Esther Hautzig (Author)
Esther Rudomin was ten years old when, in 1941, she and her family were arrested by the Russians for being 'capitalists' and transported to the endless steppe of Siberia. This is the very moving true story of the next five years spent in exile, of how the Rudomins kept their courage high, though they went barefoot and hungry.
Berlie Doherty (Author)
The moving and very real story of two teenagers and an unplanned pregnancy. It is told from two viewpoints - that of Helen as she writes her thoughts in a series of letters to the unborn baby, the Dear Nobody of the title, and of her boyfriend Chris as he reads the letters. This Carnegie Medal-winning novel is now part of the Originals - Penguin's ground-breaking modern classics for young adults.
S E Hinton (Author)
Greasers, Rockers, different place, different name - but wherever they are, they're outsiders; the rough, tough, long-haired boys from the other side of town, with little hope of flash cars, fine madras shirts and the good things of American life in the Sixties. Their story is told by Ponyboy, a Greaser with good reason to fear the Socs, the rich kids in Mustangs who come looking for trouble, and witness to the savage baiting that drives his best friend to manslaughter. More than a story of hatred and violence, this is also a story of loyalty and friendship as teenagers of the urban slums search for personal dignity and a place in the world.
Robert Cormier (Author)
On the outskirts of a small American town, a bus-load of young children is being held hostage. The hijackers are a cold and ruthless group, opposed to the secret government agency Inner Delta. At the centre of the battle are three teenagers. Miro is the terrorist with no past and no emotions. Kate is the bus driver, caught up in the nightmare, and Ben is the General's son who must act as a go-between. After the First Death is a tense hostage drama, which will appeal to all fans of thrillers, especially YA readers.
Joan Lingard (Author)
Kevin and Sadie just want to be together, but it's not that simple. Things are bad in Belfast. Soldiers walk the streets and the city is divided. No Catholic boy and Protestant girl can go out together - not without dangerous consequences . . .
The second of Joan Lingard's ground-breaking Kevin and Sadie books
John Steinbeck (Author)
,
Jose-Luis Orozco (Illustrator)
,
Linda Wagner-Martin (Introducer)
THE PEARL is Steinbeck's flawless parable about wealth and the evil it can bring. When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, finds 'the Pearl of the world' he believes that his life will be magically transformed. He will marry Juana in church and their little boy, Coyotito, will be able to attend school. Obsessed by his dreams, Kino is blind to the greed, fear and even violence the pearl arouses in him and his neighbours. Written with haunting simplicty and lyrical simplicity, THE PEARL sets the values of the civilized world against those of the primitive and finds them tragically inadequate.
Dodie Smith (Author)
,
Ngadi Smart (Illustrator)
Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and her family live in a beautiful, ramshackle castle - but sadly that's not quite as exciting as it sounds when you're having to use the barn door as a kitchen table, and new clothes are literally made out of old curtains . . .
Determined to forge her own path, Cassandra practices her writing skills by keeping a diary - observing the eccentric comings and goings of her beloved-but exasperating family, and pondering what life may have in store for her. But things are about to get delightfully more dramatic with the arrival of two glamorous Americans - and soon the Mortmain's lives will never be the same again.
John Steinbeck (Author)
Young Jody Tiflin lives on his father's California ranch. He is thrilled when his father gives him a red pony, and later promises him the colt of a bay mare. Both these gifts bring joy to Jodi's life - but tragedy soon follows. As Jodi begins to learn the harsh lessons of life and death, he starts to understand what growing-up and becoming an adult really means.
Morton Rhue (Author)
Laurie isn't sure what to make of 'The Wave'. It had begun as a simple history experiment to liven up their World War II studies and had become a craze that was taking over their lives. Laurie's classmates are changing from normal teenagers into chanting, saluting fanatics. 'The Wave' is sweeping through the school - and it is out of control. Laurie's friends scoff at her warnings but she knows she must make them see what they have become before it's too late.
Aidan Chambers (Author)
Jacob, aged 17, is abroad on his own for the time, visiting his grandfather's grave at the commemoration of the Second World War Battle of Arnhem in Holland. Jacob's life-changing experiences are interwoven with the extraordinary wartime story of passion and treachery that he learns from Geertrui, whose family is linked to Jacob's in a way he never suspected.
