Fiction > NZ Young Adult Fiction

Juno and the Taris inhabitants must leave their dying island. The young people look forward to a wider life Outside, but Outside too has its problems. It is two-year-old Hera, with her uncanny ability to foresee events, who saves the Taris people from the injury and death prepared for them by an underground group of protestors. The people of Taris, though, have no choice but to try to live in this seemingly hostile place. The young people are entranced despite the hate campaign against them: there are the fashions, the technologie... read more

Juno and her family arrive at their new home, but almost immediately danger threatens Hera and they move to Willem's protection in New Plymouth, the city Juno most hoped to avoid. Fairlands school is too like Taris, and Hilto's son Thomas is a pupil there. The handsome Ivor is also there and soon begins to pay attention to Juno in a way she finds both confusing and exciting. Juno's special mind powers are called upon to help her save Hera, and HEART OF DANGER carries on to be a rollicking read that veers between scary situations... read more

'Watch the road! Watch the road!' screamed David. 'I don't have to,' Harley replied in a strangled voice. Slumping back in his seat, he took his foot off the accelerator and held his hands away from the wheel. The soft hum of the car's motor did not decrease. The car did not lose speed. If anything, it seemed to move even faster than before. 'It's driving itself,' Harley said. A thrilling tale of danger, ghosts and secret experiments hidden deep in the forest. Organ Music weaves themes of bioethics and genetic experiments with a gh... read more

THE SACRIFICE is a futuristic novel set in the top of the North Island and the Pacific. Decades earlier, eruptions around the Pacific 'ring of fire', and consequent devastating tsunami, had annihilated Western civilization and technology, along with most of the population. Those who survive revert to hunter-gatherer mode, both in the absence of technology and in the belief that technology and even crop cultivation were the cause of the catastrophe. There is a return to a belief in elemental gods; some exploiting this as a means of ... read more

Jake's life is sweet. He's got no money and doesn't have a mobile, but he's got two best mates; Buzz and Robbie. Buzz is generous and doesn't mind buying stuff for his mates. Jake wouldn't change a thing. But then Robbie has the idea of the century: rescue the old wreck from the ditch and make it into a paddock basher. Yes! Buzz, however, puts a spanner in the works by saying he's not paying for it all. Even stevens or no deal. Robbie gets a job. Jake refuses. It's just not his style to work for a boss. But he desperatel... read more

The City is divided. The bridges gated. In Southside, the hostiles live in squalor and desperation, waiting for a chance to overrun the residents of Cityside.
Nik is still in high school but destined for a great career with the Internal Security and Intelligence Services, the brains behind the war. But when ISIS comes recruiting, everyone is shocked when he isn't chosen. There must be an explanation, but no one will talk about it. Then the school is bombed and the hostiles take the bridges. Buildings are burning, kids ar... read more

Seventeen-year-old Steven Grant, tragically orphaned whilst in his last year at school, longs to escape the humdrum existence he is forced to lead with his appointed guardians. Sea Wolf, a blue water yacht left to him by his father, is his one love and finally provides his escape to freedom. All is not plain sailing however as Steven is soon to discover. Shipwrecked by a violent storm on a supposedly deserted Pacific island he accidentally uncovers a terrorist plot by modern day pirates. Captured, he escapes and begins a personal o... read more

The follow-up to Ebony Hill, shortlisted for 2010 NZ Post Children's Book Awards and CLF Notable Book of 2010. A year on from the aggressive attacks against them, the farming community at Ebony Hill still shows the cracks. Everyone is uneasy - workers watch their backs when out in the fields. When it becomes clear the paramilitaries aren't about to give up, hard decisions must be made. The attention of Vidya's governors turns to the ocean, and the islands. Can our heroine Ness risk going back to the Island of Dunnett, the home she ... read more

Flashcard: Determination. Make that, flashcard: Friendship - Foolishness - Fear. Because they can all look the same to Marty. He might have trouble reading people, organizing things or pleasing his father, but he knows that when his mate Luke - Legless - attempts to involve him in another crazy venture, it's futile to resist. This time it's the Young Enterprise Scheme. Luke believes it will make them rich and popular - and along the way will capture the heart of his elusive love. Marty wonders if it should be, flashcard: Mad... read more

