Spring 2012 KS4

reading at Swanshurst

The Bookworm

From 1984 to The Hunger Games.

Dystopian Days.

Editorial Welcome to the first edition of The

Bookworm, Swanshurst library’s regular

new guide to good books for KS4 students,

parents and teachers.

As librarians at Swanshurst we love

reading and we’re always trying to think of

new ways to share that passion for books.

This guide includes new books and old

books, long novels and short novels;

recommendations from us, from authors

and from some of our own teachers.

We hope you enjoy our

recommendations and look forward to

hearing your opinions.

‘The Team’

‘Mary Wollstonecraft’ Wild

‘Harper Lee’ Lea

‘Radclyffe Hall’ Hopkins

‘Branwell Bronte’ Beniston

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CONTENTS Dystopia 101 4

Bali Rai at Swanshurst 6

Prize News 8 All the latest news on the Carngie,

Costa and Red House Awards.

Scared? You should be 10

Extreme Reading 12 Each issue we’ll interview a

member of staff. To start with it’s

our very own Mr B.

The Bronte’s 16

Be inspired 18

Mrs Quayum remembers falling in

love with Stephen King’s novels

when she was a teenager.

The List Page 20 Some people just like lists . . .

We love English teachers 22 We love Miss Osgood and Ms

Moody. Take a look at their

recommendations - a favourite

classic and a favourite

contemporary novel.

Swanshurst Recommends 26

The Book Doctor 28

Get in touch 30

22

(Below) Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss

and Liam Hemsworth as Gale.

(Bottom right) Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins’ best selling novel has

been a huge hit at Swanshurst—our

most read novel of 2011/12. Quite

right too. The main character, Katniss,

is a strong, sassy, no-nonsense kind of

gal. Teenage fiction needs more strong

heroines like her. The film is already

breaking box office records and getting

good reviews. Jennifer Lawrence has

proved herself to be one of best young

actresses around - excellent in X-men:

First Class and utterly brilliant in

Winter’s Bone. The film was released

on 23rd March. Have you seen it yet?

The Hunger Games

Special thanks to Yusra

Mian, Sarina Saqib and

Taliesen Colbourne for doing

our fabulous Hunger Games

display in Upper Library.

DYS

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The Hunger Games is a dystopian novel. Dystopias are often set

in the future or a slightly altered present where governments run

very repressive regimes. 1984 by George Orwell (1949) and Brave

New World by Aldous Huxley (1931) are perhaps the two most

famous dystopian novels, though you shouldn’t miss out on Ray

Bradbury’s Farenheit 451 (1953). A more modern classic is The

Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood - it won the inaugural

Arthur C Clarke Award in 1987. They are all well worth reading.

In the last few years a number of brilliant dystopian novels have

been written for teenagers. Perhaps it’s the ecological crisis or

the economic crisis or the dumbing down of culture with reality

TV - but whatever the reason, there are some exciting and

thought-provoking novels being produced. Why not try Uglies by

Scott Westerfeld, The Declaration series by Gemma Malley, The

Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan or Zenith by Julie

Bertagna. There’s a full list here.

Author visits We’ve been very lucky over the last

year as three authors have visited

Swanshurst - Keith Gray, Marcus

Sedgwick and most recently Bali Rai.

Bali stands in the tradition of writers

like Robert Cormier, Melvin Burgess and

Malorie Blackman - writers who

produce fiction for teenagers and are

unafraid to confront issues of race, sex,

violence and addiction.

For many readers desperate to find

books relevant to their own lives these

novels can be enormously rewarding

and liberating. A few find them more

difficult - challenging their ideas and

views of what novels can do.

Bali’s visit was full of fascinating

insights and intense debate—it was just

a brilliant day. Lots of students bought

books and got them signed by Bali at

lunchtime. Research shows that events

like this, promoting fiction for pleasure,

can have a significant impact on

reading, writing and literacy throughout

the school.

