Embracing your inner teenager

A few years ago the genre barely existed; now it's a major money-spinner for publishers and movie studios alike.

Hands up how many of you have read a young adult novel in the past year. Some of you will be teenagers, (like, duh), but many of you will be well past the age of adolescence, if not the angst part. And you are a major reason why teen fiction is doing so well. Thanks to Harry Potter, adults need no longer feel ashamed to pick up a book for "children". While they should actually be ashamed of picking up a book about sparkly vampires and vapid heroines, those days are long gone. In fact, publishers are now packaging books with separate covers for adults and teens.

This, my friends, is the age of the crossover. Now that the stigma of reading teen fiction is gone, so is the writing of it. Every big-name adult author is writing for teens now - Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth George, Harlan Coben, Gena Showalter, John Grisham, James Patterson, Jodi Picoult. They're all at it. Once Lee Child figures out how make his sentences any shorter, no doubt he'll get round to it too.

If you're like me, you probably want to forget your adolescence entirely, but the teenagers in the best of today's books are dealing with a lot more than what to wear to the prom, and the stories are generally easier to get into than the stuff written for adults. They're perfect escapism with bite. Ignoring The Hunger Games, which I've already written about at length, there are futuristic books in which evil regimes are overthrown, by heroes with complex problems. There are fantasy quests (think the Eragon series). There's historical fiction with intrigue. There are even stories based on real events, about refugees and concentration camp survivors.

And lots of paranormal stuff, of course.

So here it is: a list of crossover YA and adult books that will appeal to all audiences. Give one a try!

Graceling - Kristin Cashore
The first in a three-part fantasy series. In Katsa's world, some lucky people - called Gracelings - are born with special powers, known as Graces. You might be able to read minds, or fight undefeated. If you're Katsa, you can kill anything you set your mind to. Now Katsa's the royal assassin, and hates every moment of her job. Unbeknownst to the King, she has set up her own council, dedicated to the protection of the people. As the kingdom plunges towards war, she's going to be conflicted like never before. There's also romance, and of course, lots of fighting, which will appeal to both sexes. Followed by Fire and Bitterblue.

Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
From a genre with the fantastic name of steampunk comes the first in another series. In 1878, sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray travels to London to live with her brother after the death of her guardian. She is intercepted by the Dark Sisters, who want to use powers she was completely unaware she had for their own evil purposes. She is finally rescued by some handsome young men, (what a surprise), who train her in the arts of defending humankind from demons and "Downworlders". Sort of a prequel to Clare's other "Mortal Instruments" series, but you can read either first as they don't overlap too much. Followed by Clockwork Prince and soon, Clockwork Princess.

In the Sea There Are Crocodiles - Fabio Geda
For those who like a higher dose of reality, this is based on a true story. One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah’s mother tells him three things: don’t use drugs, don’t use weapons, don’t steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isn’t there. So begins the journey of Enaiatollah Akbari, a ten year old Afghan abandoned by his mother in Pakistan when she returns to look after her younger children across the border. Over five years, Enaiatollah travels through Iran, Turkey and Greece, labouring to pay people-traffickers and enduring the misery of border crossings squeezed into the false bottoms of trucks or trekking across inhospitable mountains. A series of almost implausible strokes of fortune enable him to get to Turin, where he meets Fabio Geda. Who writes this book.

Dodger - Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett is the crossover king - his Discworld novels are read by all ages, and he has been writing his clever adventures for younger readers for years. This one is so new it isn't even in our database yet. (But we have him on standing order - patience.) Due in September, this is the story of the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist, as only Pratchett could tell it. Advance guff says:
"Everyone who is nobody knows Dodger. Anyone who is anybody doesn't. But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, suddenly everybody wants to know him. And Dodger's tale of skulduggery, dark plans and even darker deeds begins . . ."

