…
But the fashion industry is as grimy as it is glamorous. And there are unexpected predators at every turn.
Jana is an ordinary girl from a south London estate, lifted to unimaginable heights. But the further you rise, the more devastating your fall …
Honest and raw, this is a timely exposé of the dark underbelly of the fashion industry in an era of #TimesUp and #MeToo.

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.

Janine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission. Sick of the way that young women are treated even at their ‘progressive’ New York City High School, they decide to start a Women’s Rights Club. One problem- no one shows up. That hardly stops them. They start posting everything from videos of Chelsea performing her poetry to Jasmine’s response to being reduced to a racist and sexist stereotype in the school’s theatre department. And soon, they’ve gone viral, creating a platform they never could’ve predicted. With such positive support, the Women’s Rights Club is also targeted by trolls. But Jasmine and Chelsea won’t let their voices – or those of the other young women in their city – be silenced. They’ll risk everything to be heard and effect change … but at what cost?
A Stirring and unputdownable read about what it means to be a woman today. Perfect for fans of Moxie and The Hate U give.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. When Laia’s grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn are the rebels.
But in exchange for their help in saving her brother, they demand that Laia spy on the ruthless Commandant of Blackcliff, the Empire’s greatest military academy. Should she fail it’s more than her brother’s freedom at risk…Laia’s very life is at stake.
There, she meets Elias, the academy’s finest soldier. But Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined – and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

Told in two distinct and irresistible voices, Junauda Petrus’s bold and lyrical debut is the story of two black girls from very different backgrounds finding love and happiness in a world that seems determined to deny them both.
Port of Spain, Trinidad. Sixteen-year-old Audre is despondent, having just found out she’s going to be sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor’s daughter.
Minneapolis, USA. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels–about her ex Terrell, and about the vague feeling of illness that’s plagued her all summer. Mabel’s reverie is cut short when her father announces that his best friend and his just-arrived-from-Trinidad daughter are coming for dinner

Orphaned as a child, tormented by her guardian and cast out to a harsh boarding school, Jane Eyre has been raised in the shadow of cruelty and isolation. But when she takes a job as governess in Thornfield Hall, where secrets lurk in the attic and strange laughter echoes through the night, Jane meets the elusive Mr Rochester – and her life is irrevocably transformed. Poignantly and powerfully retold in this stunning edition, Jane Eyre is the tale of a spirited heroine’s search for love, independence and belonging.

Stella has always looked forward to changing the world. It’s what she was brought up to do, by a suffragette mother who knew all about fighting and rebellion. But it’s November 1918. The great flu pandemic sweeping the world has robbed Stella of her mother and her home, and she’s alone in a strange country, with an aunt she’s never met. But change is coming – the war is over, and women are about to vote for the first time. History is being made, but how can she help make it? As election day approaches, a day that will transform Ireland forever, Stella realises that she can indeed change the world. Not alone, and not all at once. But just as stars come one by one to brighten the night sky, so history is made person by person, girl by girl. An invigorating tale of suffragettes and heroes, courage and survival, as war ends, flu sweeps the land – and women get to vote!

It’s 1940 and hundreds of families are being forced to flee Nazi-occupied France. Noor refuses to stand by while Nazi forces invade her home and terrorise her people, so she travels to England and signs up to join the war efforts, despite her mother’s wishes. It isn’t long before her talents are noticed and she is chosen by Winston Churchill to sneak back into France as an undercover agent. Noor returns home – but this time, as a secret agent…Can Noor keep her true identity hidden, report her findings back to London and help the Allies win the war?

I’m Dan Hope and deep inside my head I keep a list of things I want to come true.
For example, I want my sister, Ninja Grace, to go to university at the North Pole and only come back once a year. I want to help Sherlock Holmes solve his most daring mystery yet. And if it could be a zombie mystery, all the more exciting. I want my dog to stop eating the planets and throwing them up on the carpet. And finally, the biggest dream of all, I want my dad to love me.