What happens when we die? This has been the third question on mankind's faq list since the dawn of time (numbers one and two being: Is this edible? and Excuse me, would you care to breed? ). I know what happens. Believe me, I'd rather not. But I do. There is a lighthouse, and it guides our souls along the narrow path to being reborn as humans. It's the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, as my undead granddad and the Tibetan special mission monk in my kitchen have kindly told me, there's a problem with the lightho... read more

Matiu Douglas' father Tama is a defence lawyer, a job that has cost him the love of his wife. Mat is used to his father's job creating stress, but when Tama takes on a high-profile case in magical Aotearoa, the defence of Donna Kyle and her deadly father Asher Grieve, family tensions run high.Then Asher and Donna escape, and Mat and friends find themselves drawn into a manhunt; the consequences of which will be deadly. In lawless Russell, the Hell-hole of the Pacific, strange alliances will be forged, deadly rivalries emerge, and... read more

Patricia Grace's popular first collection - sensitive stories of Maori life which explore Maori spirituality and values and pursue relationships between people, family and races.

Set in Christchurch, Shiftlight delivers a packing sequence from the racers angleSet in Christchurch, Shiftlight delivers a packing sequence from the racers angle.

Ness is looking out to sea, waiting for the arrival of Dev. It's been two years since the two set out in a dinghy, escaping the wrath of the Islanders of Dunnett; two years since their shrivelled and sun-battered bodies were coaxed back to health by Dev's people. Ness's new home, the city of Vidya, is in ruins; the air is unsafe, and the buildings scarred by fire. Towers loom empty and hollow. The community of Vidya is bravely building a new society and Ness yearns to find a place where she might belong. Sent to work on the ho... read more

Inseparable best friends Dean and Pelly frequently get up to no good. Dean is a dare-devil, and Pelly always seems to end up going along for the ride. Dean′s amateur bomb-making is one step too far, and is soon followed by a bombshell of another sort: Pelly′s parents are shifting the family back to New Zealand. Via email and Skype they arrange for Dean to visit in the school holidays. In the meantime, Pelly and his new friend Afi have stumbled upon drug ring operating between their school and near Afi′s bea... read more

It's early days in the Boer War and the small farming community of Huia is gripped by patriotic fervour. Men, young and old, are eager to join up and head overseas to fight the 'evil scoundrel folk in Africa who opposed the British Empire and had to be taught a lesson'. When his two elder brothers join up, James is left to help his father run the family farm, as well as helping out in the local village store, for the irascible old 'Croaky Fred', a badtempered old codger who always speaks his mind - and he has nothing good to sa... read more

Imagine that your mother tells you she's going away. She is going to leave you with relatives you've never heard of - and they are members of a strict religious cult. Your name is changed, and you are forced to follow the severe set of social standards set by the cult. There is no television, no radio, no newspaper. No mirrors. You must wear long, modest clothes. You don't know where your mother is, and you are beginning to question your own identity. I am not Esther is a gripping psychological thriller written by popular children'... read more

The conflict in Malaysia during and after World War Two, as seen from the perspectives of a Kiwi soldier (Peter) and a Chinese Malay freedom fighter (Ng). Against a background of culture clash and political and individual conflicts, two young men are drawn inexorably together as victims and products of the Malay conflict. Will events or their deeper selves guide them when their backs are against the wall?
An action-packed, compelling, and ultimately moving book about a war that in which New Zealand participated, but which... read more

Simone is a 15-year-old girl, whose family are supporters of the Resistance in 1942 Occupied France. Her family hides a New Zealand airman who has parachuted out of his crippled RAF bomber near their farm, and then helps him escape.
Set in 1942 in Occupied France, Telling Lies is the story of a 15-year-old girl, Simone, whose family are supporters of the Resistance. Simone finds herself taking an active part in helping a New Zealand airman who has parachuted out of his crippled RAF bomber near their farm. This tale of what ... read more

Finn's druggie Dad is on trial for manslaughter, and so Finn is sent away to an exclusive boarding school to remove him from the small-town gossip machine. At first he feels a bit like a fish out of water, but soon makes some good friends, and even scores with the much-lusted-after Mia, who plays in the symphonic band with him. However there is someone who knows Finn's secret ...Blackmail and lies ...will Finn ever face the truth? It's not until disaster befalls one of his friends at an illicit after-ball party that Finn learns wha... read more