More author visits will be announced

soon.

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"Rai never shies away from difficult

topics, and here tackles the

controversial issue of honour

killings. It's utterly compelling, and

will be much-debated."

- Fiona Noble, The Bookseller

Prize News

It’s that time of year again. The Carnegie

Medal is one of the most prestigious awards

for children’s and teenage fiction and this

year’s short list is out. The novels (with links

to reviews or interviews) are:

My Name is Mina by David Almond

Small Change Stuart by Lissa Evans

The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett

Everybody Jam by Ali Lewis

Trash by Andy Mulligan

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by

Annabel Pitcher

Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys

This is another strong list - My Name is

Mina and A Monster Calls are GREAT novels

that will be read for many years to come.

Shortlists are brilliant because they generate

discussion, help us to clarify our ideas and

help us to consider current trends in fiction.

We urge you to have a look at the full long

list too, because several notable novels did

not make it onto the shortlist. Get reading!

This year’s winner

of the Costa

Children’s Award

is Blood Red Road

by Moira Young

Our congratulations

to Patrick Ness for

winning this year’s

Red House Award

Novels by Alan Gibbons, Chris Priestley, Anna Perera, Malorie Blackman and

Gill Lewis could have all easily made it onto the shortlist. However, leaving out

Mal Peet’s Life:An Exploded Diagram and Twilight Robbery by Francis Hardinge

is, I would suggest, unforgiveable (I know—strong words!). Hardinge is set to

join Diana Wynne Jones, Philip Pullman and Philip Reeve as one of our best

fantasy writers. Peet’s novel is so good that I can only feel sorry for the judges

(other librarians!) - they should know better and clearly need to develop some

taste. So there!

We hope you’ll try some of

these novels and check out

Peet’s and Hardinge’s previous

novels too.

[Mr B]

The Horror of it all

That Harry Potter bloke is

getting a bit old!

Susan Hill wrote The Woman

in Black back in 1983 but the

new film adaption starring

Daniel Radcliffe has brought it to

the attention of a new

generation. For most teenagers

reading the tale for the first time this will be the

scariest novel they will have encountered - so be

warned!

Susan Hill riffs on the classics of psychological

horror, especially the short stories of Edgar Allen

Poe, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

Indeed The Woman in Black stands along side

Peter Straub’s Ghost Story, Graham Joyce’s The

Tooth Fairy and many of Stephen King’s novels as

masterpieces of the genre.

Authors of YA fiction are also becoming braver when it comes to horror -

breaking down the boundaries between teenage fiction and adult fiction.

As usual Melvin Burgess was one of the first to tackle ‘horror’ full on. Try

Bloodtide. The other YA novelist who has mastered psychological horror is

Cliff McNish. Try Breathe: A Ghost Story, The Hunting Ground and

Savannah Grey. Check out a couple of interviews with him here and here.

Michelle Paver’s Dark Matter is one of those books that the publishing

industry sells with different covers for the adult and YA markets. A similar

tactic is used with some of Neil Gaiman’s books - most of you will know

Coraline and The Graveyard Book. He also writes chilling fantasies with

elements of horror. You could try American Gods and Neverwhere.

Each issue we’ll be interviewing a

member of staff about their reading and

cultural life. For the first issue we’ve been

talking to our own Mr B.

TBW: Can you remember the first book you fell in

love with?

MrB: My memories of Primary School are pretty hazy but I remember having a

copy of Fantastic Mr Fox and reading that time and again. The first book that I

really fell in love with was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas

Adams, which I got for my tenth birthday. It’s kind of science fiction with

comedy. The BBC made it into a TV series, a year later - I loved that too. Ahh . . .

Vogon poetry, Slartibartfast and The

Restaurant at the End of the Universe - those

were the days!

TBW: Whatever you say Mr B. So would you

say science fiction has always been an

important influence?

