The Sapling is dedicated to bringing you the best books from Aotearoa for gifting this holidays. It’s our final batch of recommendations for the holiday season, and we’re finishing with a bang! Check out these top-notch titles for the teens in your life.
A Trio of Sophies
by Eileen Merriman
Published by Penguin NZ
RRP: 19.99
This is definitely a book for the older chunk of young adult readers, not for your ahead-of-their-age-reading-level intermediate kids. But for that 15+ audience, A Trio of Sophies is an absolute page-turner. Intrigue, mystery, outrage.
Half My Life
by Diana Noonan
Published by OneTree House
RRP: 23.99
[Don’t judge a book by its cover is a oft-quoted phrase for a reason. Look past the cover and] When you crack open this YA novel, you’re in for a compelling combo of relationship drama, mental health examination… and Greece!
Neands
by Dan Salmon
Published by OneTree House
RRP: 23.99
Something strange is happening to Charlie’s friends, and his father was the one to spot it first. Now he’s been thrust together with other still-humans, with no way of knowing who the genome disease will strike next. A dystopian YA choice with some stunningly good writing.
Rise of the Remarkables: Brasswitch and Bot
by Gareth Ward
Published by Walker Books Australia
RRP: 22.99
Another steampunk delight from Gareth Ward, featuring the inimitable Wrench on a journey of self-realisation as she comes into her full powers. There’s some Voldemort-scale evil at play, and Wrench needs to figure out who to trust as she fights to stop wholesale destruction.
Children of the Furnace: Heartsblood
by Brin Murray
Published by The Copy Press
RRP: 25.99
This is the third in the Children of the Furnace series by Brin Murray, telling the story of a post climate-change world overtaken by a dangerous religious cult bent on persecution. A fantastic story comes to a gripping end.
Aspiring
by Damien Wilkins
Published by Massey University Press/Annual Ink
RRP: 21.99
Look, it won best YA at the NZCYA Awards for a reason. Damien Wilkins is a national icon in the adult space, and his shift to a young adult audience loses none of the deftness and sophistication. It’s a coming-of-age-ish story with a touch of weirdness and a whole lot of Central Otago and St Louis.
Snow
by Gina Inverarity
Published by Wakefield Press
RRP: 29.99
Snow doesn’t know who she truly is, but she knows she is going to survive. This post climate-change retelling of Snow White is a dark, delicious adventure into forest wilds with a little bear as a companion.