FICTION - NZ - NZ Teen Yrs 10+
What would make a soldier betray his country? In the battle-smoke and chaos of Gallipoli, a young New Zealand soldier helps a Turkish doctor fighting to save a boy's life. Then a shell bursts nearby; the blast that should have killed them both consigns them instead to the same military hospital. Mahmoud is a Sufi. A whirling dervish, he says, of the Mevlevi order. He tells David stories. Of arriving in London with a pocketful of dried apricots. Of Majnun, the man mad for love, and of the saint who flew to paradise on a lion ski... read more
This novel tackles the topic of teenage sex. Kallum plays Blues guitar and thinks classical music is for losers. But when his mate Saul asks him to play a duet for the youth orchestra he agrees to give it a go. Soon he finds himself enjoying the challenging music and the company of his duet partner, the gorgeous Paige. Paige and Kallum are drawn together, but their relationship rapidly spirals out of control with consequences that may change their lives forever. In Duet David Hill tackles the difficult issue of teen pregnancy... read more
In Hideout Lorraine Orman tells the contemporary story of an older sister's attempt to rescue her younger sister from their abusive home life. The older sister, Roz, organises for the two of them to run away and hide at a friend's bach at the beach. The eldest of the two takes on a self-elected maternal role which in turn becomes more than she can manage.Roz is a likeable character and the adventure element of these two on the run, and having to fend for themselves, will appeal to young teens. Orman places her characters on the coa... read more
Winner of the Young Adult Category of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2010. This book, the first in a stunning trilogy, is set on a fictional Pacific island, approximately three generations after an apocalyptic event (a solar flare) in 2012 threw the world into complete chaos. At that time, a large cruise ship 'Star of the Sea' had just foundered at the entrance to the main lagoon. This cruise ship, and her accompanying crew, forms a temporary sanctuary for the island's inhabitants. Over the intervening years, the de... read more
Murray Ball's "Dog" - the central character in the Footrot Flats cartoon strips - was recently voted New Zealand's best-loved fictional character. Dog has starred in more than 50 Footrot Flats books and now has a book devoted entirely to himself and the "wisdom" that his made him such a lovable character. The Wisdom of Dog features over 300 single, stand-alone cartoons, all with Dog as the main focus. The majority of these stand-alone cartoons have never before been published in book form.
This new novel for young adults tells the story of Inna Furey, a new pupil at Leanne's school who soon goes missing. Nobody knows what's happeneed to her, except Leanne, and she can't tell. Isabel Waiti-Mulholland is the award winning author of At The Heart of Hiruharama. This is her first novel for young adults.
When Josefa is met by a giant mysterious warrior claiming to be an ancestral guardian spirit, everything gets chaotic. Meanwhile Jack Bucksworth, the school bully, has stolen his family
This collection of short stories and novel extracts follows the 2007 Pikihuia Awards for Maori Writers. The biennial awards and their subsequent publications have become well-known and much-anticipated, as they bring more undiscovered gems to the attention of the New Zealand reading public. This year's awards were judged by James George, Barry Barclay, Kelly Ana Morey and Wena Harawira.
Fat boys don't run. They just don't. High school is hell. Corey is overweight and shy, so no wonder he spends all his spare time playing Counter-Strike on the computer. When his mum gives him an ultimatum - join a school sports team or broadband will be cancelled - he's horrified to find that she means it. Realizing that for once he's not going to get his own way, Corey looks for the easiest sports option. Orienteering, he reads, can be 'like a stroll in the park' - yes! But when Corey joins the orienteering team, he finds out the ... read more
Lissy is certain things would be very different if she could leave her flakey mother and live with her perfect dad.
In the hours that follow the crash, when the fate of his father and brother rest with him, Poddy must focus hard and get help. For ages 11 and over. The story shows that a person with a disability such as Down's syndrome can make all the difference in an emergency.
A Young Adult historical romance novel set in both New Zealand and England during the 19th century. The main character is Hannah, a strong Elizabeth Bennett-like personality, who lives in Taranaki with her father, twin brother, Maori step-mother and step-brother during the time of the land wars. Hannah and her twin, Jamie, travel to England, for a number of reasons - one of which is to find the family of their dead mother. There they encounter the culture shock of upper-class English county behaviour. In Hannah's search for her own... read more
Honour award for Young Adult Fiction in the 2007 NZ Children's Book Awards Jamie Finland is a 19-year-old who has turned his back on his mum in Masterton and headed north to the eastern Bay of Plenty. When local 'soul' surfer Mike Taylor saves his life one day, a strong friendship is formed. Fin lives on the thought of surfing that next wave and partying hard with his best mate and new life mentor. But Mike is killed and Jamie is left alone. After the accident, Fin is 'adopted' by Mike's Uncle Bobby, who runs a large farming ope... read more
Minna is a typical fourteen-year-old. She's urban, technologically savvy and has a strong peer group. She has a boyfriend who is the school hunk, and she is being encouraged to 'take the relationship to the next stage' by her friend Lizzie. Home is pretty much a non-event. Her mother seems distracted, her father breezes in and out but isn't really present, her brother is a stoner.Her life is turned upside down when Dad announces that he wants them to live on an off-shore island for a year and work to make it into a conservation isl... read more
The Unknown Zone begins with the 1965 story of fifteen-year-old Hemi Ratana who, traumatised by a humiliating incident, climbs a giant kauri on the Coromandel Peninsula in a do-or-die test of courage.High in the head branches of the kauri, Hemi finds a human skeleton. Around its neck is a key on a chain. What does the key unlock?Nearly 160 years earlier, on the West Coast of the South Island, a group of sealers from Australia is taken captive by Ngai Tahu marauders. In a desperate bid for survival one of these captives joins up wit... read more
This is a wickedly sharp, history-bending, cosmos-colliding novel from one of Britain's most iconic authors. Meet Frances, Fay's might-have-been younger sister, an unreliable narrator who bends history and blends universes to create a sparkling and prophetic portrait of a once and future Britain. It's 2013 and eighty-year-old Frances is listening to the debt collectors pounding on the front door of Number 3, Chalcot Crescent. While she waits for the bailiffs to give up and leave, Frances writes. She writes about the boyfriends she ... read more
The hunt is on for Cheyenne Martin's killer and everyone at Easton Academy agrees that Reed had most to gain from her death. Reed, who took over Cheyenne's role as president of Billings Hall, is now well and truly outcast. She's lost her friends, her boyfriend and her home. All she can do is search for Cheyenne's killer ...but will anyone be around to hear her scream when she becomes the next target?
With Sido safely in England and the Terror at it's height, Yann returns to France to smuggle out aristocratic refugees who will otherwise face the guillotine. But when Sido is kidnapped, he must use all his strength and courage to outwit the evil Count Kalliovski, and rescue her for a second time. Set against a vivid historical background, prize winning author Sally Gardner brings to life the horrors of the French Revolution in this breath-taking adventure, complete with intrepid heroism and a touching love story. Perfect for 9... read more
Honour, duty and a properly brewed cup of tea ... the sweet, moving and uplifting story of a highly unlikely relationship between a very proper English gentleman and a widowed Pakistani shopkeeper, now in paperback.Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired) leads a quiet life in the small rural English village of Edgecombe St Mary where he values the proper things that Englishmen have treasured for generations - honour, duty, decorum and a properly brewed cup of tea. The Major takes pleasure in his well-organised and rational life until he f... read more