A joyous, heart-breaking and life-affirming story of one boy and his messy, muddled and madcap family

Eden McKinley knows she can’t count on much in this world, but she can depend on Bonnie, her solid, steady, straight-A best friend. So it’s a bit of a surprise when Bonnie runs away with a guy Eden knows nothing about five days before the start of their GCSEs. And it’s the last person she would have expected.
Sworn to secrecy and bound by loyalty, only Eden knows Bonnie’s location, and that’s the way it has to stay. There’s no way she’s betraying her best friend. Not even when she’s faced with police questioning, suspicious parents and her own growing doubts. As the days pass and things begin to unravel, Eden is forced to question everything she thought she knew about the world, her best friend and herself.

Safiya and her mum have never seen eye to eye. Her mum doesn’t understand Safiya’s love of gaming and Safiya doesn’t think they have anything in common. As Safiya struggles to fit in at school she wonders if her mum wishes she was more like her confident best friend Elle. But then her mum falls into a coma and, when Safiya waits by her bedside, she finds herself in a strange and magical world that looks a bit like one of her games. And there’s a rebellious teenage girl, with a secret, who looks suspiciously familiar. ‘A gorgeous story of friendship and growing up’ .

Maddy is allergic to the world; stepping outside the sterile sanctuary of her home could kill her. But then Olly moves in next door. And just like that, Maddy realizes there’s more to life than just being alive. You only get one chance at first love. And Maddy is ready to risk everything, everything to see where it leads.

Everything, Everything is now a major motion picture starring Amanda Stenberg from The Hunger Games and Love Simon’s Nick Robinson.

Sephy is a Cross: she lives a life of privilege and power. But she’s lonely, and burns with injustice at the world she sees around her. Callum is a nought: he’s considered to be less than nothing – a blanker, there to serve Crosses – but he dreams of a better life. They’ve been friends since they were children, and they both know that’s as far as it can ever go. Noughts and Crosses are fated to be bitter enemies – love is out of the question. Then – in spite of a world that is fiercely against them – these star-crossed lovers choose each other. But this is love story that will lead both of them into terrible danger . . . and which will have shocking repercussions for generations to come.
Voted as one of the UK’s best-loved books, Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses is a seminal piece of YA fiction; a true modern classic.

Sadie works at her summer job, willing something exciting to happen. But when it does, in one split second, everything changes. Overnight Sadie becomes a Youtube sensation. And in the midst of her unexpected fame, she meets four new best friends. One makes her stomach flip. As the friends embark on a journey together, they realise they have the power to change lives

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, 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 . . .

On Al Chaudhury’s twelfth birthday his beloved Grandpa Byron gives him a letter from Al’s late father. In it Al receives a mission: travel back to 1984 in a secret time machine and save his father’s life.

Al soon discovers that time travel requires daring and imagination. It also requires lies, theft, setting his school on fire and ignoring philosophical advice from Grandpa Byron. All without losing his pet hamster, Alan Shearer…

Time Travelling With a Hamster is a funny, heart-warming race-against-time – and across generations – adventure that you will won’t be able to put down.

Ian Iansson is a little bit worried about his school trip.

Firstly, Ian doesn’t have any friends, plus, his mum has packed him ten pairs of pants for the two-day trip. But as it turns out, these are the least of Ian’s problems

Because when Ian’s class arrives at the spooky old house, there’s something very weird going on. Something that looks awfully like zombies; groaning, dribbling zombies who are just wandering about… and no one but Ian seems to have noticed.

This is an action-packed story full of funny events.

When Prez meets Sputnik- a small loud alien- he is shocked to hear that the world is about to be destroyed. Unless Prez can show Sputnik ten things worth seeing or doing on Earth. But Prez’s list of amazing things is not quite the same as Sputnik’s- will it be enough to save the planet?

As wild and funny as a cartoon strip, this wonderful story pinpoints all the best things about life on earth

A self-proclaimed loser geek tries to hatch a plan to get the boy she fancies to go to the school prom with her.

