New YA and Teen Books for October
From Phillip Pullman's latest to a feminist retelling of Bluebeard, there's something for everyone in this month's picks for teens and young adults!
- Serpentine by Phillip Pullman
Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon have left the events of 'His Dark Materials' far behind. In this snapshot of their forever-changed lives they return to the North to visit an old friend, where we will learn that things are not exactly as they seem.
Lyra and her daemon return to the north in a standalone tale from the world of His Dark Materials
- The Magpie Society: one for sorrow by Amy McCulloch, Zoe Sugg
Illumen Hall is an elite boarding school. Tragedy strikes when the body of a student is discovered at their exclusive summer party - on her back is an elaborate tattoo of a magpie. When new girl Audrey arrives the following term, running from her own secrets back home in America, she is thrown into solving the case. Despite her best efforts to avoid any drama, her new roommate Ivy was close to the murdered girl, and the two of them can't help but get pulled in. The two can't stand each other, but as they are drawn deeper into the mystery of this strange and terrible murder, they will discover that something dangerous is at the heart of their superficially perfect school.
From the author and the editor of Girl Online
- Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighbourhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University, and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center. Through a series of flashbacks and letters to Justyce, Quan's story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there's a dead cop and a weapon with Quan's prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.
Sequel to Dear Martin
- Ink tales: bedtime stories for the end of the world by Amandeep Singh
'Ink Tales' reinvigorates fairy tales and myths from around the world, breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes throughout. Illustrated by Amandeep Singh, in his vibrant signature Indian inks, each story is accessible and visually inspiring.
- Blueblood by Malorie Blackman, Laura Barrett
Nia has met the man she wants to marry. Marcus is kind, clever and handsome, with a beard so dark it is nearly blue-black. Nia demands a single promise from him - that Marcus will never enter her study in the basement, her private space. But when Marcus's curiosity begins to mount Nia feels more and more uneasy. Will he betray her? Can he accept that no means no? Can a woman ever have a room of her own?
Blackman retells Bluebeard as a feminist fairy tale with full-colour iluustrations. Kamila Shamsie's Duckling is in the same series.
- Breathless by Jennifer Niven
You were my first. Not just sex, although that was part of it, but the first to look past everything else into me. Some of the names and places have been changed, but the story is true. Claudine Henry was not supposed to spend her summer on this remote island off the coast of Georgia. She was supposed to be on a road trip with her best friend, spending every last minute together before they go to college. But after her father makes a shock announcement, she is exiled with her shaken mother, with no phone service and no one she knows. She is completely cut off. Until she meets Jeremiah. Free spirited, mysterious and beautiful, their chemistry is immediate and irresistible. They both know that whatever they have can only last the summer, but maybe one summer is enough.
New title from the author of All the Bright Things
- When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten
Nothing much happens in Sycamore, the small village where Clara lives. She loves eating ripe mangoes fallen from trees, running outside in the rainy season and escaping to her secret hideout with her best friend Gaynah. There's only one problem - she can't remember anything that happened last summer.