"Stories are wild creatures", the monster said. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?"
Sometimes a book comes along that is so beautifully written, haunting and true that when it's finished, even though it has broken your heart, you can't help but hug it tight and feel so, so grateful (it's not just me that hugs books. Right?).
A Monster Calls is a story - a fable almost - of grief and rage, courage and loss. It tells the story of Conor, who's mother is dying of cancer, who's father is absent, having moved to America with his new wife and child and who is bullied mercilessly at school (by a particularly sociopathic child who reminded me strongly of Kevin from We Need to Talk About notoriety).
One night, at 12:07am, a monster arrives at Conor's window. It has walked the earth for many years, this time taking the form of a yew tree and is here to tell three stories...and to hear Conor tell one. The truth.
(I should mention that the Bea was fully supervised while I was lost in this story!)
As Conor deals with the changing, and often cruel, world around him, the Monster visits, again and again, and helps him to at last confront his own true story.
This is an utterly heartrending tale - I was speechless when I finished and so moved. It is a stunning exploration of grief and the rage that comes with it - and of learning the painful lessons of loss and letting go. I often dog-ear books to remember favourite phrases and this story was so beautifully and lyrically written that my copy is now dog-earred from front to back. "Stories are important", the monster said. "They can be more important than anything. If they carry the truth."
This story has shot straight into my top three list and I can't wait to see the movie, due for release on 26 January (even though the preview alone is enough to make me weepy).
Patrick Ness created this story from an idea that the late Siobhan Dowd had told her publisher. Knowing that this story was itself built from loss, and the carrying on of someone's imagination, made this story all the more beautiful for me.
A Monster Calls is heavy going at times, but beautiful, and ultimately uplifting. I would suggest it for readers twelve and up. In fact, it's one of those tales that I think everyone should read. Maybe it's just that I enjoy these kinds of books, but I've always disliked the idea of "YA". As Patrick Ness notes himself, in an essay about A Monster Calls,
"a good story should be for everyone - a children's book must be for young people first, but, if you tell a story that works for a child it's got to be a good story because children are no fools".
One small note: I have been so lucky in my life not to have know the loss of a beloved immediate family member at a young age, and with that ignorance in mind, I'd suggest proceeding with caution in buying this for someone who has lost (or is losing) someone close.
Available at all good bookstores - there is also an exquisite illustrated version that I plan on getting my mitts as soon as I can.
A little Zooey to get you through the last of your Christmas shopping
This is it! Our last guide.
And just in time too - can you believe it's two weeks until Christmas? Far and away, my favourite time of year - even better this year as the Bea is old enough to know what's going on! We've been going crazy with the decorations, celebrations and a certain elf on a shelf (who is much more work than expected...).
Anyho, on to the list! Some are recommendations from my (almost) teenage niece, some are recommendations from one of my favourite bookstores and the others are ones that I know and love.
Tweens and teens are tricky book-wise I think - there's so much YA fiction now and it's hard to keep an eye on the kinds of books they're reading. My sister and I were chatting about what books her 12 year old would like this year and there's so many that she wants to read that we're not too sure about. Hunger Games? Divergent? Sure, we loved these series but is she really ready for that level of violence and adult themes? I want to say no, because I still see the tiny baby she was when I look at her, but the bookworm in me says yes - particularly when I remember the scary books I was reading when I was that age (Victor Kelleher's Del Del will haunt me forever).
I guess the point I'm making is that these are the books tweens and teens will want to read - but it's really up to you to consider what they're ready for emotionally. I've flagged themes so you can have an idea of what you're buying (and to spare you the wrath of angry Christmas parents!).
Rainbow Rowell is a real favourite of mine. Her writing is witty, clever, and most importantly real - although it's been a while (only a very short while) since I was a teenager, I remember feeling so many of the emotions and having so many of the thoughts of her protagonists.
Eleanor and Park is Rowell's first novel and tells the story of...well, Eleanor and Park, two outsiders who form an unlikely romance.
Eleanor is a curvy, red-headed sixteen year old who wears all the wrong clothes and comes from the wrong side of town. Park is half-Korean, comes from a loving family and knows how to fit in. When the two meet on the bus on Eleanor's first day of school, love blooms, sparked by their shared love of comic books and 80's mixed tapes.