Fifteen year old Bella Fisher is an absolute winner… at failing at life. She’s the owner of a mouth that won’t listen to her brain and the ability to majorly embarrass herself in front of every single specimen of boy-dom.

While juggling her growing list of crushes, an evil ex-boyfriend, and the leaking of her BFFs’ most cringeworthy moments, Bella finds her life spinning into catastrophe.

Will she be able to piece it back together? And more importantly, do it while sorting out the ultimate prom problem?

A hilarious teen comedy that follows 14-year-old India Smythe as she navigates the highs and lows of school, friendships, embarrassing parents and boys, and learns that sometimes you have to take control and stand up for what’s right. Laugh- out-loud and relatable humour from the author of the award-winning The Territory trilogy.

Welcome to Camp Reset, a summer camp with a difference. A place offering a shot at ‘normality’ for Olive, a girl on the edge and for the new friends she never expected to make.

Sam is a boy with a lot to deal with. His step-father is obnoxious and abusive and he suffers from Tourette’s syndrome. He Sam is befriended by a local eccentric, he suddenly finds answers to questions he didn’t know he had.

Ami loves her home –ut the arrival of malicious government official Mr Zamora changes her world forever: islanders untouched by sickness are forced to leave. Banished across the sea, she’s desperate to return, and finds a strange and fragile hope in a colony of butterflies. Can they lead her home before it’s too late?

Jemma has severe cerebral palsy and relies on her family and carer for everything. When she is confronted with this terrible secret, she is utterly powerless to do anything. For fans of Wonder & The Curious Incident.

Kiara has Asperger’s syndrome and it’s hard for her to make friends. Then Chad moves in across the street and Kiara tries to keep his secret and his friendship.

11-year old Addie campaigns for a memorial in memory of the witch trials that took place in her Scottish hometown. Can Addie challenge how the people in her town see her and her autism and make her voice heard?

Lou Clark loses her job and is assigned as a carer for Will Traynor whose motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. Neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.

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 eight years old (just like me), but he’s very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn’t like sweets.

Sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto is struggling to find happiness after a family tragedy leaves him reeling. His new best friend, Thomas, gets Aaron to open up about his past and confront his future. As Thomas and Aaron get closer, Aaron discovers things about himself that threaten to shatter his newfound contentment.

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.

Fiction: Book name

Cymbeline Igloo has NEVER been swimming. How hard can it be? He’s Googled front crawl and he’s found his dad’s old trunks. He’s totally ready. What he’s not ready for is the accident at the pool. Now, Cymbeline must solve the mystery of why his mum never took him near water -it will turn his whole life upside down…

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Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Holocaust. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house where there is nothing to do and no one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who wears striped pyjamas.

There’s nothing unusual about the Brocket family – and they’re keen to keep it that way. But when Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it’s clear he’s anything but ordinary. To his parents’ horror, Barnaby defies the laws of gravity – and floats.

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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.

If you like football, these books are for you! We meet Jamie when he’s 13 in The Kick Off and follow him on every step of his journey as he aims to fulfil his dream of becoming one of the world’s biggest stars

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Mister Pip is an unforgettable tale of survival by story; a dazzling piece of writing that lives long in the mind after the last page is finished

Told in the voice of Private Tommo Peaceful, the story follows twenty-four hours at the front, and captures his memories of his family and his village life – by no means as tranquil as it appeared.

Non-Fiction: Book name

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Fiction: Book name

When Ade moves to London from Nigeria, he knows things will be different, but nothing can prepare him for the ups and downs of his Parson’s Road adventures.

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I’m Humza Khan, the greatest eleven-year-old rapper Eggington has ever known; soon everyone will know my name. Only problem is school has got really weird, man. All my teachers are disappearing and our aunties are taking over.

