What's hot in New Zealand teen fiction?

According to the New Zealand Post Childrens and Young Adult Book Awards these are the hottest books in New Zealand Teenage Fiction.



Genesis / Bernard Beckett. Young Adult Fiction Winner 2007
In a terrifying and stifling examination environment a young Academy candidate, Anaximander, is put through a gruelling exercise in interpreting the history and origins of her society. Through her answers, we learn that in 2052, New Zealand has been renamed The Republic after a reforming Governor, Plato. It has separated itself from a plague-ridden globe with a gargantuan ring fence guarded with military outposts.

Single fin / Aaron Topp. Young Adult Fiction Honour Award 2007
Fin lives to party and to surf the next wave but when his best friend and mentor, Mike, dies he is left alone. Fin goes to live with Mike's uncle, a farmer down the coast, and begins to adjust to life on the farm. But when Jack, Mike's younger cousin, is expelled from boarding school things change. Jack comes to live on the farm and he and Fin don't get along. When Jack discovers surfing Fin is pressured into fighting demons he thought he had shut away for good.

A respectable girl / Fleur Beale. Young Adult Fiction Finalist 2007
The story of Hannah's search for her own identity and for the truth about the mother she has never known. Her eruption into the life of an aristocratic English family causes major disturbances, and she needs all her stubborn independence to survive. Set in New Zealand and England.

Shooting the moon / V.M. Jones. Young Adult Fiction Finalist 2007
Pip heads into the wilderness with Dad on the traditional McLeod first hunting trip. He faces a dramatic choice and discovers what it means to confront issues of life and death, and when threatened by the ultimate loss, Pip learns what matters most of all.

Thieves : a novel / Ella West. Young Adult Fiction Finalist 2007
Nicky is one of a select few people who can will themselves away not just in mind, but in body. She has the gift of teleportation. It's a rare, genetic ability, and a sinister, anonymous group called The Project want to use her for it. But who are they working for? Is the Project inherently good, or is it inherently evil?