When the War is Over by martha attema
Summary: Living in the Netherlands during World War II, Janke and her community face a five year-long Nazi occupation. Working to protect the Jews divers being hidden by the Dutch, Janke is part of the resistance movement against the Nazis, trying her best to help her country survive until the Allies come and liberate them. She and her best friend Alie practice their dancing on a regular basis, preparing themselves for the day when the Nazis will be gone and the celebration that will follow. But after Janke meets Helmut, a reluctant Nazi soldier, previously clear lines become blurred, and...
Read MoreWhat We Hide by Marthe Jocelyn
Summary: After receiving their draft notices to fight in the Vietnam War, Tom and his friend Matt take very different paths. Matt’s family encourages him to serve his country, while Tom’s family frantically searches for a loophole, finding one in the education clause. Tom and his sister Jenn are sent to England to go to school, hiding far away from the reality of war, and in the process end up meeting several colourful characters at Jenny’s boarding school with secrets of their own to hide. Number of Pages: 275 Age Range: 15-17 Review: A full-length novel, What We Hide by...
Read MoreA Troublesome Boy by Paul Vasey
Summary: Labelled a troublesome boy by his old school, Teddy’s mother’s boyfriend decides to send him to St. Iggy’s, a Catholic boys boarding school. Once there he makes friends and gets along well with his classmates, but the priests and brothers who run the school often abuse their power through the use of physical discipline and intimidation. When one of the priests begins using Teddy’s friend Cooper for sexual favours, Teddy feels powerless to stop what becomes Cooper’s gradual descent into depression and hopelessness. The one good part of their lives comes...
Read MoreBig Big Sky by Kristyn Dunnion
Summary: Belonging to a pod made up of teen girls, Shona, Rustle, Solomon, Roku and Loo work together to carry out missions assigned to them by the ScanMans. But when two of their members start going through physiological changes and one of them goes missing, the ScanMans try to bring them all in for reprogramming. In their escape the pod is confronted with the wider world outside what they’ve been told, and the metamorphosis of Rustle and Roku changes them forever. Seeking answers and trying to survive, the separation of the pod causes each member to follow their own journey,...
Read MoreThe Book of Living and Dying by Natale Ghent
Summary: After her older brother John’s death from cancer, Sarah finds herself adrift in grief. Constant headaches led Sarah to self-medicate with alcohol and pills, but when her brother begins to haunt her, Sarah steps up her substance abuse. Trying to rid herself of her brother’s ghost, she confides in her friend Donna and tries different rituals from The Book of Living and Dying to help him move on to the afterlife. When it doesn’t work, Sarah finds herself descending into madness, having repetitive dreams that don’t make sense, hearing voices, and fixating on a...
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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