Dis die onstuimige tagtigerjare.

Bethel Hendrix, haar broers en hulle ma reis deur die land in ʼn Kombi.

Hulle leef ʼn nomadiese bestaan en bly net vir ʼn kort ruk in een dorp voor hulle na ʼn volgende beweeg.

Om die gesin aan die lewe te hou, verkoop Bethel se ma vetkoek.

Maar oral waar hulle kom, is dit duidelik dat die gesin anders is. Dat hulle arm is. Dat hulle nie in ʼn regte huis bly nie. Dat hulle ma anders lyk en dink. Dat daar nie ʼn pa saam met hulle is nie.

Al wat Bethel graag wil hê is ʼn plek waar sy haarself kan wees …

“I’m dazed and confused, and messed up too, That’s all I know, it’s tough and it’s true."

You’re furious at the world. And your only weapon is a backpack full of words.

Gabriel is fifteen years old. Fifteen going on fifty, his mom used to tease. But after her death, he’s no longer sure where he is supposed to fit in. The psychologist wants Gabriel to talk about his feelings.

But how do you explain to her that it’s been easier to cope with anger than with tears these past few months?

How do you explain the fact that your so-called “mixed blood” makes you different than everyone else at school?

How do you explain that things between you and your dad have changed since he’s in a mental institution, learning to deal with his loss, while you have to find a way to go on with your life?

How do you explain the fact that, since the accident, you’ve tried cutting your wrists ... twice?

So, Gabriel loses himself in the world of performance poetry, where he learns to stick his hand deep inside his backpack of words and fling those words at an audience, like red-hot coals. Then he meets Sasha, who’s prettier than Snow White and knows a thing or two about poetry.

A truly South African story about a struggling father-and-son relationship and the healing power of words. Van der Vyver writes convincingly and engagingly about the world of performance poetry and Gabriel’s desperate attempts to make sense of life’s challenges after the death of his mom.

Ro Snow is the girl no-one notices - she doesn't go to parties and she doesn't have friends over. Besides, even if anyone tried to call on her they'd discover that no. 56 Arcadia Avenue isn't her house at all - it's her decoy house. Because her real home, a few doors down, is a tip of rubbish and paper and she can't remember the colour of the carpet it's been so long since she's seen it. Her mum, Bonnie, is a hoarder and Ro lives in terror of social services finding out about the squalor she is forced to live in. But when Noah moves in next door, Ro can't hide the truth from him and she finds herself opening up for the first time in her life. And then there's the new girl at school, the adorable and persistent Tanvi who can see that carefully hidden something-special in Ro too. And it's not long before Ro's carefully constructed castle of loneliness is crumbling down around her, but if she's out in the open, so is her painstakingly guarded secret ...

Fox Benwell delivers a harrowing and beautifully written novel that explores the relationship between two girls obsessed with music, the practice of corrective rape in South Africa, and the risks and power of using your voice.

Neo loves music, and all she ever wanted was a life sharing this passion, on the radio. When she meets Tale, the lead singer in a local South African band, their shared love of music grows. So does their love for each other. But not everyone approves. Then Neo lands her dream job of working at a popular radio station, and she discovers that using your voice is sometimes harder than expected, and there are always consequences.

'My mum is up there somewhere. She's waiting -- I can feel it. I just have to find her in time, that's all ... Because when I do, I'll know the truth about who stole her. ' Told through the innocent voice of a child, this is a story that celebrates the power of hope and resilience, from the author of The Boy at the Back of the Class. On her tenth birthday, Sophie makes a wish -- a wish for her mum. After school that same day, Sophie and her brother are rushed out of school and driven far, far away. So Sophie sets out to find out the truth -- about the wish and about what happened to her mother. And in doing so she ends up on an adventure she never could have foreseen...one that involves a very clever squirrel, a homeless man named Harry, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and the biggest star in Hollywood... A story that explores the subtle faces and endless impacts of domestic violence.

Read this sensational mystery bestseller before you watch the 13-part Netflix series, executive produced by Selena Gomez. This special edition is complete with exclusive behind-the-scenes content including a 16-page full-colour photo insert featuring scenes from the show, and interviews with the cast and crew.

You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen returns home from school one day to find a mysterious box with his name on it, outside his front door. Inside he discovers a series of cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush. Only, she committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the first tape, Hannah explains that there are 13 reasons why she did what she did - and Clay is one of them.

If he listens, Clay will find out how he made the list - what he hears will change his life forever.

If you're affected by any of the issues raised in Thirteen Reasons Why, click below for a list of UK-based support organisations that can help.

Some bodies won't stay buried.

Some stories need to be told.

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past... and the present.

Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what's right the night Tulsa burns.

Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham's lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important question about the complex state of US race relations - both yesterday and today.

A warm, feel-good story for 9+ about taking a leap of faith when life feels wobbly. Perfect for fans of Cathy Cassidy.

Jelly, aged 11, is the life and soul of the classroom. She's popular and great at doing impressions. She's also overweight. She's learned to deal with the put-downs by brushing them off and pretending she finds it all very funny - while making up poems and writing her private worries in a notebook.

