The best books about young people meeting a challenge

Katniss Everdeen volunteers to replace her sister in a life-threatening situation and so puts herself in grave danger.

I think she’s a great heroine and I love her character, the way that a generous act draws her into a nightmare of strife and peril. She’s tough, independent, and refuses to compromise. The awful post-apocalyptic world is vividly drawn, as are the creepy people who manipulate the contestants in the games. The romantic element featuring Peeta is compelling and I felt for both of them.

It’s a very skilful construction and the ending drew me immediately into the next book in the series. 

I loved the setting of this book, the whole premise of the formation of a band and the way real people such as David Bowie, Jerry Garcia, Cass Eliot, and John Lennon (to name but a few) wander across the pages and interact with the fictional characters. It makes the whole thing seem real.

The five band members are well drawn, from the singer Elf, who comes across as strong and sexy, to the mysterious and troubled Jasper de Zoet. And all this detail and realism is conveyed through smooth and highly readable prose.

It’s one of the few books I finished in one sitting.

I love this book, a beautiful celebration of young love set in the summer 1997.

It’s easy to identify with Charlie Lewis, his failed school career and his shambolic home life. He meets the rich and privileged Fran Fisher, whose background is totally different from his. The contrast between them is beautifully drawn and I felt for Charlie as he tentatively moved towards a girl he feels is out of his reach. His insecurity is moving.

The Romeo & Juliet link which is obvious from the title is well handled, enriching without being intrusive. There’s a heart-rending sense of nostalgia that reminds you of what it’s like to be trying to find your feet as a teenager.

This is a great coming-of-age love story, and although the characters are a little old for the YA category their problems are the same as those that many younger people face.

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, but Marianne is a loner. However, there’s a mutual attraction and the two find themselves drawn to each other. They move on from school to a prestigous university, and although they try to stay apart they keep being drawn together. There are mistakes and misunderstandings, but the main feeling is of the ache and yearning of first love. 

The TV adaptation was very good, but the book is so much better.

This book begins part way through the story, when one night in a Toronto theatre, onstage performing the role of King Lear, 51-year-old Arthur Leander has a fatal heart attack. We don’t see the relevance and connection of this till later.

The way the book gradually unpeels the story and we get to know more about the characters and what they face is one of the things I like about this fascinating book. The situation is a pandemic in the form of a flu pandemic so lethal that, within weeks, most of the world's population has been killed, and most of the action takes place long after the plague is over when in various ways people are trying to rebuild.

Mandel is a great storyteller, who cleverly interweaves the lives and fates of her characters. It’s both a mystery and a post-apocalyptic story with a dense plot that makes it a true page-turner.