Ten edgy stories from the streets of Britain and the US, inspired by the pressures of being a twenty-first century boy.Teenage boys are trouble. It’s in the news, on the front page – everywhere you look they’re doing drugs, messing with knives, terrorizing communities. But what if it’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy? What if you’re 13, an OK kid in a bad life? What if you’re more urban poet than ganster rapper? What if deep-down you want to make your mum proud, but you’ve got to live up to yo...
"Lovely Rita, Meter Maid" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" are as much part of popular mythology as "Little Dorrit" or "Macbeth". Strawberry fields, fool-topped hills and long and winding roads are all part of a collective subconscious stretching from New York to New Delhi. This book tells the story behind every one of The Beatles' songs. Who was Eleanor Rigby, and was Polythene Pam a figment of John Lennon's imagination or a real flesh-and-blood person? What stories and emotions influenced t...
Alberto's life isn't easy: He's an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who lives with his sister's abusive boyfriend, but he'd always accepted his place in the world. Until he starts hearing the voice of a man called Captain America, a voice that wants him to achieve more, no matter the cost. Grace has it all: She has a supportive boyfriend, she's on track to be valedictorian, and she's sure to go to the college of her dreams. Still, nothing feels right to her any more after the divorce of her pa...
A secret. A holiday. A summer like never before. Shae knows her parents are keeping something from her and is determined to find out what. But nothing can prepare her for what they are hiding. 17-year-old Shae is learning that relationships, deception, secrets and love can sometimes blend together and change everything. Shae and her family have a vacation of a lifetime planned, until it is cancelled unexpectedly. No warning. No explanation. Nothing. Instead, she is left to spend the summer hol...
Should you get into the car of someone you barely know? Hard to resist when the driver is Jessup Smith, the handsomest teacher in school. That night, he drives sixteen-year-old Phoenix and her little sister Sasha--both brilliant misfits--home. A few days later, their mother, Erika, lets herself be seduced by Mr. Smith. Not long after, he's moving in, filling the empty space left by Phoenix and Sasha's father, who left the family without warning last summer. At first, Mr. Smith seems too good to...
“A powerful rage came over me and before I knew it, I was throwing things around my room. Everything! All of the things that Alison had given me…But that wasn’t enough, and more than that, it wasn’t working. I realized I needed to do something REALLY BIG this time.” Abandoned. That’s how Ronnie Hartman feels after her mother and Kenny, her mom’s good-for-nothing boyfriend, move to Alaska, bringing Ronnie’s two younger brothers with them and leaving her behind. Now thirteen years old, Ronnie has...
After an incident involving the vandalism of a cottage museum that once belonged to famous poet Rufus Baylor, sixteen-year-old Sarah is sentenced to community service and a poetry appreciation course taught by Baylor himself.
Boys don’t break your heart; best friends do. A funny touching story about friendship by the critically acclaimed Non Pratt, author of Trouble.“Non Pratt is a writer to watch” – The Guardian. From the author of Trouble comes a novel about boys, bands and best mates. Kaz is still reeling from being dumped by the love of her life… Ruby is bored of hearing about it. Time to change the record. Three days. Two best mates. One music festival. Zero chance of everything working out.
A powerful novel written in vignettes about a a Nepalese girl who risks everything for a chance to reclaim her life.Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though they are desperately poor, Lakshmi’s life is full of simple pleasures: playing hopscotch with her best friend, looking after her black-and-white speckled goat, having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when Lakshmi’s family lose all that remains of their crops in a...
“Pratt’s characters are rib-achingly funny, outrageous and entirely true to life.” Metro“A writer to watch.” The Guardian“A leading name in UK YA literature.” The BooksellerUK YA Book Prize-shortlisted author When Sophie receives a parcel from her best friend, Freya, she expects it to contain the reason why Freya left town so suddenly, without goodbyes and without explanation. Instead, she finds a letter addressed to Win, a girl Freya barely knew – or did she? As more letters arrive for more peo...
After finally getting noticed by someone other than school bullies and his ever-angry father, seventeen-year-old Tyler enjoys his tough new reputation and the attentions of a popular girl, but when life starts to go bad again, he must choose between transforming himself or giving in to his destructive thoughts.
One cold fall day, high school junior Liz Emerson steers her car into a tree. This haunting and heartbreaking story is told by a surprising and unexpected narrator and unfolds in nonlinear flashbacks even as Liz's friends, foes, and family gather at the hospital and Liz clings to life. This riveting debut will appeal to fans of Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver, and 13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. "On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton's laws of motion in physics class. Then...
“A love letter to Harlem and hope. I Rise is smart and funny and full of heart.*” Fourteen-year-old Ayo who has to decide whether to take on her mother’s activist role when her mom is shot by police. As she tries to find answers, Ayo looks to the wisdom of her ancestors and her Harlem community for guidance. Ayo's mother founded the biggest civil rights movement to hit New York City in decades. It’s called ‘See Us’ and it tackles police brutality and racial profiling in Harlem. Ayo has spent h...
Time is a funny thing in the hospital. In the mental ward. You lose track of it easily. After six months in the Maryland Mental Health Unit, Kyra Sellers, a.k.a. Goth Girl, is going home. Unfortunately, she's about to find out that while she was away, she lost track of more than time. Kyra is back in black, feeling good, and ready to make up with the only person who's ever appreciated her for who she really is. But then she sees him. Fanboy. Transcended from everything he was into someone she...
Jealous of new student Hoshi, who "stole" her role in a play, Pearl soon befriends her and confides in her about her difficult family situation.
