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As you prepare to head back to school, you might be thinking about which books to add to your library or recommend to your readers. To give you a helping hand, we've rounded up some young-adult reads from the past academic year that were given the thumbs-up by secondary teachers and students alike. If you'd like the chance for you and your students to review a book over the next academic year, email [email protected]
Moonrise
By Sarah Crossan
If the highest praise Carnegie Medal-winning author Sarah Crossan has been aiming for is from someone who once had a poem published in a collection of Suffolk's Future Voices, then today she has officially made it. Moonrise is brilliant. Apparently I can't just write that, but really that's all you need to know...And I know what I'm talking about, because I once wrote a poem.
David Gower is assistant headteacher at King Edward VI School in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
I thought that Moonrise was an amazing book, which left me in a very emotional state of mind. The build-up to the end was incredible.
Nia, age 13
The Smoke Thieves
By Sally Green
Hurrah for The Smoke Thieves, with clearly defined families and countries, and short, punchy chapters headed with the individuals' names, which leave you in no doubt where you are and who you're reading about. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next in the series.
Gill Ward is senior librarian at Fortismere School, London
Every chapter is exciting and interesting. Chapters begin with a quote that hints at what is to come and entice you into reading for even longer than you'd planned to. Each narrator has characteristics that differentiate them clearly. This means that, unlike many books that use polyperspectivity, it is not difficult to remember which protagonist a particular slice of the story belongs to.
Mimi,...