Highlight: Youth fiction

I know I often do a YF Highlight section; however, with so many new books coming through, why not point out a couple you could be reading?

White fox

Sara Faring

After their world-famous actor mother disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Manon and Thaïs leave their remote Mediterranean island home -- sent away by their pharma-tech tycoon father. Opposites in every way, the sisters drifted apart in their grief. Lured home a decade later, they discover their mother's legendary last work: White Fox. The clues in the work draw them deep into the twisted secrets hidden by their family to reveal the truth about their mother and themselves.

100 remarkable feats of Xander Maze

Clayton Zane Comber

Xander Maze loves lists, and his grandmother is #1 on his list of People I love most in the world. But now that Nanna has Stage Four cancer, can a new list of 100 Remarkable Feats really save her? Particularly when his list contains difficult things like #2 Make a friend and #3 Make a best friend, plus #10 Kiss a girl (preferably Ally Collins, the girl of Xander's dreams). 

Any place but here

Sarah Van Name

Seventeen-year-old June is completely wrapped up in her best friend Jess. The two girls are inseparable and June feels so lucky that they found each other, even if June thinks she may like Jess more than a friend. But after June is expelled from school at the end of her first semester of junior year, she's forced to move to Virginia, to live with her grandmother and attend an all-girls boarding school. Even as she starts to find friends and an attraction to a boy named Sam, Jess is always on her mind, even as Jess starts to pull away from her. June can't let Jess go; but she needs to figure out how to move forward, and how to find the place she really belongs.

Being black 'n chicken, and chips

Matt Okine

Mike Amon is a regular teenager who wants to fit in at school. He also wants his mother to survive the advance breast and brain cancer she has been diagnosed with. Mike knows it's a long shot, but if he manages to achieve his dreams, maybe it'll give his mum enough strength to beat the disease. In the meantime, he has to live with his African dad whom he doesn't really know and who Mike doesn't really feel comfortable sharing his teenage desires and deepest fears with. He doesn't even want to think about what it might mean if his mum never comes home from the hospital. The book is based off not only Okine's life and loss of his mother at the age of twelve, but his stand-up comedy show to be an example of how people can deal with grief and growing up.

YF Highlight: Jilly Gagnon's "#famous"

 

You can find this book here.

This book not only focusses
on young adult life, but in particular social media and dating life. 

In Gagnon's book, Rachel takes a picture of a boy she likes and posts it on social media. The way it blows up on social media makes Kyle famous, but Rachel a target. 

The book is told from both the perspective of Rachel and Kyle, alternating each chapter respectively. The voices of the characters suit the age range, as does what seemed to be the behaviours and responses to situations. Like a lot of issues with relationships (romantic or otherwise), one things that always stands in the way is communication. So look out for how the characters communicate (or miscommunicate) with each other. 

YF highlight: George Lester's "Boy queen"

 

You can find this book here.

Robin is a teenager who has his life figured out; until he doesn't. When everything falls apart, Robin feels he will too. However, Robin falls for Drag and his life feels no longer lost or empty. 

This is the premise of the book, that highlights friendship, love and ideas and how really set they are. But it also shows how Robin is able to grow and develop into the person he really wants to be and how important it is to embrace that as well.