Waterstones Children's Book Prize

We just wanted to share with you some of the amazing teen titles that have been included in our Waterstones Children’s Book Prize shortlist. There’s lots of exciting titles on there, including Ketchup Clouds which I have just read and loved!

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher

I Love This Book!!!! Honestly it’s easily my favourite teen book of the year of far. It’s a brilliant unusual story from the author of My sister lives on the Mantelpiece. It follows the story of Zoe who tells her story in the form of letters that she’s writing to a prisoner on death row. Through these letters you learn more and more about Zoë’s life and her incredible secret. Full of suspense, intrigue and a fair amount of romance, this has everything you could want from a teen novel and really keeps you guessing till the end. <3

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

I won’t go into too much, if any detail on this one because of the previous blog post. All I will say is that we’re very happy to see it’s made the shortlist.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Now moving on to the books that we have yet to read. Throne of Glass looks to be a much more adventurous story that the previous two and seems perfect for Hunger Games fans! Celaena Sardothien (amazing name!) is a beautiful, deadly trained assassain who got caught and is now serving a life sentence. Enter her saviour, the young captain Westall who offers her a deal, Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament. This is the first book in a series, and we’ve already had many enquiries about a follow-up which does come out later in the year.

Geekhood: Close encounters of a girl kind

We’re not going to say too much about this one but it’s been very popular here. If you love the big bang theory you’ll love this! We’ll give you a proper review in the next couple of months as this is our book club title for March!

Serephina by Rachel Hartman

A book that has everything in! Full of fantasy, mystery, romance and thriller there is surely something in this fantastic series to suit every need? Perfect for Eragon and hobbit fans, Seraphina seeks to find the murderer of the prince of Goredd that has shattered the fragile peace between humans and dragons. Mysterious!

Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt

Part mystery, part romance this books incredible and has had some amazing reviews! Jenna is covered in scars from the car crash that killed her best friend. Struggling to cope with the aftermath of the crash and of the continuous stares and second glances that accompany her scar covered skin, Jenna is tempted to just hide away. That is, until Ryan turns up and turns her world upside down.

Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

This looks perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series or the fantastic Cherub series. Full of adventure and action! Fourteen year old Tom Raines is recruited by the state to become a Combatant: one of an elite group of teen soldiers, chosen for the unique virtual reality skills to fight world war II in space! Perhaps this all sounds a little far fetched but has had amazing reviews so far. Just look at the reviews on our website: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/s-+j-+kincaid/sammy+yuen/insignia/9016597/

  

Sorry about the length of this post and congratulations if you’ve made it all the way to the end! You can pick all of these up in store now and they’re on the buy one get one half price offer (yay!!!). Also we now have a review bay back in the teen section, so if you’re struggling to find your next book just have a look on their. 

 

Wonder

First of all apologies for the very very late post here! Things have been a bit hectic at the moment in book world what with Christmas and the giant kids moves that have taken place this month. Hopefully a few of you will have noticed but if not pop in and let us know what you think. The teen section has had a bit of a revamp as well with a much larger selection of titles on our buy one get one half price offer! Yay!!

 So, back to Wonder, which I loved!!! Please let us know what you think about it but I’ll give a little review as well.

  

Wonder is about a boy called August, or Auggie who suffers with a bad facial deformity that severely affects all aspects of his life. Up until now Auggie has been homeschooled, shielded by his parents who fear he wouldn’t cope in the outside world. This year it all changes though! Auggie is being sent to his local school for the first time ever. Wonder follows his first year at his new school and how he deals with the challenges it presents. Perhaps more importantly however is the way this book also follows how other people deal with Auggie.

The book is narrated from several different perspectives, so that you can really see how Auggie’s life affects the lives of others. The most poignant part for me was the part narrated by his sister, Via who speaks really honestly about the difficulties of having a brother with all these problems. You need to be prepared though, you WILL fall in love with Auggie and it will probably make you cry. At points it is a super emotional story but the characters are so well written and in many cases likable, that you'll be sure to laugh as well. 

If you liked this I think you’d really like the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and The Fault in our Stars which I know loads of you loved! What do you think of this book? Please let us know in the comments below. If you haven’t read it yet then I thoroughly recommend it!

Hattie, Gale and Sara J

P.s Don’t forget to tweet us @waterstonesleeds using the hashtag #leedsteenbooks