MrB: Definitely. I grew up with films like Star

Wars, Alien (and Aliens), Blade Runner, The

Terminator, 2001 and Silent Running; with TV

series like Doctor Who, Star Trek and Blakes

7. A comic called 2000AD has also been a

huge influence on my imagination—you can

now get lots of the old stories as graphic

novels. Everybody should try The Ballad of Halo Jones and Robo-Hunter and of

course Judge Dredd. Weirdly though I didn’t discover sci-fi novels and short

stories until much, much later - in my twenties.

TBW: So what were you reading as a teenager?

MrB: Nothing very profound I’m afraid - lots of old crime fiction like Agatha

Christie; fantasy - stuff like The Belgariad series by David Eddings and The

Dragonlance Chronicles. Lots of

escapism. There wasn’t the wide

range of teenage fiction that we

have now. Finally when I was about

15 I discovered Horror - mainly

James Herbert and Stephen King.

Loved it.

TBW: That’s lots of genre fiction.

When did you discover ‘serious’

literature.

MrB: Firstly I think that’s a false

distinction. Yes, a lot of genre fiction

is purely escapist even when its well

written but there is also a tradition

of genre fiction that is extremely

well written and subtle, deeply

concerned with the world, and

deeply concerned with challenging

stale and conservative ideas—just

think of writers like Patrick Ness,

Philip Pullman, Ursula Le Guin or

China Mieville in YA fiction. However

to answer your question, I read The

French Lieutenant’s Woman by John

Fowles for my A level. It literally blew

my mind. Here was a book that is

essentially a romance, but that talks about history,

science, politics and much more in the most amazing

ways. From then on I was hooked and my world was transformed within a

couple of months. First I read all of his [Fowles] other books. Then I devoured

some of the classics - Thomas Hardy, the Brontes, Austin, Dostoevsky—and

then went onto contemporary authors like Jeanette Winterson and Paul Auster.

TBW: So what do you prefer now?

MrB: I love all sorts. I’ve grown to love sci-fi more recently,

simply because I’ve discovered so many books that I wish I’d

read decades ago. Most of all I love authors that deliberately mess with genre

expectations and distinctions—authors like David Mitchell, M John Harrison,

Hilary Mantel and Christopher Priest. I also love the tradition of female writers

that begins with Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf—people like Elizabeth

Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor, Rosamond Lehmann, Doris Lessing and Muriel Spark,

and more recently, Ali Smith and Sarah Waters.

TBW: What about your taste in teenage literature?

MrB: One of the things I really like about teenage fiction is

that all genres are used and appreciated. Some of the

authors I admire I’ve already mentioned - Ness, Pullman

and Le Guin - but there’s loads of others I’ve discovered—

all of David Almond’s books are brilliant, or Elizabeth

Laird, Marcus Sedgwick, Margo Lanagan, Philip Reeve and

Francis Hardinge. Bali Rai was brilliant when he came to

school—brave and fearless.

TBW: Sorry to bring this up but we’ve heard you don’t like Harry Potter or

Twilight. What have you got to say for yourself?

MrB: OK . . . What I’d say to that is when someone comes into the library I’ll

encourage them to read anything and everything including Harry Potter and

Twilight. That’s the only way you develop your own taste, plus I remember

what it was like to fall in love with reading—why would I want to spoil that for

anyone?

However I also think its part of my job to encourage those readers who

already love reading to try different things and to challenge themselves - as

readers and as human beings—and not always stay in their comfort zones. If

someone asks me what I think then I’m not going to lie. Bella in Twilight—what

a wimp! I like my heroines to look after themselves and kick ass! And Potter—

don’t get me started. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. . . .

TBW: On that final note of madness I think we’ll wrap it up. Thanks very much.

MrB: A pleasure . . . well almost a pleasure anyway. So Long and Thanks for All

the Fish.

