Illness

Squad Girls follows four besties as they navigate their dream of playing sport and athletics professionally. Tara, Ríona, Sam and Penny each are passionate and driven about different pursuits, from swimming to dance, and they must face obstacles in putting in the dedication needed alongside school and other commitments.

‘Níl seans dá laghad ann go mbraitheann Nick an bealach céanna [fúmsa] … nó an mbraitheann?’ Sin an cheist atá ag déanamh tinnis do Charlie sa chéad leabhar Heartstopper. Ach tá deireadh le héiginnteacht agus le crá croí faoin tríú leabhar, más aon chomhartha an sliocht seo as dialann Nick: ‘is buachaillí muid go hoifigiúil agus is breá liom é sin a rá’.

If you want to know anything about wolves, Jasmine is the girl to ask – what she doesn’t know about wolves is not worth knowing. Like wolves, Jasmine loves her family and friends but life isn’t always easy and this book explores a topsy-turvy time when young Jasmine finds herself counting on her favourite wolf book just to get through the day.

When seventeen-year-old Sam, who has cerebral palsy, is once again excluded from a class trip because the school bus is not wheelchair accessible, he decides to start a fundraiser to raise money for an inclusive bus. While the bus may be the catalyst for this story, what unfolds goes far beyond any fundraiser.

There’s nothing quite like the discovery of someone who loves you wholly and completely for who you are and every version of yourself you’ve ever been. That’s who Penny and Tate are for each other, they just haven’t quite figured it out yet. Growing up with moms who were best friends, Penny and Tate have been together through thick and thin while stuck in the never-ending tension of undiscovered feelings. When their moms combine their households, the girls are finally forced to face their feelings.

Navigating loss can be tough. Sixteen-year-old Noori’s grief is made even tougher as family tensions rise, leaving her feeling completely alone. Seventeen-year-old Aamir is running away from his past, and his grief. Over a week, the two become intertwined. Bonding over their shared love of Rumi’s poetry, their feelings of isolation and the unexpected invisible thread that links them together.

Pretty, popular Grace seems surrounded with love and support and is looking forward to the neighbourhood Halloween party with her brother and her best friends. But that night a spark from a bonfire causes a terrible accident. Grace is left badly burned, with livid facial scarring, and not only her life, but that of her family and their friends, will never be the same again.

Haunted by recent losses, battling addiction and anxiety, facing nothing but problems and increasingly unstable futures, Shosh and Evan are not doing well. To make things worse, they’ve been hearing strange music, an ethereal sound it seems like only they can hear. As this slow-burn romance unfolds in alternating vignettes from their difficult lives – with the occasional detour to other lifetimes – we watch these teenagers muddle through their days and investigate the spectral songs that seem to draw them together. All the while we wonder, will they find their way toward a better life?

Empathy abounds in this wonderful story of sacrificial sibling love, problematic parent relationships, and friendships that can weather the worst of things. Reed Beckett is a teenager and a carer for his sister Beatrice. On her behalf, he rides the waves of what serious illness and major surgery mean, all the while navigating relationships and financial hardships that stretch him to the limit.