Jo Kwan is a teenager growing up in 1980s Coventry with her annoying little sister, too-cool older brother, a series of very unlucky pets and utterly bonkers parents. But unlike the other kids at her new school or her posh cousins, Jo lives above her parents’ Chinese takeaway. And things can be tough.

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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.

After Will’s brother is shot in a gang crime, he knows the next steps. Don’t cry. Don’t snitch. Get revenge. So he gets in the lift with Shawn’s gun, determined to follow The Rules. 

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Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown.

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Bring history home with you and meet some of the world’s greatest game changers!

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Frederick Joseph offers powerful reflections on his own experiences with racism. As a former “token Black kid”, he now presents himself as the friend many readers need

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There’s nothing unusual or different about the Brocket family – and they’re keen to keep it that way. But when Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it’s clear he’s anything but ordinary. To his parents’ horror, Barnaby defies the laws of gravity – and floats.

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Artichoke Hearts, by S Brahmachari**

Twelve-year-old Mira comes from a chaotic, artistic and outspoken family where it’s not always easy to be heard. As her beloved Nana Josie’s health declines, Mira begins to discover the secrets of those around her, and also starts to keep some of her own.

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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 bittersweet. It’s only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is that she begins to see things as they really are.

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Rosa suffers from a rare condition that renders her mute. She lives on an island where it never stops raining and the people there because that Rosa is a monster because of her condition. Isolated in a house with only the internet for company, Rosa is befriended by a boy online…

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Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a constant, overwhelming Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets. Then Todd Hewitt unexpectedly stumbles on a spot of complete silence. Which is impossible. And now he’s going to have to run…

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Griffin has lost his first love in a drowning accident. When he befriends his ex-boyfriend’s new boyfriend, their relationship turns increasingly complicated.

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A girl who believes in science and facts, not fate, is about to be deported to Jamaica. Then she meets Daniel: the good son and student who realises that fate has something in store for them both….

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Fiction: Book name

Half Bad, by Sally Green §

He’s half White Witch, half Black Witch. His mother was a healer, his father is a killer. He’s been kept in a cage since he was fourteen. But if White Witches are good and Black Witches are evil, what happens if you are both?

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They killed my mother. They took our magic. They tried to bury us. Now we rise. Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut 

With friends turning into enemies, can Drew find his way out of this war alive?

The entire kingdom of Lyssia is now at war, and the battle lines have been drawn. None of the werelords counted on the most terrifying monster of them all…

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Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon have been living amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning. They have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse. A funny read, now a BBC series starting David Tennant.

In the blink of an eye all the adults disappear in a small town in southern California and no one knows why

The GONE series is in turns breathtaking, harrowing, and utterly terrifying. Its complex characters and moral dilemmas will delight fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner. This is dystopian fiction at its best.

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On a simple farm far outside of town lived a man with his family and with his secrets. Violent secrets. When a rising tide of war approaches, those secrets see the light of day, and no one around him is safe.

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Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness. But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets.

In Stormchaser and Lincoln’s ruined world, the only way to survive is to risk everything. To face a contest more dangerous than anyone can imagine. And they will do anything to win. But in a land full of monsters – human and reptilian – they can’t afford to trust anyone. Perhaps not even each other…

When Agnes made a promise to her girlfriend Ellie, she thought they would be together forever. One year later, Agnes is keeping that promise and it’s put her in a situation she never could have predicted

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Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same on his first ever trip to Iran. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes.

After a car accident that robbed him of his memory, the only thing Kane knows for certain is that he was found half-dead in the river. And then three of his classmates show up, claiming to be his friends and the only people who can tell him what’s truly going on. Kane doesn’t know what to believe or who he can trust. 

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After his father’s death, Aaron has had the support of his girlfriend. But when she leaves, Thomas appears bringing Aaron happiness and making him feel safe. Aaron considers turning to a revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is….

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Griffin has lost his first love in a drowning accident. Theo was his best friend, his ex-boyfriend and the one he believed he would end up with. Now, reeling from grief and worsening OCD, Griffin turns to an unexpected person for help. Theo’s new boyfriend.