Haworth (main

picture) and Mia

Wasikowska in

Cary Fukunaga’s

recent adapation

of Jane Eyre

The Brontes

Jane Eyre vs

Wuthering Heights

The writer China Mieville believes you are either a Jane Eyre

person or a Wuthering Heights person. He’s definitely on

Charlotte Bronte’s side, having called Jane Eyre “the greatest

book in English”: “Charlotte Brontë’s heroine towers over

those around her, morally, intellectually and aesthetically;

she’s completely admirable and compelling. Never camp,

despite her Gothic surrounds, she takes a scalpel to the skin

of the every day.”

It’s certainly true that both novels have had a lasting impact

on novelists and readers for nearly two centuries. Countless

film and TV adaptions have been made and the two most

recent were both well worth watching.

There’ll be a longer article on the Bronte’s in the next issue

of The Bookworm. For now we want you to be part of the

debate so get reading and bring your opinions and insights to

the library! And of course, we don’t mind if you like (or

dislike—booooo) both novels.

Charlotte Bronte’s other novels Shirley and Villette are well

worth reading as is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes

Grey by Anne Bronte. If you want some background you

could read Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte too.

“I was introduced to Stephen King in my

middle to late teens by an older brother –

i.e. I picked up a book from his room and

thought ‘this looks interesting’ – I had

exhausted the library of all other books

aimed at teenagers and was becoming bored

of the same old stories being produced. I was

looking for stories that would come to life in

my imagination - where every word written

could lead to another corner of my mind.

Since then I have been an avid fan! Stephen

King writes brilliant horror stories with a

twist.”

“I have read and enjoyed so many of his

books over the years that choosing one is an

impossible task. So I narrowed it down to

two: Cujo and Needful Things. Cujo is about

a much-loved pet who accidently gets bitten

and starts to develop rabies (as you can see –

I was interested in biology even then!). Cujo

is a BIG dog and eventually a situation arises

where a mother and her young son are

trapped in their car in a remote garage

location in very hot conditions – she cannot

telephone for help (yes - there was a time

when mobile phones were not around!) and

she cannot access any water for herself or

her son – the dog is in the way. Thoughts are

also given from the dog’s perspective so it

makes the story even more interesting… I

won’t tell you the ending – you may want to

read it for yourself!”

Stephen King was born in

Maine (USA) in 1947. He got his

English degree in 1970 and in

1973 his first novel Carrie was

published. King has written 50

novels and 9 short story

collections. Many are regarded

as classics - try Salem’s Lot, The

Shining, The Stand, Cujo, Pet

Semetary and Misery. Recent

books like Duma Key, Under

the Dome and Full Dark, No

Stars are just as good.

Be Insp

ired

“Needful Things is a book that makes me think about how people could

behave towards each other just because they want something. A shop

(Needful Things) is opened where all the residents in the town find something

that they ‘need’… and I’m not talking about just an everyday need like you need

to have some breakfast or you need to have some free time… they REALLY

NEED the item the owner has to sell – even though to anyone else it looks like

an average everyday object. They are prepared to do ANYTHING to get the

item… and when they carry out what appears to be a harmless favour, there

are terrible consequences… and I will leave you just there!”

“There are many more excellent examples of his work – some have been

made into films (long before your time I’m afraid) However, the books are far

better for the imagination. So if you are thinking of reading a Stephen King

novel… be prepared to be frightened (I could not even turn over the pages

when I read Cujo!)… and expect the unexpected!”

BIG THANKS to Mrs Quayum for

writing about her love for the

great Mr King.

Lists Sometimes you don’t want loads

of chat, or interviews, or pictures.

You just want a list and a quiet

place to figure out what you want

to read . . .

Dap

hne

du M

auri

er

- Reb

ecca

Siobhan Dowd -

A Swift Pure Cry

Sir A

rthu

r Con

an

Doy

le –

Stor

ies

D is for Dickens, Donoghue ….

