Category: YA 5 out of 5s

Jean Craighead Gorge’s Julie and the Wolves

Miyaz, Julie’s Inuit name, flees from Barrow (now Utqiagvik) to escape from Daniel and heads south towards Point Hope, hoping to work on a ship to San Francisco. Using the skills she learned from her father as a child in the seal camp, she navigates the tundra, but loses her sense of direction. Desperate, she stays close to a pack of wolves hoping to get some food from their hunt otherwise she is going to die.
Although outdated in its use of Eskimo, the book is an insight into life within the Arctic Circle as an Inuit as well as wolf behaviour. A great story.

Mieko Kawakami’s—Heaven *****

While Kojima observes another student in her middle school class being bullied, he observes the other girls bullying Kojima. Soon he finds a note in his desk asking to meet. Who is sending this unsigned note? Is it the boys in his class making fun of him again? He’s not sure what to do, but either way, if it’s the boys who bully him, they’ll punish him no matter what decision he makes.

This is a compelling read told through the voice of the boy the students call Eyes.

Ransom Riggs’ — Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children *****

After Jacob’s grandfather’s mysterious death, he and his father travel to a Welsh island. While exploring the island, Jacob accidently stumbles through time where he discovers the peculiar children his grandfather once told him about though at the time, Jacob never believed his stories. Unlike many other books, when Jacob is confronted with evil he doesn’t rely on violence.

This tale is aimed at YA readers, but I was so enchanted by this adventure, that I had to read the second, then the third. However, by the fourth book, the adventures didn’t draw me in the way the first three in the series had.

This is yet another book made into a movie, where the book outshines the movie.

Tracy Chevalier’s — New boy

Dee develops a friendship with the new boy at school, but Rod is jealous. This is a YA novel, but I couldn’t put this well written book down. The entire novel takes place over one day and the ending will leave you spellbound.