*sound of Scriven's palms being rubbed together*

Changeling - Philippa Gregory
One for fans of historical romance - Gregory's first teen novel. In 1453, accused of heresy and expelled from his monastery, seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is recruited by a mysterious stranger to record the end of times across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Isolde, a Lady Abbess, is trapped in a nunnery to prevent her claiming her rich inheritance. As the nuns in her care are driven mad by strange visions, walking in their sleep, and showing bleeding wounds, Luca is sent to investigate and all the evidence points to Isolde's criminal guilt. Forced to face the greatest fears of the medieval world - dark magic, werewolves, madness - Luca and Isolde embark on a search for truth, their own destinies, and even love as they seek out the figure who defends Christendom and holds the secrets of the Order of Darkness.

Edge of Nowhere - Elizabeth George
Elizabeth George also has a first YA novel due this year (September), but it's nothing like her adult fiction. Whidbey Island may be only a ferry ride from Seattle, but it's a world apart. Put at risk by her ability to hear "whispers"--the thoughts of others--Becca flees there from her stepfather, whose criminal activities she has discovered. She is befriended by Derric, a Ugandan orphan adopted by a local family; Seth, a musician and high school dropout; Debbie, a recovering alcoholic who takes her in; and Diana, with whom Becca shares a mysterious psychic connection. They're promising a series full of mystery, paranormalcy and romance. It'll be in the database from July.

Shelter - Harlan Coben
The first in the Mickey Bolitar mystery series. Teenage Mickey's father dies and his grieving mother ends up in rehab, so Mickey is sent to live with Uncle Myron, hero of Coben's adult series. Mickey quickly finds a girlfriend, Ashley, at his new school, but then she disappears. Blessed with the same detective genes as his uncle, Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that this seemingly sweet, shy girl isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon, Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it makes high school drama seem like a luxury - and leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew. A new one is coming in September (it'll be in your library in October) called Seconds Away.

Retribution Falls - Chris Wooding
I love this series - futuristic comedy, action and adventure. With some nicely rounded characters in between. Darian Frey is captain of the Ketty Jay and a dysfunctional gang of smugglers. A hot tip on a cargo freighter loaded with valuables seems like a great prospect for an easy heist and a fast buck. Until the freighter explodes, with someone very important on it. Suddenly Frey is public enemy number one, with the Coalition Navy and a host of bounty hunters on his tail. But Frey knows something they don't. That freighter was rigged to blow, and Frey has been framed to take the fall. If he wants to prove it, he's going to have to catch the real culprit. Originally for adults, the Ketty Jay is being relaunched for teens - sequels are The Black Lung Captain and The Iron Jackal, with more to come.

Between the Lines - Jodi Picoult & Samantha van Leer
Just in case you're not one of the 240 people with their names down for this already, here's the book Jodi Picoult has written with her daughter. Delilah is a loner who spends all her time with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. And one day he actually speaks. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might be his key to freedom. As they work together to get Oliver out of his book, a task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate and the world around them, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.

Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys
Another novel based on true events, with a bit more grit than usual. The book begins during World War Two, when the Nazis have been banished from Lithuania, only to be replaced by their Soviet conquerors. Anyone who might be anti-Communist, including the well-off, is rounded up and sent to camps in Siberia. Fifteen-year-old Lina is one of them. This is a coming-of-age story, in which good and evil are blurred, and romance and loyalty blossom even in the harshest of conditions. There's a lot of dark stuff in here, but it's uplifting all the same, and guaranteed to open your eyes to a little publicised chapter of recent history. Well worth a read.

Wentworth Hall - Abby Grahame
And making it a round eleven, here's one for Downton Abbey fans. Spirited eighteen-year-old Maggie Darlington is now passive and reserved. A change Lord and Lady Darlington can't help but be grateful for. It's 1912, and as one of Britain's most elite families, they need to keep up appearances. But Maggie has a secret. And she's not the only one: the handsome groom Michael, the beautiful new French nanny Therese, the Darlingtons' teenage houseguests Teddy and Jessica, and even Maggie's younger sister Lila are all hiding something. And one of these secrets has the power to ruin the Darlingtons forever. When scandalous satires start appearing in the newspaper with details that closely mirror the lives of the Darlingtons, everyone is looking over their shoulder, worrying their scandal will be next. Because at Wentworth Hall, nothing stays secret for long.