Young adults

Sixteen-year-old Azadeh attends a ‘posh’ school, but on a scholarship, her family are not rich. Azadeh makes her father drop her outside the gates of the school rather than be seen in his battered work van. At home her mother is battling mental health issues; her father is doing his best but he tends to avoids issue. Azadeh is left to battle her way through as best she can while also facing the typical challenges of teenagerhood—friendships, fashion, nights out, and first relationships.

What happens to the chosen one once they’ve grown up? In this graphic novel we find out what the world looks like after the heroes have won, the darkness is banished, and life attempts to return to normal.

After witnessing a magic ball of light leave her father in a coma, Akoma Addo makes it her mission to understand the supernatural. She even goes so far as to join a secret police unit dedicated to solving magical crimes in San Francisco’s AfricaTown, hoping to unravel the mystery of her father’s extended illness and to make use of the unit’s advanced tech in the meantime. But when a body is found in a pool of molten gold, Akoma finds herself at the centre of a much larger – and more dangerous – mystery.

This is an emotional and beautifully written story of a young man’s struggle to find his way.

This intriguing, fast-paced psychological thriller tells the story of a queer, runaway teenager who, after being caught shoplifting, assumes the identity of Nate Beaumont, a boy who disappeared ten years earlier. What begins as a desperate attempt to escape his past quickly becomes much more dangerous when Nate’s family takes him home, believing him to be their missing son. Bad things begin to happen as someone threatens to reveal who ‘Nate’ really is, and our protagonist starts to fear for his own life.

Dusty and her little sister Poppy might not have the easiest life being in care and constantly moving home, but at least they have each other. Until suddenly, they don’t. After a breakdown in their foster placement, Dusty is sent to a children’s home away from everything she knows and – worst of all – away from her sister. It’s there that Dusty meets Cooper, a boy who is familiar with Dusty’s pain and is willing to help her get back to Poppy, even if it means running away together.

Owais seems to epitomise London swagger, whether navigating his extended family, school, or the gangs in his neighbourhood. Committed to his comedic persona, the patter of groan-inducing puns conceals an unfocused, uncertain yet charming teenager, struggling with self-doubt and fear of the future. Failing grades lands Owais in a summer programme and life is further complicated by the disruptive arrival of his moody and troubled cousin Abass into the midst of his stable and loving family.

Set in Nova Scotia, during a seemingly endless winter, A Million Tiny Missiles draws on the author’s experience of growing up as a neurodivergent child in a small town in the Canadian province. Central to the narrative is the relationship between the narrator, a neurodivergent fourteen-year-old, and his older brother, who has fallen into a life of addiction and criminality. They live with their policeman father, and part-time teacher mother, whose relationship is showing the strain of the challenges facing them.

This fast-paced, suspenseful adventure, set on Mars in 2067 explores themes of loss, betrayal and trust. The Red Planet is getting crowded with countries, companies and the United Nations all vying for land, resources and influence. The powerful GravesUP corporation exerts it’s hold, both on Earth and this new frontier. The United Nations trying (and failing) to assert authority has established PAX Station.