Helen Dunmore - The Seige

Emm

a D

on

ogh

ue

- R

oo

m

Joe Dunthorne - Submarine

Charles Dickens -

Great Expectations

Isak Dinesen -

Out of Africa

Philip K Dick -

Do Androids Dream

of Electric Sheep

Jenny Downham

- Before I Die

Roddy Doyle -

Paddy Clarke ha, ha, ha

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa - The Leopard

“A book must be the axe for

the frozen sea within us.”

Franz Kafka

These days you can find lists

everywhere - papers, magazines,

TV and especially online. Here

are some ideas.

Guardian Top 10s

The Guardian has a brilliant feature

where it asks authors to choose, you

guessed it, a top 10 on a chosen theme.

There are 433! Try Charlie Higson’s top 10

fantasy for teenagers, Derek Landy’s top

10 villains, Mary Hoffman’s top 10

Christmas books or Patrick Ness's top 10

'unsuitable' books for teenagers - or just

browse through until you find what

you’re looking for. There are currently 44

lists in the Children’s top 10s too. Goodreads is a really good

website. Sign up , rate 20 novels (I

mostly chose books that I love

and then a few I really dislike)

and the website generates

recommendations. The rating

system is very basic (1 to 5 stars)

but nevertheless you end up

getting some really good ideas.

There are lots of brilliant authors

who don’t get quite so much

publicity as some of the ‘bigger’

names. Why not check out these

authors at their websites:

Rhiannon Lassiter

Chris Wooding

Tim Bowler

Sarah Singleton

Lots more ideas next time

Miss Moody and Miss Osgood have chosen a

favourite classic and a favourite contemporary

novel. They have shown exceptionally good taste!

We hope you enjoy their recommendations.

ENG

LISH

TEA

CH

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AR

E COOL*

Cold Comfort Farm is my absolute favourite. I have to have a copy with me where ever I go, just in case I desperately need to re-read a particularly brilliant chapter. The problem is that, as far as I’m concerned, all of the chapters are brilliant. Over the years this has led to my buying four copies of the book to leave in different places, so one is always to hand.

You might ask what is so brilliant about a book that seems at face value to be about a young orphan girl going to stay with her terrible relative. Well, it is brilliant because it is utterly hilarious. If I was pushed to pick the most fantastic comic section of the whole novel, it would be when the bull, Big Business, escapes from the field. But it could also be Mrs. Smiling’s collection of bras, Mrs. Beetle’s plans for an infant jazz quartet or Cousin Urk’s obsession with water-voles. Probably it is the totally unshakable belief in The Higher Common Sense by the heroine, Miss Flora Poste.

I love Flora’s immense practicality and the forthright way in which she sets about organising her confused, bemused and backward country cousins. She manages them all, from the bed bound and batty Aunt Ada Doom to the misguided, lovelorn Elfine.

When I first read this book, probably about ten years ago now, I loved the whimsical, and often downright bizarre, way in which all the character spoke to each other. I loved the comic names. I loved the terrible country stereotypes. But most all I loved, and still do, how much it made me laugh.

I still read Cold Comfort Farm at least once a year. And yes, it still makes me giggle.

*most of the time!

‘The circus arrives without warning’

This quote sums up part of the reason why I absolutely love The Night Circus. It is mysterious. Really mysterious. I really like the idea of a circus of dreams, which only opens at night and is full of magical wonders.

I really believe in reading the first few pages of a book before you decide to take it out, or buy it, so I often stand in book shops flicking through potential reading material- one of my favourite past times. What I remember really clearly about picking up this book for the first time, in the middle of a crowded book shop, was that as soon as I read that first line everything else seemed to disappear. It was like being sucked into the world of the circus.

Once I’d bought the book and gotten it home, I sat down to read it straight away. I read it all in one go. It is one of the very few books that was so good that it made me voluntarily give up eating, answering my phone and sleeping for an entire evening, until it was done.

