I am always pleasantly surprised by the reading tastes of our students as they are always changing from year to year. What doesn’t change, though, is teens looking for stories that reflect their own experiences, with characters that look like them and are from the same neighbourhoods. They also want humour, one thing that, in my opinion, is needed more in YA today. I am working a lot with older students this year, so it’s been fun to steer them towards all of the amazing stories out there that are by UK YA authors. I can tell you without a doubt that these novels are great and need to be read by everyone. Here’s a list of the ones our students love, enjoy! There are so many amazing UK YA books out there, it’s very difficult to choose just 10, but the students have had their say and I’m very happy with what they have decided on. I look forward to creating more lists like this with them in the future! Nathan’s life has just been torn to shreds. His brother has committed suicide, he can’t understand how this has happened. Refusing to just “get on with it,” he decides to track down the reasons that led to this tragic moment. He retraces his brother’s footsteps, along the way he meets Megan, a friend of his brother who also wants to find out the truth. As they inch closer to the truth, they begin to wonder if they can actually deal with what they are about to uncover. This is a true gut-punch of a book — a masterpiece.
