I Am Number Four

by Pittacus Lore

rrp $16.95

We told you about this excellent novel late last year, but as it is being released as a film in a few weeks (trailer below) we thought we’d refresh your memory!

I Am Number Four is a brilliant teen fiction novel in the fantasy and sci-fi genre that teens of all ages will love and be enthralled by.  It tells the story of nine aliens who flee their home planet of Lorien when it is is attacked by the evil Mogadorian.  They take refuge on planet earth and one of them, John, hides in small-town Ohio as a regular high school student.  But the enemy has found the nine escapees and starts hunting them down, one by one.  Number One was killed in Malaysia, number Two was murdered in England, number Three was hunted down in Kenya.  John is number Four, and is running out of time…

There is still time to read this action-packed read before it hits the big screen in a few weeks.

Look out for the sequel, The Power of Six, coming later in the year.

The Roaring 20s are back, glitzier than ever!

Bright Young Things

By Anna Godbersen

rrp $19.95

It’s 1929 in New York City, where the town is ruled by the bright young things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the roaring 20s.

Thrown into this heady mix of speakeasies, bootleggers and chorus  girls are small-town girls Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur, who escape their country upbringing for the bright lights of the city.  Both girls are hiding secret dreams, Cordelia is searching for the father she never knew, and Letty hopes to transform herself into a singing sensation.  But dreams never go according to plan…

Author Anna Godbersen, of the much loved The Luxe series, brings her same attention to detail and gorgeous period imagery to this new series, which will be the first of four.  The glamour of the fashionable 20s and the glittery metropolis that is New York in the 1920s is perfectly captured by Godbersen, but it is her effortless telling of the struggles of youth that make her fast-paced exciting books so enjoyable.  Letty and Cordelia quickly become embroiled in scandal, illicit love affairs and dizzying adventures before their fates come crashing for them…

This novel may be aimed at teenagers but this 30-something reviewer thinks it is the bees knees and the cat’s meow!

In store mid-October!

Stop, in the name of tights!!

Withering Tights: the misadventures of Tallulah Casey!

by Louise Rennison

rrp $20

The queen of teen writing, Louise Rennison, is back with another hilarious romp through the trials and tribulations of our formative years.  Following on from the mega-successful Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series (that began with Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging), we see Georgia’s cousin, fourteen and a half year old Tallulah Casey, a wannabe actress, head to the hills for a summer of acting camp.

Picture the scene: the very eccentric Dother Hall performing arts college in the wilds of the Yorkshire Dales, surrounded by bearded cheesemaking villagers (male and female) and wildlife of the squirrely-type.  Zut alors and sacre bleu!!

On the whole, it′s not quite the showbiz experience Tallulah was expecting… but once her mates turn up and they start their ′FAME! I′m gonna liiiiive foreeeeeever, I′m gonna fill my tiiiiights′ summer course things are bound to perk up!!  Especially when the boys arrive. (When DO the boys arrive?)

A six-week summer course = six weeks of parent-free freedom.  Freedom of expression… because it′s the THEATRE dahling, theatre!!

Tallulah is as an engaging and amusing character much in the mould of the perky Georgia, with so many eccentricities to her personality she is bound to thrill the teens and annoy anyone who is too old to understand the twitter generation.

This is a rollicking riot of a read, in store now!!

When You Reach Me

by Rebecca Stead (RRP $16.95)

New York city, 1979.  The streets are unforgiving, gangs roam the alleys and rambling homeless people babble incoherently on street corners.  For twelve-year-old Miranda, who has always done everything with her best friend, Sal, the city isn’t as threatening when there are two of you against the rough world.  Then Miranda’s world begins to unravel when Sal is punched for no reason while the two are walking home from school.   Sal withdraws from Miranda, who, for the first time in her life, has to make new friends, walk home from school alone, and deal with a mysterious stranger who is leaving her notes in secret places….

To say anymore will take away from this truly original, exciting and beautifully told tale of friendship, sacrifice, and the impossible and unthinkable becoming reality.  A moving and gorgeous book that the young to the late teens will adore, When You Reach Me is a clever and intriguing story about friendship and time that will leave you retracing the plot in your head long after the book has ended.

In store now.