Shadow Forest by Matt Haig
A fairy story with a difference. Written from the point of view of Samuel Blink, he is a laid back character encountering unusual people. His parents do not believe him when he sees an accident about to happen - then the giant log falls from the sky and kills them, leaving Samuel and his sister Martha orphans.
Sent off to live in Norway with his mother's mysterious sister; they are forbidden to enter the nearby wood. Indeed, they cannot go outside the house without permission. When Martha disappears into the Shadow Forest, Samuel has to follow in a bid to save her. The forest is ruled by the Changemaker who has turned all things good into evil.
No one is safe. There are one eyed trolls who share an eye between them; sinister huldre-folk, truth pixies who want to kill, and a witch who steals shadows. Can Samuel and Martha come out alive? And what has happened to Uncle Henrik? A lively read, which leavens the horror with humour; making it acceptable for children to cope with. Samuel is an all too real character trying to cope under unbearable odds, with non stop changes in his life while his sister has retreated into silence in a bid to survive the trauma of her parents death. Well Worth reading.
A Work In Progress by Beth McCarthy
Brett McCarthy lives for soccer, vocabulary words, and her largerthan-life grandmother, Nonna. Unfortunately, Brett’s got a huge mouth she can’t seem to tame and opinions she can’t keep to herself. It’s thanks in part to both of those things (well, really, the evil Jeanne Anne) that Brett finds herself going from good student and BFF to Diane, to twicesuspended, friendless, and lunching with the principal every day. Indefinitely.
So when Nonna starts going for lots of medical tests and no one will tell her why, Brett’s already turned-upside down world goes from bad to worse, and she’s not sure where she fits, who she is, or how to make right what she, and her big fat mouth, have made wrong. Maria Padian makes her literary debut with a laugh-out-loud coming-of-age novel about one smart-mouthed 14-year-old who’s learning the hard way that she is a work in progress.