Books for teenagers, there's not much out there....

[DrRingDing]

I read all the way through this thread and that was exactly my thoughts! Book tokens - can't go wrong. She can browse for hours and pick exactly what she wants then

Or you could warp her into far left thinking.

 

[Thora]

and maybe The Secret History by Donna Tarrt.

I was about to suggest The Little Friend by Donna Tarrt.

 

[Thora]

When I was her age I think I was really into Jean Ure and the Clan of the Cavebear books and there was another set of books I loved but I can't for life of me remember what they were about.

Plague 99 and After The Plague - were they Jean Ure? I loved all that post industrial collapse stuff!

 

[sam/phallocrat]

M R James

 

[DotCommunist]

Very good indeed. One of my favorite books for young adults.

 

[Lost Zoot]

Confessions of Georgia Niclson http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-frontal-Snogging-Confessions-Georgia-Nicolson/dp/0007218672/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a?ie=UTF8&qid=1196778480&sr=1-6
Thouse books are fucking hilarous.

And also The windsinger is a beautiful book

 

[DrRingDing]

A biography on Emma Goldman.

Or maybe Freida Khalo, she had a most interesting life.

 

[mozzy]

I second the Phillip Pullman recommendation.

And there's always Judy Bloom...

Judy Bloom!!!!!!!!!!! I was wondering if anyone was going to mention her! ha! ha!

I think I liked Stephen King back then.

What about Johnathon Livingston's Seagull?

I second Jostein Gaardner's Sohie's World - is 15 too young for Herman Hesse and Paulo Colletho too?

 

[pennimania]

M R James

I used to read him aloud to my kids with a little abridging.

They adored iit

What about 'Holes' by Louis Sachler (I think)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NIght - both been very popular with mine (13 and 15)

 

[Threshers_Flail]

I think she would be old enough to read books directed towards adults, it would be patronising to think otherwise. How about some George Orwell, or play it safe and give her vouchers.

 

[treefrog]

Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess. Utterly ace

 

[spanglechick]

I used to read him aloud to my kids with a little abridging.

They adored iit

What about 'Holes' by Louis Sachler (I think)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NIght - both been very popular with mine (13 and 15)

"holes" might well be a bit young. It's a year seven / year eight text in many schjool's and Missmoomoo is in yr 10, iirc.

Most of what i would say has been said. At 15, she needs to be experimenting with adult fiction. "The Lovely Bones" and "A Gathering Light" are both great "stepping stone" books between young adult and adult.

Kids seem to love serious issues and real life stories. "A Child Called It"(and similar) are amazingly popular.

I also rate "Curious incident...", and perhaps "Vernon God Little".

 

[gaijingirl]

The Gathering Light is an amazing book and also written originally for teenagers IIRC... another one my children's lit mate put me on to... in fact I have been really impressed with the literature aimed at that age group these days. It was pretty much Judy Bloom for me, we'd pass it around with page whatever it was, folded down with the sex on it - and I did get quite into that Flowers in the Attic series too - I think probably again for the sex scenes!

I read one lately called The Girls - which is another coming of age book - actually about conjoined twins but which basically addresses all the usual themes of identity, sexual awakening etc...

 

[moomoo]

Hmmm, I can see I'll be buying her a few more at this rate!

This is fantastic, thank you all so much!

 

[May Kasahara]

A little-known book that I loved as a youngster (and still do now) is Alice In Bed, by Kathleen Schine. The heroine, Alice, contracts a disabling illness and the book is about her journey through this; she's a fantastic narrator, spiky, funny, sexually forthright, bloodyminded and not noble at all, iyswim. The book deals with issues around disability, family relations and burgeoning sexuality in a really honest manner. It's thought-provoking and emotional as well as being very entertaining. I lost my copy ages ago and finally reacquired it this year, to discover that it reads just as well now as it did then

 

[no-no]

House of Stairs - I read this at 23 but apparently it's a kids book. I think they loosely based the film Cube on it(although unlike the film, the book has no gore so it is kid safe)

http://www.amazon.com/House-Stairs-William-Sleator/dp/0140345809

 

[May Kasahara]

Wow, that looks brilliant! Thanks no-no

*adds to wish list*

 

[miscellanist]

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. It's a bit mental, but..!

eta: I'm not sure that it's targeted at teenagers per se, but I'm sure that there were copies in my school library.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

Classic-ish books I loved as teenager which haven't been mentioned yet:

Frost in May by Antonia White.

Daddy-Long-Legs by Judy Webster.

The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy.

The Outsiders, Rumblefish, Tex by S.E. Hinton - last page weepies, the lot of them, & maybe old enough now to be retro rather than a bit dated...

(That's when I wasn't reading Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, Sidney Sheldon, Flowers in the Attic, Dennis Wheatley... )

The Ruby in the Smoke series of books by Philip Pullman is great, and not at all fantasy like Northern Lights.

 

[Ceej]

Benjamin Zephaniah writes brilliantly for teenagers, Susan Howatch for stonking good 'people' stories and Nina Bawden is always worth a go.

I hope you give her the love of a good book for Christmas, Moomoo - best present ever! x

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

I second the Phillip Pullman recommendation.

And there's always Judy Bloom...

Seconded the Judy Blume, I was flicking to the end to recommend these. I loved them as a teenager and they wont have become dated.
Mark Haddons "The curious incident of the dog in the night time" and its sequel would probably be really interesting too
If she liked louise rennison, what about adrian mole books?

 

[spoone]

just get her adult books, at 15 she can probably handle them

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

When I was 15, (when i wasnt doing other unspeakable things)I was reading lots of poetry. Maybe you could get her a hardback anthology, thats something she would have for a very long time

If you're looking for novels though, this site seems to have a range of teenage stuff, their delivery and customer service is good, I use them all the time to get my son books