Just Listen

Just Listen
Sarah Dessen

'Just Listen' is my favourite of Sarah Dessen's books. Like her other books it is well written with convincing characters and an involving storyline. 'Just Listen' tells the tale of Annabel, the girl with a seemingly perfect life; she's beautiful, bright, with a bustling social life and a supportive family.

Except her best friend has spent the summer spreading rumours about her and turning her friends against her. Except her sister has just been diagnosed with a serious eating disorder. Except that her mother is pushing her into continuing her modelling career, when right now, all Annabel wants to do is hide.

'Just Listen' is a great book for teenage girls. It tackles adolescent issues in a tactful and respectful manner without being pious and preachy. Annabel is a wonderful character, and is easily relatable to. The message of the novel is encapsulated by the title and, in the end, Annabel is saved from having to hide by someone who is willing to listen.

Buy it for your daughters and read it for yourself from www.waterstones.com or your local bookshop.

(Plus the covers of Sarah Dessen's books are totally awesome.)

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins

'The Hunger Games' is a young adult novel set in a dystopian world. Katniss Everdeen is our heroine, and she's just been propelled into the deadliest reality TV show to ever exist. The narritive is fast-paced and tense, portraying the inhumanities of a totalitarian society in graphic detail.

Katniss lives in District 12 where the inhabitants work in the coal mines and spend their free time preoccupied with the sordid business of staying alive. Life is tough, and it is made even tougher by the annual event of the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a sport devised by the Capitol where two children are chosen at random from each of the 12 Districts which comprise Panem. Only one tribute from the chosen 24 will leave the Hunger Games alive. The 23 who don't escape will have their deaths, and the last of their lives, televised for the amusement of the Capitol. Katniss is one of the chosen 24....

'The Hunger Games' is an absorbing thriller which is great for getting teens reading. (It's great for adults too!) The characters are well drawn, the writing is solid and the plot is brilliant. You will be left wanting more.

Buy it here from www.waterstones.com or from your local bookshop.

PS. It's the first of a trilogy!
PPS. The sequels have already been published and are 'Catching Fire' and 'Mockingjay'. It's probably worth buying them all at once, rather than suffer from the suspense of waiting for the next installment.

The Crimson Petal and the White

The Crimson Petal and the White
Michel Faber

This hefty tome tells the tale of Sugar, a Victorian prostitute. Although the novels principal protagonist is Sugar the narration touches upon the lives of the characters who appear on the peripheries of Sugar's life. The narration is intrusive, with our omniscient, yet absent, narrator frequently referring to us as "Dear Reader". 'The Crimson Petal and the White' has been called the novel that Dickens would have written if he could... high praise indeed.

Sugar is labelled as the prostitute who would do *anything* her clients may request. Yet she is not an uneducated woman, and is only a fallen woman due to her mother pushing her over the precipice into prostitution at the tender age of thirteen. Sugar dreams of improving her status in the world, and is the authoress of a vicious novel consisting of several gory man-slaughters (man being the key word). She believes the only way she will escape the whorehouse is by her own intelligence, until she meets William Rackham....

This is a wonderfully involving book, and includes a fantastic portrayal of the various versions of the Victorian female- pious and hysterical (Agnes Rackham), worthy yet blasphemous (Emmeline Fox), and of course, the whore (Sugar). The page count and the sheer weight of the book is intimidating, but don't be afraid to give it a go, for I'm almost sure you'll enjoy it.

Buy it here from www.waterstones.com or from your local bookshop.

(Thanks to Mel for recommending and purchasing a copy for me, I owe you one.)