Guest Blog: SJ Wills
Author of Bite Risk
Top Books for Young Teens
A Time of Transition
Young teen readers, at the transition from middle grade to young adult novels, are at a particularly exciting moment for discovering new stories. Their lives are in a state of flux – the way society treats them is changing, their friendship dynamics are shifting, and their understanding of themselves is evolving, too.
The Safety of Fiction
My recommendations here all have scary moments, to varying degrees. This is because at this age, many readers are ready to – and actively seek to – imagine themselves in all sorts of unpredictable and frightening situations, within the safety of fiction.
These books can help build feelings of resilience that will help them as they contemplate stepping into the adult world – but they are also massively, unashamedly entertaining, and will hook from the start.
My Recommendations
In no particular order, here are some of my favourites:
The Spook’s Apprentice (Joseph Delaney)
For young people who enjoy being truly terrified, this – and the rest of the Wardstone Chronicles series – cannot be bettered. Tom and his master, the Spook, must battle Boggarts and witches and innumerable other supernatural nasties in a fictionalized version of Lancashire with a distinctly medieval vibe.
Tom is 12 years old when the first book begins, and you can follow him through twenty – yes, twenty – books set in the same world as he grows up. Tom is a relatable, flawed but enormously appealing character, whom you root for from the very first pages. It’s action-packed, captivating, and utterly chilling.
Not for the faint-hearted.
The Haunting of Tyrese Walker (J.P. Rose)
Struggling to cope with overwhelming grief after the death of his father, Tyrese goes to visit relatives in Jamaica.
Once there, he finds he is haunted by an entity known as The Shadow Man.
This is a properly scary horror novel, but much more than that. It’s also a poignant and ultimately uplifting novel about facing up to and dealing with the things that scare you.
The Tripods (John Christopher)
The series that made me a writer, this sci-fi exploded in my brain just as I started secondary school.
The beginning of the trilogy, The White Mountains, was the first novel that immersed me so much, it was as though I was living rather than just reading it.
Set in a future England where great three-legged monsters have taken control of the population with mind-controlling caps, it was unlike anything I’d previously read. I still return to it regularly today.
Rebel Skies (Ann Sei Lin)
This book contains an exquisitely written world you will never want to leave, with characters that come alive in your imagination.
Airships, floating cities, magical creatures made of paper… Rebel Skies is bubbling over with thrilling adventures, and is perfect for children who are ready for slightly more complex plots and ideas than they’ve come across before.
(This book also features on the brand new Year 8 Booklist from BooksForTopics).
The House Trap (Emma Read)
The stuff of nightmares… you’re trapped in an isolated house, and every time you try to leave, the rooms keep moving around.
This is a fantastic twist on escape rooms, where ingenious kids have to work together (and sometimes against each other) to solve puzzles and survive.
Warning: contains creepy dolls!
Thank you to SJ Wills for visiting our blog this week to tell us more about her book recommendations for children stepping into teen readers.
This week sees the publication of the thrilling final instalment of the Bite Risk series – Cold Blood – by SJ Wills. This thriller-horror series about werewolves and conspiracies has filled a gap in the market for children making the transition from younger to teen fiction, and has since been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Week Junior Book Awards.
Here at BooksForTopics, we’re particularly pleased to welcome SJ Wills’ advice for reading recommendations for this transitional age group, as we are in the process of populating a section on our website for KS3 booklists and the step from middle grade to teen fiction is an area we have been putting under the microscope in recent months. You can browse our new Recommended Reading List for Year 7 and Year 8 Reading Lists for more ideas of young teen reads.
Readers might also enjoy the following booklists:
- Best Books for 12 Year Olds
- Y6 Transition to Secondary Booklist
- Y8 Booklist
- Horror and Spooky Books for Children
- Y7 Booklist
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.