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Orlando starts as a passionate young nobleman whose days are spent in rowdy revelry. By the close, he will have transformed into a modern, thirty-six-year-old woman and three centuries will have passed.

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A funny book about being lesbian, bisexual, gay, queer, transgender or just curious – for everybody, no matter their gender or sexuality. With testimonials from people across the gender and sexual spectrums.

A deeply autobiographical account of homosexual relationships in an era when love between men was illegal.

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Jazz Jennings is one of the youngest and most prominent voices in the national discussion about gender identity. At the age of five, Jazz transitioned to life as a girl, with the support of her parents.

Six unwaveringly honest American teens describe what life is like for them as members of the transgender community

Picture a world where your very action, every deed, every significant moment is tattooed on your skin for ever. When Leora’s father dies, she is determined to see him remembered and wants to remove his tattoos and made into a Skin Book. But something goes wrong…

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

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A provocative story about the return home of teenage war hero and war victim, Francis Joseph Cassavant. He is forced to confront his past – the youth leader he idolised and who betrayed him, and the girl he still loves.

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When Kasienka and her mother head for England, she feels lonely. Then someone special swims into her life…

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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. But as her bond with Marla grows, Alison asks herself – where is home?

Ade loves living at the top of a tower block. From his window, he feels like he can see the whole world stretching out beneath him. But one day, other tower blocks on the estate start falling down around them and strange, menacing plants begin to appear.

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Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don’t quite seem to be working. But tonight is different.  Tonight, when he wakes, there’s a visitor at his window.

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My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.

In heaven, Susie Salmon can have whatever she wishes for – except what she most wants, which is to be back with the people she loved on earth.

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Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s

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Jana Novak is tall and gangly, she’s uncomfortable with her androgynous looks until she’s unexpectedly scouted and catapulted to superstardom… But the fashion industry is as grimy as it is glamorous. And there are unexpected predators at every turn.

A deeply moving story about a refugee boy who has spent his entire life in a detention centre. It reminds us all of the importance of hope, and the power of a story to speak for anyone who’s ever struggled.

Izzy’s family is under the spotlight when her dad comes out as Danielle, a trans woman. Izzy is terrified her family will be torn apart.

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. . . but there’s football to look forward to, and now there’s a chance Omar will get to go to school . .

Sixteen-year-old Marlon has made his mum a promise – he’ll never follow his big brother, Andre, down the wrong path. So far, it’s been easy, but when a date ends in tragedy, Marlon finds himself hunted.

Samuel’s parents and sister are killed by South African police. He’s is sent to live with his uncle, a tribal chief, while his brother joins the African National Congress armed struggle to avenge his family’s deaths.

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 a major film.

The girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban.

The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time

There’s nothing unusual or different about the Brocket family – and they’re keen to keep it that way. But when Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it’s clear he’s anything but ordinary. To his parents’ horror, Barnaby defies the laws of gravity – and floats.

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Artichoke Hearts, by S Brahmachari**

Twelve-year-old Mira comes from a chaotic, artistic and outspoken family where it’s not always easy to be heard. As her beloved Nana Josie’s health declines, Mira begins to discover the secrets of those around her, and also starts to keep some of her own.

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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 bittersweet. It’s only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is that she begins to see things as they really are.

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Rosa suffers from a rare condition that renders her mute. She lives on an island where it never stops raining and the people there because that Rosa is a monster because of her condition. Isolated in a house with only the internet for company, Rosa is befriended by a boy online…

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Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a constant, overwhelming Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets. Then Todd Hewitt unexpectedly stumbles on a spot of complete silence. Which is impossible. And now he’s going to have to run…

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Griffin has lost his first love in a drowning accident. When he befriends his ex-boyfriend’s new boyfriend, their relationship turns increasingly complicated.

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A girl who believes in science and facts, not fate, is about to be deported to Jamaica. Then she meets Daniel: the good son and student who realises that fate has something in store for them both….

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