Best books for teens (teen)

The latest instalment in the adventures of Alex Rider, in which he re-enters earthly events from outer space – and gets tangled up in the criminal world of the Snakehead organisation in south-east Asia.

The violence is darkly terrifying, the sense of landscape immediate and haunting and Gwyna/​Gwyn’s shifting gender permits Reeve to cast a unique, strikingly vivid glimpse into dark-age Britain.

This is a wonderful story, brilliantly told in the Glaswegian dialect, and despite containing distressing accounts of bullying, it also reveals the complexities of human nature

When the sickness came, the adults became ill. The lucky ones died but many mutated into brainless, deformed monsters with a seemingly insatiable appetite – for children.

When teenager Ross Fell is killed, his closest friends are horrified by the sham and hypocrisy of his funeral.

Gardner skilfully sets the scene, in which extra-sensory abilities can be turned to many uses, and where good and evil, identity and destiny are not as clear cut as we might think.

Paul Faustino is reluctantly drawn into investigating the disappearance of San Juan’s teenage football prodigy El Brujito.

Set in the seventeenth century amid the bleakness of winter in Eastern Europe, and inspired by vampire folklore, this is a superbly crafted, dark and menacing tale.

Siki already has a fierce hatred for the Mexican warriors but when her little brother Tazhi is brutally slain in front of her, she vows to become an apache warrior and avenge his death.

17-year-old Sasha travels to France as a volunteer nurse in an attempt to rescue her beloved brother Tom from a terrible death. But can she really change the future?

A teenage tearaway from tough downtown Dublin is unwillingly relocated into a rural County Clare which still believes in the Little Folk.

The first in a series, this enthralling sci-fi/fantasy novel grips readers throughout, presenting them with tough questions about identity, ethics and the nature of truth.

This quirky, off-beat novel acutely depicts the feelings of pain and alienation felt by many adolescents

‘They say dead men tell no tales, but they’re wrong. Even the dead tell stories.’

A carefully reasoned and historically informed novel about growing up and making choices

Loosely based on the real life case of the Kerry babies, powerful imagery and lyrical prose is woven throughout this unforgettable, outstanding and ultimately hopeful novel.

A beautiful, sad and compelling story of an isolated community that must face the relentless advance of progress and a teenager who loses any sense of her own identity.

Sam and Bo reveal their pasts in alternate chapters, each gradually facing the dysfunctional relationships and traumatic incidents which have triggered their current unlikely friendship.

Paul isn’t one of the tough kids, but when he ends up delivering a message from Roth, the terrifying school bully, he finds himself drawn into a dangerous rivalry. 

Henry Tumour is certainly a memorable book: it’s funny, shocking, and thought-provoking, too. Just be warned that the language is extreme throughout!

An unflinching examination of love, loss and sibling intimacy, which is both brutal and compelling

This funny, touching and compelling novel was the winner of the inaugural Booktrust Teenage Prize

Themes of dictatorship, terrorism and privacy reign in Ness’s darker science fiction sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Back in the early 1980s, Robert Jacklin doesn’t want to move to the newly independent Zimbabwe with his parents, nor does he want to be shipped off to boarding school.

This unusual crime novel is both gripping and haunting, and builds to an unforgettable ending. 

A much heralded, compelling sex story for teenage boys from this provocative writer

Shortlisted for the 2005 Booktrust Teenage Prize, this is a controversial and daring look at the gritty reality of teenage experience.