This is such a moving story - witty, real and heartbreaking - I was weepy by the end. The story involves heavy themes - domestic abuse, body image and bullying - making it best for older teenagers, 15-16 and up.
My niece P (just turned 12) loves these books. From the author of Percy Jackson (also a big hit in my niece's house), this is the story of Magnus Chase, who has been living on the streets of Boston following a terrifying night when his mother told him to run. When his mysterious uncle tracks him down, Magnus learns that there is much more to him than he realised....he is the son of a Norse god.
My niece loves the adventure and mystery of these books - plus my sister informs me that she's now quite the source of information on all things ancient mythology. Handy on trivia nights apparently. There are currently two books in the series, with the third due in March 2017. Good for kids 12 and up who enjoy fantasy and adventure.
John Green is my intellectual crush. I would marry this man, and his writing, in a heartbeat.
I mean. Watch this guy review Twilight and then tell me you're not in love (I apologise for the thumbnail for this clip, there's a whole lot of heaving chest and angsty stares going on here):
Like so many, I discovered John Green through The Fault in Our Stars (thinking about it makes me weepy...and again contemplate the feasibility of changing Bea's name to Gus) and quickly sped through Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines and Will Grayson,Will Grayson.
Any of these books would be perfect for a teenager 13 and up. The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns are his best known books, thanks to their movie adaptations (Looking for Alaska is still in the works) - so if you're looking for one that teens likely won't have, I'd aim for An Abundance of Katherines and Will Grayson, Will Grayson - both are probably the most light hearted of his novels too.
Be warned, all of these books have heavier themes, particularly Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, which will leave you (I mean, the teen you're buying them for, right?) broken hearted. In that weirdly grateful way.
In the blink of an eye, everyone over 15 has vanished. Soon after, the phones, internet, any connection to the outside world disappears. Soon, all that is left are mutating animals, teenagers who are developing unimaginable powers....and a sinister creature. How will these teenagers survive?
I have yet to read this one, but it comes recommended as a great read for teenagers who love supernatural mystery. Evoking Lord of the Flies (and Stephen King's The Dome among others) this (the first in a series of seven, with the latest book due in 2017) is also a thought provoking novel on what happens when the adults aren't around anymore to call the shots. Suggested for kids 13 and up.
Here it is friends, the next big YA hit. Recommended by one of my favourite bookstores, this sounds like the next Hunger Games or Battle Royale and has already been added to my list of Christmas reads.
An ancient fairy folk, the Sidhe, has vowed revenge upon Ireland, the country that banished them thousands of years before. They take their revenge through the Call - in which every adolescent over the age of 10 will, at some unexpected time, disappear to the Sidhe world where they must fight to survive a single day (three minutes in "real world" time).
Now, Irish children from the age of 10 are trained in survival colleges to prepare them for the Call. Enter Nessa, a 14 year old girl preparing for the Call, against all odds and her own challenges - she has been disabled by polio and can only move around with the use of crutches. Can she make it?
Although aimed at YA audiences, I have it on good authority this novel is a little on the violent and gory side so probably isn't the best idea for squeamish readers or anyone under 14. A sequel is on the way and it wouldn't surprise me to hear of a movie in development!
This book is my favourite YA of the year. A love story to books and bookstores, it tells the story of Rachel who returns to Melbourne and her friend Henry, after tragedy strikes. Henry's family owns a second hand bookstore, Howling Books, and through it's books and it's readers, we learn more about Rachel and Henry and about love, loss and grief.
This is such a beautiful story - I couldn't put it down. The love of books and language leaks from every page and so in love was I with the idea of the Letters Section of Howling Books, where readers leave letters to each other in the pages of books, that I've now gone back to dog-earing my favourite passages in books, as a way of passing on my own story to the people who read after me.
"Before
you say it words do matter. They're not pointless. If they were
pointless then they couldn't start revolutions and they wouldn't change
history and they wouldn't be the things that you think about every night
before you sleep. If they were just words we wouldn't listen to songs,
we wouldn't beg to be read to when we're kids...If they
were just words then people wouldn't fall in love because of them, stop
aching because of them..."
I recommend Words in Deep Blue for teens 16 and up (and I recommend that you add it to your own Christmas wishlist!)
I hope this has helped with last minute shopping for those (sometimes terrible but mostly wonderful) teens. Wishing you all a very Merry (and Bookwormy) Christmas!
