Holiday Reading 2005

New Zealand titles: Young Adults

Catran, Ken Sea of mutiny: John Hallet, sixteen-year-old midshipman, is cast adrift in the Pacific Ocean with Captain Bligh and other loyal crew members after the mutiny on the Bounty. They will voyage thousands of kilometres, past unchartered islands, braving unknown shores and fierce warriors.
Catran, Ken Odysseus
Catran, Ken Something wicked this way comes: Seventeen year-old Brad is often left to look after himself. Lately he's been noticing some strange events around his small community and a real sense of evil emanating from an old mine just outside of town. Could it be that the coming Halloween has something in store for Brad?
Cross, Gary Borderland: In the spare bedroom of an old mansion perched on the side of the Wairoa River, just outside the small northland town of Dargaville, lives a terrible, ancient secret. An insidious force, guided by a cackling, tentacled shadow-creature and its mysterious Master, has imprisoned two young children within a painted mural.
Ell, Sarah Talking to Adam: Katie is 16, right into sailing, school friends, and even more importantly boyfriends. In Katie's world a bit of weight loss is a good thing, a bit of hair loss and fatigue explainable, until she discovers she has Hodgkins disease.
Harris, Jill Sil: Sil is a rising star among tuis; a brilliant singer and talented composer. For him the annual singing competitions loom large. Daredevil Bron is Sil's best friend who tells it like it is. They've got a good thing going. But a sense of menace closes in as magpies plot to devastate the valley. The tui way of life - flying free and singing in the dawn - is about to be destroyed.
Hill, David Bodies and soul: In the future, society is run by an organisation known as Global. Cal and his friends become involved in uncovering a black market in body parts at the Global controlled Central Lab, putting all of them in great danger.
Knox, Elizabeth Dreamhunter: In a world where select people can enter "The Place" and find dreams of every kind to share with others for a fee, a fifteen-year-old girl is training to be a dreamhunter when her father disappears, leaving her to carry on his mysterious mission.
Like wallpaper : New Zealand short stories for teenagers: edited by Barbara Else
Lowry, Brigit Lots of love from Georgia: "My name is Georgia. I live in a town called Anywhere that has too many shopping malls and not enough skate parks. I like to think of myself as a brilliant creative person, but sometimes I just feel like a sad lonely girl with a big bum."
Mackenzie, Anna Out on the edge: Alison's a practical sort, down to earth, a keen cyclist and steady student, she thinks clearly under pressure. Until a guy she vaguely knows turns up in her back yard - looking for shelter. Despite her own suspicions that what she's doing is wrong, she helps Garry hide the traces of what's happened to him - and what he's done.
Robertson, Alison Finding Isabella: Stacey's is facing her parent's divorce, boyfriend problems and girlfriend issues. But research for a school assignment into the life of her great-great-great-great grandmother allows her to work through her problems and discover some interesting skeletons in the family closet.
Maybury, Ged Snowcave Inn : a mountain adventure: It's going to be another fun weekend for the group of teenage friends, going snowcaving in southern mountains. Then small mistakes begin to multiply into disasters.
Owen, Julia A case for G. String: When Geraldine's brother says he's too ill to do his paper round she volunteers because that means delivering to the house where delicious Darcy lives. However it also means delivering to Ms Horn whose dreadful little dog, Cupcake, is renowned for biting the paper boy. However, there's no sign of Cupcake and the next day she learns that Ms Horn has been found dead.
Roxborogh, Tania Third degree: Ruth has just left home, just started university and is falling in love for the first time. The future looks bright. But when her boyfriend, Anton, begins asking probing questions about her scars, she is unable to block out the trauma from her past. She recalls her stay in hospital as a ten-year-old, her feelings of abandonment and the borderland she occupied. And for Ruth, some tough questions finally insist on answers.
Smith, Phil The unknown zone: A tale of land rights, spirituality, coming-of-age and love.
Taylor, William Land of milk and honey: It is 1947 and 14-year-old Jake Neill, a so-called 'British war-orphan', has arrived in New Zealand. His mother is dead, killed in an air raid, and his father has sent Jake and his little sister to a 'better' life in a 'land of milk and honey', far from his ravaged homeland. Separated from his sister, Jake finds himself no more than slave labour on the dairy farm of the gruesome Pearson family. While the parents are bad enough, their son, Darcy, is a monster. Brutalised and bullied, Jake lives a life of misery, until a night that will mark him for life.
Todd, Penelope Box: Derik is on the run. Not from the deadly epidemics on the rise in New Zealand but from the ruling government and its efforts to wipe out disease. The authorities have begun Endorsement: a nation-wide drive to implant a device in every citizen, to regulate body chemistry and control emotions. It's a social experiment the whole world is watching. But Derik wants to think and feel, for himself. Trying to find shelter, he soon discovers he's not the only one to have turned fugitive.