The Originals are the pioneers of fiction for young adults. From political awakening, war and unrequited love to addiction, teenage pregnancy and nuclear holocaust, The Originals confront big issues and articulate difficult truths. The collection includes: The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton, I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith, Postcards from No Man's Land - Aidan Chambers, After the First Death - Robert Cormier, Dear Nobody - Berlie Doherty, The Endless Steppe - Esther Hautzig, Buddy - Nigel Hinton, Across the Barricades - Joan Lingard, The Twelfth Day of July - Joan Lingard, No Turning Back - Beverley Naidoo, Z for Zachariah - Richard C. O'Brien, The Wave - Morton Rhue, The Red Pony - John Steinbeck, The Pearl - John Steinbeck, Stone Cold - Robert Swindells.
Robert C. O'Brien (Author)
Nuclear war has devastated America, except for the valley where Ann Burden has been living alone for over a year - until Loomis, a scientist in a radiation-proof suit, arrives. She hopes they will be companions but his behaviour towards her becomes increasingly threatening as he attacks her and then cuts off her food supply and tries to bring her under his control. Although there may be no one else alive, Ann steals his suit and leaves the valley in search of humanity. Z for Zachariah is a modern sci-fi classic for young adults.
Beverley Naidoo (Author)
NO TURNING BACK is the powerful and moving story of Sipho and his struggle to survive on the city streets of South Africa in the 1990s. Society is on the brink of a huge change but will it make any difference to the tough life of Sipho and the other street kids? When Sipho is befriended by a white shopkeeper and his daughter it feels as though his luck might be about to change but is he really safe?
Nigel Hinton (Author)
Buddy has a hopeless father who is an ageing rocker, interested only in Elvis and bikes, and living on the fringes of the under-world. When Buddy's mum walks out, the two manage to strike up some kind of relationship - until Buddy realises that his dad is involved in something more serious than he suspected. A moving, totally convincing account of a boy's faltering relationship with his father, in an evocative and well-drawn Eighties Britain.
Joan Lingard (Author)
Sadie is Protestant, Kevin is Catholic - and on the tense streets of Belfast their lives collide. It starts with a dare - kids fooling around - but soon becomes something dangerous. Getting to know Sadie Jackson will change Kevin's life forever. But will the world around them change too? The first of Joan Lingard's influential Kevin and Sadie books.
Robert Swindells (Author)
Martha is twelve - and very different from other kids, because of her parents. Strict members of a religious group - the Brethren - their rules dominate Martha's life. And one rule is the most important of all: she must never ever invite anyone home. If she does, their shameful secret - Abomination - could be revealed. But as Martha makes her first real friend in Scott, a new boy at school, she begins to wonder. Is she doing the right thing by helping to keep Abomination a secret? And just how far will her parents go to prevent the truth from being known?
Ruskin Bond (Author)
Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned, and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part of Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging from the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted - and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community.
Written when the author was himself seventeen, this timeless story of love and friendship will resonate with a whole new generation of readers.
Joan Lingard (Author)
The third of Joan Lingard's ground-breaking Kevin and Sadie books.
Protestant Sadie and Catholic Kevin have married and "escaped" to London - but will they ever really be free of Belfast and its troubles? In this third book about Sadie and Kevin, Joan Lingard has added an understanding of the strains of young marriage to the sombre representation of life in Belfast.
John Christopher (Author)
,
Matt Jones (Illustrator)
Nobody knows how long it has been since the Tripods came. Nobody remembers life on Earth before they enslaved it. Humans live in scattered farms and villages, kept quiet and obedient by the mind-controlling Caps implanted when they reach their teens.
Will Parker's time is fast approaching - but a chance encounter with a madman convinces him that it may still be possible to resist the alien masters. So begins a terrifying story of survival and defiance - and Will's journey to the White Mountains.
Mary Shelley (Author)
Puffin Clothbound Classics are stunning collectable hardback editions of some of the best-loved classics in the world - including this striking edition of Frankenstein.
Victor Frankenstein has made a terrible mistake. In his desperate pursuit to create life, he has created a monster. A monster which, abandoned by his master and shunned by everyone it meets, follows Dr Frankenstein to the very ends of the earth with horror and murder in its recycled heart.
Shelley takes the reader on a journey through St Petersburg, to the beautiful Swiss Alps, to the desolate waste of the Arctic Circle, in a story that has sent a chill down the spines of generations.
