My Sister Rosa (YA/Adult Fic)

AUTHOR: Justine Larbalestier (US)
PUBLISHED: Allen & Unwin ; 2016.
PAGES/ILL: ~400 pages.

PLOT:
Teenager Che has a lot of things he wants to do. Improve his boxing. Get a girlfriend. Leave New York and go back home to Sydney. But the most important thing is keeping his little sister, Rosa, in line.
Rosa is cruel. She delights in deception and making other people hurt. Che is convinced she's a sociopath, but Rosa's sweet outward disposition easily fools the people around them. Che's life gets increasingly complicated as Rosa's games lead to horrific consequences.

REVIEW:
This is being advertised as a YA novel, but I would emphasise that it is for OLDER young adults (17+).

This is one of the best books I've read this year. I'm writing this a few months after I finished the book and it has still stuck with me. It's a great story if you can handle sociopathic children completely devoid of empathy who delight in manipulating others (and the reality that they DO exist).

AGE: 17+/Adult.
GENRE: Realistic psychological/thriller fiction.
RATING: STRONG 5 stars.

Series: Anthony Horowitz Horror (Fic)

AUTHOR: Anthony Horowitz (Aust) PUBLISHED: ~2000 SERIES: Anthony Horowitz Horror, by Orchard Books

PLOT: ("Scared"):
Contains three short stories. 1) Scared: Nature gets its revenge on an insolent teen boy. 2) A Career in Computer Games: A boy who does nothing but play computer games becomes trapped in one. 3) Howard's End: When Howard has a fatal accident, he thinks he's tricked his way into heaven. But has he?

Interestingly, all characters are rude, disrespectful, insolent, delinquent - perhaps some good moral lessons ;)

REVEW: They are similar to The Midnight Library series in that each book contains a few short stories.

AGES: Suggested for 11+ because of the horror themes.
GENRE: Horror, Thriller.
RATING: 5 stars.

The Graveyard Book (Fic)

AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman (UK)
PUBLISHED: 2008

PLOT: As his family are being murdered, a toddler wanders into a graveyard. Pursued by the murderer, the ghosts of the graveyard are charged with his safekeeping, and there he is raised.
As he grows, he learns about the other ghosts in the graveyard, the dangers in and out of the graveyard, ghouls, witches, himself, and his would-be murderer.

REVIEW: A wonderfully-written story that can make you laugh and cry.  It has horror themes, and might be genuinely scary for some children, but these parts are quickly resolved, and any conflict always ends on a high note.

This would be an ideal read-aloud for 7th or 8th grade.

AGES: 11+ (I'd hesitate before recommending this to under 11s or 12s - it really depends on the child's maturity and what they have previously read. This book is perfect for high school reluctant readers, with enough appeal to engage adults).
GENRE: Horror
RATING: 6 stars!!

Series: The Midnight Library (Fic)

AUTHOR: Nick Shadow (UK)
PUBLISHED: 2004
SERIES: The Midnight Library

PLOT: for example: "The Whisperer" contains three short stories. "The Whisperer" is about a "haunted" computer which writes for the user and predicts the future, eventually predicting the user's death (which comes to pass). "Gabriel" is a demon in disguise as a teenager. A girl (who has a crush on him) suspects he is a vampire, but she discovers the truth when he 'eats' her soul. "Fast Forward" is perhaps more predictable. A tween boy sees a fortune teller at a fair. After he wishes he were old, he travels through a haunted train ride. When he emerges he is indeed an old man and dies of a heart attack.

REVIEW: Each book contains two or more short stories in the Goosebumps vein, although in some ways, they are a little more sophisticated. Both series contain similar horror themes: haunted/possessed items/houses, fantasy horror (vampires, zombies), religious horror (voodoo, demons, etc). Similar to the Anthony Horowitz Horror series.

AGES: 10+. This, of course, depends on the individual child. If a child currently enjoys Goosebumps (without being overly frightened by them), you could recommend this series.
As always with horror, knowledge of the child is important. Some children are more imaginative (some may call it 'sensitive') than others and reading horror fiction may lead to nightmares.

GENRE: Horror, Thriller.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars.

Daniel X: Alien Hunter (GN)

AUTHOR: James Patterson, with Leopoldo Gout (USA)
PUBLISHED: 2008

PLOT: A young teenager seeks out and destroys the nasty aliens who come to terrorize Earth. Being an alien himself, he's well equipped with a "magic" list of the aliens he needs to find, and an imagination powerful enough to create real objects, even imagining friends who help him in the hunt.

NOTES: A graphic novel that connects with a novel, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X.

ISSUES: loss of parents, loneliness, good vs evil, power of imagination, feeling of isolation and responsibility.

AGE: 10+.
GENRE: Graphic Novel, Thriller, Fantasy
RATING: 5 stars.

Series: Goosebumps (Jnr Fic)

AUTHOR: R.L. Stine (USA)
PAGES/ILL: 20+ chapters/100+ pgs per book : some ill.
REVIEW: This is a set of horror stories, dealing with every topic from voodoo and satanism, to haunted dolls, ghosts, vicious animals, and made-up animals/monsters, to simply kids playing tricks to scare others.

An endless series made up of 3 bands: "original", "HorrorLand", and "Choose-your-own-adventure"
some books "continue" into the next book.

Similar to The Midnight Library series and Anthony Horowitz Horror series.

AGE: 10+, but I know some 7 year olds who read them. Remember, some of the books ARE genuinely scary and may give sensitive children nightmares. Other kids will enjoy the adrenaline rush of reading thrillers.
GENRE: Horror.
RATING: 4 1/2-5 stars.

I am the Cheese

AUTHOR: Robert Cormier (Aust)

ISSUES: death, family, trust, running away, psychology.

PLOT/NOTES: Slightly disjointed (not chronological). A psychological thriller, with a twist at the end. Follows a young boy in two slightly separate stories; one in an interview with a psychologist in the third person; one a recount in the first person.

AGES: 13+ GENRE: Realistic Fiction, Thriller RATING: 4 1/2 stars

Alex Rider series

AUTHOR: Anthony Horowitz (UK) (2000's)

NOTES: The series comprises a list of novels as well as graphic novels, short stories, and supplementary books, as well as movies and a video game, and a website. All this makes is an excellent series to get kids reading.

PLOT: A 14-year-old orphan, Alex Rider, discovers that his uncle, a spy with MI6, has been training him to be a spy also. After his uncle's death, MI6 recruits Alex, sending him on various missions across the world.

AGE: 9, 10+. Attracts boys from 4th/5th grade with solid reading ability.

GENRE: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Thriller. RATING: 5 stars.

The Sandman Library series (GN)

AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman (USA)

NOTES: A dark series comprising 10 volumes. Topics deal with death, sex, dreams, killing, legends, mysteries. Contains nudity and violence.

AGE: Recommended for mature readers only (not only because of the topics, but the language used is also fairly advanced). Young adult (15/16+).

GENRE: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller RATING: 5 stars.

We All Fall Down

AUTHOR: Robert Cormier (Australia).

ISSUES: teenage alcoholism, extreme vandalism (home invasion), assault, sexual attraction/first love, divorce, abduction, murder. Quite graphic at times. Not recommended as a read-aloud.

NOTE: it is on some schools' "banned book" list.

PLOT: A gang breaks into a house and vandalises it. When a young girl returns home unexpectedly, she is assaulted and pushed down stairs, going into a coma. The story follows her sister, and one of the vandals.

AGES: Recommended for highschoolers, ages 15+, for mature audiences only/parental guidance recommended.

GENRE: Thriller. RATING: 5 stars.