Top 5 Young Adult Books by Miss Anderson

Top 5 Young Adult Books

This list shows off what I think are the best of the young adult books I’ve been reading recently.

1. Paper Aeroplanes – Dawn O’Porter

Paper Aeroplanes is the story of fifteen year old Renee and Flo, two girls who seem the most unlikely of friends. Growing up on Guernsey in the 90s as a teenager is difficult enough, but Renee still suffers over the loss of her mother, while Flo’s family is being torn apart by lies and depression. The girls have to contend with the usual teenage girl troubles (school, periods, boys) while also keeping themselves, and their dysfunctional families, together. The result is a book that is fiesty and fun, while also heart breaking, and honest. If this book had existed when I was a teenager, it would have been one of my favourites.

 2 Heroic – Phil Earle

Jammy and Sonny are two brothers, aged eighteen and sixteen. They live in a rough area full of high rise flats, full of drug addicts, alcoholics, and gangs. Sonny is left to fend for himself, however, while Jammy is fighting in the army in Afghanistan. The first half of the novel is split between the two brothers, each telling their story of how they are coping in their respective nightmares. The brothers eventually come together again during Jammy’s two weeks of R&R. It is supposed to be a time for rest and relaxation, but Sonny quickly discovers that Jammy has changed. Things have happened to Jammy in Afghanistan that cause Sonny and their friends to really worry about him.

This book is action-packed, emotional, and brutally honest. All the same, it’s a very enjoyable book about important issues.

3.The Chaos Walking Trilogy – Patrick Ness

Todd lives in a town where he is the last child. As soon as it’s his birthday, he will become a man. That, and women don’t exist anymore. The men carry on with their lives, but they can hear each other’s thoughts all the time – a problem that they call Noise. One day, however, Todd discovers a gap in the Noise, a place where somehow there is silence. What he finds there leads him on an adventure that spans over three books. This is, without a doubt, the best trilogy of books I have ever read. As soon as I finished The Knife of Never Letting Go (the first one) I rushed straight to the book shop to buy the second book. If you like well-written books with lots of action, amazing characters, and clever storylines, then these are the books for you. P.S I dare you to read all three without crying once.

4. Howl’s Moving Castle – Dianna Wynne Jones

 Howl is one of the most fantastic characters I’ve ever read. He’s utterly ridiculously, completely melodramatic and yet just so endearing. For a man who eats women’s hearts, it’s impossible not to fall in love with him. This story is full of fairytale conventions, and includes all the magical elements of fantasy: witches, magical contracts, curses in aplenty. Howl’s Moving Castle is a charming and delightful read: I giggled the whole way through. I’d urge anyone (particularly those with a love of handsome drama queens) to pick it up.

5.The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky

This is one book I really wish I’d read when I was a teenager. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is told by Charlie in a series of letters to ‘Dear Friend’. In many ways Charlie is a ‘typical teenager’; discovering himself through the songs he hears, the people he meets and, more importantly, the books that he reads. However, as the story unfolds the reader learns more about his mind and his past, and with a number of doctors and psychologists, it’s clear that Charlie hasn’t had an easy life, even at the age of fifteen-sixteen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is tenderly and beautifully written and reaches out to any reader who has ever experienced teenage loneliness.