After I was finished I was a little bit sad to have left the circus behind. Ordinary life seems so much duller than the complex, mysterious and vivid world of The Night Circus. I wish I could read it anew over and over again.

‘It is a truth universally acknowledge that a single man, in possession of a large fortune, must be in want of a wife’.

Those immortal words can probably be quoted by most speakers of the English Language, even if they have never picked up a copy of Jane Austen’s books in their life. I personally read Pride and Prejudice for the first time when I was about fifteen. Like every other woman I completely fell in love with Mr Darcy, but the truth be told, I fell in love with all the characters.

Mrs Bennett, the mother of the family, will have you in stiches with her nerves and desperation to get all of her five daughters married off to eligible men (with lots of money of course), as will Mr Bennett, with his cynical remarks and quick wit. The sisters though are probably the best. Lydia and Kitty are the kind of girls we all know; flirty, full of life, always up for a good time, while Mary is the eternal wallflower who never gets asked to dance (we’ve all been there or at least know someone who has). But of course it’s Elizabeth Bennett, the second eldest in the family, and the heroine of the novel, who really makes it for me. She’s confident, sassy, intelligent, and probably most importantly, never gives in to peer pressure to become anything other than who she is. She was definitely my role model growing up.

You’ll get lost in the world of balls, stately homes and romance. There is something for everyone in this book. Whether you’ve ever been compared to elder siblings, fallen in love with the wrong person, been irritated by parents who just don’t understand you, or had to deal with the catty remarks off other girls, this novel is for you!

Go on, read it! Read it now!

Jane Austen was

born in 1775. She

wrote six fantastic

novels. Sense and

Sensibility (1811),

Pride and Prejudice

(1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma

(1816) were published in her lifetime;

Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were

published the year after her death in

1818.

I was given the The French Lieutenant’s Woman to read at University. I was initially reluctant to give it a try; being a confirmed fan of the Classics, a contemporary novel seemed out of my comfort zone. However I soon found that’s what makes this novel so perfect. It’s a Classic novel with a modern edge.

Each time I read it I find something new in the story that I hadn’t seen before, but at the same time I still get lost in the drama of the plot, the tension and the fear that the hero, Charles, feels as he begins to learn more and more about the ‘Woman’ of the title.

The ‘Woman’s’ real name is Sarah Woodruff, a figure shrouded in rumour and scandal. Charles, like the reader, soon becomes totally bewitched by the layers of mystery that surround her. She is possibly one of the most perfect heroines ever written, she’s so alluring that Charles can’t resist her, despite being engaged to another woman.

The alternate endings are brilliant, and give the otherwise ‘Classic’ style of the novel a great twist.

Look out the for reference to Pre-

Raphaelite painter Rossetti at the end. If you love the paintings like I do it really adds to the appeal of the story, and if you’re not sure who I’m talking about, look him up, his paintings are breath-taking!

Read this if you like mystery, drama, romance, or simply just gripping storylines. Whether you’re a Classics fan like myself, or prefer something more contemporary this novel is for you.

Can Patrick Ness get any better? He

has wowed the world with The Chaos

Walking Trilogy, winning all the

prestigious Book Awards along the

way. Now A Monster Calls is

gathering even more praise from

critics and readers alike.

At Swanshurst we can’t get enough

of him. All of his books are

sophisticated and thought provoking,

but they’re also compulsive page turners too.

If you haven’t tried a Ness book you

just haven’t lived!

Swanshurst

Recommends

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Swa

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S E (Susan Elouise) Hinton started writing The

Outsiders when she was 15 and got it published 2 years

later in 1967. How amazing is that! The novel tells the

story of Ponyboy, Sodapop, Dally, Johnny and Darry—all

members of a gang called the Greasers—and they’re

rivalry with a group of wealthy boys, the Socs.

