Witchlanders by Lena Coakley
Summary: Ryder and Falpian are two teens from the warring Witchlander and Baen people. Raised to hate each other and to believe in different deities, when they come in closer contact and realise they are linked through a mysterious mind connection, their first instinct is to kill one another. But when Falpian’s father tries to have him assassinated and the witches from Ryder’s community won’t acknowledge that his mother Mabis can see the evil that will soon befall them, Ryder and Falpian must find a way to work together to unravel the secrets surrounding the contention...
Read MoreWhen We Were Good by Suzanne Sutherland
Summary: Katherine Boatman loses her bearings after her grandmother dies on New Years Eve. The new millennium brings change for Katherine as she begins her last semester of high school, drowning in grief and trying desperately to find a reason to go on with life. A new friendship at school with a girl named Marie opens her up the world of punk music, and to truths about herself Katherine was previously unaware. In the midst of questioning her sexual preferences, Katherine is also dealing with losing the friendship of her best friend, conflict and apathy from her parents, as well as keeping...
Read MoreWhat Happened This Summer by Paul Yee
Summary: A collection of short stories featuring Chinese teens living in Toronto. Stories cover generational rifts, identity issues, sexuality, immigration, the bonds of family and culture in the midst of the regular stress of finishing high school and growing up. Number of Pages: 178 Age Range: 15-17 Review: Sadly, a day is not long enough to do justice to a collection of short stories. I liked the way Paul Yee connected the stories in his book by using and referring to characters who all knew each other, but I needed more time to let the stories sink in and realise their true meaning. A...
Read MoreWanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan
Summary: When her mother dies, Jameela and her father move quickly to Kabul, Afghanistan, where her father remarries. His new wife doesn’t like Jameela, and convinces him to abandon her in the marketplace. Taken in by a kindly butcher and his family, Jameela makes new friends until they send her to an orphanage because they can’t take on the responsibility of another dependent. It turns out though that the orphanage is the best thing to ever happen to Jameela because there she is educated and appreciated, plus a surgeon from the American army fixes her cleft lip. Circumstances...
Read MoreThe Waiting Tree by Lindsay Moynihan
Summary: After being outed in his small and highly religious community not long after the death of his parents, Simon is trying to cope with his boyfriend Stephen being sent off to be reprogramed, and becoming the main caregiver of Jude, his twin brother who is mute. It’s a lot to handle for a seventeen year-old, and with only partial support from his brothers, Simon is forced to drop out of high school and get a job to pay for the necessities of life. Tensions run high at home because Simon’s oldest brother Paul thinks he should automatically be in charge, but Simon finds Paul...
Read MoreAbout Amy
Amy Mathers has been passionate about reading from a very young age, and hopes others will share her enthusiasm for funding a teen book award. Read more Follow Amy
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