Then Lennon arrives, Mum's new boyfriend. He's nice. He treats her mum well, buys her flowers, doesn't let her down. He's the first person to have noticed that Jelly is playing a part. He reads her poems and tells her they're really good. In fact, he'd like to set one to music.

When a talent show is announced at school, Lennon persuades Jelly sing her poem in the contest. But can Jelly find the courage to perform something so personal - especially when Lennon might not always be there to cheer her on?

One small lie = one big mess!

Lexie and her cousin Eleni are super-crazy-mega-extra-seriously close. They're like twins who aren't actually twins, if that's possible. But when Lexie tells a terrible, jealous lie, her whole family is split apart.

It's up to Lexie to bring them all back together and fix her relationship with Eleni. After a few calamitous escapades, Lexie has discovered that there are all sorts of truths and all sorts of lies too...But can telling the truth be more hurtful than telling a lie?

Every day Mama prepares a mid-afternoon meal for the family. Grandparents, parents, and three children all join in to share stories as well as wonderful food. Full color.

I don't entirely understand how anyone gets a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. It just seems like the most impossible odds. A perfect alignment of feelings and circumstances . . .

Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly is always careful. Better to be careful than be hurt.

But when Cassie gets a new girlfriend who comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick, everything changes. Will is funny, flirtatious and basically the perfect first boyfriend. There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid, the awkward Tolkien superfan she could never fall for . . . right?

A heartwarming and hilarious story about growing up and learning to be comfortable in your own skin.

Read this sensational mystery bestseller before you watch the 13-part Netflix series, executive produced by Selena Gomez.

You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen comes home from school to find outside his front door a mysterious box with his name on it. Inside he discovers a series of cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush. Only, she committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the first tape, Hannah explains that there are 13 reasons why she did what she did - and Clay is one of them. If he listens, Clay will find out how he got onto the list - what he hears will change his life forever.

The Unfamous Five is, a parody of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series. It works to undermine Blyton’s depiction of childhood, and the seeming neutralities of class and race that the series perpetuates. This novel captures the lives of five main characters of Indian origin and is set, mainly, in and around Lenasia.

The five central characters are seen from their adolescent years with a growing desire to leave Lenasia. When they finally achieve this goal, the baggage of history and identity lingers, ultimately forcing them return to Lenasia but on new terms.

Khanyisile is devastated when his mother dies unexpectedly. When his father takes him from their Eastern Cape village to Cape Town, his life is turned upside down even more.

At his new school, Harmony High, Khanyisile meets Given, who invites him to join the amaVura gang. But how far is he prepared to go to be part of them? And how does Given know Matchstix, the mysterious stranger his father takes him to meet in prison?

When Khanyisile finds out the truth, it is almost too late for him to turn back from the dangerous path he has chosen …

How do you live your life if your past is based on a lie? Find out in this “satisfied and moving story” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) in both verse and prose from #1 New York Times bestselling author, Ellen Hopkins.

For as long as she can remember, it’s been just Ariel and Dad. Ariel’s mom disappeared when she was a baby. Dad says home is wherever the two of them are, but Ariel is now seventeen and after years of new apartments, new schools, and new faces, all she wants is to put down some roots. Complicating things are Monica and Gabe, both of whom have stirred a different kind of desire.

Maya’s a teenager who’s run from an abusive mother right into the arms of an older man she thinks she can trust. But now she’s isolated with a baby on the way, and life’s getting more complicated than Maya ever could have imagined.

Ariel and Maya’s lives collide unexpectedly when Ariel’s mother shows up out of the blue with wild accusations: Ariel wasn’t abandoned. Her father kidnapped her fourteen years ago.

In bestselling author Ellen Hopkins’s deft hands, Ariel’s emotionally charged journey to find out the truth of who she really is balances beautifully with Maya’s story of loss and redemption. This is a memorable portrait of two young women trying to make sense of their lives and coming face to face with themselves—for both the last and the very first time.

They told her that her body belonged to men and her mind didn’t matter. They were wrong.

“What if I don’t want to marry?” Lillian held her breath. She had never said the words out loud.

“Not want to marry?” Her aunt frowned. “What else would you do?”

Set in a Ugandan village, Lilian has learned to shrink herself to fit other people’s ideas of what a girl is. In her village a girl is not meant to be smarter than her brother. A girl is not meant to go to school or enjoy her body or decide who to marry. Especially if she is poor.

Inspired by and written in consultation with young Ugandan women, and addressing the difficult subject of FGM, I Am Change is the tragic but empowering story of how a young girl finds her voice and the strength to fight for change.

Discover a summer love story like no other: soon to be a major motion picture starring Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger, and perfect for fans of The Fault in our Stars and Everything, Everything.

Katie can't leave her house during the day: she has a rare disease that makes even the smallest amount of sunlight deadly.

But everything changes when one evening, singing her heart out on a deserted station platform, she meets Charlie.

