My library teen reading group’s favourite reads ~ Savita Kalhan

Hi Matt, thanks for inviting me on your blog today and for being part of the amazing blog tour for THE GIRL IN THE BROKEN MIRROR!

So for my guest post today, I wanted to tell your readers about my teen library group’s favourite reads. I started the group because as a teenager I spent hours in the library and if there had been a group like this I would have joined it in a heartbeat!

The kids in my group range from 10 to 16 years old, it’s a diverse group and it’s half boys and half girls, so the huge range of books we read are reflected in the dynamics of the group. Also, because it’s a library group and we only have access to books on the library catalogue, we don’t get all the books that are published for middle grade, teen or YA readers, which is a real shame. It would be brilliant if all public libraries would stock at least one book of every title published, wouldn’t it?

So here’s the list, which comes highly recommended by my teen library group:

Rooftoppers and The Explorer by Katherine Rundell – both of these books have been loved by my teen reading group – the older teens and younger teens alike, which tells you that Rundell’s writing can be enjoyed whatever age you are.

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13b by Teresa Toten – this book is about a group of teenagers with various problems/issues such as OCD and ADHD, who meet with a counsellor once a week. It’s the characters that my teens fell in love with, and the book opened their eyes to the types of problems some teenagers face.

The Last Leaves Falling by Fox Benwell – this book made them cry pretty much without exception. The book is set in Japan and the main character has a rare terminal illness that makes him age too quickly.

I’m not going to tell you all about every book on the list – but I hope you will go and look them up, find the right book for you and read it.

  • Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

  • Booked by Kwame Alexander

  • The Book Thief by Marcus Suzak

  • The Harder They Fall by Bali Rai

  • Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

  • The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cotterell Boyce

  • Gorilla Dawn by Gill Lewis

  • Phoenix by S F Said

  • Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

  • Beetle Boy by M G Leonard

  • Wonder by R J Palacio

  • The Stars of Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard

  • Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

  • Hidden by Miriam Halahmy,
  • A Library of Lemons by Jo Cotterill

  • The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Milwood-Hargrave

  • The Last Wild trilogy by Piers Torday

  • The Child’s Elephant by Rachel Campbell-Johnston

  • Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness

  • Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

  • Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sacher

  • She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

  • Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence

  • The Fault in our Stars by John Green

  • Harry Potter books by JK Rowling

  • The CHERUB books Robert Muchamore

I could go on – my library group read four or five books a month – but I think your readers have enough there to be going on with there, Matt!

It’s been great fun looking at all the books my teens have been reading. I think it’s a great list – wide in range, subject matter, scope, from poetry to prose, from stand alone novels to series fiction, from fantasy to contemporary to historical!

Thank you so much for hosting me on the blog tour for THE GIRL IN THE BROKEN MIRROR. My book is not an easy read for younger readers, so I would recommend it for 14+ readers.It’s the story of a fifteen year old British Asian girl and her journey after a terrible trauma. It’s also a story about negotiating your way between two very different cultures – the world at home and the world outside. If your readers want to find out more about me, here’s my website www.savitakalhan.com, or they can chat to me on twitter @savitakalhan. I love to hear from my readers!

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