It was hugely controversial when it was published and

has remained so, in the USA, at least. It’s a story that

gets to heart of what it’s like to be a teenager. It’s about

class, about growing up and trying to find your identity

in a difficult, unfair, unequal world. It’s portrayal of

violence and murder, family dysfunction, drinking and

smoking, and it’s downbeat tone mean that it’s just as

relevant today as it was then.

Wanna be a rebel? How the Light gets in is M J (Maria Joan) Hyland’s first

novel, published in 2003. The main character is Lou

Connors, a sixteen year-old working class Australian girl.

She’s sassy and extremely bright, but also unhappy,

disaffected and a complete pain-in-the-ass, and moves

to the USA when she wins a scholarship. Lou just can’t

help pushing her luck, even when she gets chance after

chance.

This is an amazing book, especially if you have your

own self-destruct button - when you can’t seem to say

or do the right thing even when you know you shouldn’t

be doing it.

Hyland’s second novel Carry Me Down is also excellent

and was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 2006.

The Book Doctor

SD: I’ve heard you’re recommending The Outsiders in this first issue of The

Bookworm (see P22—Ed) but I’ve already read it. What could I try next?

TBD: You could go in two directions I think. First you

could start to explore some of the other classics of

Twentieth Century American fiction. Novels like The

Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Catcher in the Rye by J D

Salinger, The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, Catch

22 by Joseph Heller or Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt

Vonnegut. There’s also The Chocolate Wars by Robert

Cormier and The Giver by Louis Lowry—both of these

are now regarded as YA (young adult) classics. These

are all page-turners but they’ll stretch you too.

Whilst you’re reading those you could try looking for

rebels in various contemporary YA novels. Try Bali Rai’s

two tales of gang life - The Crew and The Whisper. Of

course Katniss in The Hunger Games is a great rebel

and there’s Katsa in Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Easily

my favourite though is Hester in Philip Reeve’s Mortal

Engines Series. Reeve gives us the kind of story,

characters and satisfying complexity that other authors

of YA novels can only dream about.

When you’ve finished your exams and you’re ready

for some summer reading why not settle down with The Girl with the Dragon

Tattoo. It’s not ‘Great Literature’, and it’s pretty violent but Lizbeth sure is a

great rebel for our times.

RI: I love crime dramas and thrillers on TV and in films but there aren’t many

crime novels in Upper library. What have you got in the 6th Form library that I

might like?

TBW: YA fiction has its fair share of excellent suspenseful thrillers like A Gath-

ering Light by Jennifer Donnelly or Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick. However It’s

true that YA fiction isn’t so good at crime - perhaps because crime fiction as a

genre tends to deal with lots of the grisly, unpalatable aspects of society;

there’s often swearing and violence too. Nonetheless as long as you’re pre-

pared for some of those dark themes then we have lots of good books to

recommend. There are some great ideas here and here, too.

The popularity of Henning Mankell and Stieg Laarson has helped to unleash a

cold blast of Scandinavian crime fiction onto our bookshelves. Much of it is very

good. Try Jo Nesbo, Mari Jungstedt, Arnaldur Indridason and Camilla Lackberg.

Of course there’s plenty of excellent crime fiction coming over from the USA.

We have novels by Jonathan Kellerman, R J Ellory

and Sarah Paretsky. Some of you might have heard

of a brilliant US series called The Wire. Writers for

that show - Denis Lehane, George Pellicanos and

Richard Price - are all well worth reading.

Good old Blighty also has its fair share of

fantastic crime writers - try Ian Rankin, P D James,

Belinda Bauer, Lee Child and Val McDermid.

Calling ALL readers We don’t care whether you come to the library every

day, occasionally or never. We know that there are lots

of you that don’t use the library but have your own

books or e-reader and are reading loads.

Whatever your reading habits we want to know what

you’re reading and we want your recommendations.

Please spare the time to send us an email, a note or

provide us with a review. You can help us improve the

library and we can pass on your passion to others.

The Bookworm can evolve too, with more input from you.