Before the night is out, Katie is smitten. But she hasn't told Charlie her secret. She just wants to have her normal love story, before reality kicks in.

Lost in her night-time summer romance, Katie knows that love will light the way.

A heartbreaking tale of love, loss and one nearly perfect summer.

A People magazine Best Book of Fall 2019
An Amazon Best Young Adult Book of 2019
"F***ing outstanding."--Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author

Juliet Milagros Palante is a self-proclaimed closeted Puerto Rican baby dyke from the Bronx. Only, she's not so closeted anymore. Not after coming out to her family the night before flying to Portland, Oregon, to intern with her favorite feminist writer--what's sure to be a life-changing experience. And when Juliet's coming out crashes and burns, she's not sure her mom will ever speak to her again.

But Juliet has a plan--sort of. Her internship with legendary author Harlowe Brisbane, the ultimate authority on feminism, women's bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff, is sure to help her figure out this whole "Puerto Rican lesbian" thing. Except Harlowe's white. And not from the Bronx. And she definitely doesn't have all the answers . . .

In a summer bursting with queer brown dance parties, a sexy fling with a motorcycling librarian, and intense explorations of race and identity, Juliet learns what it means to come out--to the world, to her family, to herself.

Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent is back in this hilarious and gloriously illustrated book for ages six and up from the superstar creator of Clarice Bean and Charlie and Lola, Lauren Child.

“These stories are about the days when the Bobton-Trents had it cushy, very cushy indeed.”

The Bobton-Trent seniors certainly know how to make the most of their extravagant wealth – socialising, doing things, buying things and generally being more than a little bit … irresponsible…

Luckily for them, their son Hubert Horatio is an exceptionally intelligent, talented and sensible child.

Unluckily for Hubert, this tends to mean that a lot of his spare time is spent steering his rather unruly set of grown-ups out of trouble.

Legendary children’s writer and UK Children’s Laureate 2017-2019 Lauren Child revisits one of her most popular characters in these brand-new, laugh-out-loud stories about the rather unconventional Bobton-Trents! The perfect gift for children aged six and up.

When four Long Island teens plot to meet Fatima Ro, the elusive author of their favourite novel, they're stunned when she befriends them and invites them into her eccentric life. Suddenly their lives seem charmed, and as they grow closer to their idol, they find themselves revealing their darkest secrets to her.

But a year later, Miri, Soleil, Jonah and Penny are shocked to discover that Fatima's newly released YA novel is based on those same secrets. The revelations are devastating, and they can't escape the spotlight. The friends' interview transcripts, emails and journal entries reveal how willing they were to sacrifice everything to win Fatima's approval - and how those sacrifices led to a tragedy from which one of them will never recover.

I'd been warned - in French, no less. By a tram-riding, mermaid-swaying, wolf-eaten, peace-sign flipping friend. I knew she wouldn't be happy if I stayed out here by the pool, with Jed's nail tracing the length of my neck. But I didn't want to go inside. I didn't want another drink. I wanted to stay out here and see what would happen. What's a girl to do when her parents have split up; her mum's trawling Tinder; and one of her best friends has decided not to invite her to the biggest party of the year, which she then has to watch unfold on everyone else's social media? If you're a girl called MC, you get mad as hell, that's what you do. But what begins as one girl's private, no-holds-barred rant soon snowballs in the most public way possible. A funny, heartfelt novel for anyone who's ever wished they hadn't pressed send.

One teenager in a skirt.

One teenager with a lighter.

One moment that changes both of their lives forever.

If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.

Packed with 100 inspiring, creative, fun challenges for boys, this project from violence-prevention organization A Call to Men answers parents' cries for building healthy manhood, respect, and emotional awareness in their sons.

- Dare to prove a stereotype wrong - Dare to watch a movie about someone who's different from you - Dare to ask a friend to teach you something they're good at - Dare to be a leader

This collection of 100 original dares will help boys expand their worldview, inspire more respect toward girls and non-binary kids, and generally develop a healthier idea of manhood.

The book features a voicey intro to draw in readers, plus an afterword that's both a call to action and a resource for parents and educators. Inspired by A Call to Men's tried-and-tested curriculum, this is a way of guiding boys and young men to being their most authentic selves.

AJ's grandfather has always been the one to keep his unusual family together, so when he dies things start to unravel at the edges. AJ is worried about his parents but they don t really seem to notice. In order to deal with his grief and to keep his anxiety at bay, AJ does what he and his grandfather did best: running. Round and round the Olympic Park, aiming for the cross country trials, running to escape, AJ only seems to be heading ever closer to disaster. Running On Empty is a beautiful book about false starts and emotional journeys, with hope as the ultimate finishing line. From the author of Little Bits of Sky. Cover illustration by Rob Biddulph.

Orange Is the New Black meets Walter Dean Myer’s Monster in this gritty, twisty, and haunting debut by Tiffany D. Jackson about a girl convicted of murder seeking the truth while surviving life in a group home.

Mary B. Addison killed a baby.

Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it?

There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary’s fate now lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But does anyone know the real Mary?