Elizabeth Laird |
Macmillan |
1904442714 |
Sept 2006 |
|
The tragedy of this book is that it feels so contemporary. Set during the civil war that Lebanon appeared to have put behind it, last summer’s military stand off between Israel and Hezbollah gives it a very ‘now’ feel. |
Under The Persimmon Tree
Suzanne Fisher Staples |
Walker Books |
1904442714 |
Oct 2005 |
|
As every storyteller knows, it is the tales of individual people which bring real events to life. The sanitised vocabulary and politicised angles of the news can make the realities and complexities of recent world events difficult for young adults to access. |
House of Spies
House of Spies |
Andersen Press |
1904442714 |
Oct 2005 |
|
The madness that can grip communities in times of strife, real or imagined, is fertile ground. |
In The Morning
Michael Cronin |
Oxford University Press |
1904442714 |
Nov 2005 |
|
Adult books have often addressed the issue of how the history of the Second World War could have been very different. Robert Harris’s Fatherland is a classic of the genre while Philip Roth’s more recent The Plot Against America gives a US perspective. |
Tamar
Mal Peet |
Walker |
0744565707 |
Oct 2005 |
|
I’ve just done that thing you do when you turn the last page on an exceptionally good book. Close the back cover, stare gormlessly at the jacket illustration and make a cross between a sniff and a sigh. The sniff for appreciation of great work done, the sigh of regret that a story you’ve savoured has finished. |