The Ultimate Teen Book Guide

David Almond, in his introduction, calls The Ultimate Teen Book Guide "a kind of travellers guide" to the many novels for teenage readers as recommended by an impressive array of authors, experts, editors and children. In a better way than any other book guide for teens has so far managed to achieve, it offers up a selection of choices in a more than palatable way for a notoriously difficult readership to please.

This is, therefore, not a book to read from cover to cover--more a volume to be dipped into, read at leisure and in digestible bite-size chunks. The various contributors have often delved into their own experiences to highlight a wide range of possible reads for the discerning older reader, and in doing so have achieved an accessibility, and connection, to its target audience that has perhaps eluded some previous, stuffier tomes.

Celia Rees tells potential readers that The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price is a great fantasy, Julia Green relishes her slow appreciation of Sonya Hartnett's Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf, Geraldine McCaughrean describes the splendidly sentimental Discword novel by Terry Pratchett called Monstrous Regiment and Meg Rosoff joins the fanatical following for Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Books from contemporary writers, still plying their trade, and modern classics from previous decades all rub shoulders for the attention of readers of the next generation.

Apart from the Book Recommendations, there are special features about specific genres and a number of poll results with headings like The Book you Couldn't Put Down and the Best Book About Relationships.

No guide like this can ever be all things to all readers, but it's a hugely impressive endeavour that should make a difference to any teen reader in a quandary about what to read next who picks it up.

(Age 12 and over)--John McLay

View other editions of The Ultimate Teen Book Guide.

What a fantastic guide!! - Rated
I picked this up to find books for my kids.
I came away with lots of books I want to read!

This excellent guide covers serious classics that I would not have thought to suggest to teens - right through to light and fluffy reads that are being written right now. There are sections covering different genres (eg Race, Graphic novels, Detetective stories) and the reviewers are writers, parents, children and journalists.

I cannot recomend this book enough. Five stars plus!

It has Spy High. It wins automatically. - Rated
I'm serious. Any book that contains Spy High is an automatic win. The book describes all the other books well, also, and does well to cross-reference similar books so you have even more books to read that you'd probably like. Nice.

UTBG-Amazing! - Rated
The UTBG is one of the most helpful books out there for children who are in seearch of a new book it is suitable for ages of 12-17 and is an ULTIMATE book.

A Really Good Guide - Rated
This really is a brilliant all in one guide to reading which lists every good book I've read recently and gives helpful suggestions of what to read next. It's also great to see what your favourite author has suggested and what their favourite book is. There is such a huge amount in this guide that I don't think I'll ever have to worry about what to read next.