September brings a slew of emotionally-charged and highly recommended YA to our shelves, along with some terrifying and twisty psychological thrillers.

Find our best recommendations for kids’ books this month here.

OUR YA BOOK THE OF THE MONTH

The Text-Prize winning Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian is our YA Book of the Month. Two troubled teens find connection, trust and friendship in this touching, dual-perspective novel. Ava is making a mess of things after the loss of her best friend Kelly, and Gideon is attempting to recover from bullying and its consequences. Doncaster children’s book buyer Natalie found Beautiful Mess engrossing and cathartic, saying that ‘the relationship that develops between Ava and Gideon is full of hope, pain and complexity.’

You can read Natalie’s full review here.

LOVEOZYA PICKS

It doesn’t get more super-starry than Take Three Girls by not-one-but-three award-winning Aussie authors – Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell and Fiona Wood. Three disparate teens find themselves in the same school wellness class and discover that they have a surprising amount in common. Bookseller Bronte says that this trio of authors have ‘created an utterly authentic high school in St. Hilda’s, from the coded language used by the students, to the ways that invisible social structures impose on their interactions with one another.’

You can read Bronte’s full review here.

We’re pleased that wwo authors from this year’s Readings Young Adult Book Prize shortlist have new books out this month.

Wilder Country is the sequel to Mark Smith’s The Road to Winter. Finn, Kas and Willow begin their search for Rose’s baby, bringing them back in touch with the evil Ramage.

Our Chemical Hearts author Krystal Sutherland follows up her debut with A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares. 17-year-old Esther has a long list of fears and a family curse to break in this funny and romantic book that also explores more serious issues of mental health and trauma.

INTERNATIONAL YA PICKS

E. Lockhart brings us another psychological thriller and unreliable narrator with the much-anticipated Genuine Fraud. This story of two teenagers, Jule and Imogen, works backwards, starting with Jule in hiding in a Mexican coastal town and Imogen nowhere to be found. Readings Kids shop manager Angela was wowed by Genuine Fraud and advises reading it before everyone else because it ‘has an incredible twist at its heart that will shock and surprise you.’

You can read Angela’s full review here.

Brace yourself for the gruelling S.T.A.G.S. by MA Bennett. In this novel, a group of private school (St Aidan the Great School = S.T.A.G.S.) misfits are invited to the remote fancy estate of a popular classmate for some huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’. Only, as our hero Greer gradually deduces in this dark and twisted tale, the misfits are actually the prey being hunted. Eek!

Patrice Lawrence received many accolades for her YA novel Orangeboy, and follows up this month with Indigo Donut – a family mystery and a hesitant romance between two teens, Indigo and Bailey, who attend a ‘last-chance’ high school in London.

And finally, fans of big series by big-name authors will be delighted with the arrival of the next instalment in Sarah J Maas’s Throne of Glass series, Tower of Dawn, and with a new sci-fi series from Pittacus Lore – Generation One is the first book of the Lorien Legacies Reborn series.

RECENT NEWS

The 2017 winners of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards have been revealed with Claire Zorn taking out the Older Readers category for her sensitive, beautiful surfing novel, One Would Think the Deep. Congratulations to all the winning and honoured authors and illustrators.

Australia’s premier teen choice book awards have announced their 2017 Inky Awards shortlists. If you’re a teen, you can vote now for your favourite books. Voting closes on 17 September at 5pm EST and the winners will be announced at State Library Victoria on October 2. Find out more here.

The Davitt Awards celebrate crime fiction written by Australian women, and this year’s winners were announced last weekend. Our congratulations go out to Shivaun Plozza who won the Young Adult category with her fierce debut novel Frankie.

This month, one of our awesome work experience students has put together a great list of five book to film adaptations worth watching. Read and see if you agree with her!

YA EVENTS IN JUNE

Join us for the launch of Mark Smith’s Wilder Country – the much-anticipated sequel to The Road to Winter at 6.30pm on Tuesday 5 September at Readings Carlton. This event is free, no booking required.

All aboard the #LoveOzYA Train Trip on Thursday 14 September!

This will be an enormously fun book club on a train with Begin, End, Begin contributors Danielle Binks, Ellie Marney, Lili Wilkinson, Melissa Keil and Amie Kaufman. Meet at 6.45pm at Flinders Street railway station for a 7:09pm departure on the Glen Waverley line, or join on any stop along the way. The group will travel to the end of the line and then back to Flinders Street railway station. This event is free, no booking required.

Leanne Hall